Woman's Hour

NB: The music in this broadcast has been removed from this podcast for rights reasons. In Sally Wainwright’s new BBC drama Riot Girls, a group of women in mid-life escape the pressures of caring for parents and kids - and the menopause - by forming a rock band. Rosalie Craig stars as the incredible singer that brings them together. Anita Rani talks to Sally and actor Rosalie about the power of female friendship. The ongoing Covid-19 inquiry is currently looking into the impact of the pandemic on children and young people, from education, health to social wellbeing. Alison Morton, the CEO of the Institute of Health Visitors, told the inquiry this week that the NHS's decision to redeploy health visitors meant that 'children were harmed' and there were 'life-ending consequences.' The BBC's Education Reporter Vanessa Clarke has been following the inquiry and joins Anita to talk about the latest news. As part of the BBC’s Nature Week, we’re encouraging you to get outside and connect with nature. Writer, advocate and skilled bike mechanic Vicky Balfour talks to Anita about how nature has become both a sanctuary and a source of strength for her as a parent of children with SEND. She describes how short moments outdoors can have a profound impact on mental and physical wellbeing, providing sensory regulation, confidence-building and resilience. Vicky also sheds light on the barriers SEND families face in accessing nature and calls for a more inclusive outdoor culture. Singer-songwriter Tanita Tikaram shot to fame in the late 1980s aged just 18 with her debut album Ancient Heart, which sold millions and featured iconic hits such as Twist in My Sobriety, (World Outside My Window) and Good Tradition. 37-years later, Tanika considers her latest album LIAR (Love Isn’t A Right), a sequel to the one that made her a household name. She talks to Anita about making this tenth album which revisits themes of identity and belonging. Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Rebecca Myatt

As Kemi Badenoch prepares to address Conservative Party conference for the second time this week, Nuala McGovern reflects on her first year as leader of the party and Leader of the Opposition, with BBC political correspondent Georgia Roberts and Conservative peer Baroness Kate Fall. The People's Tribunal for Women in Afghanistan is convening in Madrid this week to investigate Taliban crimes against women. Since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, Afghan women and girls have endured a significant rollback of their fundamental human rights. What will this tribunal - which has no legal authority - achieve for them? We hear from Shaharzad Akbar, former head of Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission, and Director of Rawadari, one of the organisations behind the Tribunal. Nuala talks to the French philosopher Manon Garcia. Manon watched the court proceedings of the Pelicot case in France, in which Dominique Pelicot and 46 other men were found guilty of the rape of Dominique’s wife Gisèle. In her book Living with Men, she examines French and other societies in light of the case and questions what more needs to be done. The visual artist Joy Gregory's retrospective exhibition Catching Flies with Honey opens at the Whitechapel Gallery today. As an artist Joy explores identity, history, race, gender and societal ideals of beauty all while pushing the possibilities of photography and other media. She discusses her life and work. Presenter: Nuala McGovern Producer: Kirsty Starkey

Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.

Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.

Melinda French Gates is on a crusade to boost research into women's health. She co-founded the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000 which has, to date, donated over $100 billion to charitable projects. Since her divorce from Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, she has left their joint enterprise and set up her own, Pivotal Ventures, which has one purpose: to put power into the hands of women. She joined Anita Rani in the Woman's Hour studio. Gloria Allred is one of the best known women’s rights lawyers in the US. She tells Nuala McGovern what has happened to victims' voices amongst the continuous revelations in the press from the Epstein Files. We then hear from bestselling author and leading feminist thinker Rebecca Solnit, who says the released documents are reminders of a culture that decades of feminism have started to dismantle. The conservationist and primatologist Dame Jane Goodall died this week aged 91. According to the Jane Goodall Institute, she died of natural causes in California where she was staying as part of a speaking tour in the US. There have been tributes from around the world. Wildlife biologist, National Geographic Explorer and President of the Wildlife Trust, Liz Bonnin, joins Anita Rani to remember this ground-breaking conservationist who revolutionised the study of great apes. Jillian Miller who is the director of the Gorilla Organisation, which works to save gorillas from extinction also pays tribute. Many of us will remember the multi-award winning Tracey Ullman from her TV shows, A Kick up the Eighties, Three of a Kind, as well as The Tracey Ullman Show, which was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic. Tracey joins Nuala McGovern to discuss her latest role in the film, Steve, in which she plays the deputy head in a last chance reform school for troubled teenage boys. A ‘carent ’is an adult child who is caring for one or both of their ageing parents, in-laws or elderly relatives. Many ‘carents’ will be balancing work and family alongside. Dr Jackie Gray, a retired GP and founder of The Carents Room, joins Nuala McGovern to discuss, along with Kendra and Rachel who provide care for their parents. Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Simon Richardson

Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.

Secret filming by the BBC’s Panorama programme last night revealed evidence of racism, misogyny and officers revelling in the use of force at one of London’s busiest police stations. Panorama’s evidence suggests that a toxic culture still exists inside the Met and that racist and misogynistic attitudes haven’t been eliminated but have been driven underground. Anita Rani speaks to Matt Jukes, Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. The secrets we keep reflect the conventions, taboos and laws of the outside world, and women have traditionally had the bigger burden of secrets, often unable to reveal things that could get them or others judged, in society or by law. Anita talks to Juliet Nicolson about her new book The Book of Revelations which explores secrets through social history, her own family and many case studies she spoke to. The conservationist and primatologist Dame Jane Goodall died yesterday, aged 91. According to the Jane Goodall Institute, she died of natural causes in California where she was staying as part of a speaking tour in the US. There has been tributes from around the world. Joining me Anita to remember this ground-breaking conservationist who revolutionised the study of great apes is wildlife biologist, National Geographic Explorer and President of the Wildlife Trust, Liz Bonnin, and Jillian Miller who is the director of the Gorilla Organisation who work to save gorillas from extinction. From gowns buried underground to transforming fabrics with melted bandages, fashion has a history of exploring the aesthetics of dirt and decay. A new exhibition at the Barbican, Dirty Looks, explores 50 years of designers from Vivienne Westwood to Alexander McQueen, who used dirt and distress to make statements about luxury, beauty, class and the environment. The exhibition also looks at waste as fashion is now one of the most polluting industries in the world. Anita is joined by the exhibition’s curator, Karen Van Godtsenhoven, and artist and designer, Michaela Stark, whose work challenges ideas of imperfection. Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Rebecca Myatt

Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.

Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.

Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.

Penny Lancaster is a special constable, TV personality and photographer. She’s also married to rock legend Rod Stewart. Penny talks to Anita Rani about her life so far - from being bullied at school and living with severe dyslexia, to her IVF journey and educating her boys about the menopause. Penny also shares insights into her marriage to Rod and how for the past four years she has served as a Special Constable with the City of London Police. We examine the part that women’s safety is playing in protests about immigration in the UK. Reflecting the range of opinion from women who are protesting outside asylum hotels and forming street patrols they say to protect girls, to women’s organisations who believe that violence against women and girls is being weaponised for political gain. Anita speaks to the BBC's Senior UK correspondent Sima Kotecha. Punch is a play that looks at the ripple effects of a single punch, thrown by a teenager on a night out in Nottingham with fatal consequences. It is on stage in London and the mother of the young man killed, Joan Scourfield, is played by Julie Hesmondhalgh. Both Julie and Joan join Anita to discuss this remarkable story of restorative justice. It's the Women's Rugby World Cup Final on Saturday between England and Canada. For the first time in history, an all-female grounds management team will be prepping the pitch for the Women’s final. It’s groundbreaking: only 2% of grounds managers are women, and there’s a recruitment crisis looming. Anita is joined by Cheryl Hill, part of the team at Twickenham stadium and Jennifer Carter of the Grounds Management Association. Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Rebecca Myatt

Highlights from the Woman's Hour week

Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.

Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.

The multi award-winning singer songwriter Annie Lennox has been part of the musical landscape for almost 50 years, from her days in The Tourists, to the Eurythmics and then going solo. Now at the age of 70, Annie has brought out a book of photographs called Annie Lennox: Retrospective, and talks to Nuala McGovern about her life and career. President Trump has said that pregnant women should avoid paracetamol because of the risks of autism and that US doctors will soon be advised not to prescribe Tylenol, as paracetamol is known in the US, to pregnant women. However he didn't provide any scientific evidence for this. UK health officials have stressed that paracetamol remains the safest painkiller available to pregnant women, and Health Secretary Wes Streeting has told women to ignore Trump's comments. Nuala is joined by Dr Alex Tsompanidis, senior research associate at the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University and the BBC's Health reporter, Jim Reed. It’s a year since the death of Alice Webb, the first woman in the UK to die from complications after a liquid Brazilian butt lift, a non-surgical procedure injecting filler into the buttocks. You don’t need to have any medical qualifications to carry out the procedure. We talk to Sasha Dean who had terrifying complications after a liquid BBL and to David Sines from the JCCP, which runs a voluntary regulator for practitioners. Are you guilty of ‘phubbing’? It’s the process of snubbing the person you are with in person by looking at your phone. New research shows that these phone snubs can have a huge impact on relationships. Dr Claire Hart, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Southampton, tells us about her findings and Dr Kaitlyn Regehr, University College London and author of Smartphone Nation, discusses the impact parental phubbing can have on children.

Journalist Mary McCarthy has been avoiding motorways for years, even planning her life around how to dodge them. She tells Kylie Pentelow how she discovered it’s a far more common problem than you might think, especially among women in mid-life. England are through to the Rugby World Cup final. They face Canada next Saturday but who will we see lift the trophy? Former player Kat Merchant gives her view. Who is Erika Kirk? Kylie speaks to Anne McElvoy, executive editor at Politico and host of the Sam and Anne political podcast, about the wife of Charlie Kirk, American activist and influencer, who was shot dead on 10 September. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks discusses her new adaptation of The Harder They Come, based on the classic 1972 film whose legendary soundtrack brought reggae to the world. She joins Kylie to explain her process for adapting classic stories and how she rewrote the rules for language and structure in theatre. The UK’s first ever exhibition dedicated to the life of the French Queen Marie Antoinette has just opened at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Marie Antoinette Style explores the lasting influence of the fashionable icon, showcasing more than 250 objects, some of which have never been seen outside of Versailles. So, who was this ill-fated queen and how does her style still resonate with us today?

How well does the law serve women? That’s a question Nuala puts to Brenda Marjorie Hale, The Rt. Hon. The Baroness Hale of Richmond, DBE a former judge who served as the first female President of the Supreme Court. She was the first woman and the youngest person to be appointed to the Law Commission, where she led the work on what became the 1989 Children Act. In 2019 she announced the Supreme Court’s judgement that the prorogation of Parliament was ‘unlawful, void and of no effect’. She discusses her new book, With the Law on Our Side – How the law works for everyone and how we can make it work better. BBC Celebrity Race Across the World will soon be back on our screens as four celebs pair up with a friend or family member and travel from a starting point anywhere in the world to another BUT with no phones or flights allowed and only the cost of the flight as money for the entire trip. Woman's Hour had the privilege of revealing one of the pairings: none other than Woman's Hour presenter Anita Rani and her father Balvinder Singh Nazran. To so many women the symptoms of pregnancy are instant, intense and unmistakeable; however some make it the full nine months without having any idea they’re even pregnant. This phenomenon is known as cryptic pregnancy, and the British Medical Journal suggests it’s more common than triplets. Nuala was joined by two women who have experienced this first-hand, plus Professor of Midwifery, Helen Cheyne to discuss. Patricia Lockwood is a poet, memoirist and novelist whose work straddles the literary world and the wilds of the internet. Patricia first went viral with her traumatic poem Rape Joke, while her memoir Priestdaddy, about being the daughter of a Catholic priest, has been called a modern classic. She talked to Nuala McGovern about her new book, Will There Ever Be Another You, which explores the surreal disorientation of illness, memory and recovery in the wake of Covid. Sudanese women and girls are bearing the brunt of a civil war that is entering its third year. The relentless conflict has triggered the world’s worst humanitarian crisis for 6 million displaced women and girls. Cases of conflict-related sexual violence remain hugely under-reported, but evidence points to its systematic use as a weapon of war. Yousra Elbagir, Sky News’ Africa Correspondent talked to Anita about the impact on women and also the role women play in providing support to the displaced. Are you a fan of words, their meanings and origins? The lexicographer Susie Dent, best known as the queen of Dictionary Corner on C4’s Countdown, has created a whole year’s worth of words, most of which you most probably never knew existed, in a freshly published almanac. It is called Words for Life and each day you can read an entry, digest its meaning and maybe laugh at its sound. Susie gives Anita some examples and explains her interest in words. Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Annette Wells Editor: Andrea Kidd

If your doctor or surgeon was convicted of rape you might expect them to be struck off. But that isn't always the case according to new research out today. The study by the Royal College of Surgeons looked at decisions by the medical practioners tribunal service, which rules on misconduct cases and decides on the sanctions. In a quarter of cases, they were more lenient than recommendations from the General Medical Council. They looked at 46 cases. In 11, the doctor was suspended instead of being struck off. Mei Nortley, a consultant vascular surgeon, is the lead author of the study and joins Anita Rani to explain more. Are you a fan of words, their meanings and origins? The lexicographer Susie Dent, best known as the queen of Dictionary Corner on C4’s Countdown, has created a whole year’s worth of words, most of which you most probably never knew existed in a freshly published almanac. It is called Words for Life and each day you can read an entry, digest its meaning and maybe laugh at its sound. Susie gives Anita some examples and explains her interest in words. There's been growing concern in the fashion industry about the increasing prominence of what industry experts say are very thin, European models becoming the beauty standard. While there has been a push for body positivity and diversity in the past, many - including Edward Enninful, the former editor-in-chief of British Vogue, are now questioning whether the rise in ultra-thin models signals a shift back to outdated ideals. To discuss, Anita speaks to Alex Fullerton who is a fashion writer, author and stylist. 73-year-old Sushila Karki has recently been sworn in as Nepal’s interim prime minister, the first woman to hold that office. This is after anti-corruption protests, when GenZ movement, as it’s been called, ousted the government, and more than 70 people were killed in the clashes with riot police. Normally the position is held by a member of parliament, but Sushila isn’t a politician, she was the country’s chief justice before her retirement. Anita is joined by Sanjaya Dhakal, a journalist with the BBC Nepali Service to find out why she was appointed and what difference people think she can make. Edel Murphy, the CEO of University of Atypical, an organisation that develops and promotes the work of deaf, disabled and neurodivergent artists in Northern Ireland talks about the arts festival Bounce, which will be taking place in Belfast and Derry/Londonderry in early October, featuring many female performers and artists. Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Corinna Jones

A group of cross-party MPs has called for root and branch transformation of the way mainstream education caters for children and young people with special educational needs and disablities, including new statutory minimum standards. One of the recommendations of the Education Select Committee is that individual care plans for children with special educational needs EHCPs should NOT be scrapped in England. The Government is expected to publish its plans on how to reform SEND provision in England this autumn. Joining Anita Rani to discuss the latest issues is the BBC's Education Reporter Kate McGough. Sudanese women and girls are bearing the brunt of a civil war that is entering its third year. The relentless conflict has triggered the world’s worst humanitarian crisis for 6 million displaced women and girls. Cases of conflict-related sexual violence remain hugely under-reported, but evidence points to its systematic use as a weapon of war. Yousra Elbagir, Sky News’ Africa Correspondent talks to Anita Rani about the impact on women and also the role women play in providing support to the displaced. BBC Celebrity Race Across the World will soon be back on our screens as four celebs pair up with a friend or family member and travel from a starting point anywhere in the world to another BUT with no phones or flights allowed and only the cost of the flight as money for the entire trip. Woman's Hour has the privilege of revealing one of the celebrity pairings: No other than BBC Woman's Hour presenter Anita Rani and her father Balvinder Singh Nazran. The US and UK are expected to sign a civil nuclear cooperation deal today as part of President Trump’s state visit to the UK. But some surveys suggest that there is less support from UK women for the power source than from men and only 22% of the current nuclear workforce are women. Anita talks to Julia Pyke, joint Managing Director at the new Sizewell C Nuclear Power Station and KP Parkhill, Associate Professor in the Department of Environment and Geography at the University of York who studies public attitudes to nuclear about whether nuclear power has a so-called women problem. Last night the finale of TV drama The Summer I Turned Pretty hit our screens. It’s a coming-of-age tale, packed full of teen romance and at its centre, a juicy love triangle. According to the New York Times, its main audience is 25 to 54-year-old women, and it’s not the only teen drama that has caught the attention of this age group. So, what’s the draw? Journalists Edaein O'Connell and Hannah Betts join Anita to discuss the appeal. Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Rebecca Myatt

To so many women the symptoms of pregnancy are instant, intense and unmistakeable; however some make it the full nine months without having any idea they’re even pregnant. This phenomenon is known as cryptic pregnancy, and the British Medical Journal suggests it’s more common than triplets. Nuala McGovern is joined by two women who have experienced this first-hand, plus Professor of Midwifery, Helen Cheyne to discuss. Actor Karen Pittman earned an Emmy nomination for her performance as The Morning Show’s hardworking producer Mia Jordan, alongside co-stars including Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston. As the newsroom drama returns to Apple TV+ for a fourth season, Karen joins Nuala to discuss the show’s themes, from truth and deepfakes, to women in the workplace. Karen also featured in the Netflix adaptation of Judy Blume’s teen romance Forever and is known to fans of Sex and the City spin off, And Just Like That, as Dr Nya Wallace. Poet Nikita Gill tells Nuala about her latest book Hekate the Witch. She is the Greek goddess of magics, the crossroads, keys and necromancy. Nikita retells Hekate's story, from being an orphaned child brought up in the Underworld to becoming a powerful goddess seeking revenge for her family. A Kenyan High Court has issued an arrest warrant for a British national, suspected of killing a 21-year-old Kenyan woman, Agnes Wanjiru, more than a decade ago. Agnes was found dead in 2012 in the grounds of a hotel near an army base, nearly three months after she had allegedly spent an evening socialising with British soldiers. Hannah Al-Othman, a journalist for the Guardian who originally broke the story at the Sunday Times, and the BBC's Akisa Wandera, senior East Africa journalist based in Nairobi speak to Nuala.