Woman's Hour

PC Andrew Harper’s widow Lissie says she has cabinet support for a new law – under which anyone who kills an emergency services worker would be jailed for life. PC Andrew Harper was killed last summer in the line of duty. The three teenagers who were responsible for his death were jailed for manslaughter. She joins Jane to talk about why she’s campaigning for a new law – under which anyone who kil...

What do we know so far about COVID – clinically and scientifically – in women, including those who are pregnant. Jane talks to Professor Louise Kenny a clinical academic from Liverpool Women’s Hospital We’ve all heard of ‘tidy desk, tidy mind’ but is there any truth in the well-known phrase? With all of us spending more time at home during lockdown, many people used that time to have a clear out a...

Forty years since Willy Russell’s play Educating Rita was first performed we hear from some real life Rita’s, Willy Russell and Julie Walters on the films influence Sam Baker, the former editor of Cosmopolitan and Red and author of The Shift, Kelechi Okafor who’s an actor, director and podcaster and the journalist, Rebecca Reid, who’s written The Power of Rude on how to be assertive without coming...

Hilary Swank, the two time Oscar-winning actress of Boys Don’t Cry and Million Dollar Baby, stars in new Netflix drama Away. She plays Commander Emma Green who leaves behind her husband and daughter to lead an international crew of astronauts on a perilous three-year mission to Mars. She talks to Jane about being an astronaut, dealing with claustrophobia, caring for her Dad, Devon cream teas, and...

In the latest of our How to guides, we discuss the art of being assertive and explore why it can be so difficult for women to stand up for themselves, assert their own needs and make themselves heard. Jenni is joined by journalist and author of the Power of Rude, Rebecca Reid, Journalist, broadcaster and author of The Shift, Sam Baker, and actor, podcaster and writer Kelechi Okafor. Recently we sp...

The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Cressida Dick, talks to Jenni about working with women in the community to help combat violent crime. She wants both the victims of things like domestic abuse and knife crime and those around them have the confidence to speak out about what’s happening in their area. She’s been working closely with mothers who’ve lost children to violence and is explori...

Annette Bening stars in a new film 'Hope Gap' about the collapse of a marriage after 29 years. She joins Jane to discuss the disintegration of that union. The Covid realities project from York and Birmingham universities chronicles the experiences of low-income families during the lockdown period. Jane hears about the project from Dr Maddy Power, Research Fellow at the University of York and found...

This summer marks 40 years since Willy Russell’s landmark play Educating Rita was first performed. The funny and moving story of a 26 year-old Liverpudlian hairdresser studying for an Open University degree has barely been off stage since. Dame Julie Walters played the lead role in both the original theatrical production and the later film, for which she was Oscar-nominated. She joins Jane to talk...

Louise Somerville thinks we need to talk more about nits. She feels that increasingly schools are inconsistent in how much they help parents deal with nits and that clear advice is lacking. We ask how best to deal with nits and head lice, and the stigma attached, and why it matters. With entomologist Richard Jones and Joanna Ibarra from Community Hygiene Concern. Daisy Leigh was 23 when she felt a...

Presented by Jenni Murray. A 16 year-old young woman looking at universities came across the St Andrews Survivors page on Instagram with more than 100 stories of sexual assault. She only read a couple but consequently wiped St Andrews off her potential university list. Her mother, a Woman’s Hour listener, wrote to us to saying she felt universities are not doing enough to address this problem, and...

LISTENER WEEK: Josie Channer and Teresa Devereux are both listeners who felt that they had to write novels about what they’d experienced through their work. Josie’s written Diary of a Prison Officer and Teresa’s based her novel Broken Lives on what she saw and heard as a social worker. They tell Jane about how they published their work and what they hope readers will get out of their books. Sarah...

Marva Yates who lives in London got in touch because she wanted us to talk about the importance of sisterhood throughout history... Marva and her sister Sabrina – who currently lives in New York - started the @sistoryuntold podcast about it during lockdown. They wanted not only to learn more about those often forgotten women of history but to show that support, both good and bad, from the “sisterh...

Would you consider walking 880 miles around the Wales Coastal Path? Two listeners, Helen and Rhian, tell us about their experiences, and they are joined by academic Kerri Andrews, author of Wanderers: A History of Women Walking. Daisy Leigh was 23 when she felt an unfamiliar kicking sensation and was shocked to discover she was 30 weerks pregnant. She had just two months to prepare, mentally and p...

All you need to know about nits

Women and Paddling: kayaking, canoeing, paddle boarding, rafting what are the attractions, what is involved, how can paddle sports help physical and mental health and where are women in these water sports? Following an email from a Woman’s Hour Listener who is passionate about women paddling, Jane speaks to Cadi Lambert, who runs the ShePaddles programme for British Canoeing, and Emma Kitchen, who...

Becky's father went to prison for sex offences against children. For a BBC documentary, Can Sex Offenders Change?, Becky met three sex offenders who didn’t go to jail, but had rehabilitation treatment in the community. We hear from Becky and Professor Belinda Whynder, Research Director Centre for Crime Offending, Prevention and Engagement at Nottingham Trent University and a co-founder of the char...

Marion ‘Crawfie’ Crawford was a young Scottish trainee teacher who wanted to educate children in the slums of Edinburgh but ended up as governess to a young Princess Elizabeth and her sister Margaret. How much did she influence and shape their lives? Writer Wendy Holden on how she's brought her story to life, in a new novel ‘The Governess: She Came from Nothing and Raised a Queen ’. Earlier this y...

Described as a ‘tender portrayal of experiencing dementia in lockdown’ Watching Rosie is an online play starring Miriam Margolyes. Portraying grandmother Alice, and Louise Coulthard, her granddaughter Rosie, Miriam joins Jenni to discuss the bond between the two as they face change and confusion. Sinead Hynes is a tough, driven, funny young property developer with terrifying secret. No one knows i...

Advice on supporting your child's mental health during the Coronavirus pandemic

Three producers on the Ellen DeGeneres Show in the US have been fired amid allegations of misconduct and sexual harassment and reports that it was a "toxic workplace". As one of the highest paid and popular stars on TV Ellen ends her talk show with the catch phrase "be kind to one another". What is the impact on her popularity and reputation following the sackings? Jenni speaks to New York-based j...

Becky’s father was convicted of sex offences against children and sent to prison. He has since been released but while in prison he undertook a sex offender rehabilitation programme. For a BBC documentary Can Sex Offenders Change? Becky meets a growing number of sex offenders who have not been sent to prison, and have received treatment in the community. She tries to understand what drove them to...

Fawzia Koofi, a member of Afghanistan's peace negotiating team survived an assassination attempt on Friday. This come after the Afghan government announced a new council to safeguard women's rights and interests, amid fears peace talks with the Taliban could lead to the loss of hard-won gains. Mahjooba Nowrouzi from the BBC Afghan Service explains. In 1973, Julie Welch became the first woman to re...

On VJ Day we hear from Patricia and Jean Owtram who both served their country while their father was a prisoner of war in the Far East. We discuss the findings of the BBC Sport Elite British Sportswomen's survey 2020 published this week. Karen Maine tells us about her new film Yes God, Yes about 16 year old Alice growing up a Catholic and attending Catholic school in the early noughties in the Ame...

To mark VJ Day 75 we’ll be speaking to two sisters, Patricia and Jean Owtram whose father was a prisoner of war in the Far East. At the time both sisters were serving their country. They are the last two living sisters to have signed the official secrets act in WW2. Patricia received a Legion of Honour for her interception of enigma code for Bletchley park as a WREN tapping into German shipping ra...

With nightlife on pause during lockdown how have DJs been adapting? DJ Flight has been at the forefront of drum and bass for over two decades. Signed to Goldie’s label Metalheadz, she’s played all over the world and is founder of EQ50, a project aimed at improving gender equality in drum and bass. Ngaio Anyia is a singer and DJ from Bristol who runs Booty Bass, a collective who offer DJ lessons fo...