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World record Atlantic rowers, Police culture, Women and investing Feb 05, 2022

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Two women with no previous rowing experience have smashed the world record for the fastest female pair to row across the Atlantic. We hear from Jessica Oliver and Charlotte Harris who rowed 3000 miles over 45 days in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, battling 30 ft waves, sharks and sleep deprivation. Photo credit Atlantic Campaigns

Vile text messages have come to light which were shared between police officers belonging to the Metropolitan Police. The IOPC has said: "We believe these incidents are not isolated or simply the behaviour of a few 'bad apples'." The Met has said that it is 'sorry'. We hear reaction from Zoe Billingham, former Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary. And we hear from listener Amanda,. Her son, George, is planning to join the Police later this year and she is worried but he is determined to be part of the change.

Big investment firms are missing out on up to 2.37 trillion pounds of potential investment because of their poor record in attracting female investors. That was a warning this week from the giant investment bank BNY Mellon, which revealed only 28% of women feel confident in investing their money. Anne-Marie McConnon is the bank's chief client experience officer, and she tells us more about their findings. She’s joined by Sarah Turner the founder of Angel Academe, a network for mostly-female angel investors.

Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Dianne McGregor

British Vogue, Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 & Mummy Bloggers Feb 04, 2022

Show notes

The cover of British Vogue’s February 2022 issue has made history. It’s the first Vogue cover to feature nine black models, titled Fashion Now. The issue celebrates the rise of African models in high-end fashion, styled by Vogue’s first Black Editor-In-Chief Edward Enninful and Brazilian photographer, Rafael Pavarotti. Undeniably it’s been met with celebration but also some nuanced criticism. We hear from Chelsea Mtada, the Arts and Culture Editor at Guap Magazine.

We discuss the new legal duties being put on parents who educate their children at home. Parents in England will have to let the local authority know and register their child accordingly. If they don't, they'll be penalised. We hear from Charlotte Ramsden President of the Association of Directors of Children's Services and Gabriella Rook, a young trustee from Education Otherwise, the longest standing and largest home-education charity in England and Wales.

The Winter Olympics 2022 in Beijing officially begin on Friday. Around 3000 athletes from 91 nations will compete for one of the 109 gold medals on offer. So who are the women among the Great Britain hopefuls? We hear from the four time Olympian and BBC Ski Sunday Presenter Chemmy Alcott and from Katie Smith Olympic Reporter from BBC Sport.

Social media is filled with bloggers and influencers – so how does someone stand out? Lockdown has seen a trend in a new kind of ‘insta mums’ – who are bringing humour and a dose of reality to motherhood. Both Molly Gudger and Louise Boyce have built platforms on telling it like it is when it comes to parenting.

Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed

Photographer credit: Rafael Pavarotti

Stacey Dooley, Police culture, Novice rowers become champions, Afghan women update, Anne Boleyn Feb 03, 2022

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Stacey Dooley has been presenting television documentaries for over 10 years – on everything from drug cartels in Southern Spain to illegal pornography in South Korea. Now the Sunday Times bestselling author has released a new book, exploring the state of mental health in the UK. ‘Are You Really OK?’ looks at – amongst other things – issues of PTSD, depression, psychosis; and what causes these things. Stacey reveals what she’s learnt.

Yesterday on the programme we discussed the culture of policing in the light of misogynistic, discriminatory and violent texts exchanged between serving officers between 2016 and 2018. They were revealed as part of an IOPC investigation at Charing Cross police station in London. These revelations follow the murder of Sarah Everard and the treatment of Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman by serving Metropolitan Police officers. We asked how can a toxic culture be changed? A mother, Amanda, contacted us while we were on air. Her son, George, is planning to join the Police later this year and she is worried but he is determined to be part of the change. They both join Emma.

Two women with no previous rowing experience have smashed the world record for the fastest female pair to row across the Atlantic. Jessica Oliver and Charlotte Harris rowed 3000 miles over 45 days in the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge, battling 30 ft waves, sharks and sleep deprivation. They join us to discuss the experience.

Some of Afghanistan's public universities reopened yesterday for the first time since the Taliban took over the country, with female students joining their male counterparts heading back to classes. Girls are still not allowed to attend secondary schools, and women remain barred from many jobs outside the health and teaching sector. This is unfolding against the backdrop of a major humanitarian crisis. Fawzia Koofi, the former Vice President of the National Assembly in Kabul and women's rights activist, updates us.

You know the rhyme “divorced beheaded died, divorced, beheaded, survived.” The first women to lose her head at the hands of Henry VIII was Anne Boleyn - and her story is so often characterised by that tragic outcome that we may have overlooked the fact that she was a feminist and ahead of her time. This is the view of Dr Owen Emmerson who has curated an exhibition at Hever Castle - Anne's childhood home - called Becoming Anne: Connections, Culture, Court. But can she be seen as a feminist when the word hadn't even been invented? Emma is joined by Owen and Tracy Borman, the Tudor historian and Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces who is currently writing a book about the relationship between Anne Boleyn and her daughter Elizabeth.

Presenter: Emma Barnett Producer: Kirsty Starkey

Interviewed Guest: Stacey Dooley Interviewed Guest: Jessica Oliver Interviewed Guest: Charlotte Harris Interviewed Guest: Tracy Borman Interviewed Guest: Dr Owen Emmerson

Gloria Allred, Monica Ali, Val McDermid Feb 02, 2022

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Gloria Allred is probably the best known women’s rights lawyer in the US. Equally loved, feared and deemed controversial by some, for nearly half a century she's represented women in high profile cases involving Bill Cosby, Jeffrey Epstein, Harvey Weinstein, R Kelly, Donald Trump. She talks to Woman's Hour about the situation facing the Duke of York, the possible retrial of Ghislaine Maxwell & her admiration for Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Vile text messages have come to light which were shared between police officers belonging to the Metropolitan Police. The IOPC has said: "We believe these incidents are not isolated or simply the behaviour of a few 'bad apples'." The Met has said that it is 'sorry'. We get reaction from Zoe Billingham, former Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary and Shabnam Chaudhri, who served as an officer in the Met for 30 years.

Monica Ali wrote her bestseller Brick Lane nearly 20 years ago. Her new book is called Love Marriage. It's about two families who are brought together when Yasmin and Joe fall in love.

Scottish crime writer, Val McDermid, has stopped sponsoring a football club that's been part of her life since she was a baby. She's finished supporting Raith Rovers because it's signed up David Goodwillie who, in a Scottish civil case in 2017, was found to have raped a woman. He was fined £100,000. Val says she can't see herself ever going back to Raith Rovers.

Carrie Johnson, Supreme Court nominee, Women & work in the 17th century, Rising popularity of thongs, MMR Feb 01, 2022

Show notes

As the Prime Minister apologises for a failure of leadership, accepting Sue Gray's report, and promises to overhaul Number 10 - his place of work and home - what of Carrie Johnson? And concerns about the blurring of lines...

The pandemic has changed the way some women work and has blurred the boundaries between home and work for many. A new book by Professor Laura Gowing of King’s College London called 'Ingenious Trade' unearths the stories of women at work in 17th Century London and shows how crucial to their identity paid employment was.

For those who remember the late 90s and early noughties, thongs were a defining emblem of popular fashion, often poking out of denim and low-rise trousers. Today, clothes retailers are seeing a surge in their thong sales since 2019, and with the resurgence of ‘y2k’ style among young people, it seems that thongs are back.

Joe Biden announced last week that he'd fulfil his campaign promise of the first black female justice just as Justice Stephen Breyer said he would retire. Biden said that it was long overdue in his opinion and that he will reveal his choice of a younger, liberal judge by the end of February. While many Americans welcome diversity in the Supreme Court, Biden has also faced criticism for playing identity politics. Emma discusses this with Kimberly Peeler-Allen who is the co-founder of Higher Heights, an organisation that builds the collective political power of Black women and Lawrence Hurley, Reuters U.S. Supreme Court Correspondent.

Latest data from the UK Health Security Agency shows that more than one in ten children starting school in England are at risk of measles because they haven't had their jabs. Vaccine rates for the MMR, which helps protect five-year-olds against measles, mumps and rubella, have fallen to their lowest level in a decade. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, there's been a concerning drop in the number of children receiving these vaccinations on time, with some parents perhaps not wanting to burden the NHS or unaware doctors were still offering appointments.

Presenter: Emma Barnett Producer: Kirsty Starkey

Interviewed Guest: Caroline Slocock Interviewed Guest: Caroline Wheeler Interviewed Guest: Professor Laura Gowing Interviewed Guest: Alizé Demange Interviewed Guest: Letty Cole Interviewed Guest: Kimberly Peeler-Allen Interviewed Guest: Lawrence Hurley Interviewed Guest: Professor Helen Bedford

Sarah Brown sings Mahalia Jackson, Performative activism, Over-exercising Jan 31, 2022

Show notes

Nikki da Costa is former director of legislative affairs at No 10. She has a piece in the Times this morning saying that 'No 10 failed us when we needed our leaders most'. Nikki joins Emma for an exclusive broadcast interview.

Sarah Brown has worked with some of the biggest names in the music industry. She grew up singing gospel in a Pentecostal church, which first inspired her love of Mahalia Jackson’s music. To mark the 50th anniversary of Mahalia’s death, Sarah has released an album in tribute to her heroine.

Last week Mars Wrigley announced a rebranding of the iconic M&M mascots. The green M&M character will be losing her high heels to be replaced with sneakers. We ask whether this kind of ‘activism branding’ leads to any significant change? Lee Edwards is a Professor of Strategic Communication and Public Engagement at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Carly Lewis-Oduntan is a freelance features writer.

Following allegations of abuse against footballer Mason Greenwood posted first on social media, Women's Aid CEO Farah Nazeer joins Emma to discuss the ramifications of making allegations on social media before going to police? Regular exercise is something we all know can help your mental health and reduce your stress levels. But is there a point when it becomes unhealthy? The mental health charity Mind is concerned people may be getting overly reliant on exercise and are urging ‘exercise addicts’ to build in rest days. Hayley Jarvis, Mind’s Head of Physical Activity and 21 year old Catherine join Emma.

Presenter: Emma Barnett Producer: Lucina Montefiore

Weekend Woman's Hour: Dr Koshka Duff, Tareena Shakil, 'Corona Lisa', Midwife Shortage, Six The Musical Jan 29, 2022

Show notes

Dr Koshka Duff, an assistant professor of politics at Nottingham University has received an apology and compensation from the Met Police after officers were caught on CCTV using sexist, derogatory and unacceptable language during a 2013 strip search. In her first broadcast interview since the apology, she speaks to Emma about that experience and why it has taken so long to get an apology.

Chloe Slevin, a 3rd year nursing student at University College Dublin has been painting well-known masterpieces - with a Covid-19 twist. Her latest creation? The 'Corona Lisa' which sees the famous Mona Lisa in full PPE, which she plans to auction off for charity. She joins Emma to talk about all about her paintings.

Tareena Shakil is the first British woman to be found guilty of joining the so-called Islamic State. She was jailed for travelling to Syria with her son - who was a one year old baby at the time, in 2014. She speaks to Anita about why she left the UK to join a terrorist organisation - and why she's speaking out.

Midwives are being ‘dangerously overworked’ according to a former NHS midwife. Piroska Cavell, who worked for years across the UK as a midwife and Dr Mary Ross-Davie from the Royal College of Midwives speak to Emma about the challenges facing midwives working on the frontline:

Plus do you remember the rhyme for Henry VIII's six wives? Well a musical about them has just opened on Broadway following rave reviews on the West End. Six the Musical follows all six wives, as they take the microphone in a ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ style sing-off. Co-director Lucy Moss, co-director and co-writer of the show, and Tsemaye Bob-Egbe, who plays Henry VIII’s fifth wife Katherine Howard, join Emma to discuss its success.

Tareena Shakil, Nabihah Iqbal & Libby Heaney, Death Doulas Jan 28, 2022

Show notes

Tareena Shakil is the first British woman to be found guilty of joining so-called Islamic State. She was jailed for travelling to Syria with her baby son to join ISIS. That was in 2014 when she was 24. She didn't last long in Syria and fled. A trial in the UK followed and it came to light that she lied to police when they questioned her and some of her social media posts encouraged others to do the same as her. She tells her story to Anita Rani, and describes her hopes for the future.

Libby Heaney and Nabihah Iqbal are combining music production and AI for their piece Cascade. It's an exploration of the River Thames and includes field recordings of the Thames, AI generated sounds and visuals.

One Big Bag is a film installation about a young death doula. That's a carer who supports someone who's dying and their families. Its creator is artist Every Ocean Hughes. She joins Hermione Elliott who's a doula herself, and Dr Helen Frisby.

Opera arias reinvented, Holocaust survivor Rachel Levy Jan 27, 2022

Show notes

We’re all too familiar with operatic heroines, dying tragically on stage. The arias they sing are often completely beautiful, the skill of the composers not in doubt, but the stereotyping does modern women no service. It’s a dilemma that award winning, all women string quartet Zaïde address in a new project entitled No(s) Dames. They have teamed up with counter tenor Théophile Alexandre to showcase arias of tragic heroines by seventeen different composers. The twist is that it is male Theophile who sings the arias. First violinist Charlotte Maclet joins Emma.

Today is National Holocaust Memorial Day and the Prince of Wales, as chairman of the National Holocaust Memorial Trust has commissioned the portraits of seven Holocaust survivors all of them now in their nineties, whose childhoods were spent surviving the Nazis. The portraits will be displayed at the Queen's Gallery as a living memorial to the six million innocent men, women and children who lost their lives in the Holocaust and whose stories will never be told. A 60-minute BBC Two documentary Survivors: Portraits of the Holocaust will air tonight at 9 pm and has followed the creation of the artworks and the relationship between artists and sitters. Emma is joined by one of the survivors - Rachel Levy - who was painted by the artist Stuart Pearson Wright.

Image: Quatuor Zaïde quartet with Théophile Alexandre Credit: Julien Benhamou

The Corona Lisa, Dr Koshka Duff, Magistrates and Revolutionary women Jan 26, 2022

Show notes

Chloe Slevin, a 3rd year nursing student at University College Dublin has been painting well-known masterpieces - with a Covid-19 twist. First came 'The Girl with the Surgical Mask' after the famous 'Girl with the Pearl Earring' then she did a version of one of Michaelangelo's famous works. But her most recent painting is that of the 'Corona Lisa' - the Mona Lisa in full PPE and surgical mask, which she's auctioning off for LauraLynn, Ireland's only children's hospice. She joins Emma to talk about her paintings and what it's been like as a trainee nurse during the pandemic.

Emma speaks to Dr Koshka Duff who was detained in 2013 after offering a legal advice card to a black teenager during his stop-and-search. On CCTV footage, officers can be heard laughing about her hair, clothes and talking about her underwear. The Metropolitan Police have now apologised and paid the academic compensation for their "sexist, derogatory and unacceptable language".

The Ministry of Justice, this week, has announced an unprecedented recruitment drive, to boost the number of magistrates by 4,000. It’s part of a £1 million campaign to make the magistracy more representative of the communities it serves. They’re aiming to attract people from a wide range of backgrounds, from teachers, bricklayers, stay-at-home mums, and any individuals who can display reason and sound judgment. The step is expected to free up an estimated 1,700 extra days of Crown Court time annually and new recruits are expected to help tackle the backlog of criminal cases caused by the pandemic. Emma speaks to Amie Canham from North Yorkshire, a new Magistrate, as well as Bev Higgs, Chair of the Magistrates Association.

Women were contributing to the development of British politics and democracy long before they were agitating for the vote. Very few of them are well known today but all of them contributed something to the world we now inhabit, that’s according to Nan Sloane who has written a history of radical, reformist and revolutionary women from the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 to the passing of the Great Reform Act in 1832. Her book is called Uncontrollable Women.

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