Woman's Hour

Marina Ovsyannikova is an employee of Russia’s state Channel One television interrupting the channel’s main news programme on Monday night in an extraordinary act of protest against Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. She burst on to the set of the live broadcast of the nightly news on Monday evening, shouting: “Stop the war. No to war.” - holding a handwritten sign to the same effect. The prote...

On Saturday a ceremony took place at Bristol Cathedral to replace a plaque that marked the day women priests were first ordained by the Church of England, in 1994. The original plaque only listed the names of the men who attended the ceremony, and not the 32 women who had made history that day. Almost 30 years later, the plaque finally displays the women’s names. Emma speaks to Reverend Angela Ber...

Why in 2022 is there no position in the Cabinet solely dedicated to the job of Women and Equalities? Why is it always tagged onto another cabinet role? We hear from Amber Rudd who juggled the job of being Home Secretary, while she was also Work and Pensions Secretary and from Shadow Women and Equalities Minister Anneliese Dodds, who's also Chair of the Labour Party. There have been elections in In...

She’s been credited with inspiring the likes of the Spice Girls and Madonna – singer and songwriter Betty Boo is back. The platinum success artist made a name for herself in the 1990’s for her unapologetic attitude, and combination of Pop and Hip Hop music. Betty Boo has now released her first solo single in almost three decades. She joins Anita Rani to reflect on her career and music There have b...

Northern Ireland politics are once again in flux and the government can't really function. At the beginning of February, Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill lost her role in Stormont after First Minister Paul Givan, a member of the DUP, resigned. In her role as Deputy over the years, she worked closely with former DUP leader and First Minister Arlene Foster. Now she could be on track...

With worldwide sales in excess of 15 million albums, the Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter Joss Stone is without question among the most iconic soul singers of the modern era. She rose to fame at the age of 13 by winning a BBC talent competition and more recently won The Masked Singer. Joss has now reunited with legend Dave Stewart for her new album Never Forget My Love. In an exclusive inter...

Why in 2022 is there no position in the Cabinet solely dedicated to the job of Women and Equalities? Why is it always tagged onto another cabinet role? Emma talks to Amber Rudd who juggled the job of being Home Secretary while she was Work and Pensions Secretary too. Plus, Shadow Women and Equalities Minister Anneliese Dodds, who's also Chair of the Labour Party. When the war in Ukraine was just u...

Emma speaks to BBC Ukraine correspondent Zhanna Bezpiatchuk about the situation in Ukraine. Today the Commons discuss the long-awaited Economic Crimes Bill. A cross party alliance of MPs will be tabling amendments to strengthen the bill. Amongst them is Labour MP, Dame Margaret Hodge who has been calling for tougher anti-corruption laws for many years, and has said there are "worrying loopholes in...

Swiss-Tamil singer Priya Ragu has been shortlisted in the BBC Sound of 2022 Poll – joining Adele, Jessie J and Celeste. She tells us how her music plays homage to her heritage and is a fusion of traditional Tamil music, RnB and Soul, which she uniquely calls ‘Ragu Wavy’. All week we've been covering Ukraine. We hear from Lesia Vasylenko, a Ukrainian MP who describes her new reality of being traine...

We have music and chat from the Swiss-Tamil singer Priya Ragu who has been shortlisted in the BBC Sound of 2022 Poll – joining Adele, Jessie J and Celeste. She tells us how her music plays homage to her heritage and is a fusion of traditional Tamil music, RnB and Soul, which she uniquely calls ‘Ragu Wavy’. The number of refugees leaving Ukraine has reached a million. If you were listening last wee...

'Enough'. That’s the name of a new communication campaign launched by the Home Office this week to tackle violence against women and girls. It comes in the week of the anniversary of the abduction and murder of Sarah Everard in London, by a serving police officer. So one year on, where are we in the fight to deal with violence against women and girls? We speak to Labour MP Dame Diana Johnson who i...

For over thirty years Dr Suzanne Simard has done ground-breaking research on plant communication and intelligence. She is Professor of Forest Ecology at the University of British Columbia and the author of a gripping scientific memoir, Finding the Mother Tree, in which she reveals the highly complex ways trees interact and communicate. Suzanne joins Jessica in the studio. As the Russian invasion o...

You might be forgiven for thinking that the females of most animal species are passive, maternal and monogamous – because that’s been the long-standing scientific consensus. But now the zoologist and broadcaster Lucy Cooke wants to expose the stereotypes and bias that lie beneath our common understanding of how the sexes work in the wild. Her new book is called Bitch - A Revolutionary Guide to Sex...

As the conflict continues in Ukraine, we've seen footage of predominately women and children fleeing the country. But that is just one aspect of this conflict. There are also many women who have stayed in Ukraine and signed up to fight. Back in December, Ukraine's Ministry of Defence expanded the number of women who are eligible for mandatory service in the armed forces. They will be joining the 5...

In an exclusive interview, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and future Queen Consort talks to Emma about her work with domestic abuse survivors. They are joined by Diana Parkes whose daughter Joanna Simpson was battered to death by her estranged husband in 2010. Olena Symonenko tells us about her escape to a safer part of Ukraine only to find out that her apartment that she had lived in all her life h...

A pivotal moment in the history of trade unions and women’s rights is to be marked by English Heritage with the placement of a blue plaque commemorating the 1888 matchgirls’ strike in East London. Curatorial Director of English Heritage, Anna Eavis, tells us about the protest, its real role in the Labour movement and why it has been so misconstrued throughout history. Millions of people across Ukr...

Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall is now at the heart of the royal family. In her ascension day message which begins a year of celebrations to mark seventy years on the throne, the Queen said that once Prince Charles becomes King, her sincere wish is that Camilla will be at his side as Queen Consort. It's recognition for her loyalty, and her work campaigning on a variety of causes and in particular...

Margaret Atwood's latest collection of essays, Burning Questions, gathers together her essays and other occasional non-fiction pieces from 2004 to 2021. She is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry and critical essays. Her novels include Cat's Eye, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, and The Blind Assassin which won the Booker prize in 2000. Her 1985 classic, The Handmaid's Tale, was f...

One in six people in England and Wales have a criminal record. A new campaign #Fairchecks spearheaded by charities Transform Justice and Unlock reveals the experiences of women whose lives have been ruined by minor offences as much as 30 years on. To coincide with the Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Bill, going through the final stages of parliament, they are asking for amendments to shorten th...

Today Woman's Hour has an exclusive investigation into the women who have survived domestic violence but are being exploited a second time by ‘rent farming’. These women, trapped in what is known as 'exempt accommodation' after fleeing abuse, say they often come out more traumatised than when they moved in. We reveal the legal loopholes which allow landlords to receive higher - enhanced - housing...

Mina Smallman, the mother of the murdered sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman is one of the key women who called for Dame Cressida Dick to resign from her position as Metropolitan Commissioner. As negotiations continue on when Dame Cressida will leave, we get Mina’s reaction. Do we need a family planning one as well? Lawyer Natalie Sutherland has become one of Britain’s first fertility officer...

The National Theatre is embarking on a seven week tour of secondary schools. Their radical reimagining of ‘Jekyll & Hyde’ with two female leads will be watched by more than 10,500 students from across the UK, bringing live theatre to underserved areas like Doncaster, Sunderland and Wigan. It aims to create conversations about issues like Police sexual abuse, violence against women and online m...

Schools in the Indian state of Karnataka reopened yesterday after protests broke out in response to the state government trying to ban women wearing the hijab in classrooms. The issue gained widespread attention after videos and images of girls wearing hijab getting heckled while being denied entry to school went viral. Protestors took to the streets to condemn the decision, and women have marched...

An out-of-court settlement has been reached between Prince Andrew and Virginia Giuffre. She'd accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17. He's always denied it and hasn't admitted any liability. We examine what the settlement means for Virginia Giuffre with the lawyer, Georgina Calvert-Lee and Jess Phillips MP, who's Labour's Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence and Safeguarding. Ther...

Mina Smallman whose daughters were killed in a London park gives her reaction to the latest revelations from the Metropolitan police. Vladimir Putin could launch an invasion of Ukraine "almost immediately", the UK believes as diplomatic efforts continued to avert a war in eastern Europe. Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Monday an invasion could take place within 48 hours as he urged Russia's...