Gals Guide

Leah finishes Political Change Month with the first Chinese woman to vote in America...and she was a pinball wizard. I know, I know seems like a jump but it's a journey and we're in it together. Learn all about Tye Leung Schulze in the final episode of Season 8.

Katie continues Political Change Month by talking about Jeannette Rankin, the first woman to hold federal office in the United States. The Republican Representative for Montana in 1916 and again in 1940. To this date, Jeannette is the only congresswoman to have represented Montana.

Bonnie starts of Political Change Month with the infamous Alice Roosevelt. Have you heard the quote by her dad Theodore Roosevelt? “I can do one of two things. I can be President of the United States or I can control Alice Roosevelt. I cannot possibly do both.” Learn why on this week's episode. 

Leah wraps up Defiance Month with a pair of queer Irish ladies that she found so adorably defiant that she just wanted to be in their orbit and share their story. Remember Leah is high on cold medicine as she talks about Lady Eleanor Butler & Sarah Ponsonby. The Ladies of Llangollen were two upper-class women who lived together as a couple in the late 1700s. People wrote poems about them, their house is a museum. 

Julie continues Defiance Month by talking about N.O.W. The National Organization for Women. 

Katie continues Defiance Month by talking about Kathrine Switzer. After a Jock tried to rip off her bib number, Kathrine is the first woman to officially run the Bost Marathon. Leah's on cold medicine, Bonnie's craftin' without deadlines, and Julie's back.

Bonnie starts Defiance Month with Olga of Kiev. A gal who killed a lot of people who tried to marry her and yet was made a saint. Leah's on cold medicine, Katie's writing letters, Julie's back, and we're pronouncing "Kiev" wrong the whole time. 

Leah finishes up Personal Change Month with a gal who experienced the effects of mental illness and decided to create better conditions (not perfect) for those afflicted with mental illness. As Dorothea Dix fought for the humanity of the mentally ill, the culture started to shift more humanely as well. Knowing we still have  *LOTS* to go in the field of mental health, learn about Dorothea Dix on this week's episode. Joined by Klaire, Katie, and Bonnie.

Klaire continues Personal Change month with an abstract painter whose legacy personally effects one of our Gal Pals. Learn about Lee Krasner on this week's episode. Joined by Leah, Katie and Bonnie. 

Katie continues Personal Change month with a neuroscience journalist who covers drugs, addition and public policy. Learn about Maia Szalavitz on this week's episode. Joined by Leah, Katie and Klaire Lockheart.

Bonnie starts of Personal Change month with a chemist who won a Noble Prize. Joined by Leah, Katie and Klaire Lockheart. 

Leah finished up courage month talking about a rebel in a swimsuit. In an era where women were expected to be silent and modest, Annette Kellerman dove headfirst into controversy. She used her body as a tool of protest, a canvas for art, and a vehicle for change. She helped create the modern swimsuit by not being ashamed of her body.  Even in 2025, some of us who wear a swimsuit in public are performing an act of courage. A battle between ourselves and culture. A piece of fabric whose history is written with rebellion. Learn about this poetic, noble, land-mermaid on this episode of the Gal's Guide Podcast.

Jackie continues courage month talking about the Camogie and it's women's uniform. Camogie is a sport similar to hurling. The uniform in the past has been a wool skirt and until 2025 a uncomfortable skort. When Kilkenny and Dublin teams protested and wore (gasp!) shorts, they were not allowed to play until they changed clothes. What happened next? Listen to this weeks episode. 

Katie continues courage month talking about sisters. The Mirabal Sisters courageously defied the foul dictator Rafael Trujillo known as el Jefe. Patria, Minerva and Maria Teresa are national heroines of the Dominican Republic and the sisters in the book In the Time of Butterflies written by Julia Alvarez.

Bonnie starts of courage month with a gal who was so courageous she ran for President of the United States before women even had the right to vote. Learn about the unique history of Victoria Woodhull, a woman who was certainly ahead of her time! 

Riwo finishes up Freedom Month talking about a San Diego Public Librarian who stood up for Japanese American children during WW2 interments. Clara Breed sent books, letters, and support to young readers imprisoned in camps — protecting their right to read and reminding them they were not forgotten.

Katie continues Freedom Month talking about SlutWalk an international movement. SlutWalk were protests to stop people asking "what was she wearing" when discussing rape and sexual assault victims. A call to end slut-shamming as well as ending rape culture. 

Bonnie starts off Freedom Month talking about Deborah Sampson, who disguised herself as a man to fight in the American Revolution. 

Riwo finishes up Injustice Month with the mother of the LGBTQ movement, Barbara Gittings. She organized with Frank Kameny the first gay rights protest on July 4, 1965. She also fought for gay literary rights and gay mental health rights. She found community and started a movement. Podcast note: We're on break for the rest of June for the Gal's Guide move to Minnesota. Episodes will return in July.

Katie continues Injustice Month with a suffragette. Lucy Stone spoke out for women's rights, was the first Massachusetts woman to earn a college degree, and even kept her name when she married. Learn all about Lucy. 

Bonnie starts off Injustice Month with a crusader for justice, Ida B. Wells. As an author, journalist and civil rights leader, Ida brought information and power to the movement for African-American equality. She was one of the founders of the NAACP and was forcibly removed from a train for the color of her skin in 1884 (71 years before Rosa Parks). 

Katie closes up Innovation Month with a gal who invented a new rocket fuel. Learn about Mary Sherman Morgan and how her invention of Hydyne helped launch the United States' first satellite. 

Bonnie continues Innovation Month (that's weird to type, normally Bonnie starts a month! ) with a rebel with a need for speed! Beatrice Shilling, also called Tilly, was an aerospace engineer and motorcycle racer. Learn about this British innovator who broke records and saved lives! 

Riwo starts off Innovation Month with a rebel with a board game. Learn about the actual inventor of the game Monopoly, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Magie. Her story and what she was trying to teach us is way more in-depth that you might have been led to believe.

Riwo finishes up Rebellious Creative Expression month with Yayoi Kusama, a rebel in polka dots. She's been called “one of the most important artists to come out of Japan.”  She's not only a polka dot pop artist but also a filmmaker, protestor, author, sculptor, and fashion designer. She hit on rebellious creative expression on so many fronts. 

It's Katie's turn to tell us about her pick for Rebellious Creative Expression month. Lee Miller was creative and rebellious in many ways. Lee was a war correspondent, photographer, and artist. She also took a rebellious picture of herself in Hitler's bathtub. 

Rebellious Creative Expression continues on the Gal's Guide Podcast. Josh talks about Françoise d'Eaubonne, the French author who coined the term ecofeminism. 

We're exploring Creative Expression within rebellion. Bonnie starts us off with the sculpture artist, Edmonia Lewis. Edmonia brought her African and Native American heritage to a neoclassical marble sculpture. Learn all about her incredible work.

Katie finishes Equality Month of our Rebel Era by talking about the young peace activist from the Young Women for Leadership (YWL). Learn about the Rima Sultana Rimu from Bangladesh. 

Debbi continues Equality Month of our Rebel Era, by talking about the powerful activist, Fannie Lou Hamer. 

Bonnie starts off Equality Month of our Rebel Era, by talking about the amazing Civil War spy. Known by a couple of names Mary Elizabeth Bowser, Mary Richards, or Mary J.R. Garmin. Born into slavery she was a Union spy in the Confederate White House.  

March 15, 2025, will mark 100 years since the kidnapping, rape, and murder of Madge Oberholtzer. Madge's trial was directly responsible for dismantling the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana. A powerful and poignant special episode, Madge Saved Lives, releases on the 100th anniversary of Madge Oberholtzer's kidnapping, March 15, 1925. This episode shines a light on a harrowing event in history that sparked significant change. Learn about Madge's courageous stand and the legacy her tragic story left behind. Her bravery and the events surrounding her kidnapping became a catalyst for justice and societal change—a story that deserves to be remembered and honored. This episode is different from our regular episodes but it exemplifies Gal's Guide's mission to highlight the powerful, untold stories of women in history. More info available at galsguide.org

Katie finishes up Solidarity Month by talking about the author Jessie Redmon Fauset. As an editor of The Crisis as well as a poet and novelist, Jessie showcased the true image of African-American life. Her characters were working professionals and dealt with themes of feminism, "passing" and racial discrimination. Learn more about Jessie on this week's episode.

Riwo continues Solidarity Month with a powerful episode about the work of Tarana Burke and the #MeToo Movement. 

Julie continues Solidarity Month at Gal's Guide. Julie tells us Georgia Gilmore who used food as a connecting and fundraising tool for the Montgomery Bus Boycott movement. She was the rebel gal behind the "Club from Nowhere." 

February is Solidarity Month at Gal's Guide. Bonnie starts off by talking about the movement and awareness of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW).

Riwo wraps up resistance month talking about the Tibetan warrior nun, Ani Pachen.  

Katie talks about her resistance gal, Queen Boudica on this week's episode.

2025 is Gal's Guide Rebel Gal Era. We're dedicating each month to the various ways women rebel. January is "Resistance" month. Bonnie starts off Season 8 with the 4B movement out of South Korea.

Katie ends our Around the World theme with a baroness and author. Baroness Karen Christenze von Blixen-Finecke went by many names when she wrote. She's most famous for penning Out of Africa. Learn about this Danish traveler and her many adventures.  Season 8 of the Gal's Guide Podcast returns in January 2025!

Kassie continues Scandinavian Gal Month with Icelandic musician and actress, Björk. Learn about how Björk started in music at age 11 and rose to international success with the band The Sugarcubes before going solo. There was also that swan dress...

Bonnie continues Scandinavian Gal Month with the first woman in the world to be democratically elected as president. Learn about Vigdís Finnbogadóttir the president of Iceland from 1980-1996.

Riwo starts off Scandinavian Gal Month with Swedish royalty who saved her country with alcohol! Learn all about the gal with a brain for science, Eva Ekeblad! 

Riwo finishes up South American month talking about a historian who taught us how to learn about the Incas not from a western perspective, not from a Spanish conquistador perspective, but that of the ancestry of the people, the Andeans. Learn about the fantastic historian Maria Rostworowski.

Julie shares with us the colorful life of the gal known for her fruit hats, singing, and dancing - Carmen Miranda. There is much more to this "Brazillian Bombshell" learn about Carmen's life in two Americans and her many talents. 

It's Katie's Birthday week and we have a special coupon code for 15% off our event A Night With the Witch and Famous.  The episode originally aired October 17, 2022 - Katie gets gruesome with the tale of Catherine “La Vosin” Monvoisin. This French black magic sorcerer was the head of a powerful network that provided poisons, love potions, and abortions. She might have killed over 1,000 people but she also might have got King Louis XIV to fall for Madame de Montespan. Listen, if you dare!

It's the start of South American Gal Month! Bonnie leads off with a national hero of Brazil, Maria Quitéria! Learn about this lieutenant in the Brazilian War of Independence. 

Katie finishes up American Farmers Month with the Indigenous peoples' mythos of planting corn, beans, and squash.  

Before there was Rosie the Riveter there were the Farmerettes. Riwo shares the history of the gals who were called to help America by being farmers. 

Debbi shares her American farmer gal, Harriet Williams Russell strong. Harriet was pivotal to water conservation in California. She was also known as the "Walnut Queen" and held 5 patents. Learn all about this innovative woman.  

We're Back! It's been a bit of a break but we've found our way out of the cornfields and back to the Gal's Guide Library to talk about American farmer gals. First up is Bonnie's pick, Rith Imogen Stout the "no-work" garden method author.