Woman's Hour

A recent survey revealed that tradespeople are £35,000 better off than university graduates. But only 14.5% of the construction workforce as a whole is female, and that drops to just 2% when it comes to skilled manual trades, according to CITB figures. Barbara Marshfield has been a painter and decorator for 25 years, and got in touch. She joins Emma to discuss, along with Steph Leese who has her o...

The actor Lesley Manville on her mission to change the way the world sees older women - not least in her latest TV performance in Channel 4's I am series. Lesley plays Maria, who at 60 and after 30-odd years of marriage, is finding it suffocating and decides she wants more from life. The BBC journalist Zarghuna Kargar who used to present Afghan Woman's Hour found herself translating a Taliban pres...

How common is it to experience ‘hate’ towards someone you once loved? We tend to think of 'hate' as one of the strongest emotions we can have, so what happens if you find yourself 'hating' your former partner, particularly if you have children with them. We discuss why some people experience this during or after the breakdown of their relationship, and how to move on from it. In the early 1990s Ru...

We continue reporting on what's happening to women and children in Afghanistan. We hear from our BBC corespondent in Kabul, Secunder Kermani. Also Larissa Brown who's Defence Editor at The Times tells us about women soldiers in Afghanistan, and we speak to Zarghuna Kargar who used to present Afghan Woman's Hour and this week found herself translating a Taliban press conference. It was her voice te...

The UK government has announced plans to resettle 20,000 Afghan refugees over the coming years, with 5,000 coming to the UK in the first year. This will be in addition to those such as interpreters and teachers who helped UK forces on the ground, and are already being offered homes here. Emma speaks to the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, on how the announcement will aim to prioritise vulnerable women...

Hot flushes are probably the first thing you associate with going through the menopause. But Radio 2's Liza Tarbuck had an interesting angle on it she wanted us to investigate - gums! Decreases in oestrogen can have a significant effect on your dental health including bleeding gums, burning, a dry mouth and even tooth loss. But the link to menopause and perimenopause is often missed. Dr Uchenna Ok...

Many bigger-busted women find it difficult to find clothing tailored to their chest size. The last time a national size survey was conducted in the UK was back in 2001, so why don’t clothing manufacturers take our bra sizes into account? Edaein O’Connell is a 32H, and has written about her struggle to find well fitting clothes. Dr Kathryn Brownbridge is a Senior Lecturer in Fashion and Design at M...

Dating apps have seen a growing trend towards individuals disclosing that they have a mental health disorder in their online profiles. Jo Hemmings a behavioural psychologist and Beth McColl a lifestyle journalist, tell us how and when to tell someone you are dating that you live with a mental health condition? We look at the issue of maternal discrimination with Dr Katie Lidster a scientist who ha...

Joy Crookes was nominated for Rising star at the BRIT awards 2020. Born and raised in Elephant and Castle, London, the daughter of a Bengali mother and an Irish father, she grew up listening to an eclectic mix of genres – everything from Nick Cave, to King Tubby, Kendrick Lamar and Gregory Isaac. She came to the public’s attention at the age of 15 when she uploaded a cover of "Hit the Road Jack" o...

Some mums may take a while to bond with their baby after they're born. This can be for a variety of reasons and is in fact very common among new mothers. Journalist and writer Natasha Lunn decided to write about her experience of not falling in love with her daughter immediately. She joins Andrea along with Dr Karen Bateson, Head of Clinical Strategy and Development from the Parent Infant Foundati...

Earlier this year, Kamala Harris was sworn in as the first female black Asian American Vice President in history. 6 months on, some polling has been interpreted as saying she's the most unpopular Vice President in history. To discuss the recent polling and her work to date we are joined by Sharon D Austin, a professor of Political Science at the University of Florida and Melissa Milewski, a Lectur...

Today will mark the first time that there will be a single results day for the whole of the UK with AS and A level, vocational qualifications, Welsh Baccalaureate, and Scottish Highers and Advanced Highers grades all at the same time. Although education is a devolved matter for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, all four nations adopted a system of awarding grades this summer based on...

It's a year today since the disputed elections in Belarus. They sparked unrest because the election was widely believed to have been rigged in favour of Alexander Lukashenko, who's held power since 1994. Three women joined forces to challenge Alexander Lukashenko. One of the woman - Maria Kolesnikova - is now in prison and facing trial. Maria’s sister, Tatyana, speaks to Emma on the anniversary of...

Will the young women smashing it at the Olympics in the new urban sports of BMX freestyling, Skateboarding and Sport Climbing inspire a new generation of girls to follow in their footsteps? Skateboarder Hannah Shrewsbury and BMX freestyler Kayley Ashworth discuss. Women trash-talking men has gone too far: that's what the journalist James Innes Smith believes. He shares his viewpoint with Fiona Stu...

Anita Rani talks to Emma-Jean Thackray about her debut album Yellow, which has debuted at number one on the Jazz & Blues Chart. Will the young women smashing it at the Olympics in the new urban sports of BMX freestyling, Skateboarding and Sport Climbing inspire a new generation of girls to follow in their footsteps? We talk to skateboarder Hannah Shrewsbury and BMX freestyler Kayley Ashworth....

Bette Davis was one of the biggest names in Hollywood, nominated for ten Oscars and her extraordinary career spanned almost sixty years. An outspoken and dedicated actress, she created some of the most compelling characters in cinema history. As the BFI launches a whole season dedicated to her this month, we hear about her life and legacy. The new NHS England chief Amanda Pritchard has urged peopl...

The shift to mask wearing and homeworking saw many of us ditch our make-up during the pandemic. Perhaps not the best time to launch a new beauty business – but that’s what Bobbi Brown has done. She talks to Emma Barnett about her new beauty range and her career in the industry. Phantom of the Opera was first performed 35 years ago in London’s West End. It’s the second longest-running musical here,...

All eyes were on Laurel Hubbard at yesterday's women's Olympic weightlifting. That's because she's the first transgender athlete to compete in the Games, but it was Team GB's Emily Campbell who made history. Five years ago, Emily was working with children who had special needs, but now she's the first British woman ever to stand on the Olympic podium for weightlifting, taking home the silver. We t...

Over the weekend Carrie Johnson announced she was expecting another baby describing it as a "rainbow" baby because she'd experienced a miscarriage earlier this year. Ruth Bender Atik from The Miscarriage Association talks to Andrea. Journalist Miranda Levy describes her new book, ‘The Insomnia Diaries’, as a ‘self-help’ memoir looking at eight and a half years of disabling insomnia. Miranda recove...

The writer Jeanette Winterson tells us why women need to be at the heart of the Artificial Intelligence revolution and about her new essay collection which covers 200 years of women and science. The British stand-up comic, writer and actor London Hughes tells us about making it big in America and the difficulties of dating during a pandemic. The singer-songwriter, Josie Proto, tells us about her f...

Since moving to the US last year, the British stand-up comic, actor, writer and presenter London Hughes is making it big. Her stand up special To Catch A D*ck - originally performed at the Edinburgh Fringe - has been adapted for TV and is streaming globally on Netflix. She’s also one of the hosts of Netflix's weekly chat show Afterparty and a new comedy Hot Mess is set to follow with Universal. He...

Jeanette Winterson talks about her new essay collection which covers 200 years of women and science, from Mary Shelley to AI. She asks what love, caring, sex and attachment will look like when humans form connections with non-human helpers teachers, sex-workers, and companions? And what will happen to our deep-rooted assumptions about gender? Will our own bodies be enhances by biological and neura...

An estimated 50% of women in the UK will have a urinary tract infection at some point in their lives and between 20-30% are likely to have a recurrence. For some, these recurrent infections can lead to a significant impact on their health and way of life. Dr Agnes Arnold-Forster, a medical historian from McGill University with a personal history of UTIs has produced a documentary with two others,...

Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.

The government’s new violence against women and girls strategy was published last Wednesday. Many organisations welcomed the commitments it made but many had criticisms for areas not addressed, not least the specific needs of Black and minoritized women when facing domestic violence. Ngozi Fulani is the founder and director of Sistah Space, a small charity that offers specialist support for Africa...