The Women's Podcast

Joe Mulholland, director of the MacGill Summer School, has apologised for the lack of gender balance on its 2018 and promised there will now be panels on the #8thRef and gender balance. A draft programme of the event shows there are 45 male speakers and moderators compared to 15 female speakers and moderators. Women's Podcast co-producer Róisín Ingle and Irish Times feature writer Deirdre Falvey join Kathy Sheridan to share their views on the controversy. They're joined on the line by Ben Tonra of UCD, who was one of the speakers lined up for MacGill but announced that he wouldn't be appearing unless they fixed it. He talks to Kathy Sheridan about why it’s important men step up and speak out about the “manel” culture. In the second part of the show, street performance artists Kate MIor and Sara Schmidt about the Laya Healthcare City Spectacular in Dublin's Merrion Square & Cork's Fitzgerald Park this July.

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A two part documentary charting the lives of Irish women over the last century begins on RTÉ One on Tuesday (19 June) at 9.35pm. 'No Country For Women' travels through time, seeking historical answers in the journeys of a number of Irish women today, women whose lives and those of their mothers and grandmothers collided with discriminatory legislation. With contributions from the likes of former president Mary Robinson, journalist Justine McCarthy and trade union activist Mags O’Brien, this documentary pores over the history of women in Ireland, examining the long-term legacy of a century of government, legal and religious control over women’s lives. In this podcast, producer Anne Roper and historian Dr Mary McAuliffe, who acted as consultant and contributor to the documentary, speak to Bernice Harrison about No Country For Women, the process of making it and what they hope it will achieve.

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Imogen Heap is an Grammy-winning songwriter and performer, who has worked with everyone from Taylor Swift to Jeff Beck. An early adopter of technology in her art, Heap has been involved in designing and producing musical gloves called MiMu. This week she was in Dublin to talk about her latest venture, the Creative Passport, at a spin-off of the Web Summit, MoneyConf. Heap came into studio while she was here and spoke to Róisín Ingle all about her innovations, her early life and some of the hard lessons she has had to learn in her career.

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Meg Wolitzer is the New York Times–bestselling author of several acclaimed novels, including The Interestings, The Uncoupling and The Wife. One of her first books, This Is Your Life, was made into a film and became the directorial debut of the late great Nora Ephron. On today's episode, Wolitzer speaks to Jennifer Ryan about her 12th novel, The Female Persuasion, which explores inter-generational feminism, female sexuality and touches on timely themes around the MeToo movement. She also talks about female mentors and her friendship with Nora Ephron, how men and women are treated in the publishing industry, and Nicole Kidman's plans to bring The Female Persuasion to the big screen.

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Waking the Feminists shone a light on the representation of women in Irish theatre. Now, women in Irish traditional and folk music are trying to address the gender imbalance across their sector through the Fair Plé initiative. It began with a meeting at the Cobblestone pub in Dublin and two of the women who were there that night – harpist Una Monaghan and singer Pauline Scanlon –speak to Róisín Ingle on today's podcast and perform the song My Dearest Dear. This Saturday Fair Plé events are taking place around the world as part of a day of action, ahead of a showcase event at the Cork Midsummer Festival on June 16. For more information go to www.fairple.comWant to get in touch? We're on Facebook and Twitter @ITWomensPodcast and you can email us on [email protected]

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The book being reviewed today, a tense, deftly written novel about an apparently perfect nanny’s transition into a monster, will take your breath away. It's called Lullaby and it's an English translation of a book by the French writer Leila Slimani. Our book clubbers Roisin Ingle, Bernice Harrison and Niamh Towey were totally freaked out by Lullaby and might not recommend it to parents of young children, but all agreed it was an absorbing read and one that stays with you long after you've put it down for the last time.Next time on the book club: Edna O'Brien's The Country Girls.

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Kurdish journalist Nurcan Baysal has been called a terrorist by the Turkish state. Her house, with her two young children inside, has been stormed by Turkish police armed with Kalashnikovs seeking to jail for her Tweets and she faces up to three years in prison for the crime of humiliating Turkey's security forces, by reporting on human rights abuses against the Kurdish people. Recently Baysal visited Dublin to receive an award for her work from Front Line Defenders. She spoke to Kathy Sheridan about why she will not allow fear to prevent her from speaking up for those who can't.

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Minister for Health Simon Harris speaks to Kathy Sheridan in this episode, telling her that legislating for abortion is his “number one priority” and he will “get it done this year”. Following a landslide win for the Yes side in Friday's referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment, Minister Harris is joined by Together for Yes campaigner Ailbhe Smyth and Róisín Ingle, who told her abortion story three years ago, to mark the occasion. Also, on the line to have a word with Minister Harris, Marian Keyes tells him what the win means to her personally.

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On #8thRef Eve, we invited three women into studio to reflect on the campaign with Kathy Sheridan. Straight from doing her rounds at the National Maternity Hospital on Holles Street in Dublin, Master of that hospital, Rhona Mahony, joined Professor Fiona de Londras, an Irish academic and the Professor of Global Legal Studies at the University of Birmingham, to look back on what has felt like a very long campaign. Also joining them in studio was acclaimed American journalist Katha Pollitt, author of author of Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights, who has been here for the past week to cover the referendum for The Nation. Before all that, and after an editorial in The Irish Times calling for a repeal of the Eighth Amendment, Tara Flynn puts words to The Women's Podcast's view on the referendum.

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As Ireland prepares to go to the polls in a once in a generation referendum on the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution this Friday, Irish Times political reporter Sarah Bardon talks to Kathy Sheridan about what exactly we'll be voting on, what happens if the Eighth is repealed and she also debunks some of the campaign myths that have been circulating for the past few weeks.

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