The comedian Katherine Ryan has been in the news this week after she spoke out on a recent documentary with Louis Theroux about confronting an alleged sexual predator while making a tv show. She says this ‘star’ has sexually assaulted women she knows and despite it being an ‘open secret’ in the industry no one has managed to nail him down because he has ‘very good lawyers’. In the documentary she refuses to name the alleged sexual predator and then was called out on this on social media. But wha...
Nov 25, 2022•57 min
Lady Glenconner, Anne Tennant, the eldest child of the fifth Earl of Leicester, was lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret for three decades. She says her mother brought her up to cope with a fundamental truth of her class and time: women must put up and shut up, and so had been taught to smile through life in high society despite the brutality of a husband who left her deaf in one ear. After the success of her first memoir three years ago a second has just been published. Joining Emma live in the...
Nov 24, 2022•59 min
Some may say that football and politics don't go together but anyone watching yesterday's matches might think otherwise. The Iranian team declined to sing their anthem & Wales fans showed their support for LGBTQ+ rights last night by wearing rainbow bucket hats. So how useful are these shows of solidarity? Laura McAllister, the ex-Wales footballer & Beth Fisher, freelance sports reporter & ambassador for the LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall discuss. Why is it that we so often struggle or fai...
Nov 24, 2022•58 min
The actor Andrea Riseborough has taken on roles ranging from Margaret Thatcher to Stalin’s daughter. But now she’s playing someone quite different: Mrs Wormwood in the new Matilda the Musical film, which will be released in cinemas on Friday 25th November. The film is an adaptation of Tim Minchin’s hit West End musical of the same name, and stars Emma Thompson as Mrs Trunchbull and Stephen Graham as Mr Wormwood. Andrea joins Emma Barnett to discuss what it’s like capturing the camp, comedy, and ...
Nov 23, 2022•57 min
To mark ten years since stalking became a specific crime in England and Wales Woman's Hour has a special programme looking at what’s changed in that time. We have exclusive data on how this is being dealt with by police. The BBC's Gemma Dunstan joins Emma Barnett in the studio to go through the findings. One question we wanted to answer is what efforts have been made to get to the crux of the problem; to stop stalkers from stalking. Woman's Hour were granted extremely rare access to one of the t...
Nov 21, 2022•57 min
Monday marked 100 years since the BBC began broadcasting on radio. To celebrate that centenary, we commissioned a poem by Kim Moore and created a soundscape to show how much women’s lives, and the noises that surround them, have changed - using BBC archive from the 1920s right through to the present day. Why did the BBC get its nickname ‘Auntie’? And what kind of aunt would she be? We discuss with television presenter and comedian Mel Giedroyc and historian of the BBC, Professor Jean Seaton. ‘Th...
Nov 19, 2022•53 min
The Internet Watch Foundation has been tracking the increasing trend of perpetrators grooming children online and coercing them into sexually abusing themselves on camera. The foundation has recognised a lot of what they are seeing as Category A, the most severe kind of sexual abuse, due to it including penetration with an object. Some of the child victims of this online sexual abuse are as young as 7 years old. For the first time, a snapshot study out today looks into the objects being used, an...
Nov 18, 2022•57 min
The Big Swing is the world’s first double female-fronted big band. It is led by jazz musicians Georgina Jackson and Emma Smith. On Friday 18th November they will be performing at EFG London Jazz Festival and Cadogan Hall, where they will present their own unique interpretations of the old-school big band jazz tradition, adding their own brand of style and charisma. They join Emma to discuss why they felt the need to elevate female visibility in the big band world and to perform live. Of an estim...
Nov 17, 2022•53 min
Poet Joelle Taylor won the Polari Prize last night and the TS Eliot Prize in January this year. Over a long career as a writer for the page and the stage she has explored butch lesbian counterculture and told the stories of the women in underground communities fighting for the right to be themselves. She joins Emma Barnett to explain how joining the literary establishment fits with a lifetime of protest. As Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Dominic Raab stands in for Prime Minister's Qu...
Nov 16, 2022•58 min
The imagery around pregnancy is often of glowing women doing yoga with calm expressions. For many women through it can be a time of anxiety about the birth, the baby, the future. All perfectly natural but it can be hard to ask for or access help. A new book ‘Break Free From Maternal Anxiety’ A self-help Guide for Pregnancy, Birth and the First Postnatal Year’ offers CBT-based support. One of the authors Dr Catherine Green joins Emma Barnett to share professional and personal experience. We hear ...
Nov 15, 2022•57 min
Today it is 100 years since the BBC began broadcasting on radio. To celebrate that centenary, we have commissioned a poem by Kim Moore and created a soundscape to show how much women’s lives, and the noises that surround them, have changed - using BBC archive from the 1920s right through to the present day. We also ask why did the BBC get its nickname ‘Auntie’? And what kind of aunt would she be? To mark 100 years since the BBC started daily radio broadcasts, Emma Barnett is joined by television...
Nov 14, 2022•58 min
The Grammy award-winning singer, songwriter and actress LeAnn Rimes joins us in the studio. Her unforgettable ballad "How Do I Live" holds the record as Billboard’s Hot 100 all-time #1 hit by a female artist. She talks about the inspiration her latest album, God’s Work. A woman who served in the Royal Navy for 20 years speaks for the first time about how she was raped and sexually assaulted during her career. The woman who we are calling Catherine says that when a senior colleague discovered she...
Nov 12, 2022•56 min
The Grammy award-winning singer, songwriter and actress LeAnn Rimes released her first album, Blue, aged 13 and at 14 she won "Best New Artist”. Her unforgettable ballad "How Do I Live" holds the record as Billboard’s Hot 100 all-time #1 hit by a female artist. She joins Anita Rani to talk about the inspiration her latest album – god’s work – which features artists including Ziggy Marley and Aloe Blacc. We’ll be getting an insight into what life behind bars is like for female activists in Nicara...
Nov 11, 2022•55 min
A woman who served in the Royal Navy for 20 years speaks for the first time about how she was raped and sexually assaulted during her career. Speaking to Emma Barnett on Woman’s Hour she describes experiencing several other incidents of sexual harassment during her time serving, including a colleague putting his penis on her shoulder. She says that when a senior colleague discovered she was pregnant, they suggested that an appointment be made for her to have an abortion. The Conservative MP Sara...
Nov 10, 2022•58 min
England's Rugby League Women's team play their next World Cup match against Papua New Guinea tonight. Joining Emma to talk about how to get more women involved in the game are the official Women's Ambassador for the Rugby League World Cup Jodie Cunningham and the Captain Emily Rudge. Jodie is also an Ambassador for the RLWC's Social Impact Programme which champions inclusive volunteering. We hear from volunteer Jenny Robinson, who is a wheelchair user and has learning disabilities, who says it's...
Nov 09, 2022•57 min
Following, Elon Musk’s announcement that Twitter will permanently suspend any account on the social media platform that impersonates another, Nuala McGovern is joined by crime writer, Denise Mina who changed her twitter display name to ‘Elon Musk’. Jenny Tough is an endurance athlete who's best known for running and cycling in some of world's most challenging events. For a forthcoming film - SOLO - she set herself an audacious objective: to run – solo and unsupported, across mountain ranges on s...
Nov 08, 2022•58 min
Hailing from theatrical royalty, daughter of Judy Garland, actor and singer Lorna Luft is recognised as an iconic star of stage and screen. About to embark on a UK tour playing housekeeper Martha Watson in the much-loved musical White Christmas, she joins Emma Barnett to explain what draws her back to this role time after time. The Prime Minister is in Sharm El Sheikh for this year's COP27 UN climate change summit - after coming under some pressure to attend in person. But 110 country leaders wi...
Nov 07, 2022•56 min
Beth Mead was Player of the Tournament at the Euro's earlier this year, and runner-up in the Ballon d'Or which decides the best player in the world. Beth plays for Arsenal in the Women's Super League, and has a new book out called Lioness: My Journey To Glory. After Donna Patterson's maternity leave, her employer Morrison’s gave her a full-time role, despite her only working part time. She represented herself in a tribunal and she won a £60k pay-out for maternity discrimination. Shonda Rhimes an...
Nov 05, 2022•57 min
Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers are the producing partners behind some of the biggest American TV dramas of modern times – and they are always female character led. They include Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder, and of course the Netflix hit Bridgerton – adapted from Julia Quinn’s racy novels set in the Regency era in England. The first series was released at the end of 2020, and is well known for having racially diverse cast and steamy sex scenes. Anita Rani speaks to Shonda a...
Nov 04, 2022•57 min
Dame Sharon White is the first ever female chair of John Lewis Partnership and was recently named the UK’s most influential black person in the 2023 Powerlist. She became the chair of the John Lewis Partnership in January 2020 just as the Covid pandemic hit and is responsible for turning around the fortunes of John Lewis and Waitrose in what is widely seen as the most challenging time in the company’s history. She joins Emma. The accolades just keep coming for Beth Mead, she won the Golden Boot ...
Nov 03, 2022•57 min
Chan Marshall, better known by her stage name Cat Power, is an American singer, songwriter and producer. After three decades in the music industry, she has eight original albums under her belt but has also made three cover albums. The most recent saw her singing everything from the work of The Pogues to Lana Del Rey. This Saturday she will be recreating Bob Dylan’s iconic 1966 Royal Albert Hall concert. It was one of the most controversial tours in the history of rock & roll, where Dylan enr...
Nov 02, 2022•57 min
Glasgow has become the first city in the UK to officially adopt a feminist town-planning-approach. Emma Barnett speaks to the woman behind the proposal Scottish Green Councillor Holly Bruce and the author of ‘Feminist City’ Leslie Kern. What's a feminist city look like and what changes can we expect to see in Glasgow. One in five female doctors say they have considered early retirement due to menopause symptoms. A new report warns that without better support there could be ‘an exodus’ of female ...
Nov 01, 2022•57 min
After Donna Patterson's maternity leave, her employer Morrison’s gave her a full-time role, despite her only working part time. She represented herself in a tribunal and she won a £60k pay-out for maternity discrimination. Donna joins Emma Barnett in the studio. As the clocks go back - and the nights draw in- it can get harder to find the motivation to get outdoors and exercise as the couch beckons. At the weekend the Olympic champion cyclist Chris Boardman wrote about this issue as he was aware...
Oct 31, 2022•57 min
According to the OECD, the UK is the third most expensive country for childcare. ‘March of the Mummies’ organised by the campaign group Pregnant then Screwed are demanding for government reform. Its founder Joeli Brearley told Elaine Dunkley why. 25-year-old Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate who launched her own climate movement in 2019 protesting outside the gates of the Ugandan parliament. Now a UNICEF ambassador she joined Jess to discuss her book ‘A Bigger Picture’ and what COP27 next ...
Oct 29, 2022•55 min
According to the OECD, the UK is the third most expensive country for childcare. An estimated 1.7 million women in England are prevented from doing more hours of work by childcare issues, while a UNICEF report this week shows that almost 1 in 5 parents on low incomes are skipping meals to pay for it. On Saturday, 12,000 mums will descend on 11 locations across the UK to demand government reform in a ‘March of the Mummies’ organised by the campaign group Pregnant then Screwed. Its founder Joeli B...
Oct 28, 2022•57 min
In a shocking report out today MPs say too many women who’ve survived domestic abuse are ending up in appalling accommodation operated by rogue landlords who exploit housing benefit loopholes to cash in on a ‘gold rush’ of taxpayers’ money. Some women and their children find themselves housed in mixed-sex provision, or even alongside their perpetrators. The current rules mean anyone can set up what is called Exempt Accommodation if they offer care, support, or supervision that is ‘more than mini...
Oct 27, 2022•57 min
The new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has appointed his team of top ministers but out of 31 members there are only seven women in his team. The BBC’s Leila Nathoo joins Jessica alongside Dr Meryl Kenny. Film critic and journalist Hanna Flint has been covering film and culture for nearly a decade. She's now written a book, Strong Female Character: What Movies Teach Us in which she reflects on how cinema has been the key to understanding herself and the world we live in. She joins Jessica Creighton i...
Oct 26, 2022•53 min
Twenty-one year old university student Libby Squire disappeared after a night out with friends in Hull in January 2019. Last year 24 year old Pawel Relowicz was jailed for 27 years for her rape and murder. A new Sky documentary 'Libby, Are You Home Yet?'available to watch on Sky Crime from 27th September and streaming service Now explores the case. Libby's mother Lisa joins Jess to explain why she wants to meet her daughter's killer, and the need for earlier intervention in 'lower level' sexual ...
Oct 25, 2022•58 min
In China, the leader Xi Jinping has moved into a historic third term in power. He has just revealed his senior leadership team at the 20th Communist party congress in Beijing, and for the first time in 25 years, no women were included. We discuss what this means for women in China. A new BBC documentary looks at how deepfake technology is being used to create hardcore pornography of women without their consent. Presenter of the documentary Jess Davies and leading deepfake and synthetic media exp...
Oct 24, 2022•57 min
Geena Davis is a two-time Academy award-winning actress, known for her role as Thelma in Thelma & Louise, among countless other parts she has played. She joins Jessica Creighton to talk about her impressive career as an actress, athlete and model – as well as why she’s such a champion of female representation in media, and why she chose the title of her new memoir, ‘Dying of Politeness’. Anne Sacoolas on Thursday admitted causing the death of 19 year old motorcyclist Harry Dunn in August 201...
Oct 22, 2022•56 min
