Woman's Hour

During lockdown, when we haven't quite had access to the shops we might need, many have turned to 'fixing up' items around the house, and mending our own clothes. With the popularity of shows like The Repair Shop and Salvage Hunters, what stories do our possessions carry, and how can restoration keep them alive? Emma meets Molly Martin, an illustrator, textile repairer, and author of 'The Art of R...

As Children return to school across the UK an increasing number of parents are choosing to educate their children at home on a permanent basis. Many have enjoyed home schooling their kids during Covid and see it as an opportunity to explore a new way of learning. Critics however are concerned that it’s unregulated. We hear from Gail Tolley from the Association of Directors of Children's Services a...

Oprah Winfrey’s interview with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex was broadcast last night on CBS in the US. It is due to air here in the UK tonight on ITV at 9pm. What might be the repercussions of the interview with the two former working Royals? Emma talks to Jennie Bond who was the BBC’s royal correspondent for 14 years and Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, activist, lawyer and author of This is Why I Resi...

Pensions expert, Baroness Ros Altman talks about the state pension scandal which only affects women. Around 200,000 of them could be due pay-outs averaging £13,500 to top-up the underpayment of their state pension. We hear from the critically acclaimed and award-winning author, Isabel Allende. She tells us about her latest book 'The ‘Soul of a Woman’ - her memoir on feminism and what it means to b...

Anita Rani talks to the Chilean author Isabel Allende, also to the Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg. To mark International Women's Day we have music with Madeleine Mitchell & Errollyn Wallen and we look at the future of workwear post lockdown. Will power suits and formal wear be a thing of the past after a year of lounging in comfies? Emma Jacobs from the Financial Times considers our app...

Silence Is a Sense is a new novel by Layla AlAmmar: a Kuwaiti now based in Lancashire. Her novel is about a young woman from Syria who's living in a block of flats in a small English city. It's about the people she watches from her window, and how she's settling in after leaving a war zone. Two out of every three adults in the UK are either overweight or obese. Usually the message is eat less and...

From May mothers' names will finally be featured alongside fathers' details on marriage certificates, in England and Wales thanks to years of campaigning both inside and outside of parliament. We hear from Ailsa Burkimsher Sadler who started the campaign for change back in 2013 and Revd Canon Dr Sandra Millar who is the Church of England’s Head of Life Events. Today one of the most powoerful women...

As International Women’s Day approaches and peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban continue, what are the most pressing issues facing women in Afghanistan? We hear from BBC Afghan reporter Mahjooba Nowrouzi and scholar and women’s rights advocate Dr Orzala Ashraf Nemat. We're missing hugs, but maybe we'll get them back soon. A retired nurse in Scotland has been able to give her...

As the government announces plans for summer school and tutoring to help children catch up on their learning we hear from parents who think it’s more important to just let them go out to play with their friends. Recent polling suggests that mums in the “Red Wall” seats of the Midlands and North of England – areas which traditionally voted Labour but have switched allegiance to back the Conservativ...

In her first in-depth broadcast interview since winning the High Court disqualification case regarding the disbanded children's charity Kids Company, its founder, Camila Batmanghelidjh, explains why she fought so long and hard to be cleared. David Watkins is one of the first single men in the UK to have a surrogate baby after a law change in January 2019. David talks about becoming a father to bab...

Why the latest lockdown has left so many women feeling at breaking point as they try to juggle home schooling and working from home simultaneously. Annie tells us her story and we hear from Leann Cross the Director of Homestart Greenwich and Sam Smethers the former Chief Exec of the Fawcett Society,. Model and TV personality, Zara McDermott talks about revenge porn. Intimate images of her were sha...

People wanting to start a family, who need to use a sperm donor say they feel forced into finding sperm online in unregulated spaces because NHS funding is rationed or they don’t qualify for it and it's too expensive to go to a private clinic. The UK’s fertility regulator has warned that doing so carries “significant risks”. We hear from the Chair of the HFEA and from two women who sought donors v...

In her first in-depth broadcast interview since winning the High Court disqualification case regarding the disbanded children's charity Kids Company, its founder, Camila Batmanghelidjh, psychotherapist and author, joined Emma earlier this week. The High Court judgement came about because the Official Receiver claimed that Camila Batmanghelidjh, and seven former trustees of the charity Kids Company...

It's been announced that around 31,000 women in England will be offered the opportunity to do a smear test at home. It's all part of a trial by the NHS and experts hope it'll be a way to encourage more women to screen for the early warnings of cervical cancer. It's another step in helping women take charge of their own reproductive health. There are two consultations open at the moment. One which...

Is being a tough guy (or girl) no longer the key to getting on? How important is empathy in leadership now that we know the effect that working from home, juggling child-care, concerns about unemployment and dealing with grief are having on mental health and well being. Can businesses afford to be empathetic? Emma speaks to Chef Angela Hartnett and Belinda Parmar, CEO of the Empathy Business. The...

Are women in the UK jazz scene facing discrimination and sexual harassment? Sarah Raine, an academic and anthropologist, carried out research of ten interviews with anonymised female jazz musicians of a “notable level of success” who performed at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival event in 2019. Emma discusses the issues with Sarah, who is an academic at Edinburgh Napier University and researcher into g...

Anita Rani talks to Love Island Star Zara McDermott about her new documentary on the growing issue of Revenge Porn and we hear from Baroness Morgan about the government's efforts to tackle the problem. Dr Angela Joyce and Dr Tracey Jensen about the idea of the "Good Enough" Mother, a phrase first coined by the paediatrician and child psychoanalyst D W Winnicott as we mark the 50th anniversary of h...

Harry Dunn was 19 years old when he was killed on his motorbike by an American woman driving the wrong way. His parents have been fighting for justice for their son since it happened in 2019. It happened near RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire. The suspect, Anne Sacoolas returned to the States claiming diplomatic immunity. Now Harry's family has been told Anne Sacoolas will face a civil claim and i...

Emma Barnett presents Woman's Hour with Mary Beard who talks about her new BBC Two show Inside Culture looking at witches and their enduring presence in culture. We get the latest from the Salmond Inquiry from BBC Scotland's Political Editor Sarah Smith and we hear from Dr Naomi Crouch and Alex Fox about the problem of vulva anxiety in teenage girls. Presenter: Emma Barnett Producer: Lisa Jenkinso...

The pandemic has pushed many working mothers to breaking point. Juggling family and career is nothing new, but working a full-time job while simultaneously home schooling children for many weeks is unprecedented. A recent TUC report revealed that women are shouldering the lion's share of this responsibility, and that a lack of employer flexibility has left mums in an impossible situation. So how a...

Loujain al-Hathloul, the Saudi women's rights activist, has just been released from prison after spending nearly three years in prison. Instrumental in the movement to allow women to drive in the kingdom, she was imprisoned in 2018, just weeks before the ban was lifted. We speak to her sister Lina who has led the campaign to free Loujain for the last three years. Why are period pants still being t...

We hear from Sandra Igwe, co-chair of an urgent inquiry set up to investigate how alleged systemic racism in the NHS manifests itself in maternity care and Dr Karen Joash, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Imperial College. After the Topshop buyout by online fashion retailer Asos, Topshop worker, and a lifestyle fashion blogger Kirsty Mead tells us what it’s like to pack up one of the s...

An urgent inquiry to investigate how alleged systemic racism in the NHS manifests itself in maternity care was launched this week. Anita is joined by Sandra Igwe, co-chair of the inquiry and who set up The Motherhood Group to support Black mothers after her experiences of giving birth, and Dr Karen Joash, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Imperial College and spokesperson for race equal...

As many as one in six young people now experience mental health problems ranging from depression to self-harm and anorexia. The situation’s got worse over the last year during the pandemic leading some doctors to warn that this is just the “tip of the iceberg” with a “timebomb” on the horizon. The children’s Minister Vicky Ford talks to Emma Barnett about the issues and how Children's and Mental H...

Pip Hare has been competing in the Vendee Globe race, sailing around the world, solo, non-stop and without assistance. She is on the home straight now and currently 20th place. Pip speaks to Emma from the Atlantic Ocean. Following a ruling by the High Court at the end of last year that children under 16 with gender dysphoria are unlikely to be able to give informed consent to being treated with pu...