Woman's Hour

Emma Barnett talks to Dawn French about her fourth novel "Because of You" which has been longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction and we'll find out later today if it's made the shortlist. She'll also be talking about the post-menopausal years when women often say they feel invisible, afraid of change, unemployable or just plain 'past it'. If you're an Archers listener you'll be familiar with...

We now know that Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe has been sentenced to another year in an Iranian prison, plus she's banned from travelling abroad. This time she's charged with spreading propaganda. Her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, has not seen his wife since her initial imprisonment in 2016 and is living in London with their six year old daughter Gabriella. He maintains that his wife was imprisoned as l...

New research out today from the charity Breast Cancer Now, indicates that training breast care nurses to deliver Cognitive Behavioural Therapy - or CBT - can be effective in alleviating the distressing menopausal symptoms that some women experience as a result of breast cancer treatment. Emma discusses with Delyth Morgan, Chief Executive of Breast Cancer Now and Natalie, who had breast cancer aged...

We hear from former Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard who is working to help children from developing countries get a quality education. Josephine Kamara and Selina Nkoile are Youth Leaders for Global Partnership for Education and are campaigning to keep girls in education. Pauline Black, lead singer of ska band The Selecter talks about her upbringing and the 2 Tone anti-racism message of...

In 'Come Fly the World', journalist Julia Cooke explores the history and legacy of Pan Am, one of the world’s most iconic airlines. Julia focuses on the adventurous lives and careers of the international jet-age stewardesses of Pan Am – a job which no longer exists - who were expected to fit a specific physical profile, speak multiple languages and demonstrate diplomacy. As the women worked to mai...

Angela Merkel steps down as Chancellor or Prime minister of Germany in September. Nicknamed Mutti or mummy she has held the top job since 2005 so her departure is a huge shift at a challenging time in global and national politics. All eyes are focused on possible successors and one candidate in the frame is Annalena Baerbock. On Monday, the Green Party announced she would be its choice to take ove...

Vanessa Frake worked in the prison service for 27 years. For 16 of those years she was the head of security and operations at the notorious male prison Wormwood Scrubs. Her career saw her cross paths with some of Britain's most notorious criminals. She was the main officer responsible for serial killer Rose West whilst she awaited trial, she was made a cup of tea by Myra Hindley, and she looked af...

With the surge in people getting dogs during lockdown, Emily Dean, broadcaster and host of ‘Walking The Dog with Emily Dean’ joins Anita to discuss her shih-tzu called Raymond, the trend for ‘pandemic puppies’ and the unique relationship between women and their dogs. Newspaper reports from the weekend suggest that Prince Charles, Harry, William and Kate spent a couple of hours at Frogmore Cottage...

The original rude girl and ‘Queen of Ska’ Pauline Black was working as a radiographer when she came to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead singer of the 2 Tone ska revival band The Selecter. Pauline joins Anita to talk about being the only girl on tour alongside The Specials and Madness, expressing herself as a young black woman through music, playing the role of Billie Holiday and, 40 years...

Actor and writer Dame Maureen Lipman recently lost Guido Castro, her partner of more than thirteen years, having already been widowed in 2004 when her husband Jack Rosenthal died after 30 years of marriage. She tells us how you come to terms with such a loss after so long. Why do some people live in vans? Is it to save money to put down a deposit on a house or is it a lifestyle choice? We hear fro...

Imelda May is an Irish singer/songwriter discovered by Jools Holland when she supported him on tour and subsequently appeared on Later ... with Jools Holland in 2008. She was the queen of rockabilly, with a Fifties-style frock, trademark quiff – and a voice compared to legendary blues singers such as Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan. The quiff is long gone. She joins Anita Rani to discuss her musi...

A woman who won a settlement from the Catholic Church after reporting the abuse she suffered, is now launching a personal injury claim against Westminster Diocese. It's because of a series of emails which she says describe her as needy, manipulative and a bully. She explains to Woman's Hour what she wants to achieve. A legal challenge began in the High Court this week about municipal waste inciner...

Emma Barnett talks to the former cabinet minister Owen Paterson about the suicide of his wife Rose and the charity he's founded in her memory. Evy Cohen talks about Prince Philip and how his mother Princess Alice saved her family from the Holocaust, Georgia Elliot-Smith asks if we should stop shaming women about waste and recyling and as Sikhs and Hindus prepare to celebrate the festival of Vaisak...

Baroness Shirley Williams has died at the age of 90. She was a titan of British politics and a true trailblazer for women. She appeared on Woman's Hour many times and so we remember her by listening to the archive. We also speak to her good friend, Baroness Julia Neuberger. What do you do if you've just had a baby and you've been called for jury service? We speak to Zoe Stacey who recently receive...

Shepherdess Amanda Owen & the academic Clare Eglin talk about why women tend to feel colder than men. We talk to Clare Balding about Rachael Blackmore the first woman to win the Grand National this weekend. As lockdown eases and the shops reopen, we talk to the Executive Director of John Lewis Pippa Wicks and Andria Zafirakou who won a million dollar global teaching prize tells us how she's sp...

The 2011 Census found that 6.5 million people in the UK are carers and provide unpaid care by looking after an ill, older or disabled family member, friend or partner. It found that women are more likely to be carers than men, with 58% of carers being female and 42% male. Emily Holzhausen, Director of Policy and Public Affairs at Carers UK and Alyson Corner, psychologist and co-runs the 'My Horrid...

A parliamentary report into body image has just been published. The Women's and Equalities Committee has been looking into why so many people feel dissatisfied about the way they look. They did a survey which said that 61% is adults and 66% of children feel bad about how they look most of the time. They wanted to find out whether certain groups are most at risk at poor body image and looked at the...

Writer and singer-songwriter Tracey Thorn has a new book out, My Rock 'n' Roll Friend. The friend in question is Lindy Morrison. They first met backstage at the Lyceum in London in 1983 when Tracey was 20, insecure, shy, just starting out in the music business. Lindy, ten years older than Tracey, was drummer for an Australian band, The Go-Betweens. To Tracey she looked like "self belief in a minid...

As we begin to emerge from lockdown, what are the similarities with the ‘Roaring 20s’ 100 years ago when Britain, having survived the Spanish Flu and the Great War, became a hedonistic playground? Will this time create a need for crowds, parties, touch, and an urge to ‘get out and enjoy life’? Jessica Fellowes, author of Mitford Murders crime series and companion books to the television series Dow...

What do you do, when your mother is in a spot of bother? You run to help…of course! That’s the situation the Countryfile and former One Show presenter Matt Baker found himself in last summer, when his mum Janice had a serious accident with some sheep, and was unable to continue with the day to day running of the family farm in the Durham Hills. Their story is documented in a four part series curre...

Inspired by her childhood in York, Emma Robertson, Senior Lecturer in History at La Trobe University, Australia explores chocolate and the history of imperial exploitation, sexism and racism in her study ‘Chocolate, Women and Empire: a Social and Cultural History’. Emma talks about the ‘ordinary’ women positioned at the two key stages of production, the cocoa farms of Nigeria and the Rowntree fact...

It’s nearly 30 years since Sharon Stone starred in Basic Instinct, with the famous uncrossing-of-legs scene. In 2001, after adopting her first child, she suffered a stroke and almost died. In an exclusive interview with Emma Barnett she talks about her autobiography - The Beauty of Living Twice. This summer, students in England will receive A-level and GCSE results based on their teachers’ predict...

It’s exams season coming up. This summer, students will receive A-level and GCSE results based on their teachers’ predictions, after exams were cancelled for the second year in a row due to the pandemic. Teachers will be required to compile evidence to substantiate their predicted grades. Ministers have insisted that this year's grading system is the fairest plan, rather than using algorithms. How...

It’s nearly thirty years since Sharon Stone was in the film Basic Instinct, with the famous uncrossing-of-legs scene. She really wanted the role but only got it after twelve other actresses turned it down. After Basic Instinct more films followed including Casino alongside Robert De Niro. In 2001, after adopting her first child, she suffered a stroke and almost died. She’s now written her autobiog...

Continuing our look at what’s being reported as “rape culture” in schools, we talk about the impact of pornography on young people and its effect on relationships and sex. Emma Barnett talks to Dr Fiona Vera-Gray from Durham University and Cindy Gallop founder of MakeLoveNotPorn. We hear from the thriller writer Erin Kelly who talks about her latest novel – “Watch Her Fall” – set in the world of e...