Woman's Hour

Emily Watson is starring in a new film ‘God’s Creatures,’ set in a remote Irish fishing village. She plays a mother torn between protecting her son and her own sense of right and wrong. When she provides an alibi for him, the lie rips apart their family and local community. Emily joins Woman’s Hour to talk about her character, women in the oyster farming industry and her career up to now. Krupa Pa...

On International Women’s Day we talk to the foreign secretary, James Cleverly MP, as he travels to Sierra Leone to launch the UK’s new international women and girls strategy. Dr Sabrina Cohen-Hatton is one the most senior fire fighters in the UK. The current Chief Fire Officer of West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service has in her 22 year career covered major incidents such as the London Bridge terror...

On last night’s Panorama, Twitter insiders told the BBC that the company is no longer able to protect users from trolls, following lay-offs and changes under the owner Elon Musk. Lisa Jennings Young is the former head of Content Design at Twitter, and worked on safety features aiming to protect users from online hate, including misogyny. In October 2022, Lisa's entire team was laid off, and she he...

Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani education activist and the world’s youngest Nobel Prize laureate. Malala was just 15 when, on the way home from school, a member of the Taliban boarded her bus, asked for her by name, and shot her in the head. In the decade since, Malala has continued to fight for the educational rights of girls and women across the globe through her charity, the Malala Fund. Now sh...

Five women. Five inspirational stories. Earlier this year, Woman’s Hour spoke to women from all different backgrounds and professions about the moment they found their voice. When was the moment they realised they had to speak up? And how did it change them? For International Women’s Day, Anita Rani brings you all of the interviews from the ‘Finding My Voice’ series, in a one-off special episode o...

Schoolgirls in Iran have been admitted to hospital this week after reportedly being poisoned by gas whilst at school. Many Iranians suspect the poisonings are a deliberate attempt to force girls’ schools to close, although the government has not confirmed. Faranak Amidi, BBC Near East Women's Affairs correspondent and Azadeh Pourzand, human rights researcher at SOAS discuss. In new book Womb: The...

Actor, Bukky Bakray, who at 19, became the youngest BAFTA Rising Star Award recipient as well as one of the youngest 'Best Actress in a Leading Role' nominees for her critically acclaimed performance in the film Rocks. Bukky makes her stage debut in the coming of age play Sleepova in which four Black teenage friends explore sexuality, identity, relationships and family as they head towards adultho...

Diana Parkes, the mother of a woman killed by her pilot husband more than a decade ago has called on the Justice Secretary to intervene over his possible release from prison in November.  Anita talks to Diana Parkes, Joanna's best friend Hetti Barkworth-Nanton and the former Justice Secretary Robert Buckland. Why do breast injuries in sport appear to go under-reported and what are the potential co...

People with eating disorders are being repeatedly failed by the system and radical changes need to be made to prevent further tragedies. That’s according to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman UK, Rob Behrens. He says little progress has been made in the six years since the publication of a report which highlighted serious failings in eating disorder services. Rob joins Nuala to talk ab...

As teachers strike again over pay this week we talk to the BBC's Education Editor Branwen Jeffreys. As awards season continues we want to know - who should win best performance by a jumper? Mark Darcey’s reindeer jumper? Cameron Diaz’s knitwear in The Holiday? Fashion journalist Naomi Pike talks to Woman’s Hour about the most iconic knitwear in film - and we also hear from the creator of the most...

At least 59 migrants, including 33 women and 12 children, have died and dozens more are feared missing after their boat sank in rough seas off southern Italy. The vessel broke apart while trying to land near Crotone on Sunday. A baby was among the dead, Italian officials said. Bodies were recovered from the beach at a nearby seaside resort in the Calabria region. Nuala speaks to Caroline Davis, BB...

Dame Melinda Simmons, the British Ambassador to Ukraine, joins Hayley Hassall to mark one year on from the Russian invasion. She talks about the impact the war is having on women and girls in the country, as well as the strength and heroism women are showing as they adapt their lives to exist in a constant state of war. Who decides what’s reasonable or unreasonable? And how do we agree as a societ...

It is a year since Russian forces invaded Ukraine. The war has severely impacted social cohesion, community security and the resilience of local communities, especially women and girls. Approximately 5.4 million people have been displaced inside Ukraine, and 8 million people have registered as refugees across Europe. Woman’s Hour speaks to the UK ambassador to Ukraine, Dame Melinda Simmons her onl...

Averil Mansfield was the UK’s first woman vascular surgeon and first female professor of surgery. She qualified as a surgeon in the early 1970s, at a time when only two per cent of her colleagues were female – and was often met with disbelief bordering on amusement when telling people what she did. She talks to Woman’s Hour about her medical achievements, which she downplays to, ‘It’s just glorifi...

New research from Cancer Research UK and NHS Digital has revealed that Black women from Caribbean and African backgrounds are more likely to be diagnosed with certain types of cancer at later stages, when treatment is less likely to be successful. This study is the first to show that ethnicity is a significant factor in late-stage diagnosis for women with breast, ovarian, uterine, non-small cell l...

We discuss the statement released by Nicola Bulley's family following the sad news that that the body found in river Wyre had been formally identified as Nicola Bulley who had been missing for over 3 weeks. They expressed their pain on how their loved ones were treated throughout this ordeal. They called for accountability, and for another family not to go through what they had gone through. Joini...

Who gets to decide about social norms, about what's reasonable and unreasonable behaviour? Is it OK to breastfeed in public, to let your children play in the garden while others are working from home? Can we come together and talk about these things reasonably? According to Dr Kirsty Sedgman, the author of a new book, On being Unreasonable: Breaking the rules and making things better, we're living...

Actor Aimee Lou Wood is best known for her role in Netflix’s Sex Education. Her character - also called Aimee - was at the heart of some of the most iconic storylines that came out of the first three seasons of the show. Now she’s taking to the stage as Sally Bowles in Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club in London’s West End. She talks about performing in the show and her recent BAFTA Rising Star Award no...

Ricky Reel’s body was discovered in the River Thames 25 years ago, a week after he had gone missing following a racist attack when he was on a night out with friends. His case was never solved, the police initially believed he had run away from an arranged marriage and later that his death was an accident. The case is now being re-examined by the Met Police’s major inquiries specialist casework te...

As Scotland’s First Minister announces her resignation after nearly a decade in the job we consider her legacy, the reasons for and the timing of her decision to go and consider who might take over with the Scotsman’s Political Editor Alistair Grant and journalist Ruth Wishart. The musical Sylvia has just opened at the Old Vic celebrating the life of Sylvia Pankhurst – feminist, activist, pacifist...

The former police officer, Wayne Couzens, who raped and murdered Sarah Everard two years ago, has admitted three counts of indecent exposure, one of which happened just four days before he kidnapped and killed Sarah Everard. Now academics and criminologists are calling for a change in the way indecent exposure is seen – saying we need to stop the perception of it as a so-called ‘nuisance offence’...

Nell Mescal is a singer songwriter from Ireland who writes Indie Folk songs. She’s a rising star whose featured in Rolling Stone Magazine, has been named as an artist to watch by NME and is preparing for a summer of live gigs. She joins Nuala McGovern to talk about what inspires her songs, being a young woman in the music industry and performs her single ‘Graduating’ live in the studio. North Kore...

Coleen Greenwood spent almost two and a half years in a relationship with a man she knew as James Scott. He said he was a divorced firefighter who wanted to marry and go into business with her - but it was all based on a lie. Her story is the subject of a new BBC podcast series Love-Bombed with Vicki Pattison. Ahead of its launch we speak to Coleen about the impact the relationship had on her; and...

Danielle Deadwyler's extraordinary portrayal of the civil rights activist Mamie Till-Mobley in Chinonye Chukwu’s ‘Till’ has earned her a BAFTA nomination for Best Leading Actress. The film tells the true story of Mamie’s pursuit of justice after her 14-year-old son, Emmett Till, was tortured and lynched in 1955. Danielle discusses grief, Mamie’s legacy, and the ongoing fight for civil rights. Dors...

Anita is joined by the European Champion and Queen of the Jungle Jill Scott. Jill is one of the most decorated footballers in the country and after announcing her retirement from the sport last year she's turned her attention to the next generation. Today she is opening a new football pitch in her hometown in South Tyneside and tells Anita what she wants the Lionesses' legacy to be. The gang-rape...