Researchers in Australia have developed an AI tool that means a routine mammogram can also monitor your heart health. The study, published in Heart, the journal of the British Cardiovascular Society, shows it’s as accurate as the standard methods used by doctors. Cardiologist and Associate Professor Clare Arnott, Global Director of the Cardiovascular Program at The George Institute for Global Health, which is an independent medical research organization, joins Nuala McGovern from Sydney to discu...
Mar 17, 2026•58 min
It was an historic night for Ireland and for those watching in her home town of Killarney in County Kerry, as Jessie Buckley became the first Irish woman to win the Best Actress Oscar, honoured for her powerful performance as Shakespeare’s grieving wife in Hamnet. She had been widely tipped to win, and in her emotional acceptance speech she paid tribute to women and mothers. Ireland is an island of five million and punches above its weight in artistic and literary endeavours and success. So what...
Mar 16, 2026•58 min
The health secretary Wes Streeting has appointed senior midwife Donna Ockenden to lead a review into maternity and neonatal services at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. The appointment came after a sustained campaign by bereaved and harmed families who said that she was the only one they trusted to lead the review into failings in Leeds. Donna Ockenden joined Nuala McGovern to discuss her new appointment as well as her ongoing review into Nottingham university hospitals. How would you feel if...
Mar 14, 2026•51 min
New figures out from Thames Valley Air Ambulance show that women are less likely than men to receive bystander CPR, with one in three female cardiac arrest patients getting no CPR until crews arrive on scene. The CEO of Thames Valley Air Ambulance, Amanda McLean will join Anita Rani to talk about what is causing this reluctance, and we'll be joined by Chloe Lipton, a woman who is campaigning for female manikins to be mandatory in CPR and defibrillator training. Yesterday, Mandy Wixon was jailed ...
Mar 13, 2026•53 min
Ahead of the 30th anniversary of the Dunblane massacre on Friday, presenter Anita Rani speaks to three women whose lives changed for ever that day; Melanie Reid, a journalist who was one of the first at the scene in Dunblane that morning, Rosemary Hunter, one of three women leaders of The Snowdrop Campaign that changed UK gun laws and Anna Hall, who grew up in Dunblane and is the director of a Channel 4 documentary about the shootings, The Dunblane Tapes. How would you feel if everyone in your h...
Mar 12, 2026•58 min
The health secretary Wes Streeting has appointed senior midwife Donna Ockenden to lead a review into maternity and neonatal services at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. The appointment came after a sustained campaign by bereaved and harmed families who said that she was the only one they trusted to lead the review into failings in Leeds. BBC reporter Divya Talwar tells us about breaking the story and Donna Ockenden joins Nuala McGovern to discuss her new appointment as well as her ongoing rev...
Mar 11, 2026•57 min
The government’s independent advisor on rape, Professor Katrin Hohl, is warning that despite an overhaul on how to investigate rape, there is a lack of awareness of the changes across courts in England and Wales which is affecting the outcomes of trials. Also today, the Justice Secretary David Lammy is launching a new national Legal Advisors service for rape victims, as well as a pilot project that will look at shifting the focus of rape court cases from the victim to the perpetrator. It will be...
Mar 10, 2026•58 min
Iran has a new Supreme Leader, the hard-line cleric, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has succeeded his father who was killed on the first day of the US-Israeli war against Iran. This morning, Iran's woman’s football team are facing building pressure as they prepare to leave Australia’s Gold Coast after being eliminated from the Asian Cup on Sunday. Fears for their safety has been growing since they failed to sing the national anthem ahead of their first match against South Korea last week. The decision pr...
Mar 09, 2026•53 min
The BBC has had exclusive access to the world’s largest study scanning pregnant women’s brains. The BeMOther project is based in Spain and has found that women's brains change significantly through pregnancy and beyond. Nuala McGovern talks to Smitha Mundasad, a BBC health and science reporter and Lucy Jones, author of Matrescence: On the Metamorphosis of Pregnancy, Childbirth and Motherhood. Ramadan is a time for worship and reflection. But many women of the so-called 'sandwich generation' may ...
Mar 07, 2026•57 min
Conflict continues in the Middle East, but with near total internet blackout in Iran, there's currently very little access to information from within the country. Many women outside of Iran are unable to hear from their own family and friends. To look at the ongoing conflict and how it is impacting women and the Iranian diaspora in the UK in particular, Anita Rani speaks to Faranak Amidi, a BBC Global Women reporter and the presenter of the World Service Languages Fifth Floor programme, Kamin Mo...
Mar 06, 2026•58 min
Schools in England must provide allergy awareness training for all staff for the first time, under new statutory guidance announced by the Department for Education today. From September, all schools will be required to stock auto-injectors - those pen-like needles that quickly deliver a dose of adrenaline. Anita Rani is joined by Tanya Ednan-Laperouse, whose daughter Natasha died in 2016 of a severe allergic reaction after eating a baguette containing sesame seeds - an ingredient not listed on t...
Mar 05, 2026•59 min
The BBC has had exclusive access to the world’s largest study scanning pregnant women’s brains. The BeMOther project is based in Spain and has found that women's brains change significantly through pregnancy and beyond. We learn more about the changes and ask why Matrescence - and the transformations that can come with pregnancy, birth and raising a child - are only just starting to receive attention as a distinct life-stage. There's even a campaign to get the word in US dictionaries. Nuala McGo...
Mar 04, 2026•59 min
Five years ago, Sarah Everard was abducted, raped and murdered by a Metropolitan Police officer. It was the catalyst for an outpouring of grief and anger about the safety of women. It also led to a number of reviews which documented a toxic culture at the Met Police and other forces, highlighting the lack of trust by women in the force. Since then, reforms have been instituted to try and rebuild confidence and eradicate misogyny. We discuss what has changed in the five years since with BBC Corre...
Mar 03, 2026•58 min
On Saturday Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed after Israel and the US launched a "massive" and ongoing attack against Iran's leadership and military. US President Donald Trump urged Iranian forces to lay down their arms, and for Iran's people to rise up against its government. Iran has responded by firing ballistic missiles and drones at US assets and allies across the region. Whilst huge questions still remain about what will happen next in this conflict, on Woman's Hour t...
Mar 02, 2026•58 min
A 40-year career retrospective of Dame Tracey Emin’s work has opened at the Tate Modern in London, featuring many of the artist’s most iconic pieces, from her controversial, Turner Prize shortlisted My Bed (1998) to her neon artworks, textiles, bronze sculptures, photos, and paintings. Called A Second Life, it explores the connections and tensions between her early career and the work she’s created since 2020, when she was diagnosed with cancer and underwent a huge operation. Tracey joins Anita ...
Feb 28, 2026•58 min
A 40-year career retrospective of Dame Tracey Emin’s work has opened at the Tate Modern in London, featuring many of the artist’s most iconic pieces, from 1998’s controversial Turner-Prize nominated My Bed (1998) to her neon artworks, textiles, bronze sculptures, photos and paintings. Called A Second Life, it will explore the connections and tensions between her early career and the work she’s created since 2020, when she was diagnosed with cancer and underwent a huge operation. Tracey joins Ani...
Feb 27, 2026•59 min
An interim report from Baroness Amos, who is leading a government-commissioned review into NHS maternity care in England, says maternity services are failing "too many" families, with problems "at every stage" of the maternity journey. Six factors were highlighted including racism, staffing and accountability issues. To give their reactions, Anita Rani is joined by the film-maker and activist Pippa Bennett-Warner and Theo Clarke, parent and campaigner and formerly a Member of Parliament, who suf...
Feb 26, 2026•58 min
A baby boy has become the first to be born in the UK to a mother with a womb transplant from a deceased donor. Grace Bell, who is in her 30s, delivered her baby boy, Hugo, in December. Clare McDonnell is joined by transplant surgeon Isabel Quiroga who completed the transplant in collaboration with Professor Richard Smith and colleagues at Oxford University Hospital and Imperial College, London, and established the first uterus transplant programme in the UK. Today is the day Season 2 of the TV s...
Feb 25, 2026•59 min
Woman's Hour in collaboration with our SEND in the Spotlight podcast brings you a special programme on the impact of the government's SEND reforms in England. Whether you’re a parent, a young person, a teacher or someone who works in the wider system we find out what the changes mean for you - and help you decode the new language - whether it's IB, ISP, Targeted, Targeted Plus, or SPP. Nuala McGovern speaks to parents, teachers, charities, the School Standards Minister and the Children’s Commiss...
Feb 24, 2026•58 min
Irish author Marian Keyes has sold over 30 million copies of her books worldwide over the past three decades. From her 1995 debut Watermelon to Rachel's Holiday and last year's 'menopause romance' My Favourite Mistake, she’s championed telling ordinary women's stories in all their glory, with plenty of humour thrown in. Now some of her most-loved books and characters have been adapted into a TV series called The Walsh Sisters which has just debuted on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. Marian and the show...
Feb 23, 2026•58 min
Rosamund Pike, the Emmy and Golden Globe winner, is known for standout roles in Saltburn, her Oscar nominated lead in Gone Girl, and Made in Dagenham. Next month she stars on the West End stage, coming back to the role of Jessica Parks, the maverick judge at the heart of the National Theatre’s hit play Inter Alia, also filmed for NT Live screenings. She joined Anita Rani to discuss her role that explores motherhood, masculinity and the complexities of justice. It’s more than a decade since Nadiy...
Feb 21, 2026•54 min
Rosamund Pike, the Emmy and Golden Globe winner, is known for standout roles in Saltburn, her Oscar nominated lead in Gone Girl, and Made in Dagenham. Next month she stars on the West End stage, coming back to the role of Jessica Parks, the maverick judge at the heart of the National Theatre’s hit play Inter Alia, also filmed for NT Live screenings. She joins Anita Rani to discuss her role that explores motherhood, masculinity and the complexities of justice. Ketamine has become a worryingly pop...
Feb 20, 2026•58 min
Children with special education needs and disabilities - known as SEND - in England will have their support reviewed as they move into secondary school, according to leaked government plans. Anita Rani speaks to Catriona Moore, policy manager from IPSEA, and SEND parent and campaigner Rachel Filmer. It's 150 years since the death of George Sand, the pen name of Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin who, by the time she was thirty, was one of the most famous writers in the world. Born in 1804, her works b...
Feb 19, 2026•56 min
The woman tipped to be the next head of the UK Civil Service has faced multiple bullying complaints according to reports this morning. The Times newspaper says "there is more than a whiff of misogyny" in the briefings against her. Nuala McGovern hears more about the debate over the possible appointment of Dame Antonia Romeo with Kitty Donaldson, the Chief Political Commentator for the i Newspaper, and Caroline Slocock. Caroline was the first female private secretary to a British Prime Minister w...
Feb 18, 2026•58 min
More than 141,000 children are in kinship care in England and Wales. According to new research from the charity Kinship, 40% of kinship carers are forced to claim benefits or increase their benefits when they step in to take on the care of a child from a family member. To explain why some kinship carers want the same parental rights as others in a parental role, like an adoptive parent, Clare McDonnell is joined by the CEO of Kinship, Lucy Peake and carer Nash, who took on the permanent care of ...
Feb 17, 2026•57 min
In December 2024, Dominque Pelicot and 46 other men were found guilty of the aggravated rape of his wife Gisèle. Another two were found guilty of attempted rape and a further two were found guilty of sexual assault. Dominque had drugged Gisèle with medication without her knowledge, raped her and invited other men to rape her, filming as they did so. At least another 20 men who took part in these rapes could not be identified. Waving her right to anonymity, Gisèle Pelicot declared that shame has ...
Feb 17, 2026•54 min
It’s more than a decade since Nadiya Hussain became a household name after winning the Great British Bake Off. Since then, she’s fronted her own cookery shows, written more than a dozen cookbooks and a series of children’s books. Her latest collection of recipes is called Quick Comforts, and Nadiya joins presenter Clare McDonnell to talk about finding comfort in food, her career so far and lots more. A series of stories in The Guardian this week are spotlighting the role that domestic abuse play...
Feb 16, 2026•54 min
The Government yesterday published new guidance for schools in England on what to do when children question their gender. It says schools should not initiate steps towards social transitioning when pupils change their name or pronouns, and that toilets and changing rooms should be protected spaces, used according to biological sex. Branwen Jeffreys, the BBC's Education and Family Editor, joins Clare McDonnell to discuss this latest guidance. The one-child policy in China spanned a period of over...
Feb 13, 2026•58 min
A story gripping headlines across the United States is the disappearance of 84‑year‑old Nancy Guthrie, the mother of NBC News Today anchor Savannah Guthrie. Nancy was abducted from her home in the Catalina Foothills near Tucson, Arizona, in the USA more than a week ago, triggering a massive search and emotional appeals from her family. Clare McDonnell speaks to Claire Moses, a reporter from The New York Times, who has been following the story. Broadcaster, model and activist Ashley James says sh...
Feb 12, 2026•57 min
Clare McDonnell speaks to Amy Wallace, the co-author of Virginia Giuffre's memoir, Nobody's Girl. Amy spent two years closely working with Virginia - one of the most prominent and vocal accusers of child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and an advocate of justice for survivors of sex trafficking. We hear Amy’s reactions to the latest Epstein revelations. More than 1.7 million children in England have special needs and today, the government has announced that all secondary schools and colleges will b...
Feb 11, 2026•54 min
