The Women's Podcast

Romantic love, widely elevated as a subject worth interrogating, tends to get a lot of attention while platonic friendship is woefully neglected in the public discourse. Enter, self-described “friendaholic” Elizabeth Day who is attempting to redress the balance. The author and woman behind the hit How to Fail podcast spoke to Roisin Ingle about why the complex bonds of friendship need more attention and how during the pandemic she was forced to reassess her own friendship circle. Her new book Friendaholic: Confessions of a friendship addict prompted her to look back at her experience of being bullied at school while growing up in Belfast where she struggled to fit in and make friends. Day spent many years using friendship - the more friends the better - as a form of self-validation. For Day, having lots of friends meant you were loved, popular and safe. But this quantity over quality approach was often to the detriment of her own boundaries and mental health. Day talked to Ingle about the great friendships of her life, what it feels like to be ghosted, dealing with frenemies, how friendships were affected by her fertility journey and the lessons she learned while writing the book. Friendaholic: Confessions of a friendship addict is out now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This month on the Women’s Podcast book club, we’ve been reading Go as a River, the debut novel from Shelley Read. Set in the beautiful wilderness of Colorado, it tells the story of Victoria, a resilient young woman whose life is forever changed by one chance encounter. It’s a story of love, loss and female bonds. So what did our book clubbers Bernice Harrison, Niamh Towey, Ann and Róisín Ingle make of this debut, tipped to be the next ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’? Share your thoughts on the book with us at thewomenspodcast@irishtimes.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, the long awaited independent review of the Irish abortion system was published by the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly. The review examined the experience of women in Ireland using abortion services and assessed how providers are operating across the country. It also included a list of recommendations, including the removal of the three day waiting period and a direction for all 19 maternity hospitals to be involved in service provision. In this episode, Irish Times Political Correspondent Jennifer Bray talks to Róisín Ingle about the key findings from the report, while People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith shares her views on the recommendations. They also discuss the response within the Government to the review, the appetite for action and why “men need to stop thinking about themselves and their own backyard, and to think about the health needs of women”. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pray for Our Sinners, the new documentary from filmmaker and journalist Sinéad O’Shea, opens in Irish cinemas this week. It follows O’Shea as she returns to her hometown of Navan, to explore the impact of the Catholic church on the community in decades past. The film shines a light on the horror of mother and baby homes and the use of corporal punishment in schools. In this episode, Kathy Sheridan is joined by O’Shea and by Dr Mary Randles, who also features prominently in the film. In the 1970s Randles provided a refuge to unmarried mothers in her own home, while her husband Paddy fought tirelessly to end violence against children in local schools. Together they discuss how the project came about, the people they met along the way and the importance of standing up and speaking out. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Caoilfhionn Gallagher is a prominent human rights lawyer, who was recently appointed the Irish government’s Special Rapporteur on Child Protection. A proud Dub and Northsider, Gallagher now works with Doughty Street Chambers in London, where she acts in cases before various tribunals, such as the European Court of Human Rights, UN Special Procedures and the international courts. She has also acted for bereaved families and survivors of the 7/7 London bombings and has worked on the Hillsborough inquests into the deaths of 96 Liverpool FC fans in 1989. In this episode, Gallagher tells Kathy Sheridan about her journey into the legal profession and how a road-traffic accident as a young woman, inspired her to stand up to injustice in the world. We also hear about her work protecting journalists across the globe, what expertise she hopes to bring to this new role in child protection and the peace she finds taking flying lessons. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An award winning illustrator, author and comedian, Aoife Dooley is a woman of many talents. She has just released her sixth book, a graphic novel called Finding My Voice: Frankie’s World 2. It follows the story of Frankie, a young girl who feels a little different to everyone else and is navigating the world as best she can. The inspiration for the book was based on Aoife’s own diagnosis of autism at the age of 27. In this conversation with Róisín Ingle, Aoife explains how aspects of her life began to make sense following her diagnosis and why she decided to speak out about her autism. We also hear about her life growing up in Dublin, how she uses art to promote positive messages around the condition and the joy she’s finding in new friendships. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sherine Tadros is an Emmy nominated journalist turned human rights activist, who has just released her powerful new memoir Taking Sides. The book follows her journey through journalism, reporting for Al Jazeera English and Sky News as their Middle East correspondent. In this conversation with Kathy Sheridan, Tadros reflects on a gruelling 79 days spent trapped inside the Gaza strip and a terrifying sexual assault she experienced while reporting on the downfall of the Egyptian regime. She also explains why she eventually left broadcast journalism to take up a job with Amnesty International, in an effort to not only expose injustice, but to fight it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rachel Thompson is the author of ‘Rough: How violence has found its way into the bedroom and what we can do about it.’ It explores the phenomenon of harmful sexual experiences that women often discount as ‘just bad sex.’ In this episode, host Róisín Ingle, delves into themes like how non-consensual choking has become mainstream, the limits of consent culture and what Thomspon calls a sex misinformation crisis fuelled by TikTok.*This episode contains references to sexual violence and assault which some listeners may find distressing.* Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Mother’s Day coming up this weekend, we’re exploring the wonderful, fraught and transformative experience of becoming a mother. When it comes to motherhood, often the expectations of what it will be like do not align with reality. Writer Geraldine Walsh describes being “knocked” by the experience. In her new book, Unraveling Motherhood, the mother of two shares her personal journey with postnatal depression and anxiety and offers a motivational toolkit for anyone struggling with overwhelm, feelings of inadequacy and burnout. In this episode she tells Aideen Finnegan how she began to imagine her struggles as knots to unravel, how she eventually untangled her new identity as a parent and how a break from social media can do wonders for any struggling mother. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we are bringing you a special episode of The Women’s Podcast, recorded live from The Oak Room of the Mansion House, as part of our celebrations for International Women’s Day. For this live recording, we teamed up with The National Women’s Council, who are turning 50 this year. To mark this milestone, our hosts for the evening Kathy Sheridan and Róisín Ingle were joined by guests Sonya Lennon, Tara Flynn, Dr Salome Mbugua, Suzy Byrne and Orla O’Connor, with music from Sharyn Ward. Together the panel reflected on the struggles and triumphs of Irish women over the last five decades, and the challenges and inequalities that still remain. Here are the highlights from the evening. Happy International Women’s Day. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.