Gals Guide

Riwo closes our Japan Month with a slice of shogun history. Tomoe Gozen was an onna-musha, a female warrior. She was taught defense and offense. She was on the battlefield with Samuari where she beheaded a lot of men. She was also involved in what led to the first shogunate.

Kami continues Japan Month with J-Pop star Ado. Her debut song "Usseewa" reached more than 100 million plays in record time and hit #1 on Billboard Japan Hot 100. She also has a song for One Piece Film. But get this...she doesn't show her real face. Learn about this fascinating and multi-talented artist creating powerful music right now.

Bonnie starts us off by learning about the controversial actress Komako Kimura. This gal managed two theaters in Toyoko, performed in nearly 500 plays, and created a movement. Komako was all about women's suffrage and Japan tried to shut it down. So she came to America to walk in the 1917 Women's Suffrage Parade in New York...and perform at Carnegie Hall...and on Broadway

Riwo's has gone rogue. She has as her pick an ancient site in what is now Turkey. Çatalhöyük has many twist and turns. It is a journey through some problematic guys. But Çatalhöyük, was said to be ruled by women 9000 years ago. 

Middle East Month continues with the first female Egyptian nuclear physicist. Sameera Moussa is Katie's pick. Learn about Sameera worked toward and hoped for a world where atomic energy was used to help those in need at little or no cost and that this new energy was used in peace and productivity. She is known as the Mother of Atomic Energy and "Atoms for Peace." 

Amy returns to the show with an insightful look at the controversial actress and belly dancer, Sama El Masry. Sama's views and delivery may be polarizing but she is a woman who was arrested, sent to jail, and fined for posting a TikTok video. 

Bonnie starts us off with an exploration of women in the Middle East. Artemisia 1 of Caria was a Queen of what is now Turkey. She commanded ships, was a friend of Xerxes 1, King of Persia and she's written about in Herodotus. 

Did you think Ireland Month was over?! Well, we found a pot of gold on this April Fools Day! Gal’s Guide just happens to be so lucky because we know Jackie. Jackie is a native Hoosier who now calls Ireland home. She also runs the Castlelyons Library, which is supported and sponsored by Gal’s Guide. So for this bonus episode, Jackie Donegan tells us about the amazing Irish author Kate O'Brien! 

Riwo's pick is pre-Christian times in Ireland. Her pick is also part historical but also part myth and legend. She’s a complex woman. Queen Medb (also spelled Maeve, Mave, Meave) her name is connected to alcohol -  you know meade-woman -  she starts a war over who has a prettier bull, and it takes 30 men in a night to satisfy her sexually. She’s a lot and she's not apologizing for any of it. 

Lori continues Ireland Month by talking about singer, songwriter, and activist Sinéad O'Connor. The Pope and Prince tie into this episode as we learn about the many albums, struggles, and talents of this Dublin musician. 

Katie continues Ireland Month with a campaigner for social justice, elected to Parliament at age 21, served prison time, wounded in an assassination attempt, and sometimes called "Ireland's Joan of Arc", Bernadette Devlin.

It's the start of Ireland Month! Bonnie's pick is an all-around adventurer. Lilian Bland is an aviator, horseback rider, lumberjack, painter, and car salesman. And when we say aviator we mean, she's the first woman to build her own plane 'cause it's 1910.  And when we say car salesman, we mean the idea of cars is new. 

Katie finishes up African Gals Month by sharing about Senegalese author, Mariama Ba. So Long a Letter is a novel expressing the fate and the frustration of African women. Mariama received the Noma Award, a major book award in Africa.

Gal's Guide Film Club is discussing the Viola Davis movie The Women King. Leah wanted to dig deeper into the real-life all-female military regiment in the Kingdom of Dahomey known as the Agojie. If you are wondering if they are what the Dorje Milaje of Black Panther is based on - you are correct my friend.

Josh returns to the podcast to talk about the medicinal plant biologist, Nokwanda Pearl Makunga. Professor Nox is a researcher in Biotechnology at Stellenbosch University. Her work is fascinating if you have a green thumb and even if you don't! 

It's a new month and Bonnie starts African Gal month with a trailblazer of the Egyptian Feminist movement, Huda Sha'arawi. Learn about this amazing suffragette. 

 

Leah closes out Australian Gals Month with her pick. Sister Elizabeth Kenny (who was a military sister, not a religious sister) was an Australian Bush nurse who basically created physical therapy. At the time her methods of treating polio patients were unconventional but one day there was some help from the Mayo Clinic in the United States. Learn more about this amazing woman. 

Katie's Australian Gal is a legendary businesswoman who started as a convict.  Learn about Mary Reibey, an incredible woman who is on the money and became a role model for many. 

Australian Gals Month continues! Barb's pick is a social reformer who was the first woman to serve as a member of Parliament.