The idea of reaching net-zero emissions is mentioned so often, it’s easy to forget that someone came up with it. That someone is Farhana Yamin – a world-class environmental lawyer, expert in international climate negotiations and number 2 on this year’s Woman’s Hour Power List. Jane Garvey talks to Farhana about her fascinating career. She’s the first woman to run a leading British grocery retailer, we speak to Jo Whitfield, who is CEO of Co-Op Food. She joins Jane to talk about how food retaile...
Nov 17, 2020•48 min
Today Jane Garvey reveals the 30 names on this year's Woman’s Hour Power List, which celebrates women from across the UK that are making a significant contribution to the health and sustainability of our planet. Jane talks to some of the women on this year's list and hears how the judges – Lucy Siegle, Zunaira Malik, Emma Howard Boyd, Flo Headlam and Prof Alice Larkin – managed to take over 1000 listener emails and whittle it down to our final Power List of 30. Presenter: Jane Garvey Producer: A...
Nov 16, 2020•53 min
The popstar Anne-Marie is famous for songs such as 2002, Ciao adios & Clean Bandit’s Rockabye. She talks to us about lockdown and her new documentary on You Tube ‘How to Be Anne Marie. We discuss the sculpture by Maggi Hambling celebrating the ‘mother of feminism’ Mary Wollstonecraft, which went on display on Newington Green, Islington in London on Tuesday. Reporter Melanie Abbott is in Newington Green where she’s been talking to visitors to the sculpture, and art historian and critic Ruth M...
Nov 14, 2020•44 min
The serial killer Peter Sutcliffe has died of Covid 19. He was convicted of the murders of 13 women, and the attempted murder of 7 others, in Yorkshire and the north-west of England between 1975 and 1980. Jane speaks to Joan Smith is a feminist writer and campaigner, and author of Misogynies – she was a reporter in the North of England at the time. Louise Watiss is a criminologist at Teeside University and Carol Anne Lee is the author of Somebody’s Mother Somebody’s Daughter. We also hear from R...
Nov 13, 2020•48 min
Otegha Uwagha is a writer & commentator. Today she discusses her new essay, Whites: On Race and Other Falsehoods. She discusses, what she sees as, the ‘colossal burden’ of co-existing with white people when you are not white. A Mary Wollstonecraft inspired sculpture, created by Maggi Hambling, is causing a stir. Mary Wollstonecraft wrote the famous "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman". But there's controversy over the sculpture which has a small naked female figure at the top of it, and so...
Nov 12, 2020•48 min
Twenty five years ago Martin Bashir's Panorama interview with Diana Princess of Wales made headlines around the world with quotes like “ there were were three of us in this marriage so it was a bit crowded” Now questions are being asked about how the interview with her was secured , which the BBC are investigating. We hear from Rosa Monckton one of Diana’s best friends Under the current Abortion laws it is legal to terminate a pregnancy up to birth if Down's syndrome is detected. This doesn’t ha...
Nov 11, 2020•45 min
Covid 19 has been difficult for everyone but one group that’s been at the front line of fighting the pandemic is critical care nurses. There are reports of record sickness levels partly due to stress and mental health issues at the same time as new plans for how people are nursed in intensive care are introduced. Anita Rani talks to Nicki Credland who chairs the British Association of Critical Care Nurses. A new study reveals women with allotment plots now outnumber men for the first time. A rec...
Nov 10, 2020•45 min
The US Presidential election results with Dr. Jeanne Morefield, Senior Lecturer in political theory at the University of Birmingham, and Fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, Washington, DC. A current storyline in Emmerdale is about a couple who decide to have a termination when their baby’s diagnosed with Down Syndrome. It’s a difficult decision for anyone, but some campaigners say expectant parents are routinely given outdated advice and encouraged to have a termination. N...
Nov 09, 2020•47 min
Liz Brookes looks after her husband Mike, who has had vascular dementia and Chris Black cares for his wife, Helen, who has Picks disease, or Frontotemporal dementia. How have they coped during the pandemic? We also hear from Emily Holzhausen, Director of Policy and Public Affairs from Carers UK. Has the Covid crisis helped to usher in a future of flexible working? A new report from the campaign Flex Appeal says while that forced remote working during a pandemic is not the same as flexible workin...
Nov 07, 2020•57 min
In April we spoke to Liz Brookes who looks after her husband Mike, who has had vascular dementia and to Chris Black who cares for his wife, Helen, who has Picks disease, or Frontal Temperal dementia. How they are getting on six months later? Emily Holzhausen, Director of Policy and Public Affairs from Carers UK joins them. For blind or partially sighted women it is impossible to read visual results of a standard pregnancy test. The Royal National Institute for the Blind has designed a prototype ...
Nov 06, 2020•53 min
We’ve just started a second lockdown in England – with other parts of the United Kingdom also going through variations of the same. But what if you’re pregnant? What’s going through your mind and what are you concerned about? As the pandemic’s gone on, we’ve heard about women being on their own for scans, deliveries and sadly, miscarriages too. And an enquiry has just started into a rise in stillbirths over the last Lockdown. Chloe discusses the issues with Bertie Harlev-Lam, Executive Director ...
Nov 05, 2020•50 min
Maggie O’Farrell’s first picture book for children is the story of a brave little girl who is visited by her snow angel in her time of need. The idea for the book grew out of a story Maggie told her own sick child in the back of an ambulance. Why are reassuring tales so crucial for children and adults in difficult times? This US election has been described as one of the most divisive US presidential elections in decades, pitting incumbent Republican Donald Trump against his Democratic challenger...
Nov 04, 2020•45 min
America goes to the polls today. It's predicted the women's vote will be key, particularly the suburban woman who came out for Trump in 2016 but 4 years on has changed her mind. We review the polls ahead of what is expected to be the biggest turn out in years. Johnny Depp has lost his libel case against the Sun newspaper over an article that called him a "wife beater". We talk to a Women's Rights organisation and look at the career implications for the 57 year old film star and his 34 year old e...
Nov 03, 2020•47 min
We may not be doing much holiday cruising in the pandemic but Jane McDonald known as ‘Queen of Cruise’ has a new album out ‘Cruising with Jane McDonald Vol 2’ featuring many well-known songs, all performed on her popular TV series of the same name. It’s been more than 20 years since she found fame as the stand out character from the BBC’s docusoap The Cruise - she joins Jane to talk performing, cruising, holidays and life out of the water. A new study, led by the Universities of Nottingham and O...
Nov 02, 2020•52 min
Pottering can be described as keeping busy without a plan or purpose. We hear from a self-confessed potterer. She's life coach Sarah Longfield, and we also have Anna McGovern, who's written a book called Pottering: A Cure for Modern Life. Statistics pulled together by NHS digital tell us that more people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities are being admitted to hospital because of eating disorders. We hear from a parent whose daughter was recently diagnosed with an eating disorder ...
Oct 31, 2020•56 min
The Vendee Globe solo round the world sailing race is considered to be one of the toughest sporting competitions: 24,000 miles as the crow flies, no help, no stops and no turning back. This year out of 33 entries, six women are aiming to be on the start line on 8th November. We hear from three British women who are taking part. How do we ditch our shame? Comedian Grace Campbell has written a book, 'Amazing Disgrace', about growing up feeling shameful about sex, rejection, mental health and jealo...
Oct 30, 2020•49 min
Author Victoria Hislop discusses her new novel ‘One August Night’, the long-anticipated sequel to her award-winning work, ‘The Island’. Why has she waited so long to revisit the hugely popular Cretan world and characters she created? It's the Women's FA Cup this weekend between Everton and Manchester City. Everton's Captain Danielle Turner and Jude Morris-King , volunteer Treasurer at the Man City Women Official Supporters Club talk to Paulette about what's it been like for the game under lock d...
Oct 29, 2020•46 min
According to NHS Digital more people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities are being admitted to hospital because of eating disorders. Experts say problems should have been picked up much earlier, rather than getting to the point of going to hospital. We speak to a mother whose daughter has just started treatment and Professor Sandeep Ranote, who's a psychiatrist and expert on eating disorders. Most young people leave home gradually over a number of years, but for teenagers who've gr...
Oct 28, 2020•46 min
Pottering - what exactly is it? And why should you make time for it? To discuss this most British of pastimes, Jane is joined by self-confessed potterer – life coach Sarah Longfield and Anna McGovern, author of Pottering: A Cure for Modern Life, who defines pottering as keeping herself busy but without a plan or a purpose. Caitlin McNamara, a former Hay Festival curator, claims she was attacked in February of this year whilst working on the inaugural Middle East festival, by Sheikh Nahyan, the M...
Oct 27, 2020•47 min
Poland's top court has ruled that abortions in cases of foetal abnormality are unconstitutional. Poland's abortion laws were already among the strictest in Europe but the Constitutional Tribunal's ruling will mean an almost total ban. Once the decision comes into effect, terminations will only be allowed in cases of rape or incest, or if the mother's health is at risk. We hear from Justyna Wydrzynska, who runs a group in Poland which gives information about abortion to women you want it. Public ...
Oct 26, 2020•49 min
The Poor Clares of Arundel are a community of nuns. They've just released an album'Light for the World' described as 'traditional plainchant with added beats'. We hear from Sisters Leo & Sisters Aelread. What impact is Long Covid having on women’s lives, and where are we with treatment and support? How will the female vote impact the USA presidential elections? Melissa Milewski, a lecturer in American History at the University of Sussex and Dr Michell Chresfield Lecturer in United States His...
Oct 24, 2020•57 min
New research out this week suggests that 1 in 45 people who get COVID-19 will continue to be unwell after three months, even if their initial infection was mild. And, under the age of 50, it does seem that women are more likely to develop Long Covid than men. People with Long Covid report on-going symptoms including fatigue, headache, shortness of breath, problems concentrating - ‘brain fog’ - and heart palpitations, which leave them unable to work, look after their families or even get off the ...
Oct 23, 2020•50 min
Sister Bliss is a DJ, songwriter and one of Britain’s most iconic and long lasting female electronic artists. She is perhaps best-known as a member of the British electronic band Faithless. She joins Katya to talk about her thirty year career, going from the underground club scene to sell-out arena shows. Female deaths due to cocaine have risen by 26.5% in 2019, according to the ONS. Why is the number of women dying from cocaine use increasing so rapidly? The UK economy has taken a real hit duri...
Oct 22, 2020•44 min
The number of women sleeping rough has risen over the last decade and as the economic impact of Covid 19 takes hold, social policy advisers fear the situation could worsen. Female rough sleepers with their complex profile have it worse on the street, and in wider homelessness terms the number of lone women and women with children has soared in temporary accommodation. Katya Adler talks to Dame Louise Casey who, as “Homelesssness Tsar”, championed the “Everyone In” policy which got rough sleepers...
Oct 21, 2020•43 min
Jane Garvey talks to Sisters Leo & Aelread from The Poor Clares of Arundel who've just released an album of traditional plainchant with added beats. What can we learn from them about living life in these times? It's a couple of weeks now til the Presidential elections in the States and to discuss what it will mean for women we talk to Melissa Milewski, a lecturer in American History at the University of Sussex and Dr Michell Chresfield Lecturer in United States History, at the University of ...
Oct 20, 2020•51 min
Victoria Wood, the Lancashire born comedian, writer, actor, stand up and singer found fame with shows such as Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV, Wood & Walters and Dinner Ladies. She died in 2016 having never written her own story. With access to letters, and interviews with friends and family Jasper Rees has written ‘Let’s Do it’ – The Authorized Biography of Victoria Wood. Mairead Campbell works at BBC Radio 1 and turned 30 last year. She made a documentary for BBC Radio Ulster about the fact t...
Oct 19, 2020•49 min
We have music from the former supermodel Carla Bruni who tells us about her new album. We hear from the Conservative MP Laura Trott who is trying to get a law passed to stop under 18s accessing filler treatments and other cosmetic procedures. We also hear from Ashton Collins from the organisation Save Face who have had reports of injuries caused by botched cosmetic procedures. A journalist who writes about paramilitaries, has made a formal complaint to the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland b...
Oct 17, 2020•57 min
Dolly Alderton joins Jane to talk about her first novel Ghosts. Her protagonist Nina Dean is dealing with a lot. She’s trying to make it as a food writer and finally has a flat of her own. Her dad is slipping away from her into dementia and her Mum is set on re-inventing herself. Friends are changing and disappearing into coupledom and parenting so when Max shows up via a dating app he seems like a dream come true. In fact, Nina’s problems are only just beginning. A rape survivor we are calling ...
Oct 16, 2020•55 min
A striking new female figure can be seen in Kings’ Place in London, and online from this week. Medusa is a tall, headless woman whose body turns into snakes made of chainmail. For her creator, Manchester-based artist Susie MacMurray, the sculpture is a metaphor for women’s power. She and a team of female art students used 300 kilos of copper wire to create Medusa, as part of a new exhibition of her work, Murmur, which opens on 21 October. A free preview tour is also being livestreamed on YouTube...
Oct 15, 2020•51 min
Carla Bruni's new album is described as "a wholehearted embracing of her true self." She talks to Sangita about the inspiration behind it and life under lockdown. The impact of Covid-19 on working class women. Plus the choices of set texts offered by the major exam boards for GCSE English literature. Djamila Boothman, an English and Assistant headteacher at a school in North London and children’s author Onjali Rauf discuss why we need more books written by authors of different backgrounds and et...
Oct 14, 2020•45 min
