Podcasts have never been so popular and women are taking the mic in some of our best-loved shows. From geek-outs to feminist guilt, these podcasts will make you listen up, laugh out loud and rejoice that women are making themselves heard.
Nerdette
Try this episode: If Supreme Court Justices Were Muppets, Which Muppets Would They Be?
This weekly 30-minute podcast from Chicago public radio station WBEZ sees hosts Tricia Bobeda and Greta Johnsen nerd out about everything from science to science fiction.
In the episode below we hear Tricia’s “nerd confession” that as a child she loved listening to tape recordings of US Supreme Court cases.
Hear senior journalist (and Muppet expert) Dahlia Lithwick’s behind-the-scenes tales about the highest court in the land and the nine justices presiding over it.
Scummy Mummies
Try this episode: Comedy
You don’t have to be a parent to laugh out loud at this fortnightly 40-minute show from comedians Helen Thorn and Ellie Gibson and their guests.
In this episode they call Justin Bieber the C-word and brand themselves “like Woman’s Hour but a bit rougher” saying: “We pretend this is about parenting but it’s really just about getting pissed and talking about our boobs.”
#GoodMuslimBadMuslim
Episode: Valentine’s Day is Haram
Disarmingly charming co-hosts Tanzila ‘Taz’ Ahmed and Zahra Noorkbakhsh tackle the good and bad about the American Muslim female experience while expertly evaporating stereotypes.
They launch the episode above saying: “I think this is going to be a really great podcast because I’m feeling really funny and likeable”. They really are.
Once a month for 30-50 minutes, expect jokes about ISIS, discussions about “otherness” and “creeping Shariah”.
Period.
Try this episode: Periods for Politicians
Your host is “ladybusiness scientist” Kate Clancy, an associate professor who researches periods and how they affect our lives.
In this episode of the weekly 30 to 60-minute show Clancy interviews a protester against an anti-abortion bill who persuaded women to call the office of Governor Mike Pence to share the “nitty gritty details” of their menstrual cycles.
The Guilty Feminist
Try this episode: What the hell? The Handmaid’s Tale 2017
Kicking off this weekly hour-long dissection of modern feminism, British-Australian writer and comedian Deborah Frances-White and special guests confess “I’m a feminist but…”
In this episode (recorded live in front of an audience – forgive the annoying echo), a discussion of the Margaret Atwood story brings the admission: “Maybe I’d rather be a young, hot, sexy aunt than a washed-up handmaid.”
2 Dope Queens
Try this episode: Bonus episode: White people at The Color Purple
A Brooklyn-based show by comedians and BFFs Phoebe Robinson and Jessica Williams.
This episode starts with a brutal review of DJ Khaled Snapchatting his wife in childbirth, before a glorious stand-up set from Sasheer Zamata and an interview with Danielle Brooks (Taystee in Orange is the New Black).
Backtalk
Try this episode: Is it really Time’s Up in Hollywood?
A fortnightly female-gaze pop-culture round-up from Amy Lam and Dahlia Grossman-Heinze, two editors at the non-profit, indie, feminist Bitch Media.
In this first episode of 2018 they delight in the editor’s notes to “alt-right” controversialist Milo Yiannopolous, before laughing raucously while reviewing Fire and Fury and lamenting the dearth of intersectional equality at the Golden Globes.
In the words of listener and reviewer Mandi, these “rage cheerleaders” deliver “really strong, progressive criticism toward world events but in a really accessible, entertaining, and digestible way.”
School for Dumb Women
Try this episode: Where can I bin the old me?
The hour-long podcast believes there’s no such thing as stupid questions – or doesn’t care and asks them anyway.
Writers Hannah Varrall, Alexandra Haddow and Caroline O’Donoghue bring you a weekly Smart Lesson, such as “how to be a bitch in an acceptable way”.
In this episode they discuss Satan, how you get the stripes in toothpaste and why The New Testament is like a Louis Theroux documentary.
Call Your Girlfriend
Try this episode: Hillary
Push past the advertising spiel at the start to find one of America’s most successful podcasts made by women for women.
Co-hosted by long-distance best friends Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman, it takes the form of a weekly hour-long call between the pals who discuss everything from pelvic health to pop culture and politics.
In the episode below Hillary Clinton stops by, proving that they’re kind of a big deal.
Guys We F****d
Try this episode: Maybe Brad Pitt wants to f*** a funny girl (Four years of Guys We F****d)
This weekly one to two-hour “anti slut-shaming podcast” features sharp-tongued maverick co-hosts Krystyna Hutchinson and Corinne Fisher.
The New York-based stand-up comedians are not only laugh-out-loud funny but refreshingly frank and shame-free about sex.
Don’t be fooled by the name. While the duo started off interviewing the eponymous “guys they…”, they’re now four years in and have broadened their scope, talking about dysfunctional families, female drag queens and their listeners’ awkward problems.
Serial
Try this episode: The Alibi (Season one: episode one)
Deserving its place in any league of top podcasts made by women, the This American Life spin-off, Serial, is widely hailed as initiating the podcast boom.
Becoming the fastest-growing podcast ever on its release in 2016, Serial sees radio journalist Sarah Koenig investigate the case of a young Pakistani-Muslim convicted of killing his Korean girlfriend in Baltimore.
Koenig unfolds the gripping non-fiction story over the course of the series, following characters and plot through twists and turns.
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