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THE PARIS SEASON A.K.A THE FEMINISM SEASON
I'm spending summer 2019 in the City of Lights working as a producer and reporter for World Radio Paris.
Paris is a city filled with beautiful architecture, romance and tourists but also tons of women with unique stories – I plan to tell at least a handful of them over the course of the next two months.
France claims its the country of "liberte - egalite - fraternite", but I am putting this to a test by inviting women in the studio, whose experiences have proven otherwise.
Episode 1 - Meet Katrine, a journalist and woman in training
Before I take you around the globe with me on the many excursions I've got planned - I thought I'd be polite and introduce myself. I'm a journalist, a nomad, an environmentalist, a feminist and a storyteller! And that's all this podcast is about! Giving women a platform to express their concerns, celebrate their victories and shares their goals for our society!
My friends call me rootless - but I prefer to say that I plant my roots everywhere. In the past five years, I've moved countries ten times. So I decided that wherever I’d go next, I would start recording all of the interesting conversations I have with the women I meet along the way!
1 Katrine LyngsøIntroducing your host
00:00 / 12:39
Instagram: @Rootlessjournalist
Twitter: @Rootlessjournalist
Episode 2 - Heidi Evans: introducing the Women of Paris
I invited Heidi Evans, the entrepreneur behind Women of Paris, in the studio to enlighten me on present and past feministic issues in France. When Heidi first moved to France, she encountered miss-representation of women in the tourism industry. So the young feminist founded Women of Paris to give history a female narrative by doing guided tours around Paris, introducing visitors to the many influential women who impacted the city and beyond.
Although Heidi tells the tales of some of the greatest feminist in history, she struggles with modern Feminism in France and the conservative nature of seduction, positioning women as preys to be captivated.
The contradictory society has yet not had a female monarch or president and French women are probably some of the most stereotyped in the world as thin, wine-drinking and smoking brunettes. But the French have so much more to offer than cheese loving and wine drinking.
2 Heidi EvansThe Women of Paris
00:00 / 31:34
Episode 3 - Katie breaking free from religious and Republican familiar beliefs
Katie grew up in a deeply religious and Republican household in Florida, US. As a young teenager, she quickly started to question the topic she was taught at bible study and her parent's political opinions. After her first 3-month trip abroad to Norway, she quickly realised the lifestyle, faith and vote on her homefront was far from her individual choice and stance.
Escaping the Christian and Republican familiar expectations is an internal battle Katie still struggles with, despite being more than 7,000 kilometres away from her family. Being brought up in a close-minded environment, conditions people to not open their minds naturally. Katie told me how she is overcoming this.
3 KatieBreaking free from family beliefs
00:00 / 36:39
Katie
Episode 4 - Jordanne Edwards's racist experiences in France and beyond
Jordanne has travelled the world for years, as a part of her university degree, which has brought her to countries like Denmark, Italy and France. Before she departed her home in Jamaica, her parents sat her down for a talk about racial indifference. Although Jordanne was prepared, she never imagined what was awaiting her.
Jordanne now works for the UN in Paris, France which is a country that claims itself the place of "egalite” yet has never had a black president. France has experienced heavy immigration because of its colonial history. As an imperialist and colonial country, France ruled for centuries over a large part of the world which essentially is what contributed to the country’s extreme wealth and power in the world today.
4 JordanneRacism in France
00:00 / 33:04
Instagram: @olivia101
Jordanne
Episode 5 - Julie Marangé and the colours of French feminism
Julie Marangé is the entrepreneur behind "feminists of Paris" which seeks to deconstruct the stereotypical perception of feminists which is often radical and man-bashing.
Julie is originally French, but upon her return from studying abroad in the UK, she realised she'd witnessed a different approach to feminism. So Julie founded the feminist enterprise hosting an art gallery and visits that introduces and debates feminism while discovering Paris.
There are far more layers to feminism than most people realize, however, the foundation is equality on all levels of society, gender and occupation. Join Julie and me in the studio for a conversation about intersectionality in feminism, prostitution, sexuality and female empowerment.
5 JulieFeminists of Paris
00:00 / 28:44
Julie
Jasmine
Episode 7 - From Saudi Arabia to Paris with Lina Agabani
To shed a more fluorescent light on France, Lina Agabani joined me in the studio to share the cultural rollercoaster she's been through. Lina is Half North African, half South American but grew up in the Arabian Desert before she moved to Paris where she now works and produces her podcast my follow laymen. The show uncovers headlines in-depth and provides the historical and social context for the uninitiated listener.
Lina calls herself a lost child of expats, and growing up in Saudi Arabia, she longed for the experiences she saw on American TV. The decision to move to Paris was initially only a short term solution to study, but Lina is now making Paris her permanent home.
7 LinaFrom Saudi Arabia to Paris
00:00 / 43:51
Lina
Episode 8 - Wafa exiting the box of society's perceptions
How often haven't we heard of repressed Muslim women in the media? Or of the opposite ‘modern’ Muslim women fighting the repression caused by religion? The polarization of society's perception of Muslim women is mainly caused by the media's equally polarized portrayal.
I gave Wafa the lead in the studio to tell her story, from her perspective. Wafa is a Baghdadi born Londoner living in Paris, with her two children and her french husband. Wafa has created her platform Cups and Dishes because of her interest in cooking but also as her own silent form of activism to make people see her outside the box.
But before you put Wafa in a box from just reading this description, I suggest you go ahead a press play to let Wafa shape the perception you make of her!
8 WafaShaping her own box
00:00 / 37:42
Website: www.cupsanddishes.com
Instagram: cups_and_dishes
Wafa
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