The world is noisier than ever, and it’s difficult to get a clear perspective from women who are facing society’s gender assumptions and restrictions. Luckily, podcasts give the perfect advice to help us not feel so alone on this bustling rock, especially when the hosts of the show are kick-ass women themselves.
Podcast can provide a sense of commonality when it comes to the timid subjects of sex and menses, so ditch your Spotify playlist during your next commute and listen to these powerful women bless us with their empowering secrets and stories—because, after all, women run the world.
Here are the best podcasts hosted by and for women.
1) Being Boss
Being Boss is a podcast all about how to be a boss at life, doing what you want and how to get paid properly for it. The two hosts, Kathleen Shannon and Emily Thompson, deliver motivational podcasts and blog posts offering women advice on how to become successful entrepreneurs in both their work and daily life.
The show features guests who touch on topics like money management and how to kick that inner critic to the curb. Shannon and Thompson are there for their listeners every step of the way, letting them know they can build the business of their dreams and look fierce while doing it.
Available on iTunes and SoundCloud
Best episodes: “Feeling Good in Work and Life” and “Get Paid Like a Boss”
2) Death, Sex, and Money
Managing editor and host Anna Sale is like a guidance counselor in life, offering insight on tough issues that are often elephants in the room. The WNYC podcast Death, Sex, and Money offers a dedicated space for women and men to talk about their experiences and share their stories ranging from losing loved ones and dealing with drug addictions to what types of porn they enjoy.
Sale hosts new guests on each episode, which every other Wednesday. A sense of openness and sympathy defines the podcast; it makes listeners and guests feel like they are with each other each step of the way.
Available on iTunes, Pocket Casts, TuneIn, Stitcher, and Google Play Music
Best episodes: “When I Almost Died” and “Dating Was So Hard Until It Wasn’t”
3) Another Round
Another Round is dedicated to internet culture, blackness, freedom, and creative expression, and it’s candid but entertaining. Former BuzzFeed writers Heben Nigatu and Tracy Clayton toss back a few drinks during the show, bringing light to life’s challenges as women of color and add humor to the show with topics like tickling Whitney Houston and asking Hillary Clinton what kind of deodorant she prefers. (Spoiler: It’s stick.)
Humor aside, Another Round isn’t like any other podcast: Nigatu and Clayton mimic the way we talk to our friends, encouraging the meaningful conversations we wish we had more of. The podcast has hosted popular guests like Ta-Nehisi Coates, Lena Dunham, and Senior Advisor to President Obama Valerie Jarrett.
Available on iTunes, BuzzFeed, and SoundCloud
Best episodes: “Oh, The Racism!” and “Madame Secretary, What’s Good? (With Hillary Clinton)”
4) How to Be a Girl
How to Be a Girl is a documentary-style podcast about the trials a single mother and her 8-year-old transgender daughter face daily. The host is presented with a pseudonym, Marlo Mack, and wants to keep their identity private until her daughter is ready to let the world know her gender (even though her daughter was featured in People after meeting Laverne Cox).
Mack expresses her worries for her daughter in each episode, dealing with the arrival of the transgender bathroom bill and how to tell her daughter she won’t ever be a biological mother. Even if you aren’t a mother yourself, How to Be a Girl offers a beautiful story of discovering identity, love, and compassion.
Available on iTunes
Best episodes: “How to Be a Dad” and “Daily Life in the House of Girls”
5) Call Your Girlfriend
This podcast is dedicated to best friends who are dealing with a long-distance friendship and are in serious need of some girl talk but can’t seem to catch a break to actually vent about their troubles. Aminatou Sow, Ann Friedman, and Gina Delvac host Call Your Girlfriend for women wanting to stay woke on the latest regarding current events in politics and pop culture. Episodes air bi-weekly, featuring a phone-a-friend interview from credible besties to discuss trending topics.
Available on iTunes, Acast, Stitcher, Overcast, and Pocket Casts
Best episodes: “So Much Booty,” “Make America Smell Great Again,” and “Hi, Haters”
6) Invisibilia
Launched in 2015, Invisibilia combines interesting human stories with psychological and brain science to discover new ways of thinking, behaving, and living life. The Latin term “Invisibilia,” meaning “all the invisible things,” defines the podcast perfectly as it explores the invisible forces that shape our society and behavior.
Hosts Alix Spiegel, Lulu Miller, and Hanna Rosin talk about emotions, beliefs, ideas, and psychological mechanisms during each hour-long episode aired on NPR. In the first season, Spiegel and Miller examined our darkest inner thoughts to see if they are related to our fears and if they are directly correlated with our daily actions.
Available on NPR, iTunes, Google Play Music, and Stitcher
Best episodes: “The New Norm” and “The Secret Emotional Life of Clothes.”
7) The Guilty Feminist
The Guilty Feminist is hosted by two comedians, Sofie Hagen and Deborah Frances-White, who talk about what it is like being feminists in the 21st century who don’t care for monogamous and stereotypical conformity. This witty, brilliant podcast talks about the challenges of being independent, having boobs, and being bossy.
This podcast series is sharp in the way Hagen and Frances-White organize each episode, presenting a challenge with a guest appearance, bringing listeners along for a sometimes tragic tale and taking it full circle with clever humor.
Available on iTunes
Best episodes: “Not Having Kids with Susan Calman” and “Barriers and Boundaries with Every Edison”
8) Guys We Fucked
Hosts Corinne Fisher and Krystyna Hutchinson talk about their experiences in the sheets with this perfect “anti-slut-shaming podcast.” Each episode in Guys We Fucked features an interview with a guy Fisher or Hutchinson has slept with, whether a drunken hook-up or a past boyfriend, and sometimes celebrities make a surprise appearance.
The intimate conversations are hilarious but awkward, which pretty much defines that questionable feeling after a one-night stand. Guys We Fucked is as relatable as it gets, and it offers insight into what men are actually thinking before, during, and after that magical night.
Available on iTunes, SoundCloud
Best episodes: “Should We Kill All Men?” and “Do You Have a Tiny Vagina?”
This article is updated regularly for relevance.
