The Women's Podcast

Dr Jessica Taylor is a UK-based psychologist, sexual violence survivor and author of the best-selling book Why Women Are Blamed For Everything. She is also a senior lecturer in forensic and criminal psychology and the Director of Victim Focus - an organisation that addresses victim blaming practices in social care, policing, mental health and support services. On today’s podcast she talks to Róisín about a new, world-first training and research programme she has developed in partnership with Rape Crisis Network Ireland. The programme is in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the proliferation of online counselling services. Its aim is to ensure that remote trauma counselling for victims of sexual violence is carried out correctly, that it is standardised and that it is really working for the victims. Jessica also talks to Róisín about her own life story, overcoming shocking rape and physical abuse as a teenager, returning to education and training to be a psychologist, going on to become one of the UK’s most vocal advocates for survivors of sexual violence. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bad Bridget is a five-part podcast series which tells the unheard stories of Irish girls and women who emigrated to North America in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The series is a culmination of over five years worth of research by historians Elaine Farrell of Queen’s University Belfast and Leanne McCormick of Ulster University. Each episode delves into the lives of these women who travelled across the Atlantic and didn’t quite find the American dream. The extensive research into police, court and prison records uncovers the types of criminal activity in which Irish women were involved, including drunkenness, sex work and murder. In the 1860s, Irish women alone made up 86% of the female prison population in New York, while a 19th-century survey of 1,238 foreign-born sex workers found that 706 were Irish, just over half. In today’s episode, Farrell and McCormick speak to Róisín Ingle about the Irish women that history chose to forget. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What’s your lockdown style? Are you still getting fully dressed, washing your hair and putting makeup on? After 12 months at home, for many of us, leggings have become part of our daily uniform while our jeans are gathering dust. A year into this new comfy way of life, we ask the question, what have we become? To discuss this, Roisin is joined on today’s show by beauty columnist Laura Kennedy, comedian and co-founder of the MOB comedy theatre and school, Erin McGathy, and Jen Hogan, parenting columnist, author and mother of seven. Also in this episode, Roisin recites an excellent poem by a woman called Jan Brierton, which truly captures the spirit of Lockdown 3. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In our latest podcast we hear about the Gender Disparity Report on Irish radio, compiled by the Why Not Her? collective. It outlines a continuing gender disparity among the 20 most-played songs by Irish artists on Irish stations between June 24th and December 24th, 2020. On today’s podcast, Roisin Ingle speaks to activist and Why Not Her? founder Linda Coogan-Byrne about the report’s findings, where improvements have been made and what she believes needs to be done to achieve greater gender and racial diversity on Irish Radio. The hugely successful singer-songwriter RuthAnne also gives her reaction to the report and describes her own experience as an artist trying to break through what she describes as the “lad sound” on Irish Radio.Later in the show, we speak to Marin Alsop, a groundbreaking orchestra conductor considered to be one of the best in the world. Marin was recently a guest tutor on the National Concert Hall's award-winning Female Conductor Programme. Our co-producer Jennifer Ryan caught up with her afterwards. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Five Minute Therapy is the first book by Dublin-based psychotherapist Sarah Crosby. Packed full of practical exercises and powerful insights, it provides readers with the tools to reflect on their life experiences and explore who they are and who they might like to be. Think of it as your own pocket therapist. In today’s episode, Crosby speaks to Róisín Ingle about her journey from archaeology to psychotherapy, her early struggles with an eating disorder and how the Instagram page @theMindGeek set the wheels in motion for the book. From boundary setting, the joys of self discovery and how to be a good friend to others, Sarah shares some excellent tips on how to mind your mental health during another tough lockdown. Also, a reminder that Winter Nights is kicking off on Monday 25th January. It’s a five-day online festival of conversation, culture and ideas. Amongst the events, Roisin Ingle will be joined by Holocaust survivor Edith Eger as they explore ways to change the thoughts and behaviours that can keep us prisoners of our past. More information and tickets can be found here: https://www.irishtimes.com/winter-nights Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This Friday, Trinity College Dublin professor Jane Ohlmeyer will deliver the Ford Lectures at the University of Oxford in England. Just ten women have delivered the prestigious lectures since they were founded in 1896 and prof Ohlmeyer will be the first woman from a university in Ireland to be invited to do so. Born in what was then Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) to a Northern Irish mother and a South African father, Ohlmeyer grew up in Belfast at the height of the Troubles. On today's podcast she talks to Kathy Sheridan about the last impact witnessing that violence has had on her. She also speaks in detail about her career, her fascination with the British Empire and Ireland's place in it, the experience of being a woman bashing on the glass ceiling in higher education and how she is feeling about the Ford Lectures. Rumour has it prof Ohlmeyer will be in the running for the soon-to-be vacant provost job at TCD. But as she explains in this podcast, she can't really go into that at the moment. Watch this space....If you'd like to see prof Ohlmeyer deliver The Ford Lectures, they begin on Friday 22 January at 5pm online. Tune in by following the link on the Oxford website - https://www.history.ox.ac.uk/james-ford-lectures-british-history Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Raw, tired, angry and emotional. That’s how our guests on today’s podcast feel.It’s as they attempt to digest the government-commissioned report from the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes released this week. It found a shocking number of deaths and widespread abuses at religious institutions for unmarried mothers and their children in this country. Set up in 2015 following revelations about the deaths and burials of hundreds of children in Tuam, Co Galway, the commission was charged with examining what happened to vulnerable women and children in mother and baby homes in the State during the period from 1922 up to 1998. It found that 9,000 children - most of them babies - died in these institutions during that time. On Wednesday, Taoiseach Mícheál Martin apologised to survivors on behalf of the State saying, "we embraced a perverse religious morality and control, judgementalism and moral certainty, but shunned our daughters."To talk about the report, Kathy Sheridan is joined today by Rosemary Adaser, survivor of the industrial school and mother and baby home system, Noelle Brown who was adopted from Bessborough mother and baby home as an infant, and legal academic Mairead Enright, who has written extensively on law and feminism, reproductive justice and historical injustice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Author and podcaster Caroline Foran took the world by storm in 2016 with the release of her best selling self-help book, Owning It: Your Bullsh*t-Free Guide to Living with Anxiety. Now, she’s back with her third book Naked: Ten Truths to Change Your Life, which challenges readers to explore, embrace and expose their vulnerability. From realising that you’ll never really have it all figured out to accepting that someone else’s success doesn’t take from yours, the truths featured in this practical guide will help produce positive change in your life. In today’s episode, Foran sits down with Róisín Ingle to discuss the power of your own vulnerability, how to deal with imposter syndrome and what life is like as a new mother in the middle of a pandemic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In our first book club of 2021, Róisín, Ann Ingle, Bernice Harrison and Niamh Towey discuss Untamed, a memoir by American author Glennon Doyle. This is Doyle’s third memoir, which follows on from her two previous best sellers, Love Warrior and Carry On, Warrior. Untamed is the story of how Doyle left her troublesome marriage, fell head over heels in love with soccer star Abby Wambach, found her inner voice and eventually learned how to stop pleasing and start living. The book has garnered many famous fans all over the world, with the singer Adele announcing to her 39 million Instagram followers that “this book will shake your brain and make your soul scream. I am so ready for myself after reading this!” So, is this the perfect ‘New Year, New You’ guide to motivate you through January? Let’s see what our book clubbers have to say. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that the future is never certain. But with a number of vaccines against Covid-19 on the way, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Last year we learned how to live in a pandemic, somehow managing to keep the show on the road in ways we never thought were possible before. We learned that, for many of us, working from home is possible. We found ways to keep in touch with friends and family, even though we couldn’t physically be with them. We got used to wearing masks and keeping our distance. How much of this will we have to carry through this year? What does our ‘new normal’ look like in 2021? What can we look forward to? To discuss this, and more, Kathy Sheridan is joined once again by Irish Times journalists Jennifer O’Connell and Kitty Holland, and performance artist, poet and writer, Felicia Olusanya, to look ahead to what’s in store this year. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.