46:29 | Sep 29th, 2016
Where does private space for women end and public space begin? Where does a woman's right to wear, or walk, or say, what and where she wants become different to men's - on the beach? On the bus? Online? Joining Lauren Laverne to discuss: Shelina Jan...Show More
56:48 | Apr 20th
The photo of a young Sudanese woman chanting on top of a car went viral and became an iconic image in the protests against Omar al-Bashir’s rule. What role have women played in the protests? And what is the current status of women in the country? CNN...Show More
53:33 | Apr 19th
As we’ve mentioned recently, the number of children being taken into care in England is currently at a 10-year high. Two weeks ago we looked at the repeat removals of children by the court and the lengths some mothers have gone to avoid that. Today w...Show More
44:10 | Apr 18th
Three Sisters, Anton Chekov’s 1901 classic play, is on at The Almedia Theatre in London. It's about Olga, Masha and Irina who are frustrated with their small-town life especially after growing up for while in buzzing Moscow. When two glamorous mili...Show More
42:01 | Apr 17th
Dame Glenys Stacey is stepping down as HM Chief Inspector of Probation for England and Wales at the end of May. In her last annual report she was deeply critical of the Probation services saying that privatising offender management was "irredeemably...Show More
14:41 | Apr 17th
Diagnosing and managing food allergies in infants and children.
46:03 | Apr 16th
The photo of a young Sudanese woman chanting on top of a car has gone viral and has become an iconic image in the protests against Omar al-Bashir’s regime/rule. What role have women played in the protests? And what is the current status of women in t...Show More
48:08 | Apr 15th
Nearly a year ago the Republic of Ireland voted to change the law on abortion in a referendum. The majority voted to make it more available and so in January abortion became legal up to 12 weeks into a pregnancy. But Woman’s Hour has found out that s...Show More
56:49 | Apr 13th
As the second series of the comedy Fleabag comes to an end we talk about the appeal of female comedic characters. The author Erin Kelly, the TV Development Executive Danielle Dash and the Editor in Chief of Empire Magazine Terri White discuss. Katy...Show More
45:34 | Apr 12th
The television comedy dramas Fleabag and Derry Girls finished this week. What’s the appeal of the seriously flawed female character from Jane Austen’s Emma through to Bridget Jones? Upskirting is now a specific criminal offence across England and Wa...Show More
52:16 | Apr 11th
The Sexual Revolution liberated a generation, but did it do as much for women as it did for men? Virginia Nicholson joins us for a conversation about the impact that decade had. It's said that dogs are man’s best friend - but, we talk to two women wh...Show More
42:41 | Apr 10th
9 TO 5 THE MUSICAL tells the story of Doralee, Violet and Judy - three workmates pushed to boiling point by their sexist and egotistical boss. Louise Redknapp should have joined the cast for the opening of the show at the beginning of the year but ha...Show More
12:47 | Apr 10th
What makes the adolescent brain different and why is it that an easy child can become a challenging teenager? Jenni talks about risky behaviour and how to limit it with the neuroscientist Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, author of Inventing Ourselves...Show More
48:06 | Apr 9th
Waterproof mascara, mini-skirts, vibrant tights and athleisure: Mary Quant is widely considered to be a pioneer in women’s fashion. A new exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum celebrates the work of the iconic fashion designer. Jane talks to c...Show More
50:42 | Apr 8th
Radio 4’s soap opera, The Archers has long inspired a diverse and loyal fan base. The everyday tale of farming folk has tackled everything from unplanned pregnancy in the 1960s to the coercive control and domestic violence a couple of years’ ago. But...Show More
56:52 | Apr 6th
Juliet Uzor tells us about winning this year’s Great British Sewing Bee. What is the best way to care for a parent with dementia? We hear from Sarah Mitchell whose mother Wendy was diagnosed with early onset dementia at the age of 58. Sarah tells us...Show More
46:16 | Apr 5th
The final part in our wig series: Laura Lattimore is a 28-year-old blogger from London. She was diagnosed with Alopecia as a toddler. Since then, wigs have become a big part of Laura’s journey and self-image. She now uses her platform to promote awar...Show More
47:28 | Apr 4th
With the numbers of children being taken into care in England at a ten year high, we take a look at the women who face the repeat court-ordered removal of subsequent children. We hear the story of one woman who had already had her first two children ...Show More
41:58 | Apr 3rd
Origami outfits, upcycled upholstery and canine coats have kept viewers of the Great British Sewing Bee captivated for the last eight weeks on BBC2. Jenni speaks to the series 5 winner who was announced last night. What makes the adolescent brai...Show More
15:00 | Apr 3rd
“Maths anxiety” is real and one in ten children suffer from despair and rage when faced with the subject, according to new research from Cambridge University’s Faculty of Education and its Centre for Neuroscience. 1,700 British pupils aged eight to ...Show More
59:59 | Apr 2nd
More in our series looking at what wigs mean to a range of different women. Yesterday we looked at the experience of women who'd lost their hair through cancer treatment. Today we look at why wigs can be so political for black women. Mikai McDermo...Show More
51:03 | Apr 1st
Hair can be intensely personal and equally political. It can be a sign of confidence or beauty, rebellion or activism. But what about wigs? Why do some women choose to wear them and how significant can they be? Throughout this week we'll explore what...Show More
54:14 | Mar 30th
The folk duo, Fran and Flora play Eastern European inspired music from their album, Unfurl. The former Prime Minister of New Zealand Helen Clark, tells us about her recent work with the children’s charity World Vision where she’s been trying to help...Show More
45:43 | Mar 29th
Westminster Politics aside, we look at the wider impact that uncertainty about Brexit is having on families, friendships and out in the wider world of work. With MPs currently debating the way ahead for the whole country, we hear about some of the f...Show More
41:22 | Mar 28th
Fran & Flora are the violinist Flora Curzon and cellist Francesca Ter-Berg. Their debut album is called ‘Unfurl’ and it combines new arrangements of traditional Transylvanian, Romanian, Klezmer, Greek and Armenian music. They play live in the studio ...Show More
12:34 | Mar 27th
According to the latest government crime survey for England and Wales, Ketamine, a powerful horse tranquilizer and anaesthetic is an increasingly popular drug of choice for teenagers. The proportion of 16- to 24-year-olds using the drug rose in 2017...Show More
40:51 | Mar 27th
When you go shopping do you use the self-service checkouts? Or when you pop into a fast food place do you order on the touch- screens rather than go to the counter? If so, your transaction is through computers rather than people. This week the Office...Show More
49:24 | Mar 26th
According to the children’s charity World Vision, nine percent of girls in Afghanistan are married before the age of 15. Jane speaks to Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand who's been working with this charity to tackle this issue. She ...Show More
43:57 | Mar 25th
Smacking children in Wales could be banned after the Welsh Government published a bill removing “reasonable punishment” as a defence. If it’s made law children will get the same protection from physical punishment as adults. Some argue such a move co...Show More
56:49 | Mar 23rd
Jacinda Ardern New Zealand’s Prime Minister has been praised for her calm, clear and compassionate handling of the Christchurch massacre but do women leaders really do politics differently? Journalist Anne McElvoy and former special adviser Ayesha Ha...Show More
50:05 | Mar 22nd
Last week Cyclone Idai swept through Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, leaving behind a trail of destruction, killing hundreds and affecting an estimated 2.6 million people. We hear from Sacha Myers, part of Save the Children’s Emergency Health Unit...Show More
48:32 | Mar 21st
There's been widespread praise for Jacinda Ardern handling of the terrorist attack in Christchurch. She's been held up as an example of how women leaders can handle some problems better. But do women leaders really do things differently? Journalist A...Show More
43:11 | Mar 20th
A recent study connected to a current BBC 3 series, Porn Laid Bare, spoke to a thousand 18 to 25-year-olds across the UK. They were asked about porn. 47% of women said they'd watched porn in the last month and 14% said they felt that, at some point...Show More
10:14 | Mar 20th
Friendship battles between children have always existed – but how can you support your child if you feel they aren’t fitting in? How do you help your child make friends? And how much can friendship be taught anyway - or should adults leave children t...Show More
52:45 | Mar 19th
Every month Woman's Hour is joined by top chefs and cooks about how to perfect well loved dishes. Mary Berry takes the lead this week and tells us how to make a limoncello trifle. According to the latest government crime survey for England and Wal...Show More
47:43 | Mar 18th
In less than 10 years Lupita Nyong’o has starred in a number of high profile and award-winning roles. Her latest project ‘Us’ is a thriller-horror, directed by the Oscar-winning Jordan Peele. Lupita joins Jane to discuss skyrocketing into fame and th...Show More
56:45 | Mar 15th
We discuss the case of Nasrin Sotoudeh the Iranian lawyer, who’s been jailed for 38 years, and sentenced to 148 lashes for defending women’s rights. We hear from Mansoureh Mills Middle East Researcher from Amnesty and from Rana Rahimpour from the BBC...Show More
50:12 | Mar 15th
Women seeking asylum in the UK often find the expense of travel in their new country prevents them from being free to move around, volunteer and become involved in their community. The Bike Project in London supports female asylum seekers and refugee...Show More
44:18 | Mar 14th
The Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has been sentenced to a total of 38 years in jail and 148 lashes, according to her family. Ms Sotoudeh was charged with several national security-related offences, all of which she denies. She has spe...Show More
42:09 | Mar 13th
'New Daughters of Africa' features more than 200 writers from more than 50 countries. Its editor, Margaret Busby and Candice Carty-Williams, who has contributed to the collection, discuss why such a rich tradition of writing by women of African desce...Show More
20:30 | Mar 13th
The author and psychotherapist Philippa Perry talks to Jane about her latest publication ‘The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read’ and answers listeners' questions about how to parent well and give children a healthy start – while not being too har...Show More
48:52 | Mar 12th
Twenty five years ago today, women were allowed to become priests in the Church of England. Thirty two women were ordained that day at Bristol Cathedral and now there are nearly six thousand women priests who are women. We speak to one of the first w...Show More
53:06 | Mar 11th
We speak to author Reshma Saujani about the idea that girls and women are brought up to be perfectionists while boys are expected to be brave. Wendy Mitchell was diagnosed with young on-set dementia at just 58 years old. Before the diagnosis she wa...Show More
56:52 | Mar 9th
How do you keep your children safe from knife crime? We hear from youth worker Elaine Donnellon, and two mothers Yvonne Lawson and Rachel Webb whose sons died from knife attacks. The Minister for Women and Equalities, Penny Mordaunt on the governm...Show More
45:43 | Mar 8th
A production of Richard II has just opened at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in London. All the cast and crew are women of colour. It's co-directed by Adjoa Andoh, who also takes on the role of Richard II. She discusses the significance of this version...Show More
43:54 | Mar 7th
According to Forbes, Kylie Jenner is the world's youngest self-made billionaire at just 21. The youngest Kardashian family member is making her fortune from her best-selling cosmetics business. We discuss the debate about whether she's "self-made" wi...Show More
41:39 | Mar 6th
There appears to be rise in knife violence among young people, and it’s happening right around the country. Parents are asking themselves how to keep their children safe, especially when some of the recent stabbings appear to be so random, have happe...Show More
14:36 | Mar 6th
The number of boys receiving treatment for eating disorders has doubled in recent years, according to NHS figures. Since 2012, the number of boys going into hospitals in England, Scotland and Wales increased from 235 to 466. Jenni is joined by Samue...Show More
53:35 | Mar 5th
We talk to Journalist and Author Melanie Reid about her memoir where she gives us an honest account about when she fell from her horse, breaking her neck and fracturing her lower back. Melanie was paralysed from the top of her chest down she spent a...Show More
46:55 | Mar 4th
In the UK, someone is reported missing every 90 seconds - around 180,000 a year. What is it like for the families who are never reunited? How does it feel to be a mother with a missing son or daughter? Jane speaks to three women about their own exper...Show More
56:08 | Mar 2nd
A film about the stigma of menstruation in rural India has just won an Oscar – we hear from three British Asian women about the stigma in the UK. Psychologist Dr Sunny Kleo, journalist Poorna Bell and the writer Sonal Sachdev Patel. The world has b...Show More
46:23 | Mar 1st
The actress Amanda Abbington, who's well-known for her part in Sherlock, is now in a harrowing new play about teenage depression. It's called The Son and has just opened at the Kiln Theatre in North London. It's about 16 year old Nicolas who is goin...Show More
45:50 | Feb 28th
The world has been built by men, for men and, according to Caroline Criado Perez, we’ve struggled to do anything about it because we’ve been using biased data that excludes women. She explains why and what she thinks we can do about it. Author, Magg...Show More
41:56 | Feb 27th
Tom Kerridge's new book Fresh Start features recipes for home cooks who want to stop eating ready meals and takeaways and start cooking from scratch using fresh ingredients. He joins Jenni in the studio to Cook the Perfect…Roasted Winter Sprout Curry...Show More
19:50 | Feb 27th
What do you do if you suspect your child is drinking alcohol and everything seems to be getting out of control? And what’s the best way to introduce alcohol to your child – if at all? Jane Garvey speaks to Mandy Saligari, author of ‘Proactive Parent...Show More
53:36 | Feb 26th
According to a new survey, more than half of university students in the UK are being exposed to unwanted sexual behaviour. That ranges from inappropriate touching, explicit messages, cat-calling, being followed or being forced into sex or sexual acts...Show More
48:25 | Feb 25th
Monday 25th February is 25 years to the day that serial killer Fred West confessed to the murder of his daughter Heather, and the first set of remains were excavated from 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester, crimes for which he and his wife Rose were foun...Show More
56:40 | Feb 23rd
The poet and writer Fatimah Asghar is the voice behind the web series Brown Girls. She talks about her experience of being a young Pakistani American woman and tells us about her new poetry collection. Men hold one in five of the best paid jobs in n...Show More
48:47 | Feb 22nd
Of the twelve MPs who resigned so far this week from the Labour and Conservative parties, seven of them are women. Jane speaks to Sarah Childs, Professor of Politics and Gender at Birkbeck University about the significance of their resignations. Th...Show More
45:37 | Feb 21st
Jenni speaks to Mary Akrami, director of the Afghan Women’s Network and Sunday Times Chief Foreign Correspondent and author, Christina Lamb who has been reporting on Afghanistan for decades. Why are there no women involved in the current peace negot...Show More
41:18 | Feb 20th
More Family Secret, today we hear from Prue who's niece brought her a DNA kit for her 70th Birthday. When she found out that she could find people with matched DNA, she was shocked to discover that the man who brought her up was in fact NOT her bio...Show More
13:29 | Feb 20th
Measles cases in Europe have tripled between 2017 and 2018. It's the highest number recorded this decade, according to the World Health Organisation and in America, two states are experiencing an outbreak of measles. Jane is joined by Helen Bedford, ...Show More
52:55 | Feb 19th
A look at the issues raised by the case of Shamima Begum the 19 year old former east London schoolgirl who travelled to Syria back in 2015 to join the Islamic State group. We hear from Huda Jawad a Muslim feminist, Nimra Tahir who's a lawyer and ...Show More
52:05 | Feb 18th
The 2019 Oscars are on Sunday and no women are in the Best Director category. However, one woman's made it in the Best Foreign Language category. She's Nadine Labaki, the director of Capernaum. She's also the first Lebanese woman ever to be nominate...Show More
56:51 | Feb 16th
Head Coach of the England Netball Team, Tracey Neville tells us about her work to get Netball recognised as a professional sport. New research shows almost two thirds of those who left the Bar on the Western Circuit over the last six years were wome...Show More
45:21 | Feb 15th
New research highlights how many women leave the bar mid-career. So why is it so difficult for women to progress in a career as a barrister? We hear from a barrister currently on maternity leave and another who has returned to the profession after ha...Show More
45:12 | Feb 14th
Netball is played in schools across the UK, but as a professional sport has had little recognition. When the England Netball team took home Gold at the Commonwealth Games last year, that changed. Head Coach Tracey Neville joins us to discuss the impa...Show More
42:56 | Feb 13th
How important is it to celebrate your female friendships? It's Galentine’s Day! The day before Valentine’s Day, it was first mentioned in an episode of the American sitcom Parks and Recreation nearly 10 years ago. It's now a part of card and present ...Show More
15:53 | Feb 13th
There is no single 'autism test'. But as diagnosis can lead to a child getting the right support, what do you do if you think that your child may be autistic? How do you get a diagnosis and what can you do to support your child? Jane speaks to Emma G...Show More
57:30 | Feb 12th
Measles cases in Europe have tripled between 2017 and 2018, the highest number recorded this decade according to the World Health Organisation. We discuss parental attitudes to vaccinating children and what parents should know with Helen Bedford, Pr...Show More
50:13 | Feb 11th
Zelda la Grange was Nelson Mandela’s PA. She was with him for nearly 20 years and became indispensable to him, so much so that some members of his family found it hard, and still do. As for her, she regarded him as a grandfather-type figure. It’s nea...Show More
56:45 | Feb 9th
Pope Francis has for the first time publicly acknowledged the scandal of priests and bishops sexually abusing nuns. Rocio Figueroa, a theologian and lecturer and Doris Reisinger Wagner tell us their experience in a discussion with Sister Sharlet Wagn...Show More
50:49 | Feb 8th
Southeastern trains said fewer than 5% of its drivers are women. They've launched a campaign to get forty percent of applicants to be women by 2021. Driver Kelly-Joe Ballard talks to Jane about why she loves the job. All graphic images of self-...Show More
47:42 | Feb 7th
Pope Francis has for the first time publicly acknowledged the scandal of priests and bishops sexually abusing nuns, and says he is committed to doing more to fight the problem. Jenni speaks to survivors; Rocio Figueroa a theologian and lecturer, and ...Show More
18:12 | Feb 6th
Emma Pickett, author of The Breast Book and a former deputy head teacher says that girls and boys aren’t being taught properly about breasts. She joins Jane along with Ruby Stevenson from Brook, the sexual health and well being charity for young peo...Show More
42:54 | Feb 6th
Human Rights Watch has concluded that the Polish government is putting women's rights and safety at risk. It says that since coming to power in 2015, the Law and Justice Party government has targeted women’s rights groups through raids and funding cu...Show More
49:28 | Feb 5th
Sasha Clayton is 24 and lives in Plaistow with her mum, step-dad and little sister. She spends most of her time scrolling through social media alone in her room. Sasha wants to singer - but she needs money to make that dream come true. Superhoe is a ...Show More
53:09 | Feb 4th
Catherine Simpson, on the left of the picture, comes onto Woman's Hour to talk about her memoir which is about her sister's suicide. Tricia, who was younger than Catherine, decided to take her own life when she was in her forties. Catherine's book is...Show More
56:14 | Feb 2nd
Woman’s Hour joined forces with BBC Radio Sheffield for a series of programmes looking at how women are feeding their babies and how it makes them feel. Jane talks to their Weekend Breakfast presenter Kat Cowan who’s recently returned to work after m...Show More
43:10 | Feb 1st
Skunk Anansie have brought out a new album 25LIVE@25 - a compilation of live recordings from the last 25 years. It was released on Jan 25th. The band ‘turn’ 25 this year. Skin talks to Jenni and sings live in the Woman's Hour studio. Women in Saudi...Show More
25:29 | Jan 31st
Woman’s Hour has joined forces with BBC Radio Sheffield for a special series of programmes looking at how women are feeding their babies and how it makes them feel. Today Jane talks to their Weekend Breakfast presenter Kat Cowan who’s recently return...Show More
44:54 | Jan 31st
Sarah Ewart has brought a case against the Northern Ireland Department of Health and Justice for breaching her human rights. Six years ago she travelled to England to terminate a pregnancy for a fatal foetal abnormality. She discusses her decision t...Show More
58:29 | Jan 30th
Listeners to Woman's Hour and BBC Radio Sheffield share their experience of breast, bottle or mixed feeding. Following our survey which found half of women felt they'd let their baby down when they struggled we discuss how women make their decisions,...Show More
47:51 | Jan 29th
We reveal the results of the survey we commissioned, together with BBC Radio Sheffield, to discover how, in the 21st century women are feeding their babies. We asked Comres to carry out the research. More than a thousand women took part. They were a...Show More
53:54 | Jan 28th
Woman’s Hour has joined forces with BBC Radio Sheffield for a special series of programmes looking at how women are feeding their babies and how it makes them feel. Today Jane talks to their Weekend Breakfast presenter Kat Cowan who’s recently return...Show More
56:50 | Jan 26th
The doyenne of ITV Lorraine Kelly tells us what it’s like to have spent the last 35 years in broadcasting and why she's so excited about space travel. The Children’s Commissioner for England Anne Longfield discusses the growing pressure on child pro...Show More
50:16 | Jan 25th
To mark Holocaust Memorial Day on Sunday, Holocaust survivor Lily Ebert tells her story. Her daughter Bilha and great-granddaughter Miri explain how Lily's experience has shaped them. The U.S. Government shutdown is in its fifth week, making it the...Show More
44:59 | Jan 24th
Are children missing out? The National Audit Office and the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health have raised concerns about services for children this week. Anne Longfield, Children's Commissioner for England joins us to discuss what she thin...Show More
40:20 | Jan 23rd
Inspired by real life events, a new film ‘Love Sonia’ is the story of a young girl from a small village in India who finds herself caught up in the global sex trafficking industry. One of the stars of the film is Freida Pinto. She joins Jenni to disc...Show More
19:30 | Jan 23rd
How do you get the best out of work and the best out of your home life? Jane speaks to Annie Ridout, author of the Freelance Mum and Corrine Stuart, now full-time and head of sales at IPSE, a trade association which represents all self-employed peopl...Show More
47:55 | Jan 22nd
This January marks Lorraine Kelly’s 35th anniversary in broadcasting and viewing figures for Lorraine, her self-titled show on ITV, are at their highest in five years. Jane talks to Lorraine about the secret to her longevity, how her background has a...Show More
46:36 | Jan 21st
We mark the launch of the government’s Domestic Violence Bill and discuss the social and economic costs of domestic violence. Is pressure to conform to the “good girl” stereotype holding back female pupils, and what can be done about it? Proposal...Show More
56:44 | Jan 19th
Malala Yousafzai tells us about her new book highlighting the stories of girls around the world who find themselves refugees. It was revealed this week that West Midlands Police failed to record more than 16,000 violent and sexual crimes. So how big...Show More
47:31 | Jan 18th
Women are marching around the world this weekend. It's the third Women’s March. The first one was in 2017. The march's slogan has been ‘Women’s Rights are Human Rights’, but how has the message changed and evolved since it started? There are also rep...Show More
45:55 | Jan 17th
Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the most senior liberal justice on the US Supreme Court. She is also 85 and in the past two months has fractured three ribs and had two cancerous nodules removed from her left lung. She has become a popular cultural icon, affec...Show More
43:52 | Jan 16th
In January 1919 the Spartacus League attempted to overthrow the German government. It was a short-lived revolutionary bid and its two leaders were brutally murdered and dumped in a Berlin river. One of those leaders was Rosa Luxemburg, a Polish Jew b...Show More
10:29 | Jan 16th
If you’ve already got two children out of bed this morning, washed, teeth brushed, dressed, breakfasted and off to school and then set about doing whatever’s necessary for you, the concept of a stress-free family life may seem somewhat alien. And it’...Show More
52:16 | Jan 15th
Kurdish politician Leyla Guven faces many years in a Turkish prison. She has been on hunger strike for nearly 70 days and is now gravely ill. Human rights lawyer Margaret Owen has just returned from Turkey with the latest news of Leyla Guven and ot...Show More
48:11 | Jan 14th
Malala Yousafzai is a beacon for girls’ education, famously continuing her campaign after she was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman aged 15. She’s now written a new book highlighting the stories of girls around the world who become refugees. She j...Show More
56:51 | Jan 12th
The Radio 1 DJ and number 12 on the Woman’s Hour Powerlist 2018, Annie Mac, introduces us to the new music and women we’ll be listening to this year. The writer Michele Roberts and the playwright Rebecca Lenkiewicz discuss the life and feminism of t...Show More
48:27 | Jan 11th
How to get divorced well. Lots of couples start the process with the best of intentions, but how do you get through it with some kind of relationship still intact? We hear from bestselling author and Divorce Coach, Sara Davison, and Woman’s Hour list...Show More
45:41 | Jan 10th
We hear about the case of Cyntoia Brown and calls to reform the way US state laws treat women who kill their abusers. She has served fifteen years after being convicted of killing a man who had bought her for sex and was recently granted clemency by ...Show More
42:28 | Jan 9th
The Claudine novels about a teenage girl that French writer Colette originally penned under her husband’s name were an immediate sensation and she went on to become a cultural icon who inspired a generation of artists. Now Keira Knightley is playing...Show More
11:56 | Jan 9th
In 2018 we recruited four women who were due to become grandmothers for the first time, to talk about what kinds of grandparents they would like to be. In December, Caroline Donne, who recently became a grandmother herself, asked Rubina from Manches...Show More
50:25 | Jan 8th
We look at the implications of a new law in Saudi Arabia where women will be told by text when their husband wants to divorce them. In the past women were left unaware of their status and alimony rights. In addition, women can now drive, go to sport...Show More
52:55 | Jan 7th
The BBC Sound of 2019 top 5 will be announced day by day this week. Who should we be looking out for? BBC Radio 1 DJ and number 12 on the Woman’s Hour Power List 2018 Annie Mac joins Jane to tell us who’s hotly tipped, as well as discussing her own p...Show More
56:19 | Jan 5th
Highlights from the Woman's Hour week.Presented by Jenni Murray Editor:Jane Thurlow
44:51 | Jan 4th
This year marks an important date in legal history for women. One hundred years ago The Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act was passed. It meant that for the first time women were allowed to train as solicitors and barristers and they could also be a ...Show More
10:13 | Jan 3rd
This week the Government’s Minister for Loneliness supported the idea of families taking grandparents on holiday with them. But do multi-generational holidays work? Soo Kim is a travel reporter for the Daily Telegraph and says that there has been a r...Show More
45:06 | Jan 3rd
Children’s TV presenter Cerrie Burnell is a familiar face to many children and their parents. She started out with roles in Grange Hill, EastEnders and Holby City before joining CBeebies as one of their main presenters in 2009. In 2013, Cerrie publis...Show More
42:16 | Jan 2nd
Jennifer Pike rose to fame when she won the BBC Young Musician of the Year award in 2002 aged just 12. Since then, she’s performed internationally as a soloist and chamber musician, and is now releasing an album of Polish compositions. Jennifer joins...Show More
16:28 | Jan 2nd
Woman's Hour listeners got in touch with the programme to talk about becoming grandmothers for the first time. Four of them, Rubina, Erika, Angie and Rosemary joined Caroline Donne (who recently became a grandmother herself), to look back at the kind...Show More
43:33 | Jan 1st
We've brought together four different women - women who have faced or are still facing huge challenges with remarkable wisdom, resourcefulness, courage and resilience. Nequela Whittaker works in South London with young people in danger of getting in...Show More
49:22 | Dec 31st, 2018
Tina Daheley discusses how reading challenges us emotionally and intellectually. We hear about the books that have changed the way critics and writers think about life. And we hear about the legacy books of Woman's Hour listeners.
53:45 | Dec 29th, 2018
We hear from four women who turned 18 in 2018. Rachel, Amika, Jayde and Cerys tell us how their year has been and what their hopes and aspirations are for the future. We discuss sexuality and power in the music industry with the singer Becky Hill, t...Show More
49:22 | Dec 28th, 2018
Marina Benjamin has written extensively about her relationship with sleep and Sasha Stephens was a “chronic insomniac” who, after 15 years, found her own solution – and now sleeps for eight or nine hours. They both join Tina to explore why sleep is n...Show More
45:45 | Dec 27th, 2018
A new BBC six part adaptation of Victor Hugo’s 19th century classic novel Les Miserables is about to hit our screen. Lily Collins star Fantine and joins Jenni to discuss the role of the young and desperate mother forced to leave her daughter and...Show More
52:49 | Dec 26th, 2018
Celebrating Powerful Women in Music. This year we counted down the top 40 most powerful women in the music industry for the Woman's Hour Power List and only three performers made it into the Top 10. They were Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and Adele. Advocate...Show More
06:00 | Dec 26th, 2018
Expensive housing means that some young people are finding themselves living at home for longer. How much time are they spending with their parents watching television? How easy is to find something that everyone wants to watch? Woman's Hour listen...Show More
50:16 | Dec 24th, 2018
On Christmas Eve you may be ready to put your feet up and relax, or be frantically trying to perfect your preparations ahead of the arrival of your nearest and dearest. We'll be talking to listeners about the efforts made to make it a happy Christm...Show More
47:22 | Dec 21st, 2018
You know it’s Christmas when The Nutcracker is being performed in various theatres and concert halls across the country. Jenni speaks to principal dancer, Celine Gittens, from the Birmingham Royal Ballet about playing the Sugar Plum Fairy, the rigour...Show More
44:28 | Dec 20th, 2018
New film ‘The Favourite’ set in 18th century England features a frail and irascible Queen Anne played by Olivia Coleman whose attention and affection is being sought by her political adviser Lady Sarah Churchill (Duchess of Marlborough) and ruthless ...Show More
11:33 | Dec 19th, 2018
If you’ve got children, how do you make the best of the festive period when you’re separated? Who goes where when and if you have them, how do you divide the family traditions? Jenni speaks to Zoe Desmond, found of Frolo an App for single parents,...Show More
44:06 | Dec 19th, 2018
A new exhibition called Embroidered Stories has opened at the National Museum of Scotland featuring 74 samplers made in 18th and 19th century by girls and women whose careful work tells us about their education, families and much more . Jac Phillimo...Show More
54:01 | Dec 18th, 2018
This week the government introduces new legislation described as the “largest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation”. What are they and what do they mean for the female work-force? Jane speaks to Kate Bell, Head of Economic and Social Affair...Show More
51:09 | Dec 17th, 2018
After a night out how do you feel? Anxious? Paranoid? The feeling of overwhelming guilt, stress and worry you experience the day after a drinking binge is called ‘hangxiety’. New research by UCL found that shy people are more prone to 'hangxiety' yet...Show More
56:46 | Dec 15th, 2018
Natasha Gordon tells us about her new play Nine Night and how it feels to be the first black British female playwright to have a play showing in the West End. What difference does it make to have female MP’s and voters when it comes to improving wom...Show More
1:00:20 | Dec 14th, 2018
December 14th is the 100th anniversary of the first time some women, an estimated eight million of them, were eligible to vote. It was also the first time that women were able to stand for election as a Member of Parliament. We’ll be celebrating thes...Show More
45:23 | Dec 13th, 2018
Natasha Gordon is the first black British female playwright to have a play on in the West End. She talks about her role as Lorraine in "Nine Night" which is all about family, food, music and a Jamaican mourning ritual. Online shopping is being ...Show More
41:42 | Dec 12th, 2018
New research shows that women who have children in their 30's have a higher risk of breast cancer. Jenni asks Dr Emma Pennery, Clinical Director at Breast Cancer Care to look behind the headline and put the study into context. In her new prod...Show More
09:40 | Dec 12th, 2018
Some parents were outraged by an item they heard on Woman's Hour about grandmothers-to-be. What made them especially cross was the criticism of mums' use of phones and screens and the implication that parents were failing in their duties and not com...Show More
49:36 | Dec 11th, 2018
Roxane Gay is an American columnist and author. Her award-winning autobiography, Hunger, has been praised for opening difficult conversations around fatphobia and feminism. She talks to Jane Garvey about the politics of race, gender and sexuality - ...Show More
55:14 | Dec 10th, 2018
Trying to conceive should be happy but for couples struggling with infertility it can be a monthly rollercoaster of emotions. There's the pressure of having sex at certain times and then there's the dreaded two week wait after IVF to find out if you'...Show More
56:51 | Dec 8th, 2018
The musical Caroline, or Change is now in the West End, continuing to provoke and entertain its audiences. We hear from its star Sharon D. Clarke There’s been story after story about arguments between The Royals. Kate Middleton and Meghan Markel’s...Show More
46:26 | Dec 7th, 2018
Angela Merkel has announced she is to step down after 18 years at the helm of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union, though will stay on as Chancellor for the rest of her current term. So who will replace her? One woman is up against two men – Annegre...Show More
44:17 | Dec 6th, 2018
Our four grannies- to-be, Rubina from Manchester, Erika from Bedfordshire, Angie from Nottingham and Rosemary from East Staffordshire talk about their anxieties around the birth of their grandchild. Angelica Kauffman was one of the founding membe...Show More
40:25 | Dec 5th, 2018
Some newspapers are reporting a feud between the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Sussex. But how much is this really the case? How much is it simply a made-up misogynistic storyline? We hear from Victoria Murphy, a journalist who has writte...Show More
50:15 | Dec 4th, 2018
Trans women are keen to share the social, health and intrinsic benefits of playing sport with other women. Trans women athletes can compete with women at international level, but many women feel that transgender sportswomen are at a natural physical ...Show More
52:30 | Dec 3rd, 2018
Sammy Woodhouse wants the law allowing rapists to have contact with their children changed. She started a petition last week and more than 200, 000 people have signed it already. Sammy was a victim of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham and was 15...Show More
53:28 | Dec 1st, 2018
Melanie Brown, achieved global fame as ‘Scary Spice’ in the Spice Girls. In her autobiography "Brutally Honest" she talks about the painful relationships she’s had and why she thinks her friendship with the Spice Girls has stood the test of time. ...Show More
40:46 | Nov 30th, 2018
The UK has the 4th highest level of prenatal alcohol use worldwide, yet rates of Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder are unknown. New research published by the University of Bristol today reveals some concerning statistics. Tina speaks to Dr Cheryl Mcqu...Show More
44:58 | Nov 29th, 2018
Over a quarter of mums (27%) did not enjoy their maternity leave as much as they thought they would, according to a poll commissioned for The Emma Barnett Show on BBC Radio 5 Live. ComRes questioned over 1,000 women who’d been on maternity leave in ...Show More
08:25 | Nov 28th, 2018
Fruit machines, betting shops and card games will be familiar terms to most people, but what about loot boxes? Or skin gambling? New research shows that 39% of 11-16 year olds had gambled in the last year. Guardian Games Editor Keza MacDonald and Dr ...Show More
41:34 | Nov 28th, 2018
Mel B, or Melanie Brown, has been in the spotlight for over 20 years when she achieved global fame as “Scary Spice” from the Spice Girls. The group was the best-selling female band of all time. Since then she's embarked on solo music projects, has b...Show More
44:33 | Nov 27th, 2018
Opera North’s new commission marking the Armistice centenary Not Such Quiet Girls, tells the repressed and forgotten stories of women in World War I through staged scenes and music from the time. Singer and academic Jessica Walker talks to Jane about...Show More
50:25 | Nov 26th, 2018
Joan Collins ‘Unscripted’ - Dame Joan Collins’ new one-woman show promises scandalous secrets and stories from her long career in showbusiness. Joan joins Jane to talk about it all; from predatory movie producers in old Hollywood, to her latest succe...Show More
56:49 | Nov 24th, 2018
This week sees the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women begin 16 days working towards that goal. But how is emotional abuse, which can be difficult to see visible signs of, fitting into that work? We talk to Natalie, who su...Show More
49:36 | Nov 23rd, 2018
Since the end of 2015 controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship has been an offence. Jenni speaks to Natalie, one of the few survivors to secure a conviction against her abuser for coercive and controlling behaviour, who...Show More
20:08 | Nov 22nd, 2018
When is the right time to tell your children about periods and how do you tell them? What’s the very best advice that parents and carers can give? Jane is joined by Natalie Byrne who has written and illustrated a book ‘Period’ and Emma Chesworth, a...Show More
46:36 | Nov 22nd, 2018
In 1992 Jayne Zito's first husband, Jonathan, was stabbed to death by a paranoid schizophrenic at Finsbury Park tube station in London, just months after they were married. Calling for an independent inquiry as soon as the trial finished, she headed...Show More
39:45 | Nov 21st, 2018
Hundreds of women from all over the country have been invited by their MP to Westminster today to mark the centenary of the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act passed on 21 November 1918 which gave all women over the age of 21 the right to run ...Show More
47:06 | Nov 20th, 2018
Theresa May has been described by journalists as "iron", a "rock", as handling the situation as "only a woman can" while simultaneously being subjected to public displays of sympathy. We discuss attitudes towards powerful women under pressure. Why ...Show More
49:50 | Nov 19th, 2018
The music industry was dominated by men back in the sixties but Cilla Black was never scared to stand up for herself. She was Britain’s best-selling female singer back then. Now a new album has been released called Cilla Black with the Royal Liverpo...Show More
56:49 | Nov 17th, 2018
Comedian, actress, activist and musician Lea DeLaria - famous for playing Big Boo in Orange is the New Black - tells us about her homage to David Bowie. We hear about a new health initiative in England for women that will focus on disease prevention...Show More
47:45 | Nov 16th, 2018
Comedian, actress, activist and musician Lea DeLaria is famous for playing ‘Big Boo’ in ‘Orange Is The New Black’ but she made her name as the first openly gay stand-up on a late night show in America. She joins Jane in the studio to talk about her j...Show More
44:49 | Nov 15th, 2018
Jessie Cave is a comedian, cartoonist and actor and best known for her role as Lavender Brown in the Harry Potter films. She talks about her new play Sunrise, about moving on from a painful break-up and dating again as a single mother. Women ser...Show More
16:17 | Nov 14th, 2018
What makes children laugh, what happens to their brain and body, and why is laughter so important for a child’s development? Jane is joined by the children’s author, Michael Rosen and Professor Sophie Scott, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at UC...Show More
41:47 | Nov 14th, 2018
We discuss plans to improve women's heath with Health Minister, Jackie Doyle-Price and Lesley Regan, President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Phyllis Logan is playing the late Patricia Highsmith, famous for her Ripley serie...Show More
49:03 | Nov 13th, 2018
Why is laughter so important for a child’s development? What makes children laugh and what happens to their brain and body? Children’s author, Michael Rosen and Professor Sophie Scott, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL join us to discuss. A...Show More
56:51 | Nov 12th, 2018
As Michelle Obama releases her memoir Becoming, we ask what impact she has had on women around the world. A new BBC Four drama, There She Goes, focuses on the life of a family where Rosie, a nine-year-old girl, has a learning disability. We discuss...Show More
56:48 | Nov 10th, 2018
Mary Portas wants to encourage businesses to change the way they work and value collaboration, empathy, instinct and trust. She tells us about her new book Work Like A Woman. This week MPs met to talk about the bullying and harassment report deliver...Show More
48:55 | Nov 9th, 2018
Mary Portas is well known for trying to turn failing businesses and high streets around and of course for her TV shows, but she’s also an established retail expert. . Her latest book is "Work Like a Woman" which she calls a “Manifesto for Change”. ...Show More
46:01 | Nov 8th, 2018
The government hasn't updated guidance on sex education for 18 years. In a law pushed forward by a group of cross party MPs in 2017 it promised to make relationship and sex education compulsory in every school in England for the first time. The co...Show More
42:25 | Nov 7th, 2018
We discuss the outcome of the US midterm elections and what the results mean for women. Breast cancer research has been in the headlines this week, we hear about what we actually know, what research is yet to be done and what the best current advice ...Show More
15:41 | Nov 7th, 2018
18% of women in the UK are childfree at the age of 45, a higher percentage than in any other industrialised country except Spain and Austria (OECD figures). How are women making the decision about whether to have children or not, and what help is ou...Show More
48:10 | Nov 6th, 2018
Today the state pension age for women changes to 65. What are the historical reasons for the discrepancy with men? And what does the change mean for women today and in the future? Dame Laura Cox delivered her report into the bullying and harassment...Show More
52:32 | Nov 5th, 2018
Carey Mulligan is in a new film called Wildlife. It's about an American couple in 1960. Their marriage is crumbling. Carey Mulligan plays the stay at home wife who unravels while her husband is working away from home. Carey joins Jane to talk about t...Show More
56:49 | Nov 3rd, 2018
Dame Darcey Bussell looks back at her career of over 20 years dancing in the Royal Ballet and tells us why she's passionate about promoting dance in state schools. We discuss the impact of ‘body positivity’ on social media to empower women of colour...Show More
44:57 | Nov 2nd, 2018
The most senior woman doctor at the BMA says the NHS needs a #MeToo movement to deal with sexual harassment. The BMA have carried out a two year investigation into harassment and bullying in hospitals and have found that 4 out of 10 doctors who took ...Show More
12:11 | Nov 1st, 2018
Should parents be told if their children are struggling at university? A proposal has been put forward by the Higher Education Minister, Sam Gyimah, who says more attention should be paid to the mental health of students in universities. The institu...Show More
53:13 | Nov 1st, 2018
Jill Soloway, creator of the drama series, Transparent, talks to Jane about the inspiration behind the award-winning show, her growing understanding of trans issues and her own decision to identify as non-binary. Journalist Helen Russell uncovers v...Show More
41:49 | Oct 31st, 2018
Dame Darcey Bussell joins Jenni to look back over a career of over 20-years dancing in the Royal Ballet before becoming a judge for Strictly Come Dancing. She will celebrate her 50th birthday next year and will be sharing tales of her amazing career ...Show More
51:34 | Oct 30th, 2018
They’re called Future Leaders and they’re fifty of the brightest and best, according to The British Council. They’re in London this week for high-powered training and networking. They were selected from 16,000 applications worldwide. We talk to two o...Show More
49:41 | Oct 29th, 2018
Gender dysphoria describes someone who experiences distress because their biological sex differs from their gender identity. It used to be more common among boys but has now become more prevalent in girls. Woman’s Hour looks at why there has been suc...Show More
56:42 | Oct 27th, 2018
Jenny Graham has become the fastest woman to cycle around the world. She tells us what it’s like to be a female endurance cyclist. A new survey of 74,000 teenage girls in India has found that half of these girls are underweight with one in two suffe...Show More
42:59 | Oct 26th, 2018
Theresa May recently announced that both gay and straight couples will soon be able to choose between a marriage and a civil partnership, statistics show that marriage and divorce numbers are at an all time low and a recent survey showed a quarter of...Show More
45:14 | Oct 25th, 2018
Natascha McElhone is a British actress who’s been in The Truman Show, Designated Survivor and Californication. Now she’s in a new drama which is about going to Mars. It’s called The First. She plays a visionary aerospace magnate who’s strong and inde...Show More
39:47 | Oct 24th, 2018
We meet Anna Meredith – Number 31 on the Woman’s Hour Power List 2018 and the composer of ‘majestic bangers’. Anna’s work brings electronic and classical music together and in to the mainstream, so it’s little wonder she caught the judges attention,...Show More
54:45 | Oct 23rd, 2018
Women and girls face 'relentless'harassment on the street, say MPs from the Women and Equalities Committee. Sarah Green co-director of End Violence Against Women comments on the measures they are proposing. Michelle Diskin Bates is the sister of B...Show More
51:08 | Oct 22nd, 2018
Training to be a prison officer takes 12 weeks. Meet Sally, who's the third woman in our series. She describes the training and explains why she's so excited to start work in a men's prison. It's estimated that more than 8,000 workers will strike o...Show More
56:46 | Oct 20th, 2018
The actor Sally Field tells us about her challenging childhood and her rise to fame. In some areas in the UK, children outnumber adopters three to one. What is it like to be adopted? We hear from Zara Phillips a musician and author of Somebody’s Dau...Show More
51:38 | Oct 19th, 2018
French-Swedish Choral Conductor Sofi Jeannin has a career of firsts – the most recent being her appointment as Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers. As she prepares for her first concert in the role tonight, she joins Jane to discuss getting women into...Show More
44:32 | Oct 18th, 2018
Being a prison officer is a tough job. In the second of our three part series about why some women want to do it, we speak to Calypso who's 24. She's just completed 12 weeks of training at Newbold Revel, the largest prison officer training centre in ...Show More
39:37 | Oct 17th, 2018
Academy-Award-winning actor Sally Field on her challenging childhood, her rise to fame from playing Sister Bertrille in the 60s’ American sitcom the Flying Nun to starring in countless Hollywood hit films including Norma Rae, Lincoln, Forrest Gump an...Show More
49:01 | Oct 16th, 2018
The Government is consulting on reforming the Gender Recognition Act. It's asking how well current legal processes work when someone wants to change gender and what should be done. The consultation has generated a huge amount of debate. Some feminist...Show More
44:44 | Oct 16th, 2018
Wise Children is not only the name of artistic director, Emma Rice’s new theatre company but the title of her first production currently showing at the Old Vic. She explains why her passion for all things Angela Carter have led to the adaptation of C...Show More
44:47 | Oct 16th, 2018
Award-winning writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has won this year’s Pen Printer Prize. Given to a writer for an ‘unflinching, unswerving gaze upon the world’ and one who shows a ‘fierce intellectual determination... to define the real truth of our liv...Show More
54:30 | Oct 15th, 2018
Caesarean sections have doubled around the world since 2000. New research published in the Lancet says 60 per cent of countries overuse C-Section. We talk to the the authors. CEO of First Access Entertainment, Sarah Stennett, is number 17 on the ...Show More
56:51 | Oct 13th, 2018
Highlights from the Woman's Hour week.Presented by Jenni Murray Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed Editor:Jane Thurlow
08:57 | Oct 11th, 2018
At the British Science Festival in Hull last month, a lecturer in midwifery said ‘You just have to google childbirth and you’re met with a tsunami of horror stories... if you go on to any of the Mumsnet forums there are stories of childbirth... ooh i...Show More
41:56 | Oct 10th, 2018
Fabric has woven its way through the building of civilisations. Kassia St Clair, design journalist and author of The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History tells us about women's role in the weaving of cotton, silk, linen and wool. The Higher ed...Show More
48:18 | Oct 9th, 2018
American civil rights activist Jean Stallings is one of the women who features in a new exhibition at the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool, we hear from her and from the curator Carrie Supple. Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon addre...Show More
50:33 | Oct 8th, 2018
Min Jin Lee's Pachinko has been in the New York Times bestseller list for the past 30 weeks. The novel tells the story of four generations of a Korean family, first in Japanese-occupied Korea in the early 20th century, then in Japan itself across eig...Show More
56:45 | Oct 6th, 2018
Dame Jacqueline Wilson will be telling us about her new Tracey Beaker novel twenty-six years after her first appearance in a book. We hear from the writer Leta Hong Fincher about the feminist movement within China. Two bereaved fathers Paul Willia...Show More
51:29 | Oct 5th, 2018
Women boxers in Victorian London is the subject of a new play at the Southwark Playhouse. The Sweet Science of Bruising shows the powerlessness of women in their everyday lives versus the control they have in the ring. Jane talks to the writer, Joy W...Show More
45:13 | Oct 4th, 2018
To most people a ‘fairy-tale’ will suggest the 200-year old works created by Hans Christian Andersen or the Brothers Grimm, or more recently, the magical world of Disney. How many of these popular tales have a named woman character with a success st...Show More
40:41 | Oct 3rd, 2018
Thursday is National Poetry Day and this year’s theme is ‘change.’ Jenni speaks to two young, female poets about how they are using their work to challenge societal norms and spark difficult conversations. Nikita Gill’s poetry focuses on female empow...Show More
51:11 | Oct 2nd, 2018
Twenty six years after her first appearance in a book, Tracy Beaker is back. She is now a single mum and the story is told from the perspective of her nine-year old daughter, Jess. The mother and daughter duo live in a tower block on a council est...Show More
29:34 | Oct 2nd, 2018
26-years after her first appearance in a book, Tracy Beaker is back. She is now a single mum and the story is told from the perspective of her nine-year old daughter Jess. Dame Jacqueline Wilson, author of the Tracy Beaker series joins Jane to brin...Show More
46:26 | Oct 1st, 2018
We discuss the Kavanaugh hearing and its similarities and differences to the Clarence Thomas case in 1991. What if anything has changed in the age of #MeToo? Only 6 per cent of young people leaving care go onto university. And for those who manage...Show More
55:33 | Sep 29th, 2018
We reveal the Woman’s Hour Powerlist 2018 acknowledging women in music on stage and backstage. The judges recognise the work of women three women who are campaigning to make the music industry a better and more inclusive place. Naz Shah the Shadow ...Show More
43:18 | Sep 28th, 2018
We announce the Woman’s Hour Power List 2018 – a top 40 of women with the greatest influence on the music we listen to today – as decided by judges Kate Nash, Catherine Marks, Jasmine Dotiwala and Jessica Duchen. The judges have been debating the po...Show More
49:09 | Sep 27th, 2018
We discuss a series of reports this week that might undermine confidence in the way the criminal justice system handles rape cases: from reports that rape prosecutors have been urged to abandon ‘weaker’ cases to figures that show less than a third of...Show More
43:44 | Sep 27th, 2018
Wendy and Colin Parry discuss the film Mother's Day which follows the events in 1993 when the IRA planted two bombs in Warrington which killed their son Tim. Corduroy was popular in the 70s and is undergoing something of a revival. We discuss why wi...Show More
18:07 | Sep 26th, 2018
Why does singing make us feel good, why should parents be encouraging their children to do it and how should they approach it if they aren’t particularly musical themselves? Jane is joined by Dr Saoirse O’Sullivan, Associate Professor, Faculty of Med...Show More
42:42 | Sep 26th, 2018
Could banks do more to help and protect survivors of domestic and financial abuse? The safety of survivors of domestic abuse sometimes rests on just one thing – their former partner not knowing where they live now. Yet the process of closing down sh...Show More
45:17 | Sep 25th, 2018
The Labour Party has been setting out plans for women at Conference this week: a second deputy leader who must be a woman, a separate government department for women and equalities plus paid leave for domestic violence victims. Naz Shah, Shadow M...Show More
51:30 | Sep 24th, 2018
Sexual Consent - what is it? What are we teaching our children and young people? Scottish politician Ruth Davidson became the youngest party leader of a major political party in the UK at the age of 32 as well as the first openly gay leader in the ...Show More
54:57 | Sep 22nd, 2018
Mercury Prize nominee Lily Allen talks about the highs and lows of fame . Dementia UK have just produced an information leaflet on sex and intimacy for couples living with dementia to help people deal with the changes in their relationship. Why ar...Show More
47:34 | Sep 21st, 2018
When Sri Lankan Tamil-British rapper M.I.A. performed her hit Paper Planes at the Grammys three days before giving birth in 2009, she was hailed as the first truly global superstar. A few years later she was labelled a “terrorist” and sued for millio...Show More
45:09 | Sep 20th, 2018
Lily Allen has been making headlines since she blazed into the music industry when she was a teenager. She’s a talented singer songwriter with three Ivor Novello Awards to her name and has been nominated for this year’s Mercury Prize. But it hasn’t ...Show More
10:41 | Sep 19th, 2018
What lengths will parents go to, to get their children into the 'right' school? Playwright, Alexis Zegerman and Dr Rebecca Montacute from the Sutton Trust discuss.
39:07 | Sep 19th, 2018
On Thursday a mother in Northern Ireland who bought abortion pills for her 15 year old daughter will appear before Belfast High Court. She is challenging a decision by the Public Prosecution Service in Northern Ireland to prosecute her. The mother – ...Show More
48:16 | Sep 18th, 2018
The Liberal Democrat conference is underway. Deputy leader Jo Swinson joins us to discuss how plans to become a “movement for moderates” will attract women voters and help her party elect their first woman leader The current crop of TV dramas featu...Show More
48:29 | Sep 17th, 2018
Online blogger, Emi Ozmen frequently wears clothes that match her daughter, and her son; otherwise known as 'twinning'. Journalist, Claire Spreadbury, finds the practise embarrassing. They join Jane to discuss. Adele Parks writes international bests...Show More
56:55 | Sep 15th, 2018
A new film Skate Kitchen tells the story of an all girl New York skateboard collective. We hear from two of the skaters Nina Moran and Dede Lovelace and from the film's director Crystal Moselle. We discuss why women who want to use implants or the c...Show More
44:39 | Sep 14th, 2018
Frances O'Grady, the General Secretary of the TUC said this week that up to two million people have been put off having a family because of low pay, the high cost of living and squeezed public services. But is she right? And is the declining size of ...Show More
43:58 | Sep 13th, 2018
Record numbers of women are running for office in 2018 in the upcoming mid-term elections in November. in the US. What difference will that make if they win? Jenni Murray speaks to Kelly Dittmar, Assistant Research Professor from the Centre for Ameri...Show More
09:54 | Sep 12th, 2018
In England you are supposed to stay in education until you are aged 18 and 90% of 16-year-olds do so, according to the latest figures from the Department for Education, but what options are open to them? Jenni is joined by Catherine Sezen, a senior ...Show More
40:33 | Sep 12th, 2018
Harriet Harman has said that the next leader of the Labour Party has to be a woman and it was time that ambitious young men aspired to be her deputy. She talks about that and her priorities for improving the working lives of women MPs as 'Mother of t...Show More
49:47 | Sep 11th, 2018
Ruth Wilson, best known for a BBC version of Jane Eyre, The Affair and Luther, stars in a new film, The Little Stranger, based on the novel by Sarah Waters. Set in a large dilapidated house in 1940s England, it's a story of repression, class envy and...Show More
52:05 | Sep 10th, 2018
Serena Williams is at the centre of a debate about sexism after the US Open Singles Final at the weekend. Sports writer Anna Kessell joins Jane. Kate Atkinson is the bestselling author of ten novels. She talks to Jane about her latest book Transcrip...Show More
47:56 | Sep 7th, 2018
India's Supreme Court has ruled that gay sex is no longer a criminal offence but it is estimated that there are still over 70 countries and territories where same-sex relationships are still criminalised. This week two Malaysian women convicted of at...Show More
44:39 | Sep 6th, 2018
Migraines affect afflict one in five women and half of all chronic migraines sufferers worry about losing their job. We hear about the impact they have on women's lives and the latest medical advances. "Suffragettes in trousers", we discuss the men w...Show More
07:59 | Sep 5th, 2018
What are your teenagers doing up there in their bedrooms on their phones? How much are you up to date with the devices and content that your children are looking at? Jenni is joined by the Loose Women presenter and mother of two Kaye Adams and secu...Show More
41:29 | Sep 5th, 2018
According to a report, The Future of Retirement commissioned by HSBC more than half of working-age women in the UK fear that they won't be able to afford food and heating when they retire. It also says that women aren't as financially prepared as men...Show More
57:02 | Sep 4th, 2018
Gina Miller, an investment manager and philanthropist became a leading figure in the anti-Brexit movement after she successfully challenged the UK government's authority to trigger Article 50 without parliamentary approval. She joins Jane to talk abo...Show More
50:51 | Sep 3rd, 2018
Women for a People's Vote: the women's campaign for a second EU referendum launches today. A new Yougov poll today suggests women now back staying in the EU by a margin of 12 points. So what do women want in the current Brexit debate and do they want...Show More
45:27 | Aug 31st, 2018
Twice Mercury nominated Anna Calvi talks about her new third album 'Hunter' which explores the idea of women as the hunters rather than the hunted and performs one of the tracks 'Don't beat the girl out of My Boy'. Protestors in Paris this week beg...Show More
48:01 | Aug 30th, 2018
How effective are Domestic Violence Prevention Programmes? There is evidence that domestic violence perpetrators can change their behaviour, but a new report from the charity Transform Justice says there is not enough evidence to show that prevention...Show More
13:19 | Aug 30th, 2018
As summer draws to a close, the exam results come in and the current generation of 18-year olds plan to leave home for college or university, there’s lots to sort out. Where will you live? What will you live on? How easy will it be to remember how yo...Show More
44:45 | Aug 29th, 2018
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has returned to prison in Iran after a three day release that saw her reunited with her daughter. What next for her, her family, and efforts to secure her permanent release? A-level results are in and soon thousands of tee...Show More
52:42 | Aug 28th, 2018
Natasha Pearlman wants women to know that having her baby by an elective C-section was great. Her recent Times article was in response to the findings by the organisation Birthrights that women requesting a C-section face multiple barriers from the m...Show More
47:31 | Aug 27th, 2018
A quarter of us will have a holiday fling at some stage in our life . Why do we fall in love abroad? Have you ever had a holiday romance? Did you end up with a partner for life or was it a case of what happens on holiday stayed on holiday. Psychother...Show More
55:48 | Aug 25th, 2018
Emma Thompson talks about her new film The Children Act, celebrating being 60, the #MeToo movement and becoming a Dame. Chloé Grace Moretz talks about her new film The Miseducation of Cameron Post. She plays Cameron, a lesbian teenager forced to att...Show More
40:20 | Aug 24th, 2018
Emma Thompson talks about her new film The Children Act, celebrating being 60, the #MeToo movement and becoming a Dame. Reclaiming the female muses who inspired the pre-Raphaelite movement. Historian Kirsty Stonell Walker on uncovering evidence abou...Show More
43:29 | Aug 23rd, 2018
Jenni joins amateur golfer Ali Gibb on the green to discover how she hit three holes-in-one on one day. Leigh-Anne Pinnock from Little Mix took to Twitter this week to encourage young girls to "love your curls, love your afro" after a conversation w...Show More
39:54 | Aug 22nd, 2018
Chloë Grace Moretz is only 21 but has over 40 film credits to her name and has worked alongside stars such as Martin Scorsese, Julianne Moore, Jonny Depp, Juliette Binoche, Denzel Washington, Michelle Pfeiffer & Nicholas Cage. She was 5-years old whe...Show More
42:00 | Aug 21st, 2018
We discuss safety at music festivals after a study found 30% of women say they've been sexually harassed while attending one. Singer Gabrielle performs live in the studio after an 11 year hiatus, we hear the second episode in our series about cherish...Show More
10:22 | Aug 21st, 2018
It’s A level and GCSE result time and as your teenagers receive their grades, how do you as a parent react if one sibling does much better than another? Andrea is joined by Laverne Antrobus, a consultant child and educational psychologist in the fam...Show More
43:08 | Aug 20th, 2018
Briege Voyle is the daughter of Joan Connolly, who, with nine other people, were shot dead by the British Army in Ballymurphy Northern Ireland in August 1971. Ahead of an upcoming inquest, Briege appears in a new film, The Ballymurphy Precedent and t...Show More
56:43 | Aug 18th, 2018
Listener week: where the content of the programmes has been suggested by Woman's Hour listeners. Anne Maguire and writer Julie Bindel talk about one of the best-selling lesbian novels of all time - An Emergence of Green by Katherine V Forrest. How ...Show More
46:00 | Aug 17th, 2018
Listener Week - where all the topics are chosen by you When a child is sexually abused, what impact does the ordeal have on their parents? We received an email from a listener who is struggling to talk to her daughter after she revealed she had been...Show More
45:02 | Aug 16th, 2018
Listener Week - where all the topics are chosen by you Where do people who identify as asexual belong in a society preoccupied by sex? Bernice and her daughter Jessica who has Downs Syndrome, on creating a group for people with learning disabilitie...Show More
40:43 | Aug 15th, 2018
Jay Cahill left her job as a deputy head teacher to set up a community gym in Manchester. Her passion is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu which is a submission grappling full contact marital arts. Reporter Ena Miller visited the gym to hear about the women who ar...Show More
15:17 | Aug 15th, 2018
How do you best support a mother when her adult child dies? Woman’s Hour listener Jane Wessman’s son Billy died aged 44. Jane contacted Woman’s Hour to say that there is widespread ignorance in the general public about how to support parents whose w...Show More
53:48 | Aug 14th, 2018
Listener Week - where all the topics are chosen by you How do you go about rebuilding your relationship when your partner has had an affair? A book you would like to pass onto the next generation. Emily introduces American Wife by Curtis Sittenfe...Show More
51:45 | Aug 13th, 2018
Listener Week - where all the topics are chosen by you. The book that changed my life and I want to pass on. Huma Qureshi and Ronali Collings nominate The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahari. They explain the impact it had on them when they read it and how im...Show More
56:37 | Aug 11th, 2018
As Madonna turns 60 we look at her influence on women in the music industry. Women may have to quit jobs to fill caring roles post Brexit - that's according to a Department of Health response to the Migration Advisory Committee. Is it a sexist assu...Show More
49:25 | Aug 10th, 2018
Government proposals to take short term supported housing out of the welfare system have been dropped. The announcement follows much lobbying by women's groups who argued that the proposal would have had a devastating effect on the future of Refuges ...Show More
43:07 | Aug 9th, 2018
We hear about the vote against liberalising abortion in Argentina and what it means. The Woman's Hour Power List is looking at women in music this year. Today we ask who are the powerful women in, what is assumed to be a very male genre, heavy metal....Show More
40:23 | Aug 8th, 2018
Conservative Party chair, Brandon Lewis, on getting more women into politics. Madonna turns 60 next week. Hailed as the 'Queen of Pop' since the eighties, we ask how important she has been for women in music, as part our Powerlist: Women in Music s...Show More
10:10 | Aug 8th, 2018
What do you do when your child favours one parent over the other? It’s a normal part of child development and it usually bounces back the other way but it can still hurt. So how do you handle it? Jenni speaks to Katie Argent, head of Child Psychothe...Show More
42:42 | Aug 7th, 2018
Gemma Cairney, Gia Milinovich and Michelle Dewberry go to Manchester (the singles capital of the UK) to try to figure out the secret to love. Our Woman's Lab team test ideas and find solutions for an important issue affecting women, in the real worl...Show More
50:34 | Aug 7th, 2018
Last year over 13,400 girls in England were admitted to hospital because they had self-harmed. Why is this number increasing? A new play at the National called 'Home, I'm Darling' looks at what life would be like for a modern day couple if they compl...Show More
56:45 | Aug 4th, 2018
Gemma Arterton discusses her new film The Escape where she plays at stay at home mother who walks out on her marriage and children. More than four hundred thousand children do not have a bed of their own, forcing many to share or sleep on the floor....Show More
44:33 | Aug 3rd, 2018
Gemma Arterton has starred in films such as St Trinians, Quantum of Solace, Tamara Drewe, Gemma Bovary and Their Finest. She's also appeared in theatre productions of Saint Joan, Nell Gwyn and the musical Made in Dagenham. She joins Jenni to discuss ...Show More
44:33 | Aug 2nd, 2018
Margaret Hodge MP, and former minister and chair of the Public Accounts Commons, talks about anti-semitism in the Labour Party. She's currently in the midst of an inquiry after she accused the Labour Leader - who she's known since 1982 - of being an ...Show More
40:27 | Aug 1st, 2018
How do you know if a child isn't sleeping in a bed? According to the charity Buttle UK, around 420,000 children don't have a bed of their own. We find out how this impacts on them with the Chief Executive of Buttle UK Gerri McAndrew and assistant hea...Show More
15:12 | Jul 31st, 2018
What is it like to parent a child experiencing gender dysphoria? How does that child experience feeling their emotional and psychological identity is opposite to their biological sex? Deni Parkes, mother of 24 year old, Kye, a trans man, and Aimee C...Show More
50:17 | Jul 31st, 2018
New Zealand has just passed legislation to give domestic violence victims 10 days of paid leave. Green MP, Jan Logie spent seven years working to get it made into law - she explains why and we discuss how it could work in England and Wales. We hear f...Show More
47:13 | Jul 30th, 2018
It's the reality show that's been dominating lifestyle news and social media for months - Love Island comes to an end tonight. But with issues of consent, race, feminism and body image arising throughout the series, has this been the most political s...Show More
56:43 | Jul 28th, 2018
Kim Busty Beatz Bowers and Lisa Fa'alafi the co-creators of the cabaret performance Hot Brown Honey talk about how it's smashing stereotypes and promoting social activism. There has been a sharp rise in the number of pupils being permanently exclude...Show More
48:18 | Jul 27th, 2018
The sharp rise in state school exclusions: what's the impact on children and parents? Jane talks to Anita, a mother whose son was permanently excluded, to Emma, a teacher from County Durham, and to Emily Cherry, Assistant Director of Policy and Publi...Show More
45:38 | Jul 26th, 2018
The Supreme Court has ruled that an unhappy wife must remain married, we hear about calls to modernise divorce law in England and Wales. Harold Pinter had a defining impact on British theatre. Ten years after his death, his plays are regularly perfor...Show More
15:39 | Jul 25th, 2018
In her new book "An Excellent Choice" Emma Brockes uses her own story to examine how and why an increasing number of women are using fertility treatments in order to become parents-and are doing it on their own. She reveals the panic and joy her solo...Show More
41:34 | Jul 25th, 2018
Tough new rules are being proposed to tackle sexual harassment in the workplace. After a six month inquiry the cross-party Women and Equalities Committee says the Government and employers have failed in their responsibilities and have come up with a ...Show More
46:08 | Jul 24th, 2018
Womans Lab is back, and this time exploring the world of dating. Manchester is the most single place in the UK. So we sent Womans Lab to the rescue. Today we meet the first of our singles - Shelly, 44, an entrepreneur who was paired with presenter Gi...Show More
54:32 | Jul 23rd, 2018
Shiva Feshareki is a British-Iranian experimental composer and turntablist. Her work blends together sounds of classical and dance music. Shiva will be performing at the BBC Proms for the first time, celebrating and representing experimental electron...Show More
56:41 | Jul 21st, 2018
The musician and campaigner Charlotte Church discusses the impact of secondary school education on young people. She's joined by Laverne Antrobus, consultant child and educational psychologist, Carolyn Roberts, the Head teacher of Thomas Tallis Schoo...Show More
45:56 | Jul 20th, 2018
Arianna Huffington guest edits today's Woman's Hour. Founder of The Huffington Post and CEO of Thrive Global she is passionate about the link between wellbeing and productivity and her four chosen topics explore these areas. Ending the global stres...Show More
52:23 | Jul 19th, 2018
This week it's Woman's Hour Takeover 2018 and five guest editors join the programme to choose the editorial content, one edition each. Today it's the turn of Katie Price, reality TV star, former glamour model, novelist and business woman. Katie will ...Show More
15:16 | Jul 18th, 2018
How do we keep children safe and protected online? It’s a question that Baroness Beeban Kidron has been finding answers to for years through her work in film and charity. Kidron, who has directed ‘Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit’ and ‘Bridget Jones: E...Show More
53:50 | Jul 18th, 2018
The musician and campaigner, Charlotte Church is concerned about the impact that secondary education is having on young people. She asks how and where things go wrong in schools and what can be done to change it. If we were to start from scratch what...Show More
49:45 | Jul 17th, 2018
Baroness Helena Kennedy is a barrister and a Labour peer in the House of Lords. She has practised at the Bar for more than 40 years, working on some of the most significant cases of recent times and is a highly regarded human rights campaigner. Throu...Show More
50:12 | Jul 16th, 2018
The Reverend Rose Hudson-Wilkin is a Church of England Priest and the first woman since 1660 to be appointed Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons. She is also Chaplain to the Queen, priest Vicar at Westminster Abbey and Priest in Charge of...Show More
54:14 | Jul 14th, 2018
The Fix: Helen tells us how she became addicted to prescription medication, when she got prescribed strong painkillers for backache. Lily James talks about her role in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again! We have advice about a new sexually transmitted dis...Show More
1:41:46 | Jul 13th, 2018
Lily James on her starring role in the sequel and prequel to the hugely successful film Mamma Mia. Mamma Mia Here We Go Again includes the original cast together with new characters, such as Lily's younger version of the Meryl Streep character, Donna...Show More
43:20 | Jul 12th, 2018
The British Association of Sexual Health and HIV has launched advice about a new sexually transmitted disease, Mycoplasma Genitalium, or MG. The BASHH warns it could become the next superbug unless people are more vigilant. The infection often has no...Show More
08:51 | Jul 11th, 2018
From blended families to children growing up in single sex households, twenty-first century families come in all shapes and sizes. As we continue our look at the modern family we hear from the writer Katy Regan and her friend photographer Louis Quai...Show More
38:07 | Jul 11th, 2018
In the last part of our second series on addiction, The Fix, Dr Cathy Stannard discusses prescription painkillers. She explains how patients and medical professionals can work together to manage the risks and benefits. This year's Woman's Hour Power ...Show More
48:37 | Jul 10th, 2018
Tina Daheley is on court to find out about the rise of mixed tennis;. In part two of our second series of The Fix, we look at one woman's story of addiction to the prescription drug, pregabalin. The Columbian artist Doris Salcedo talks about her new ...Show More
50:08 | Jul 9th, 2018
In a new series of 'The Fix', Millie Chowles reports on prescription painkillers. She speaks to Helen who was abusing strong prescription painkillers for back pain and unable to stop. lreland is to hold a referendum to remove a clause in the consti...Show More
56:40 | Jul 7th, 2018
Woman's Hour Power List 2018: Women in Music. We hear from two young female songwriters Madison Paris and Sveltlana Onye about working in a male dominated industry. We celebrate the NHS at 70 speaking to retired nurse Eileen Balding who began her tr...Show More
46:48 | Jul 6th, 2018
Kathy Lette is about to celebrate her sixtieth birthday - she shares her plans for marking one of life's landmarks. The number of cases of measles in Great Britain is on the increase. The World Health Organisation says cases have risen by 300 per cen...Show More
47:03 | Jul 5th, 2018
The NHS at 70: What does the future look like for women working in the health service? How can more women enter senior roles? What work needs to be done to close the gender pay gap, which means female NHS employees earn on average 23% less than men? ...Show More
43:13 | Jul 4th, 2018
As sex work moves online, are prostitution websites enabling a growth in exploitation and trafficking? Sarah Champion MP tells us why she believes UK legislation needs to be radically overhauled to keep pace with the changing face of prostitution. T...Show More
48:11 | Jul 3rd, 2018
Anne Tyler is an American novelist, short story writer, and literary critic. With 20 novels under her belt she rarely gives interviews, but she agreed to talk to Jane about her latest, Clock Dance and her passion for writing. The Government's publish...Show More
51:58 | Jul 2nd, 2018
The NHS celebrates its 70th birthday this week. We look back at the women who have shaped the health service and made it what it is today, with medical historians Kristin Hussey and Professor Sally Sheard. After ten years as a barrister in criminal ...Show More
56:42 | Jun 30th, 2018
Celebrating women and activism. In a poll, conducted by ComRes for Woman's Hour we asked you about your attitudes to activism, campaigning and public life. Today we hear from three women activists, Mary Barton an animal rights campaigner, Grace Campb...Show More