What’s it like fostering in your 40s? Author Beth Moran had three children in her twenties but decided to take up fostering once they flew the nest. Her new novel It Had To Be You is inspired by her experiences of fostering thirteen children in five years. Singer-songwriter Theo Bleak has received huge acclaim recently for her raw lyrics and soaring melodies. As well as supporting Suede, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and Joesef on tour, her debut LP Pain was also nominated for Scottish Albu...
Dec 31, 2024•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast ‘Unfortunately, she was a Nymphomaniac’ – that’s the title of a new book written to debunk the misogynist myths of Imperial Rome and to put the record straight about the lives and fates of Roman women. Its author, the journalist Joan Smith, joins Clare McDonnell to give us a fresh perspective on the ancient world. Many people will have visited or been visited by their adult children over the holidays. Being a parent to adult children, as well as being the adult child, can be complicated. What ar...
Dec 30, 2024•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Oscar-winning Michelle Yeoh’s career has spanned four decades. Starting out as a martial arts actor, she became a key figure in the Hong Kong action scene. But it was her role in James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies that catapulted her into Hollywood. She's since starred in many hits including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the multi-Oscar winning movie - including for her own performance - Everything Everywhere all At Once. Now, she’s in the film adaptation of the musical Wicked. She joined ...
Dec 28, 2024•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Haiti has been ravaged by political instability and gang violence since the assassination of the country’s president in 2021 – and this year it’s spiralled with armed gangs in control of much of the capital Port-au-Prince. Alongside the violence is an escalating humanitarian crisis, which is severely impacting women and children with widespread hunger and malnutrition. Kylie Pentalow finds out more from the BBC’s senior investigations correspondent Nawal Al-Maghafi. In the Netherlands, the 31st ...
Dec 27, 2024•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast In a Boxing Day special, Anita Rani celebrates a favourite Christmas activity: puzzles and games. Anita hears from Leslie Scott, the woman who invented Jenga, and steps into the world of crosswords and general knowledge quizzes with Kate Mepham, setter for the Daily Telegraph. She pays tribute to Agatha Christie, the woman behind the most famous puzzles ever written, with novelist and essayist John Lanchester, and host of the Shedunnit podcast, Caroline Crampton. Anne Corbett, professor in demen...
Dec 26, 2024•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast As this is the season of Comfort & Joy, today’s programme is devoted to the theme of ‘Comfort’. At this time of year when many women are frazzled and craving a bit of comfort, Nuala McGovern and Anita Rani explore why it so important with their guests. Fiona Murden is an organisational psychologist, award winning author of the books Defining You and Mirror Thinking and host of the podcast Dot to Dot – Life Connected. She explains what comfort is, why we crave it and why it’s necessary, but s...
Dec 25, 2024•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Bestselling author Minette Walters shot to fame in the 1990s with her award-winning gritty crime novels The Ice House, The Sculptress and The Scold’s Bridle. She continued to write successful crime fiction for over twenty years until, inspired by a plague pit, Minette changed tack in 2017 and began to write historical novels. She joins Krupa Padhy to discuss her new novel The Players. Struggling with menopause symptoms? Social media is full of ads promising miracle cures, but many are too good t...
Dec 24, 2024•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer Amy Dowden was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer last year, and she shared her treatment journey in a BBC documentary. Now, Amy is preparing for a comeback with the show's live tour, as well as a tour of her own: Reborn, with dancer Carlos Gu. Amy joins Krupa Padhy to tell us more. South Korea is currently experiencing huge-scale protests against President Yoon Suk Yeol. Young women are instrumental to these protests, campaigning against the President...
Dec 23, 2024•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast It's the rape trial that has shocked the world. Gisèle Pelicot's ex-husband Dominique was sentenced yesterday to 20 years in prison for her rape, alongside 50 other men. We hear Gisèle's own words, and Anita Rani was joined by the BBC's Andrew Harding who has covered the trial from the beginning, and French journalist and founder of The Women's Voices website Cynthia Illouz. Anne-Marie Duff joined Nuala McGovern to talk about her latest stage role in The Little Foxes at London’s Young Vic Theatr...
Dec 21, 2024•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast Daisy Edgar-Jones and her co-star Paul Mescal rocketed into the public gaze in the BBC adaptation of Sally Rooney’s novel Normal People. Following a couple of notable film performances Daisy is now on stage as the formidable, if unhappy, Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. She joins Anita Rani live in the Woman’s Hour studio. It's the rape trial that has shocked the world. Gisèle Pelicot's ex-husband Dominique was sentenced yesterday to 20 years in prison for her rape, alongside 50 other men. We he...
Dec 20, 2024•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast The verdicts have been handed down in the mass rape trial that has truly shocked and appalled people in France and around the world where 51 men stood accused of raping Gisele Pelicot. One of these men is Gisele's now ex-husband Dominique Pelicot, who has been convicted of drugging and raping his wife of 50 years - and inviting dozens of others to rape her over nearly a decade. He has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. Anita Rani spoke to BBC correspondent Chris Bockman and French feminist ca...
Dec 19, 2024•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast The government has announced that a ban on the private prescriptions of medicines used to delay puberty to young people questioning their gender in the UK, is being made indefinite. They are no longer prescribed on the NHS. Following the recommendations of the Cass review, the only new access to these puberty blocking drugs for young people will be via a clinical trial, due to start in early 2025. Deborah Cohen, former BBC Newsnight health correspondent and Visiting Senior Fellow at LSE Health h...
Dec 18, 2024•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast Would you ask your friends to describe you in one word? Comedian Sophie Duker did. She joins Nuala McGovern to talk about hearing their responses and how it influenced her new standup show, But Daddy, I Love Her. Adele is in the headlines this morning after being accused of plagiarism in a Brazilian court for her 2015 song, Million Years Ago.Brazilian composer Toninho Geraes is seeking royalties - more than £125,000 - in moral damages for the alleged plagiarism, and songwriting credit for the tr...
Dec 17, 2024•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast Anne-Marie Duff joins Nuala McGovern to talk about her latest stage role in The Little Foxes at London’s Young Vic Theatre. It’s a family drama where she plays Regina Hubbard, an ambitious woman who is thwarted by her position in Alabama society in the early 1900s, where her less financially savvy brothers have the power and autonomy to run the family business. Anne-Marie discusses playing ruthless characters and the stage roles that place women front and centre. New government figures show ther...
Dec 16, 2024•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast A new analysis on the quality and quantity of childcare provision in England has revealed that the huge expansion of free childcare currently underway is at risk of not delivering for poorer families, according to a new report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and Save the Children. Author of the report Jodie Reed and Phoebe Arslanagic-Little, Head of the New Deal for Parents at Onward, joined Nuala McGovern this week to discuss. You might remember Kerry Washington in her icon...
Dec 14, 2024•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast You might remember Kerry Washington in her iconic role, Olivia Pope, the fixer in TV series Scandal, or perhaps you know her from her many other roles in The Last King of Scotland, Django Unchained and Little Fires Everywhere. In her new starring role, Kerry plays Major Charity Adams, a real-life World War Two hero. She joins Anita Rani live to discuss the film The Six Triple Eight, which tells the story of the only women of colour battalion stationed in Europe during the Second World War. After...
Dec 13, 2024•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast The father and stepmother of 10-year-old Sara Sharif have been found guilty of her murder after subjecting her to "horrific suffering" for more than two years. Sara Sharif was described by her headteacher as a much loved pupil, a cheerful little soul who would sing to anyone who would listen. But the authorities failed to realise that she was being tortured by her father, Urfan Sharif, and suffered what the court heard was a daily living hell. Anita Rani talks to Dame Rachel de Souza, the Childr...
Dec 12, 2024•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast A new report from SheRACES and Fund Her Tri UK has found that women triathletes can experience unacceptable harassment at events. It also showed that women competitors struggle with the lack of toilet facilities and changing facilities. Sophie Power is an ultrarunner and founder of SheRACES – she joins Nuala McGovern to tell us more about the report and the change they hope to make. A lawyer representing several alleged victims of Sean 'Diddy' Combs says the potential number of civil legal cases...
Dec 11, 2024•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast A new analysis on the quality and quantity of childcare provision in England has revealed that the huge expansion of free childcare currently underway is at risk of not delivering for poorer families, according to a new report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and Save the Children. Author of the report Jodie Reed and Phoebe Arslanagic-Little, Head of the New Deal for Parents at Onward, join Nuala McGovern to discuss. People in Syria are still celebrating in the streets after ...
Dec 10, 2024•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast What does the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria mean for both the present and future of women on the ground? Nuala McGovern is joined by Chief Foreign Correspondent at The Times, Christina Lamb, and Senior Research Fellow at the London School of Economics and member of the Women's Advisory Board to the UN special envoy to Syria, Dr Rim Turkmani. Journalist Rhiannon Picton-James says you couldn’t pay her to have another child in the UK – because she believes it’s a ‘cruel and unfriendly’ ...
Dec 09, 2024•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast Powerhouse actors Keira Knightley and Sarah Lancashire are starring alongside Ben Wishaw in new Netflix spy drama Black Doves. It follows the story of a female spy seeking revenge for the murder of her lover – whilst outwardly being married to a high-ranking politician. Keira and Sarah spoke to Nuala McGovern about the drama, their careers and their experiences as women in the film industry. Sutara Gayle is an actor and reggae artist. She fuses music with memories of her eventful life in a new s...
Dec 07, 2024•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast Influencers on TikTok and Instagram are selling fake ‘cures’ for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), a hormonal condition, according to a new BBC investigation. The BBC World Service tracked the most-watched videos with a #PCOS hashtag on TikTok and Instagram and found that half of them spread false information. Jacqui Wakefield, a BBC 100 Women reporter, has been investigating and joins Anita Rani to discuss. Sutara Gayle is an actor and reggae artist. She fuses music with memories of her eventfu...
Dec 06, 2024•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast There have been reports that Afghan women are being banned from midwife and nursing courses in the latest blow to their rights. Women training as midwives and nurses in Afghanistan have told the BBC they were ordered not to return to classes, and five separate institutions across Afghanistan have also confirmed to the BBC that the Taliban had instructed them to close until further notice, with videos shared online showing students crying at the news. The BBC has yet to confirm the order official...
Dec 05, 2024•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast South African soprano Pumeza Matshikiza has performed at many of the leading opera houses across Europe and the United States and released her debut album Voice of Hope, combining well-known arias with traditional and popular African songs. She has won critical acclaim in the title role of Aida at the State Opera Hannover, as the Fox in Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen at the English National Opera and this summer performed at London’s Classical Pride. She is about to accompany Bryn Terfel on ...
Dec 04, 2024•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast Powerhouse actors Keira Knightley and Sarah Lancashire are starring alongside Ben Wishaw in new Netflix spy drama Black Doves. It follows the story of a female spy seeking revenge for the murder of her lover – whilst outwardly being married to a high-ranking politician. Keira and Sarah speak to Nuala McGovern about the drama, their careers and their experiences as women in the film industry. Victims of stalking could be given more protection from their abusers under new government proposals. The...
Dec 03, 2024•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Woman's Hour's Nuala McGovern introduces a bonus podcast in collaboration with BBC 100 Women. It’s an interview with the award-winning singer-songwriter Raye, who has been named as one of the people on this year's BBC 100 Women list, which celebrates 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world. Raye speaks to BBC 100 Women’s Kirsty Grant about her huge success, the abuse she says female artists get for doing well, and her dream of opening a jazz club. You can read ...
Dec 03, 2024•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast The TV presenter Gregg Wallace has denied behaviour of a sexually harassing nature, after 13 people came forward last week with allegations of inappropriate comments. In a video posted on Instagram, he said the accusations had been made by 'a handful of middle-class women of a certain age'. Nuala McGovern is joined by former head of Channel 4 News Dorothy Byrne and the Chair of the Fawcett Society, Baroness Harriet Harman, to discuss. When Daniel Wing was a year old, his mother Tina was murdered...
Dec 02, 2024•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast Losing a baby in the early stages of pregnancy can be an extremely painful experience. Having to explain to your employer why you can’t come to work only adds to the difficulty. In the UK, there’s currently no entitlement to time off for miscarriage within the first six months of pregnancy. The Women and Equalities Select Committee is hearing evidence on extending the right to bereavement leave to cover losses up to 24 weeks. Sarah Owen MP, Chair of the Committee and someone who has experienced ...
Nov 30, 2024•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast When the Stammer Came to Stay is award-winning author Maggie O’Farrell’s third book for children. Based on her own experience of living with a stammer, it's a story that celebrates differences and explores the resilience of children as they learn to navigate new and seemingly frightful challenges. She talks to Anita Rani about the book and the impact of her stammer on her life. Gregg Wallace is to step away from presenting MasterChef while allegations of historical misconduct are investigated. W...
Nov 29, 2024•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast Academy schools were one of the issues that listeners raised during, and since, Woman’s Hour’s special programme investigating the SEND system for children with special education needs and disabilities. We hear the voices of two mums who say their children were let down by their Academy schools for allegedly failing to support their children's SEND needs and Anita Rani discusses SEND support in Academies with Leora Cruddas, CEO of the Confederation of School Trusts which represents more than ¾ o...
Nov 28, 2024•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
