Woman's Hour

Alexandra Wilson on her new book “In Black and White”. The story of breaking down barriers of race and class to become a barrister. She explains how losing a very close family friend to knife crime made her pursue a career in law and how she has overcome her family’s fears of becoming “part of the system” Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee for President in this year’s US elections has finally named...

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called for Britain and France to work together to stop migrant boats crossing the Channel to Dover. On Friday a record number of unaccompanied migrant children arrived in the UK. The 23 youths were taken into the care of Kent County Council, on top of the 70 who arrived in July. According to the latest Home Office Statistics 90% of young (under 18) unaccompanied re...

Presented by Jenni Murray. Every few days we hear of more jobs going. The Bank of England said at the end of last week that unemployment is likely to hit 2.5 million this year. That means the jobless total would almost double by Christmas. Tonight there’s a Channel 4 documentary series starting which focuses on a job centre in Leeds and the people who use it. Jenni is joined by Olivia, who is a si...

The multi award winning writer Zadie Smith on 'Intimations', a collection of personal essays about lockdown. Photo courtesy of Dominique Nabokov. The rise in families with children under 5 needing help from baby banks has risen significantly since the pandemic began. We hear from Lauren Elrick who has a fifteen month old daughter and uses Abernecessities in Aberdeenshire. Sophia Parker, chief exec...

Would you stand up for your mate if she was being discriminated against? Would you stick up for her, even if it caused you problems? Today we discuss how to be a good ally. Whether it’s racism, sexism or homophobia what’s the best way to speak up and support your friends? We're joined by Chloe Laws from Glamour Magazine, Richie Brave who presents Brave Conversations on BBC 1Xtra, and Danielle Dash...

Zadie Smith’s newest book, ‘Intimations’, was written during the early months of lockdown. It is a series of personal essays reflecting on the unprecedented situation of a worldwide pandemic, hoping to provoke readers to reflect on what has happened and what might come next. Maternity care is to be the first focus of an independent new panel set up by the Health and Social Care Committee to give r...

The Duchess of Cambridge has spearheaded a campaign to persuade retailers to donate items to baby banks around the UK. New figures from the three big charities – Baby Basics, Little Village and AberNecessities have published figures which show the number of families with children under five who’ve needed their help has risen significantly since the coronavirus crisis began. How are they managing t...

Empowering schoolchildren to identify propaganda and distorted facts online

How can you help your children to identify fake news on the internet? With the explosion of different platforms it can be hard to keep tabs on what they are watching. Jane finds out from the editor of 'The Week Junior', Anna Bassi, and Juliane von Reppert-Bismarck, the founder of 'Lie Detectors', an award-winning news literacy project which empowers schoolchildren to identify propaganda and distor...

Listen to sisters Ella and Amy. They're behind Kids Against Plastic and talk to us about the world's reliance on plastic, especially single use plastic, and the way we just dump it. On Wednesday they're part of the online climate change forum called ‘Race Against Climate Change’. We go to Ireland to hear about a tampon TV ad which has caused a stir, so much so it's been taken off air. Some people...

We discuss the process of recovery after domestic abuse, the way that these relationships can stay with you but also how you can build a new life after. How do those who have survived abuse find their behaviour affected? What do they wish that their friends and family had understood? And how can friends and family can help? With Sue Penna, co-founder of Rockpool who deliver trauma-informed trainin...

How to End a Relationship, Alice Oseman, Mother and Baby Units in Prison.

New Department for Education figures out this morning revealed that 7,894 children were excluded from school in England during 2018/19. This is a slight decrease from the previous year, but otherwise the numbers have been increasing year on year since 2013. Although girls are less likely than boys to be formally excluded, a charity called Social Finance UK released research this month showing that...

The Black Lives Matter movement has shone a light on a number of areas of society where discrimination and prejudice exists beneath the surface. Today we explore what it’s like to be a black woman and work in the music industry. Jacqueline Springer is a music lecturer and journalist. Fleur East is an artist and songwriter who rose to fame after coming second on the X Factor in 2014. Lioness MC is...

We often take it for granted that cycling can make you feel a bit saddle sore. But that expectation masks the fact that many women experience real pain when cycling - due to a combination of inappropriate saddles, ill-fitting bikes and a lack of understanding by medical experts of the damage that can be done to the vulva. Now that cycling may soon be on prescription and bikes are soaring in popula...

The school summer holidays are underway across the UK – but this year they’re going to be a bit different. Thanks to coronavirus there’s a shortage of childcare and holiday clubs, helpful grandparents are mostly off-limits, parents are already exhausted from juggling home-working and home-school for four months, and teenagers are faced with another six weeks of restricted freedoms. So how are peop...

Known as The Barnsley Nightingale, the folk singer, Kate Rusby talks about her latest album of covers, and recording it with her husband and two young daughters. A number of high street retail stores have announced job losses. So many of the shop floor, customer facing jobs are done by women. Retail analyst Catherine Shuttleworth, and Sue Prynn,deputy divisional officer for USDAW's southern divisi...

In court in New York last week President Trump’s niece, Mary J Trump found out that a temporary restraining order on her book about her uncle was going to be lifted. She joins Jenni to talk about Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created The World’s Most Dangerous Man. Editor-in-chief of ELLE magazine and board member of the Social Mobility Commission, Farrah Storr, chats to Jenni about lau...

The folk singer, Kate Rusby also has the nickname, The Barnsley Nightingale. Kate's latest album is covers of pop music you're bound to recognise, but in her own folksy, mellow way. She talks to us about why she did an album of covers, how she recorded it with her husband and girls, and why Susannah Hoff made her cry. Seoul in South Korea is known as the plastic surgery capital of the world. There...

Heading to the British coast on holiday this year? The fascinating Heather Buttivant tells us what wonders we can find in the common rock pool, and how to interest kids in them.

In the next of our summer series of practical How to guides, we talk about how to be a good friend. There will be tips on how to make, keep and politely shed friends at different stages in your life. We’ll discuss the tools you need to navigate tricky things like being over or underwhelmed by contact with your friends, and what to do if you don’t like your mate’s partner. Jane is joined by the bro...

As the neutral pronouns they/them start to enter the public consciousness, so too has the idea of gender-neutral parenting. Sarah Davies is a new mum to baby Quinn and talks about her experience of practicing gender-neutrality in a highly gendered society. Prof Melissa Hines from the University of Cambridge and Dr Brenda Scott from City University have both studied how children’s gender identity a...

Michaela Coel’s BBC drama ‘I May Destroy You’ has brought to light a number of interesting dilemmas, particularly within the realm of female friendships. Today we ask – is it okay to leave a friend on a night out? If a friend is too drunk or too disorderly to take care of themselves, but refuses to leave the venue or get in a cab, what can and should you do? Harriet Marsden is a freelance journali...

Karen Gibson aka “Godmother of Gospel” who shot to worldwide fame in 2018 after she appeared conducting The Kingdom Choir at the Royal Wedding of Harry and Meghan – tells me about the Choir’s new single Real Love. We hear from the writer Caitlin Moran about her new film based on her memoir How To Build A Girl. We discuss why Black people are more likely to end up in the mental health system and be...

How To Build A Girl – based on Caitlin Moran’s non-fiction memoir of the same name - has now been turned into a film It introduces us to Johanna Morrigan, a young Wolverhampton local who’s struggling to get to grips with the “incredible unfolding” that comes with puberty. The screenplay is written by the woman herself and was filmed in and around the City. She joins Jenni to talk about what it mea...