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Weekend Woman’s Hour: Hillary Clinton and Louise Penny discuss their new novel, the Singer Ella Eyre & the Science of Knitting Oct 23, 2021

Show notes

The former presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton has a new book out, “State of Terror”, a political thriller written with the award winning author Louise Penny. The two women were already friends before deciding to pen the novel which features a President who “smells of meat” and appears to resemble Donald Trump and a British Prime Minister who’s “a twit” and seems to have a more than a passing resemblance to Boris Johnson.

According to a new survey on mental wellbeing in agriculture, 58% of women in farming experience anxiety compared to 44% of men. What's the reason behind it? How much impact has Brexit and the pandemic had on the problem? We discuss with Alicia Chivers, Chief Executive of the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution, and East Yorkshire pig farmer Kate Moore.

Campaigner Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah is raising awareness of asthma and the health problems that can be caused by air pollution. Last year her daughter, Ella, became the first person in Britain to have air pollution listed as the cause of death after an inquest. She died in 2013 aged nine. Now Rosamund is calling on Boris Johnson to “set an example for the whole world” with ambitious clear air goals.

Are you a keen knitter? Have you ever considered that patterns for knitting your jumpers, hats or gloves could be seen as having parallels to computer coding? Do we undervalue the scientific aspects of some female-dominated skills? Emma speaks to Shetland knitter and pattern writer Hazel Tindall - aka World's Fastest Knitter - and to Sue Montgomery, who went viral in 2019 for knitting data into a shawl.

After undergoing vocal cord surgery, MOBO and Brit award-winning singer songwriter Ella Eyre is back on her first headline tour in six years. She reveals how she's had to learn how to sing again - and how the experience has inspired a new musical direction.

Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed

Hillary Rodham Clinton and Louise Penny, HPV kits, Aspire to adventure Oct 22, 2021

Show notes

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a very common virus – Cancer Research UK estimates around 8 out of 10 people will be infected at some point in their lives. HPV spreads through sexual activity. In most people, it doesn’t cause any problems and goes away on its own, but HPV can increase a woman’s chance of developing cervical cancer. Gynaecological charity The Eve Appeal have found a ‘worrying’ trend in HPV kits being sold online by private companies, advertised alongside misleading information. Tracie Miles is a gynaecologist cancer specialist nurse at The Eve Appeal. Mercedes Gleeson is someone who has been open about her own experience with HPV.

Anita is joined by two guests who are trying to encourage women to get outside and go on adventures. Army Officer Preet Chandi is preparing for a solo, unsupported trek across Antarctica to the South Pole in November. She will be the first Asian woman to do this. Dr Geeta Ludhra set up a walking group in the Chilterns to encourage women from diverse backgrounds to get out on smaller scale adventures in the UK to connect with nature and feel the health benefits.

Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Lucinda Montefiore

Singer Ella Eyre; Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah; Sofie Hagen; Neonatal deaths & stillbirth disparities; Covid & Xmas plans Oct 21, 2021

Show notes

Over the summer it's been tempting to think that the pandemic is almost over. But last night, Health Secretary Savid Javid insisted that "life is not back to normal". 49,000 people tested positive for Covid-19 yesterday - levels we haven't seen since the end of last year - and he warned that they could hit 100,000 a day over winter. But despite all this, the government has decided not to implement its so-called Plan B - which would include mandatory mask wearing, working from home and vaccine passports. Instead its encouraging people to get their booster jabs, and advising people to make their own decisions on mask wearing and socialising more outside. But will the public, who've already seen one Christmas fall into oblivion, be willing to change their behaviour for a second winter?

Lockdowns and working from home have changed how we dress but 'fat people don't have the luxury of wearing the dressed down look'. That's according to the activist and stand-up comedian Sofie Hagen who says that society dictates that people who are over-weight have to look like they are trying. She and Emma discuss the pressures she believes exist.

Mortality rates remain exceptionally high for babies from ethnically diverse backgrounds despite overall rates of stillbirth and neonatal death rates having fallen. Neonatal death rates are 73% higher than those living in the least deprived areas. With Asian babies 60% higher than white babies, and 43% greater for babies of Black ethnicity. Emma is joined by Clea Harmer, Chief Executive of SANDS, and Professor of Perinatal & Paediatric Epidemiology, Elizabeth Draper part of the MBRRACE team who collect and analyse the numbers and rates of baby deaths in the UK.

After undergoing vocal chord surgery, MOBO and Brit award-winning singer songwriter Ella Eyre is back on her first headline tour in six years. She reveals how she's had to learn how to sing again - and how the experience has inspired a new musical direction.

Presenter: Emma Barnett Producer: Kirsty Starkey

Interviewed Guest: Harriet Baldwin Interviewed Guest: Professor Stephen Reicher Interviewed Guest: Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah Interviewed Guest: Sofie Hagen Interviewed Guest: Clea Harmer Interviewed Guest: Professor Elizabeth Draper Interviewed Guest: Ella Eyre

Baroness Ruth Davidson; The science of knitting; Spiking by injection Oct 20, 2021

Show notes

Former Scottish Conservative leader – the recently ennobled Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links - will be giving her maiden speech in the House of Lords on Friday as part of a debate on assisted dying. She used to be against amending the law on assisted dying but had a change of heart last year. She explains why to Emma.

The Home Secretary Priti Patel has requested an urgent update from the police following a spate of recent cases where women's drinks have been spiked. With multiple reports also emerging of women being spiked by injection in clubs in Glasgow and Nottingham, journalist and author Lucy Ward last night shared texts from her student daughter on Twitter- Lucy speaks to Emma.

Women Talk Back, a feminist society at Bristol University is filing a legal case today against Bristol Students' Union, after they say they were sanctioned by the union for running women-only meetings. This issue came to a head last March when they refused admission at one of their events to a trans woman. Raquel Rosario Sanchez is the President of the group and joins Emma.

A company that speed-grows coral in the Bahamas is among the winners of the inaugural Earthshot Prize – the new annual awards created by the Duke of Cambridge to reward people trying to save the planet. There were five winners announced at the star-studded ceremony in London on Sunday, each receiving £1m. Alannah Vellacott is Coral Vita's Coral Restoration Specialist and takes Emma through the process and why it's so important.

Dame Eileen Atkins; Equal pay; Harassment in Parliament; Composer Charlotte Bray Oct 19, 2021

Show notes

In our final discussion to mark our 75th anniversary we look at the issue of equal pay. This was identified as the area women most want to see change in their daily lives and 70% of those asked said they had experienced inequality in this area. Emma Barnett talks to Baroness Kishwer Falkner who’s head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission which regulates the Equality Act and also to Emma Satyamurti a lawyer leading a group action for equal pay by female staff working in Morrisons.

Dame Eileen Atkins joins Emma to talk about the journey from being Tottenham's answer to Shirley Temple to hugely respected actor for stage, screen and TV. Her memoir is called 'Will She Do?'

Today MPs are going to debate new government plans that would mean members who are suspended for sexual harassment or bullying could face a by-election. Labour want the measure to apply retrospectively - so that it would include the Conservative MP Rob Roberts who was suspended from Parliament for six weeks in May after an independent panel found he had sexually harassed a former employee. He did not face a petition to trigger a by-election due to a loophole in parliamentary procedure - because the panel that handed down his suspension doesn't have those powers. BBC political correspondent, Chris Mason, explains.

Composer Charlotte Bray has composed new song cycle called Crossing Faultlines. Believed to be the first of its kind to address the topic of women in the workplace, the song cycle explores themes of mentorship, discrimination and ambition. The piece was commissioned as part of a new recital programme dream.risk.sing: elevating women’s voices, an initiative conceived to express women’s stories through song. Emma is joined by Charlotte Bray, Samantha Crawford and Lana Bode.

Presenter: Emma Barnett Producer: Anna Lacey

Interviewed Guest: Baroness Kishwer Falkner Interviewed Guest: Emma Satyamurti Interviewed Guest: Eileen Atkins Interviewed Guest: Charlotte Bray Interviewed Guest: Samantha Crawford Interviewed Guest: Lana Bode

Women pig farmers and mental health. Modern slavery. The cave woman rebuilding her business after Covid. Oct 18, 2021

Show notes

Conservative MP Sir David Ames, who was killed on Friday had been in Parliament since 1983 . Issues raised by the people he represented were top of his agenda. When a woman called Carla came and told him about how her life was blighted by endometriosis, he took up the cause. We hear from the former Labour MP for Dewsbury, who he worked with on this issue while she was in the House, despite them being politically poles apart.

We've been following the work of the Salvation Army who have the Home Office contract to support all victims of modern slavery in England and Wales and have been given exclusive access to their annual report which shows that demand for their services is soaring. Young Albanian women make up the largest group of survivors who escape from their traffickers after being sexually exploited. Many of these women are waiting to hear if the Home Secretary will appeal against what's described as a landmark High Court ruling last week. It was brought by a Vietnamese woman who was trafficked to the UK and if upheld will affect hundreds of others like her. We hear from Ahmed Aydeed from law firm Duncan Lewis the woman's solicitor. Plus reporter Carolyn Atkinson talks to a survivor and to Kathy Betteridge, Major Director of Anti Trafficking and Modern Slavery at the Salvation Army.

Plus Emma the Yorkshire woman who spent over a hundred hours in a cave. Lisa Bowerman owns Stump Cross Caverns, She runs the caves as a family business and they'll usually a big attraction for tourists. She explains why she hopes the stunt will give the business a lift post-covid..

Presenter Emma Barnett Producer Beverley Purcell

Cush Jumbo, Predatory marriage, Equality in 2021, Tall women and dating, Sexual assault, consent and 'grey areas' Oct 16, 2021

Show notes

Cush Jumbo, star of The Good Wife and The Good Fight on her latest role playing Hamlet.

Predatory marriage involves a vulnerable adult being led into a marriage, which financially benefits their new spouse. We hear from Daphne Franks, who believes that her mother was a victim of a predatory marriage.

Your responses to our poll on equality in 2021.

What's it like for tall women when it comes to dating? Comedian Andrea Hubert, and Sarah Ivens, author of Get Real discuss.

In her new book Rough, Rachel Thompson looks at how violence has found its way into the bedroom. A study released this summer set out to gauge the extent of violence against women. One shocking finding revealed that half of respondents had "woken up to their male partner having sex with them or performing sex acts on them whilst they are asleep." Rachel Thompson and Dr Jessica Taylor, co author: Understanding the Scale of Violence Committed Against Women in the UK Since Birth.

Presenter: Jessica Creighton Producer: Dianne McGregor

Tall women and dating, Vicky Featherstone on Maryland, Blackfishing, Equality in housework, Keisha the Sket Oct 15, 2021

Show notes

The average height of a female in the UK is 5ft 3in. What is life like for women at the other end of the spectrum, especially when it comes to dating? Jessica Creighton is joined by the author of Get Real, Sarah Ivens, who at 6ft would be introduced to dates as 'Queen Kong' or 'Miss Stretchy', and married at 6 ft 3 in in a pair of diamanté heels; and Andrea Hubert, 6ft 1in whose creative comebacks about her height paved the way to her becoming a comedian.

Normally it would take a playwright like Lucy Kirkwood two years to write a play and get it onto the stage. However the relentless news of violence against women and the abuse of police powers in recent weeks compelled her to script a thirty minute piece called Maryland in just a few days and send it to the Royal Court Theatre in London. That was three weeks ago...two weeks ago it opened on stage. The Royal Court’s Artistic Director, Vicky Featherstone joins Jessica Creighton to explain why.

After struggling with her mental health whilst part of girl-band Little Mix and then quitting late last year, Jesy Nelson has just launched her solo career with a video for her single 'Boyz' that's been criticised for 'blackfishing'. So what is that and why is it problematic? Jess is joined by Leah Mahon, journalist at the Voice online.

The Woman’s Hour poll to mark our 75th anniversary found the place where women feel most unequal is in the home - specifically in terms of housework. 75% of the women said the division of chores wasn’t fair but interestingly it was only named as the fifth most important area in which to achieve equality. Jessica talks to Professor Ann Oakley whose seminal book The Sociology of Housework looked at these issues way back in the seventies and also by Professor Rosie Cox who has written a number of books on gender roles.

In 2005 the story of Keisha the Sket started being shared by young people on a now defunct early internet platform. The story is told in energetic street slang. Keisha, 17, lives in Hackney, London. She's lively and funny - she is also preyed upon. She wants and enjoys sex and is looking for love but she is sexualised by the men and boys around her. Her lack of control of her life gets her into dangerous situations and the word 'sket' - promiscuous girl or woman - follows her around. It's been called a classic of Black British culture and is now being published for the first time in book form. Jade LB began writing Keisha's story when she was only 13 and joins Jessica to talk about her creation and the mixed feelings she has had about it over the years.

Singer, Sophie Ellis-Bextor; Breast reconstruction delays; Urban hermits; Predatory marriage; Oct 14, 2021

Show notes

Sophie Ellis-Bextor has seven albums, five children, a podcast and her Live Kitchen Discos during lockdown were a means of virtual escapism for many, and became weekly moments of united sequined catharsis. She joins Emma to discuss her memoir Spinning Plates: Music, Men, Motherhood and Me.

Claudia Webbe, a former Labour MP for Leicester East, who now sits as an independent, was found yesterday guilty of one charge of harassment and is awaiting sentencing. She has vowed to remain an MP while she appeals against the conviction but the Labour party has called for her to resign, strongly condemning her actions. Those actions include threatening a woman with sending naked photos of her to her family and that she would throw acid in her face. We hear from solicitor Ayesha Nayyar, who has acted for a number of acid attack victims and campaigns for better support for survivors.

Surgeons say women are being refused reconstructive breast surgery on the NHS, even though there are now ways of performing the operation more quickly. The confederation of British surgery say the procedure can be reduced from the traditional 8-12 hours down to 2-3, and hospital stays from 7 days to just 72 hours. Yet surgeons say many NHS Trusts still deem breast reconstruction as ‘cosmetic’, and are performing less than two-thirds of the amount of reconstructions they were pre-Covid.

There are an estimated 1000 hermits living in Italy - and the majority of them are women. The history of female hermits goes back hundreds of years, with many choosing to remove themselves from a life of marriage and domesticity to a world of study, devotion and freedom from the expectations of society. But what is it like to be a hermit living in the modern world? Emma speaks to urban hermit Julia Bolton-Holloway about the misconceptions people have about the eremitical life, her journey from university lecturer to Anglican nun and now Catholic hermit - and how she balances a life of poverty, chastity and obedience with a dedication to actively helping those most in need.

Predatory marriage involves a vulnerable adult being led into a marriage which financially benefits their new spouse. We discuss with Daphne Franks, who believes that her mother was a victim of a predatory marriage; and Dr Rachael Clawson, Associate Professor in Social Work at the University of Nottingham.

Presenter: Emma Barnett Producer: Kirsty Starkey

Interviewed Guest: Ayesha Nayyar Interviewed Guest: Nicola Johnston Interviewed Guest: Dhalia Masud Interviewed Guest: Julia Bolton-Holloway Interviewed Guest: Daphne Franks Interviewed Guest: Dr Rachael Clawson Interviewed Guest: Sophie Ellis-Bextor Photographer: Laura Lewis

Lucy Mangan, Girls & Education in Afghanistan, Sexual Assault, Consent & 'Grey Areas' Oct 13, 2021

Show notes

Who does what in your home? Sourcing school shoes? Calling the plumber? Sorting the threadworms? In her debut novel 'Are We Having Fun Yet?' author and columnist Lucy Mangan reveals the comic diary of Liz who is 'outwardly mute, inwardly mutinous' as she does her best to keep the domestic show on the road.

In her new book Rough, Rachel Thompson looks at how violence has found its way into the bedroom. A study released this summer set out to gauge the extent of violence against women. One shocking finding revealed that half of respondents had "woken up to their male partner having sex with them or performing sex acts on them whilst they are asleep." Emma discusses these findings and the impact on women with Rachel and Dr. Jessica Taylor, co author: Understanding the Scale of Violence Committed Against Women in the UK Since Birth.

For 26 days teenage girls in Afghanistan haven't been able to go to school. The Taliban has banned them from secondary schools. If girls don't go to secondary school, that means they're unlikely to go to further education or university. Under their new government, Taliban officials said that women will be allowed to study and work in accordance with the group's interpretation of Islamic religious law. Emma discusses the current situation with Yalda Hakim, presenter on BBC World; and a teacher in Afghanistan.

Presented by Emma Barnett

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