Woman's Hour

Whilst the vast majority of nurseries provide safe and caring environments, there have been a number of highly distressing cases in recent years where children have been abused or come to harm. From 1st September this year, strengthened welfare and safeguarding requirements have come into effect for early years providers in England, with the changes designed to help keep babies and young children...

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the body that represents NHS paediatricians, has warned of a sharp rise in the number of children aged 6 to 17 turning up at A&E units in England in a state of mental health crisis. The RCPCH's Officer for Health Services, Dr Ronny Cheung, a consultant paediatrician based in London, joins Nuala McGovern to discuss the issue. He is joined by Ka...

The award-winning singer-songwriter and actress Natalie Imbruglia first hit our screens in the early 1990s, playing the role of Beth Brennan in the Australian soap Neighbours. Her 1997 debut single Torn quickly became a worldwide hit, and she’s sold more than 10 million albums. Her latest album, Algorithm, is out later this week. Natalie joins Nuala McGovern to discuss some of its themes – relatio...

After a summer when hot weather has drawn many of us towards the water, we explore its pull as a place of freedom, adventure and friendship, as well as the risks it can pose. Writer and wild swimmer Brigid Lowe tells us how swimming in Scotland’s lochs gave her a sense of freedom, a journey she charts in her new memoir, Shiver: The Lessons of the Lochs. Musician Tricia Duffy explains how rivers an...

Women who have missed a cervical screening appointment in England are to be offered HPV self-testing kits by the NHS. Over the next year, nearly four million women will receive invites on the NHS App or via text message, email or letter to order a free kit to use at home. The aim is to encourage more women to complete their potentially lifesaving screening to detect HPV, which can increase the ris...

Hormone replacement therapy may reduce the risk of dementia, a new study has found. Researchers tracked more than 180,000 postmenopausal women and their analysis suggests that those who had used HRT appeared to be less likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, and the greatest reduction was seen in women who had undergone surgical menopause. Anita Rani talks to Anne-Marie Minihane, Profe...

People who were sexually abused as children and later seek help for mental health problems are being failed by the NHS, according to The Royal College of Psychiatrists. The RCOP has issued a public apology, saying decades of mismanagement and misdiagnosis have left many survivors without the support they need. Anita Rani is joined by Caroline Thompson, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, and Dr...

Singer-songwriter, actress and philanthropist Dolly Parton has died aged 80. She was a feminist icon, although she denied the former. Known as The Queen of Country, she paved the way for many women in music. To remember her, Nuala is joined by Country singer-songwriter Kezia Gill and music journalist Jude Rogers. The Ministry of Justice has announced the introduction of “restriction zones” for ser...

Women who have missed a cervical screening appointment in England are to be offered HPV self-testing kits by the NHS. Over the next year, nearly four million women will receive invites on the NHS App or via text message, email or letter to order a free kit to use at home. The aim is to encourage more women to complete their potentially lifesaving screening to detect HPV, which can increase the ris...

After the death of both her parents best-selling novelist Louise Doughty made a startling discovery whilst clearing out the family home. Inside a black suitcase, she stumbled upon a treasure trove of letters that revealed the origins of her parents' love affair. She joins Nuala McGovern to discuss her first memoir On This Spot Fell One Tear of Love described as a portrait of grief and loss and fam...

Are GCSE's working for all children? Figures show resits in Maths and English are dragging down the overall results in those subjects. Whilst post 16 education has evolved with A levels, BTECs and T levels, GCSE's have remained largely unchanged since they were introduced in 1988. Chloe Tilly talks to Vanessa Clarke, BBC education correspondent. The CEO of Travelodge Jo Boydell has resigned follow...

Doctors are warning that vaping could be harming children's health and say more needs to be done to make vapes less attractive and accessible to young people. The warning comes from experts from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, which has reviewed around 80 studies and said it is linked to higher rates of breathing problems and evidence of harm in babies whose mothers used vapes w...

A senior French civil servant stands accused of drugging hundreds of women. Police say Christian Nègre kept a spreadsheet documenting what he described as his ‘experiments’ in which he forced them to wet themselves. They believe he drugged as many as 248 women. But more than seven years after Nègre was formally charged, no trial date has been set. For Woman’s Hour and BBC Global Women, Nuala McGov...

The revelation that a paedophile had changed his name more than 20 times to hide his past has renewed pressure on the government to change the law. Jason Brown was first convicted 12 years ago and has now pleaded guilty to a further offence. There's been campaigning for many years for it to be illegal for sex offenders to change their name, as many use their new identities to avoid being monitored...

Amy Hunt became the first athlete in the 92-year history of the European Championships to win four gold medals in a single event, claiming titles in the 100m, 200m, women's 4x100m relay and the new mixed 4x100m relay. She had stated that her intention was to become "iconic". She joins Nuala McGovern to discuss her sporting achievements. BBC Sport correspondent Jane Dougall also joins Nuala to disc...

Five years after the Taliban took over Afghanistan, we hear how it has changed women’s lives in the country and beyond. Anita Rani speaks to 21-year-old Purvin Juma who fled to the UK from Afghanistan in 2021 and the human rights activist Shaharzad Akbar. The Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz won three Grammys for her 2024 album Revolución diamantina, and this week saw the work's UK premiere at the...

Five years on since the Taliban took over Afghanistan, we hear how it has changed women’s lives in the country and beyond. Anita Rani speaks to BBC World Service journalist Mahjooba Nowrouzi in Kabul, and human rights activist Shaharzad Akbar. We’ll also hear from 21-year-old Purvin Juma who left Afghanistan in 2021 and fled to the UK. Pregnancy, motherhood, fertility treatment: why are some femal...

A serial sex attacker who had a 'morbid fascination' with sex has been jailed for the rest of his life after he was found guilty of murdering two women and raping a third. 40-year-old Simon Levy killed Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo in March 2025 and Sheryl Wilkins five months later. Earlier that year, he raped a third woman in the same Tottenham car park where Wilkins was later found dead. Levy will...

One of the most spectacular solar eclipses the UK has seen for decades is taking place this evening. The extraordinary celestial event will see the Moon move across the face of the Sun, creating a partial solar eclipse across the UK. Dr Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford, and Zara Gray, an amateur eclipse chaser discuss the phenomenon. There are now 30 million more men...

Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz won three Grammys for her 2024 album Revolución diamantina, and this week sees the work's UK premiere at the BBC Proms, when conductor Gustavo Dudamel leads the second of two LA Philharmonic Proms on Wednesday. Gabriela joins Nuala in the studio to discuss her career and how this work was inspired by Mexico’s 2019 Glitter Revolution, the nationwide feminist protests...

New York congresswoman and Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has revealed she has decided to freeze her eggs and will be documenting the process on social media - despite what she called a “political risk” for sharing her decision. She also confirmed over the weekend that she had not "ruled out the possibility" of running for president. Dr Emma Long Associate Professor of American History and Poli...

Listener 'Sarah' tells us about the burden and resentment she feels at caring for a parent who is in her 90s, when she is a pensioner too. This is the time she thought she would have for herself. Clare Jefferies, who co-runs care companies and has written the book: I’m Your Daughter, Not Your Carer, and Caroline Abrahams, charity director of Age UK, discuss the problem with Kylie Pentelow. Have yo...

Listener Week on Woman's Hour is where we bring your stories, ideas and the issues you want to hear about to air. A father has written to us about his daughter's experience of domestic abuse. He says that while she suffered physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her partner in a small town, the harm didn't end when the relationship did. He says that despite knowing the circumstances, many of...

In two weeks’ time, thousands of young people will open their GCSE results — but what about those who don’t get the grade 4 they need in Maths and English? 41% of pupils in Maths and 29% in English won’t reach that benchmark, and 82% fail their resits, blocking their path to A levels, T Levels and BTECs. Listener Hannah Gee highlights a hidden alternative: Functional Skills, which have a 60–80% pa...

Listener Week on Woman's Hour is where we bring your stories, ideas and the issues you want to hear about to air. Why isn’t more known about Lipoedema? One listener wants to know why there are so few treatment options available, and so little awareness of a medical condition that affects around ten percent of women, and very rarely men. Lipoedema causes a build-up of fat in the hips, buttocks and...