The Women's Podcast The Irish Times

Irish-Nigerian author and broadcaster Emma Dabiri is giving the middle finger to modern beauty standards. Growing up, Dabiri felt pressured to conform to “oppressive” beauty ideals, to shrink herself to fit in and to straighten her afro hair. Now, as she explains in her new essay ‘Disobedient Bodies’, it’s time to rebel against those suffocating beauty constructs. From going makeup free to embracing her natural hair, Dabiri tells Róisín Ingle about the power that comes with reclaiming your unruly beauty.
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In her new book, An Eye on Ireland, award-winning journalist and Irish Times columnist Justine McCarthy shares new and selected pieces of work from her long-spanning career in journalism. For four decades, McCarthy’s writing has challenged stereotypes, held power to account and helped amplify the voices of women in Ireland. In this wide ranging conversation with Róisín Ingle, McCarthy reflects on her entry into journalism, how the death of her father as a young girl shaped the woman she would become, and she shares some of the stories and subjects that left a lasting impression.
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In her new book Eve: How The Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution, author Cat Bohannon explores the history and science behind the development of the female sex. In this episode, Bohannon explains to Róisín Ingle why the frequent omission of female bodies from scientific research inspired her to write the book, the ‘superpowers’ that she says only females are born with and how the advancement of gynaecology and midwifery helped drive civilisation forward.
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At just 64-pages long, you could get through So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan in just one sitting. So if you haven’t read it yet, you’ve no excuse. The story follows Cathal, a civil servant working in Dublin, as he clock watches his way through his office job on a sunny Friday afternoon. When the working day is finally over, he makes the journey home, all the while ruminating on the failed relationship between himself and his ex-fiancé Sabine. It’s a miniature tale that packs plenty of punch, but what did our book clubbers Niamh Towey, Bernice Harrison, Ann and Róisín Ingle make of it? We’d love to hear your thoughts on the book. Why not send us a voice note on Instagram @ITWomensPodcast or email us TheWomensPodcast@Irishtimes.com
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Six years ago, when writer and psychotherapist Lucy Cavendish turned 50 , she began to feel like she didn’t fit in anymore. With her four children reared, Cavendish’s identity as a working mother was gone, leaving her feeling as though she was fading into invisibility; a feeling that some other women in their fifties also experience. After numerous ‘moments’ where she felt a profound ‘loss of self’, she was left wondering, ‘who am I?’ It is this question that the writer tackles in her latest piece for The Guardian, which explores how women in their 50s can begin to step out of the shadows. In this conversation with Róisín Ingle, Cavendish speaks about her feelings of irrelevance and being ‘othered’, what she’s been hearing from those of a similar vintage, and the positive ways in which women can reclaim a sense of purpose and identity.
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Three years ago, Irish Times contributor Catherine Cleary decided to buy the cheapest land she could find in Ireland, with the dream of planting her own native forest. Following a long search, Cleary and her husband Liam, eventually came across 40 acres of land for sale in Co Roscommon. This year, with the help of family, friends and paid contractors, they planted 24,000 trees over 27 acres and have watched their slice of Irish countryside burst back into life. In this conversation with Róisín Ingle, Cleary talks about why she took on a project of this size, the inspiration behind her social enterprise Pocket Forests, which aims to bring mini-forests to urban spaces and how she’s trying to make the world a better place one tree at a time.
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