Podcasts for women (and by women) are some of the very best listens, thanks to their smart, savvy and often hilarious perspectives
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Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Best for: Meaningful insight into wisdom and aging
Julia Louis-Dreyfus is a Hollywood comedy legend, thanks to her work on Seinfeld and Veep (two of the best sitcoms in history). And with her podcast, Wiser Than Me, she has frank and meaningful conversations with women who are older and “wiser” than she is to glean meaningful advice about life, death and everything in between. Some of her interview subjects include actress Jane Fonda, comedian Carol Burnett and author Isabel Allende, who all touch on subjects unique to women.
The Jane Fonda episode is a must-listen, covering the way Fonda’s reputation suffered due to her outspoken social and political views, and how the word ambition often takes on negative connotations for women. Her experiences in Hollywood are fascinating to hear firsthand. Dreyfus manages to extract candid reflections from all her guests as they regale her with the stories of their lives.
Proving herself skilled onscreen and over the airwaves, Dreyfus has created one of the best podcasts for women of all ages. Don’t believe us? Wiser Than Me has been named one of the 100 best podcasts of all time by Time magazine.
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Forever 35
Best for: Self-deprecating self-care
Hosts Doree Shafrir and Elise Hu’s self-care and pop-culture podcast, Forever 35, is charming, funny and occasionally self-deprecating, much like the show’s title. The beloved podcast, which launched in 2018 with co-hosts Shafrir and Kate Spencer (who left the show in 2024), features the two “friends who like to talk about serums” as they discuss everything from beauty products and relationships to celebrity gossip—basically anything that falls into the bucket of self-care.
Many of the episodes feature conversations with a diverse range of guests, including comedians, physicians and political activists, but my personal favorites are their “product recall” episodes, which take a deep dive into the history and popularity of beauty products we were obsessed with in the ’80s, from Noxema and St. Ives Apricot Scrub to Drakkar Noir.
I never thought I’d get sucked into a show that talks about the history of face wash, but the way the hosts mix humor and history hits a sweet spot of nostalgia that’s both addictive and fun. You can smell the Noxema as they talk about it.
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You’re Wrong About
Best for: History of public opinion
A podcast hosted by journalists Sarah Marshall and Michael Hobbes, You’re Wrong About started as an attempt to offer a more balanced perspective on news coverage over the past century. (Hobbes has since left to focus on other projects—see Maintenance Phase below.) Some of this history podcast‘s best episodes include a five-part series about the life of Princess Diana and a look at the media vilification of Tonya Harding.
Named one of the 100 best podcasts of all time by Time magazine, You’re Wrong About is eye-opening and often shocking as it pulls back the curtain on information that many of us took as fact, and it includes details that were often unreported or misreported at the time. While not every episode features a news story with a female protagonist, you’ll start to notice a pattern emerge, especially with regard to 1990s news that made villains out of women like Lorena Bobbitt, Amy Fisher and Anna Nicole Smith. In reality, all were victims of domestic and/or sexual abuse.
You’re Wrong About is a show that can exist only in hindsight. And it’s a fascinating and entertaining look at the way many people, especially women, are depicted in popular culture.
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My Favorite Murder
Best for: True crime
My Favorite Murder is an award-winning true-crime podcast with a comedy bend that’s been a hit for years. It owes much of its popularity to the way hosts Georgia Hardstark and Karen Kilgariff invite listeners in and make you want to be their best friends. During each episode, the women rehash the details of famous (or not-so-famous) serial killers, cults and other death-related stories, sprinkling their dark but funny brand of comedy into the otherwise grim subject matter.
With more than 2 billion lifetime downloads, the pair are queens of the true-crime genre and champions of other women too. They have used their popularity to start their own podcast network, Exactly Right, which produces over 15 other podcasts, mostly hosted by women.
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Feminist Survival Project
Best for: Stress management and burnout tips
Many women carry the bulk of their family’s mental load. After all, it seems the term work-life balance is often geared specifically to mothers and wives. Enter Feminist Survival Project, the latest iteration of a feminist podcast hosted by Emily Nagoski, PhD, and Amelia Nagoski. It launched in 2019 as the Feminist Survival Podcast, which wrapped in 2021 but was revived under the new name. The hosts, identical twins and co-authors of three books, including The Burnout Workbook, discus the unique stresses in the life of a woman.
The Nagoskis’ podcast is something of an instruction manual on how to prioritize what matters and how to process the mixed messages the world sends women with regard to things like parenting, weight, appearance and work. It also encourages listeners to seek out the right support systems and tools to help calm our weary brains.
If you like this one, check out sex educator Emily’s other podcast for women, Come As You Are, which tackles sex and sexuality.
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The Assignment with Audie Cornish
Best for: News and current events
The Assignment could have been just another newsy, political podcast that relays current events, but what sets it apart and makes it one of the best podcasts for women is the way host Audie Cornish presents the news of the day and immerses herself in it. Cornish brings in politicians and pundits who are actively part of the news cycle to speak on their experiences. Her calm demeanor and sharp, insightful interviews are truly informative, making it one of the smartest podcasts around.
Toeing the line between journalism and interview show, Cornish brings some of her own experiences and feelings to the table in a way that’s relatable and feels like you’re part of a conversation with a friend.
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You Must Remember This
Best for: Hollywood history
Writer Karina Longworth’s podcast, You Must Remember This, is an exhaustively researched show about film history, with women’s representation in media deeply ingrained in the subject. Whether she’s discussing the way women’s sexuality has been written for the screen or shining a spotlight on female auteurs like movie art director and producer Polly Platt, Longworth pulls back the curtain on the ways Hollywood has often disparagingly and unfairly treated women—and how that treatment has evolved over time.
Early seasons of the show featured many great stand-alone episodes, but after a decade on air and 20 seasons to date, the podcast has evolved to feature season-long deep dives on single topics. You’ll find deeply researched seasons about the careers of actresses Jane Fonda and Jean Seberg, as well as an entire season called “Dead Blondes,” which tackles the mythical careers of several starlets who epitomized sex and beauty but tragically died too soon. These single-subject seasons are addictive and make for the perfect podcasts for road trips if you’re looking for informative entertainment.
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You Might Know Her From
Best for: Actress interviews
Want to hear from actresses who fall into the “Oh, hey, that woman!” category—actresses whose faces you recognize but whose names escape you? Hosted by comedy partners Anne Rodeman and Damian Bellino, You Might Know Her From is a love letter to some of the best character actresses and non-cis figures working in Hollywood and on Broadway.
Bellino and Rodeman (who are both queer) have not just created a show dedicated to women; rather, it’s a solid entry in the canon of LGBTQ podcasts. They banter freely about everything from celebrity gossip and sexism in the industry to LGBTQ+ issues (including but not limited to political activism and the enduring legacy of the Spice Girls). But at the heart of the pod is a genuine desire to shed light on talented women with amazing stories to share about their triumphs and setbacks.
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Second Life
Best for: Career advice
Second Life is informative and inspiring, with a message that it’s never too late to do what you love. Host Hillary Kerr is a shining example of that. She went from being a print magazine editor to running the massive digital media brand Who What Wear—despite not having any prior experience in digital media.
On every episode of her show, Kerr speaks with a different woman who has made this kind of career pivot, asking about the education and experience they had (or didn’t have) at their disposal when they made the leap.
Kerr has spoken to women like model turned host and author Padma Lakshmi and reality TV show star turned entrepreneur Lauren Conrad. Their advice is a blueprint for finding meaning in what you do and doing what satisfies your heart and soul.
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We Can Do Hard Things
Best for: Motivation and encouragement
One of the greatest motivational podcasts of all time, We Can Do Hard Things is a family affair, hosted by author Glennon Doyle; her wife, Abby Wambach; and her sister, Amanda Doyle. The premise of the pod is to get at the heart of life’s challenges by addressing them frankly, honestly and head-on (often accompanied by a cathartic cry). Their discussions include everything from parenting to health and wellness and sexuality, and the show has incredible guests, including Dolly Parton, Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey, who all share their stories and experiences.
The show, which often tackles difficult topics and occasionally dives into personal trauma, can be a roller coaster of emotions, but it lends a feeling of solidarity to anyone experiencing difficulties in their life.
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The GIST of It
Best for: Sports talk
The GIST of It is a sports podcast created by hosts Ellen Hyslop and Stephanie Rotz that discusses everything happening in mainstream sports, from the NFL to the WNBA. The show is both a newsy discussion about current sports events and an interview series where Hyslop and Rotz speak to influential athletes from around the world, earning them millions of email subscribers.
The hosts don’t gloss over women’s issues but truly dive into subjects like the rise of female managers in professional leagues and sexual harassment in sports. Add to that their intersectional analysis of topics, such as climate change’s effect on sports and the political practice of “sportswashing,” and you get one of the most unique, refreshing and inclusive sports podcasts for women (and men!) that goes places many other forms of sports entertainment don’t bother to go.
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Maintenance Phase
Best for: Health and wellness
With so many health fads, weight-loss plans and fitness equipment out there, not everything that proclaims to be healthy actually is. That’s where Maintenance Phase comes in. Hosted by Michael Hobbes (formerly of You’re Wrong About) and Aubrey Gordon, this podcast debunks myths and misconceptions about everything wellness-related, which, let’s face it, is often targeted at women.
The show exposes truths behind drugs like Ozempic and celebrity endorsements and workouts, and it broadly discusses fatphobia as a cultural phenomenon while also promoting healthier and more realistic standards for regular folks to follow.
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The Bechdel Cast
Best for: Discussions about women in film
If you haven’t heard of the Bechdel Test, which was created by writer and cartoonist Alison Bechdel, you should know that it’s a measure of how women are represented in media—on film, on TV and in books. The test asks whether a project features at least two named female characters who have a conversation about something other than a man.
The podcast The Bechdel Cast discusses women’s roles in film, along with conversations about the actors who play these roles. Hosts Caitlin Durante and Jamie Loftus, both comedians, welcome a different guest each week to discuss a specific film and the female characters (and other characters that don’t specifically identify as male) who appear in it. They then rate the film on their proprietary “nipple” scale of one to five to determine how women and other marginalized characters are represented—and whether these classics are feminist movies or not.
It might be a podcast about Hollywood, but it’s also a truly insightful analysis of the way women are represented in the classic American film library.
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You Are Not Broken
Best for: Sexual health
You Are Not Broken, hosted by urologist Kelly Casperson, MD, is a thoughtful and often funny exploration of women’s bodies and sexual health. The show’s mission is to educate women on topics that don’t often get addressed, which is why Dr. Casperson claims to be “the friendly expert you never had.”
What happens to our bodies as we approach menopause? How do we deal with changing libidos? Does surviving cancer affect your sex drive? The answers to these questions have not always been readily available, and Dr. Casperson is here to dispel myths and eviscerate the formerly taboo subjects. With laughter and candor, the show tries to destigmatize the struggles many of us face, while speaking with experts who can help us understand our bodies better.
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Sources:
- Edison Research: “The Infinite Dial 2025”
- Forever35: “An Announcement from Kate and Doree”
- Vulture: “Why Michael Hobbes Won’t Tell You You’re Wrong Anymore”
- Pew Research Center: “Audio and Podcasting Fact Sheet”
- Pew Research Center: “A Profile of the Top-Ranked Podcasts in the U.S.”
- Paramount: “Americans Are Listening To More Podcasts Than Ever”
- Time: “The 100 Best Podcasts of All Time”
- iHeartMedia: “iHeartMedia and Exactly Right Media Partner to Bring “My Favorite Murder” and the Full ERM Lineup of Shows to iHeartPodcasts”
- Variety: “Karina Longworth on Late Style, Unfashionable Auteurs and Season 20 of Her Film History Podcast ‘You Must Remember This’”
- Forbes: “The GIST’s ‘Bet’ On Women Just Earned 1 Million Email Subscribers”
- Kelly Casperson MD: “You Are Not Broken”
