Woman's Hour

Barbara Windsor, Hattie Jacques and Joan Sims were some of the iconic women who starred in the Carry On films from the late 1950s onwards. From Carry on Camping to Carry on Up the Khyber, the humour relied largely on innuendo, double entendre and slapstick comedy, with the women viewed as objects for male desire. But were they really sexist? Emma Barnett speaks to Gemma Ross, co-author of The Carr...

After being the latest celebrity contestant to be voted off Strictly Come Dancing at Blackpool’s Tower Ballroom, Angela Rippon tells Emma Barnett about forming a lifelong friendship with her 28-year-old dance partner Kai Waddington. At 79, she was the oldest competitor in the series and has wowed the judges and the audience with her flexible dance moves. Sam Fraser started working as a standby wea...

Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes spoke publicly about her sexuality for the first time last year. Her new memoir, Unique, details how serving in the military in the late 1980s - when it was illegal to be gay in the military – was a major factor in contributing to her decades-long silence. She joins us to speak about her experience. After a reshuffle that left the government with no women in the...

Brave Girls is a new sitcom following a dysfunctional family made up of sisters Josie and Billie and their mum Deb. It’s a fictional show exploring trauma but it's a comedy in every sense of the word. Ahead of its release on BBC Three and iPlayer next Wednesday, Anita Rani is joined by Kat Sadler, who plays Josie, and by her real life AND fictional sister Lizzie Davidson, who plays Billie. Just ov...

It’s Doctor Who’s 60th year and to celebrate, there will be three anniversary specials coming to your screens starting next week. Jemma Redgrave will be returning as Kate Stewart - Chief Scientific Officer at UNIT - the military organisation set up to investigate alien threats to earth. Jemma speaks to Emma Barnett about what we can expect and what it is like being a part of the show. Professor Da...

After a reshuffle that saw Suella Braverman leave her post as Home Secretary, and left the government with no women in the “big four” offices of state, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk spoke to Emma Barnett. They discussed the impact of the reshuffle, as well as sentencing reforms which will affect women, and the alleged rapist currently serving as a Conservative MP. Endometriosis is a chronic conditi...

The four top jobs in Rishi Sunak’s new cabinet have all been filled with men. It’s the first time this has happened since 2009. To unpack what this means, Emma Barnett is joined by Baroness Kate Fall, former deputy chief of staff to the newly appointed Lord Cameron, and Executive Editor of Politico Anne McElvoy. Double Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes spoke publicly about her sexuality for the f...

Following a weekend of speculation, the most senior woman in government Suella Braverman has been sacked from her role as Home Secretary. To discuss Emma is joined by Lucy Fisher, the Whitehall Editor for the Financial Times; and Claire Pearsall, former Home Office special advisor under Amber Rudd and Sajid Javid. The gripping BBC One drama ‘Time’ focuses on the stories of three women, and shows t...

The Government has announced £11 million in funding for the NHS in England to roll out a dedicated perinatal pelvic health service across all trusts. The aim of these new perinatal pelvic health services will be to help educate and assess women during pregnancy and after a traumatic birth – but how will it work? Emma Barnett hears from Jacqui Barrett, who had a traumatic birth and was incontinent...

If you've been following the Covid inquiry, you may have noticed a lot of strong and swearing language. So why do we swear, and are women judged differently for swearing than men? In her new book For F*ck's Sake: Why Swearing is Shocking, Rude, and Fun, Dr Rebecca Roache explores double standards, the misogynistic roots of certain swear words and the challenges in reclaiming them. Anita Rani is al...

We have been bringing you women's voices from Israel and Gaza since the start of the war. Yesterday, you will have heard on the programme Rachel Goldberg, mother of a 23-year-old hostage Hersh Goldberg Polin, kidnapped by Hamas from a music festival in Israel. Today, we hear from a mother in Gaza. Nour Swirki is a journalist with two children living in Khan Younis, a city in the southern strip of...

Jilly Cooper began her career as a journalist, wrote columns on marriage, sex and housework for the Sunday Times, and numerous works of non-fiction before turning to romance novels - to great success. She has sold more than two million copies of her books including: Riders, Rivals, and Polo - taking us into the glamorous worlds of show jumping and classical music. Her latest novel Tackle! takes us...

Caster Semenya is one of the most decorated athletes of her generation but she is also one of the most scrutinised. The South African shot to fame in 2009 after winning the 800 metres at the World Championships in Berlin. Her performance was so astonishing it was met with questions about her sex and gender, with some asking publicly if she was really a woman. Caster's career, for all its highs, ha...

An unidentified Conservative MP has been accused of rape by several women. These allegations are mentioned in a new book by former cabinet secretary Nadine Dorries. It comes after reports the Conservative party's former chairman, Sir Jake Berry, wrote to the police to make them aware of the claims after leaving the post last year. The deputy Prime Minister, Oliver Dowden, has denied a cover-up by...

This week, the Maternity Safety Alliance group has called for a full statutory public inquiry into maternity safety in England. They joined Jess to explain why they’re calling for this inquiry as did Presenter Krupa Padhy, who has produced a documentary on Radio 4 which investigates this issue. Writer and comedian Alison Larkin avoided love most of her adult life but in her 50s, she found true lov...

There is huge pressure in the rental market and women are being hit hardest of all, according to The Financial Times. Average rents have increased so much that “there are almost no affordable one-bedroom lets in London and the East of England for the average single mother”, according to ONS and rental market data analysed by the Financial Times. Women, and especially single mothers, are being forc...

Former deputy cabinet secretary Helen McNamara gave evidence at the Covid Inquiry yesterday, saying that she thought that the culture in Number 10 was toxic and sexist. She was particularly critical of the explicit and misogynistic language the former chief advisor Dominic Cummings used to describe her. Krupa Padhy is joined by Lucy Fisher, Whitehall Editor for The Financial Times, and Jill Rutter...

As the Artificial Intelligence Safety Summit starts at Bletchley Park today, we look at the growing issue of AI generated child sexual abuse imagery. Jessica Creighton speaks to Emma Hardy from the Internet Watch Foundation and to Professor Gina Neff, Executive Director of the Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy at Cambridge University. Science writer and poker player Alex O’Brien explore...

A group of families affected by failures in NHS maternity care are calling for a full statutory public inquiry into maternity safety in England. Emily Barley from the Maternity Safety Alliance group told Jessica Creighton why she thinks fundamental reform is needed. And presenter Krupa Padhy draws on her own personal story of baby loss in her BBC Radio 4 investigation, How safe is maternity care?...

Bianca Williams and her partner, fellow athlete Ricardo dos Santos, were stopped outside their home in London in July 2020. They had their three-month-old baby with them in their car. Both were handcuffed and searched on suspicion of having drugs and weapons. None were found and neither was arrested. A police Misconduct Hearing was held involving the five officers present. Last week that hearing f...

Leigh-Anne Pinnock - a name you may know, as a member of one of the biggest girl bands in the world, Little Mix. This year - almost two years since the band announced a hiatus - Leigh-Anne has embarked on her own solo career. She tells Anita Rani about her new memoir Believe, all about her life growing up, what it was really like going through The X Factor and how she found her voice. Ukraine clai...

Leigh-Anne Pinnock has embarked on her own solo career, almost two years after her band, Little Mix, called a hiatus - and has already released two songs. Now she's got a new book out, Believe, all about her life growing up, what it was really like going through the X Factor and how she found her voice. She joins Anita Rani to discuss it all. The Black British Book Festival is now in its third yea...

Britney Spears has been in the news again after spilling personal stories in a memoir. Are women being pressured to overshare in order to sell books? And are men also expected to publicise their personal lives? Nina Stibbe, whose newest memoir is Went to London, Took the Dog, and Caroline Sanderson, Associate Editor of The Bookseller, joined Emma Barnett to discuss. Mary Turner Thomson found writi...

As the Israel-Gaza war continues, aid groups are calling for a ceasefire in Gaza as power shortages threaten the lives of vulnerable patients, including women and children. UN agencies have estimated that one-third of hospitals in Gaza and nearly two-thirds of primary health care clinics have had to shut due to damage or a lack of fuel. The Israeli government says Hamas is stock-piling thousands o...

Liza Mundy is the bestselling author of Code Girls, a book about the American women who broke codes during the Second World War. Her new book details the lives of spies and intelligence agents behind some of the biggest operations in postwar history including locating Osama bin Laden, and rescuing the schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram. Around 80 Israeli rights groups have signed a letter calling...