Breaking Barriers: 10 Podcasts By Women From The Region You Need To Be Listening To
Slip on a pair of headphones and mute the outside world with a podcast worth listening to…
The podcast. It’s an easy way to sit-back, relax and listen to someone else externalize their inner monologue. Whether it’s a bit of background noise or a conversation churning out stories of empowerment, there’s something so comforting about finding something on your wavelength.
In a time of utter disconnection and over-stimulation, it can be overwhelming to find an outlet to channel your day-to-day fatigue, however, it shouldn’t be. Bazaar Arabia lends a helping hand, saving both you (and your ears) time by collating a list of some of the must-listen to podcasts produced by women with roots and ties to the region…
Eib
If providing a platform of relatability existed, it would embody Eib. Translating to “shameful” from Arabic — a phrase oh-so commonplace in condemning certain behaviours across numberous cultures — this podcast underscores and breaksdown taboos which have become society’s construct. Hosted by Tala El-Issa (who records the podcast from her house in Cairo) and in its ninth season, Eib explores themes such as traditional gender roles, societal norms and eating disorders.
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Listen to Eib podcast here
The Game Changers
Net-A-Porter is now dabbling in the podcast game, as it launches the first season of The Game Changers with CEO Nisreen Shocair as its host; shesits down with the most inspiring of women in the first series. From movers and shakers to women shaping their respective industries Nisreen discusses all things art, fashion, and business — to name a few.
Listen to or watch The Game Changers podcast here
Yalla, Bye
Hosted by sisters Hager Eldaas and Mnatallah Eldaas Yalla, Bye is the perfect amalgamation of honest, innocent and raw opinions. As Egyptian-Americans now residing in New York, the podcast serves as a nostalgic balance between reflecting on growing up in an Arab household in the West and what the future dictates. It also unravels the issues of marriage, dating and 3ozomas— meaning family gatherings— and much more.
Listen to Yalla, Bye here
UNSWTND+UNFLTRD
UNSWTND+UNFLTRD is not for those who love to sugar-coat. Short for “Unsweetened and Unfiltered,” the podcast is designed to act as a raw and truthful account while opening the window into women’s lives. Hosted by Zaina Kahak and Dounya Hamdan, both Palestinian-American Muslim women living in Chicago, their platform seeks to turn hardships and alienated struggles into community-based ones that “make every woman realize that she is not alone.” Highlighting topics of spiritual healing, culture, mental health and faith, the founders believe that “it’s time that we finally speak into the mic and have our voices heard.”
Listen to UNSWTND+UNFLTRD here
When Women Win
When Women Win is a centralised space to listen to your favourite female role model from all over the world. With the aim of inspiring, engaging and enthusing, When Women Win is hosted by Rana Nawas, a Dubai-based entrepreneur spilling the secrets on how to be the most successful version of yourself. After having become the number one most listened-to podcast in the Middle East, the series’ long line of celebrities, inspirational figures, business leaders and real-life superheroes make it a podcast worth listening to.
Listen to When Women Win here
Talk of Shame
Aiming at digging deeper into the region’s dynamics, as well as into the Arab diaspora, Talk of Shame – founded by the bestselling author, Alya Mooro – unapologetically explores the realm of womanhood by challenging most narratives associated with the heavy connoted idea of shame in the region — and beyond. (Read more about the podcast here.)
Listen to Talk of Shame here
The Dukkan Show
The Dukkan Show is all about the realism bound to us through our interactions, exchanges and meet-and-greets. As you listen to hosts OT, Reem and Akkaoui, the podcasts’ name will just make sense; Dukkan, meaning “shop” from Arabic is meant to “showcase the great conversations friends have when they hangout at their respective dukkan stoop”– testament to the trio’s go-with-the-flow attitude. In a series that breaks the mould, labels siblings as the ‘family we didn’t choose’ and wants you to get comfortable about being lonely, it will become your mid-week refreshment and an all-encompassing, ever-fascinating listen that will grip your every inch.
Listen to The Dukkan Show here
Arab-American Pyscho
It sounds scary, but it really isn’t. Hosted by Noor Elkhaldi, a Palestinian-American and freelance creative, the Arab-American Psycho is a safe space that will dissect what it means to individualise; toying with body image, the world of influencers and trauma.
Listen to Arab-American Psycho here
The Radical Contemporary Podcast
Unleash your inner creative genius and let your soul free with The Radical Contemporary Podcast; it’s a philosophy embraced by founder Noor Hassan in breeding a creative platform and organisation that hops from Italy to New York in one episode and from robotics to alchemy in another. Based between Cairo and Jeddah the platform is designed “for the sharing, discovery and appreciation of artistic and personal expression in the MENA region & beyond.” If you’re a curious individual, critical of the world around you and want to “Learn Something New Every Day” (the podcast’s motto) this one is for you.
Listen to The Radical Contemporary Podcast here
The Mother Being Podcast
If it’s not your own mother, let it be The Mother Being Podcast. Dishing out women’s health and wellness advice in the MENA region since 2021, founder Nour Emam is using the platform as a means to empower and liberate women through their self-righteousness. A podcast produced in Arabic it centres on themes including infertility, the role of the father and self-worth — each a branch of their wider wellness tree. Serving as an access point into a woman’s self-awareness over their rights and abilities to debunk societal conventions, it’s a podcast that does justice through its mission of community healing.
Listen to The Mother Being Podcast here
Lead Image Courtesy Instagram/ @unsweetenedandunfiltered @podcasteib