Woman's Hour

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Highlights from the Woman's Hour week.Presented by Jenni Murray Editor:Jane Thurlow

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Highlights from the Woman's Hour week.Presented by Jenni Murray Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed Editor:Jane Thurlow

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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