Gloria Steinem: ‘My advice? Don’t listen to me. Listen to yourself’

To celebrate The Women’s Podcast turning 50, we have gathered some sage advice from 50 wise women from all walks of life.

Here are a few of the highlights:

“Do not listen to me. Listen to yourself. Inside you know the answer. Trust it.” - Gloria Steinem, feminist, journalist and activist.

“I was standing next to Emmy Lou Harris and Dolly Parton and we were getting our pictures made and there were lots of people there. In my ear comes the beautiful voice of Dolly Parton and she said: ‘honey just keep on smiling no matter what.’ It served me well.” - Carlene Carter, country singer and daughter of June Carter Cash.

“My advice would be, actually I’ve stolen it from my sister who I do listen to very carefully, and it is when you’re upset about something and you’re tempted to act impulsively about something, think to yourself: will this matter in ten years’ time? Quite often it won’t matter a damn in ten years’ time and that’s how you run your life in my view.” - Kathy Sheridan, presenter of The Women’s Podcast.

“Probably one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever gotten was from my mother. It’s to never make assumptions and to always have the courage to ask questions and say what you actually want because that’s quite difficult to do but quite important in life.” - Laura Whitmore, TV presenter.

“The best advice I ever got was from my mother and she said if you want to know what type of a person someone is, look at how they treat animals and how they treat their mother, which has stood me in good stead actually and kind of never fails.” - Lisa Hannigan, Irish singer-songwriter.

“The best advice I got was from Dr Ann Louise Gilligan when I started working as director of Marriage Equality and she spoke about the power of the imagination and she said to me: ‘If you can imagine it, then you can make it happen.’” - Moninne Griffith, Executive Director of BelongTo.

“We all get advice from many quarters and sometimes that advice can make you doubt your own judgement or indeed your self-belief. My mother in law reared ten children and she was a very wise woman. Having sought her advice on different matters, she once said me. Pass no remarks and do what you were going to do in the first place. As a woman who has worked in male dominated sectors all of my life, it is a piece of advice that has proved particularly useful to me. In other words, believe in yourself and don’t let anybody knock you off your path.” - Minister for the Arts Heather Humphreys.

“Your first idea is always your best idea.” - Hilary Fannin, Irish Times columnist and author of Hopscotch.

We want to hear your best advice.

Email thewomenspodcast@irishtimes.com or message us on Facebook or Twitter @ITWomensPodcast.

Individual episodes of the podcast are available on Soundcloud, iTunes, Stitcher and on irishtimes.com.