Woman's Hour

Samantha Cameron talks about setting up her own clothing brand and what life was really like at Number 10. Katiann Rocha from the Halo Collective, an organisation of people working to put a stop to hair discrimination and Emma Dabiri, author of the book Don’t Touch My Hair discuss discrimination against afro hair. Internationally-renowned primatologist and conservationist, Dame Jane Goodall on cli...

Can the way we breathe change our mental and physical health? With Rebecca Dennis, author of new audiobook 'Breathe', and Prof Mike Thomas from the University of Southampton. The campaign for a statue of Emmeline Pankhurt's forgotten sister and the first woman to die for the suffrage movement Plus a look at new research which reveals discrimination against Afro hair in the UK is widespread, with b...

Samantha Cameron spent six years at number 10 Downing Street with her husband David in the glare of the media spotlights. She was there through the tumultuous years of the Scottish and EU referendums - issues which still rage today - witnessing some of the biggest political changes for generations. She was the youngest first lady for 50 years, juggling family life and a new baby with a high pressu...

Men don't talk about fertility and society largely views fertility as a woman's issue despite the fact that men are said to be a factor in around half of all fertility issues between couples. That's the view of the stand up comedian Rhod Gilbert who is raising awareness of the issue and wants men to open up and be part of the conversation. He's made a BBC documentary 'Stand up to Infertility' wher...

Women and Gambling. Pauline and Derek Tremain are a couple who work together, running a small business from home in Kent. It's not your run of the mill business however, they provide a very specialist service called 'body mapping' to police forces up and down the country, painstakingly recreating murder injuries with 3D imaging for juries to look at. They talk to Emma about their memoir How to Sol...

Internationally-renowned primatologist and conservationist Jane Goodall discusses the tragedy of lost nature and the positive action needed to combat climate change. Does it matter if female cabinet ministers are missing from flagship political programmes and TV briefings? Emma speaks to former Government minister Anna Soubry, and later in the programme to Therese Coffey MP, Secretary of State for...

Clemency Burton-Hill gives her first broadcast interview to Emma Barnett since she suffered a brain haemorrhage a year ago. She talks about how music has helped her ongoing recovery, and how she has learnt to speak again. Sindiso Khumalo & Dr Christine Checinska on the V&A museum's African fashion exhibition, Plus Katie Price on her son Harvey who was born with Septo-optic Dysplasia, a rar...

Women trying to escape domestic violence can spend months on end in a refuge or in unsuitable temporary accommodation due to lack of suitable housing. The Local Government Ombudsman has just published a highly critical report about how the London Borough of Wandsworth spectacularly failed one victim of domestic abuse. We hear from ombudsman investigator Cameron Black, women in this situation. And...

Katie Price and her family have lived their lives in the public eye for more than 15 years - and now in a new BBC One documentary, she's having to make tough decisions about her son Harvey's future. Born with Septo-optic Dysplasia, a rare disorder that affects brain function, hormones and vision, Harvey is moving onto the next stage of his development as he turns 18. Katie joins Emma to discuss. S...

Emma Barnett with Clemency Burton-Hill's first interview since she suffered a brain haemorrhage a year ago today. She talks about how music has helped her ongoing recovery, and how she has learnt to speak again. Sindiso Khumalo & Dr Christine Checinska on the V&A museum's African fashion exhibition, the new interim mayor of Liverpool Wendy Simon talks about being thrust into the role last...

Some top British ballerinas have become new mums during lock-down. In fact, there are so many in the Royal Ballet that they've created a Whatsapp group. We know that being a ballet dancer is competitive and careers can be short, so has lock-down given the chance to get pregnant? Lauren Cuthbertson, is principal of The Royal Ballet and had her baby a few weeks ago, and Tara-Brigitte Bhavnani, first...

Music producer Phil Spector who has just died in a California jail was serving a life sentence for the murder of the actor Lana Clarkson. Lana Clarkson starred in a number of 1980s B movie sci-fi films like "Barbarian Queen" but at the time she met Spector she was working in a bar. Emma is joined by the biographer of Phil Spector, journalist and author Mick Brown. New exclusive research by reporte...

Emma, a pediatric nurse, who has been redeployed to an Intensive Care Unit talks about what it’s like to care for Covid patients and the daily stress and pressure currently experienced by health care professionals. Amy Pope, former deputy home security advisor to President Obama talks about Congresswoman Liz Cheney, one of ten Republicans who crossed the floor and voted with the Democrats to impea...

As Wonder Woman 1984 hits video on demand services this week, a new generation is introduced to the superhero styled as Diana Prince. Later this year, she'll celebrate her 80th anniversary - so what is her story? And what makes her so culturally relevant still? G Willow Wilson is one of the women who's written for the comic series. Richard Holden, MP for North West Durham, introduced the Virginity...

Everyone remembers their first teenage crush - that feeling of butterflies in the stomach and uncontrollable blushes. As we age, crushes still occur but they tend to be a guilty secret. But are there benefits to having a crush? Facebook introduced a secret crush feature in December last year and it is claimed that crushes can induce mood-boosting chemicals. Should we see crushes as normal, excitin...

To mark the centenary of the infamous ‘sawing-a-woman-in-half’ illusion, Emma Barnett talks to Debbie McGee and Dr Naomi Paxton, also to author Angie Thomas about her new book "Concrete Rose" the prequel to her bestseller "The Hate U Give", Joan Bakewell talks about her legal challenge over the government's decision to delay the second dose of the Covid 19 Vaccine for elderly and we hear how the t...

Around 2.3 million people in the UK have received 2.6 million doses of vaccine. Yesterday we heard they're planning to vaccinate 2 million people a week, until the middle of February with the aim of reaching the most vulnerable who've accounted for 88% of deaths from Covid 19 so far. A recent poll showed more than a quarter of 18-to-34-year-old women said they would say no to a Covid jab, citing c...

Listeners and practitioners offer advice and support to parents living with violent children. Pat Craven from the Freedom Programme, and Karina Kelly who advocates Non-violent Resistance join Emma. Author of Running Like a Girl, Alexandra Heminsley has written a new memoir about having a baby after much difficulty and finding out not long after that her husband is set on transitioning. She talks t...

We have music and chat from singer-songwriter Holly Humberstone who has been named as runner up of the BBC Sound of 2021. Helen Lewis, staff writer at the Atlantic and Melissa Melewski lecturer in American politics at The University of Sussex discuss the role women played in this week’s violent protest when the Capitol building in Washington was stormed by Trump Supporters. We hear from Hannah who...

We hear from the singer-songwriter Holly Humberstone who's the runner up in the BBC Sound of 2021. Caroline Aldridge's eldest son Tim had a bipolar disorder and he passed away before he could access treatment. She’s talks about her book "He Died Waiting " which outlines why she thinks mental health services failed him. We unveil new data showing the pressures facing families over school closures a...

The poet Carol Ann Duffy - who served as the first woman poet laureate between 2009-2019 and has won numerous awards for her poetry including the Whitbread, Forward and T. S. Eliot Prizes - joins Emma with a poem which feels particularly apt in the current circumstances, as we enter another lockdown and people are separated from their families and friends – it is called Long Table. Carol Ann talks...

The #MeToo movement exploded across social media and into the public consciousness in late 2017. In case you missed it, Me Too aimed to show the scale of harassment and sexual violence in society and raise awareness of women who've been abused. Amid shared stories from women of all ages, nationalities and backgrounds, it exposed not only the magnitude of sexual assault but the systemic failure to...

We're in another lockdown. Schools are shut like last time. Only children of key workers and those who are vulnerable can go in. Listeners have already been in touch expressing their concerns. We want to hear from you. Is it the right thing to do? Why has the messaging been so inconsistent. What impact will school closures have on working life, parents and children? How different is this from wher...

Emma Barnett presents her first edition of Woman's Hour with music from Mel C, Imelda Staunton on her new role in The Crown and the latest on Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe from her husband Richard and the former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt. Presenter: Emma Barnett Producer: Lisa Jenkinson Editor: Karen Dalziel

Holly Ridings is the first woman to be Nasa's chief flight director and is in charge of the Artemis programme - named after Apollo's twin sister - which will land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024. She tells us about the challenges involved with space travel and what makes a good astronaut. More and more of us are living longer - so how can we do it better? Consultant Geriatrician D...