Woman's Hour

Women's health has long been the poor relation when it comes to medical understanding, funding and research. The government says it wants that to change - and earlier this year announced the establishment of England's first Women's Health Strategy, which will look at women's health across our lifespans. The priorities of that strategy will be shaped, they say, by the results of a public call for evidence which closes this Sunday. But after centuries of - as the Health Secretary Matt Hancock put it - 'living with a health and care system that is mostly designed by men, for men', what sort of confidence should we have in this strategy bringing about meaningful change? Emma Barnett is joined by Women's Health Minister, Nadine Dorries. Why are so many women dismissed, disbelieved or misdiagnosed when they seek medical help? Dr Elinor Cleghorn, cultural historian and author of 'Unwell Women - A journey through medicine and myth in a man-made world', says the answer lies in over a thousand years of history. She ta

Last month the US Supreme Court agreed to consider a major challenge to reproductive rights, saying it will look at the state of Mississippi’s bid to enforce a ban on almost all abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy. Two days later the Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, signed into law a six-week abortion ban. Why are attempts to reduce women’s access to these services being made? Last week one young Texan woman decided to use her platform at her high school graduation to give a speech on the so-called ‘Heartbeat Bill’. A speech that has gone viral. Emma speaks to 18 year-old Paxton Smith, and to Amanda Taub, a reporter for the New York Times.Last week we heard from Lord Heseltine who was unhappy about being forced as a Member of the House of Lords to attend an online course around sexual harassment entitled 'Valuing Everyone Training’. In response, we received a text: ‘I’m a young female staffer and did the Valuing Everyone course last autumn. It wasn’t bad, but wouldn’t stop people mistreating

It’s just over a year since the businesswoman and conservative peer Dido Harding was brought in to set up a test and trace system to help stop the Covid-19 pandemic. The system was going to be “world beating” and help get the UK out of lockdown according to the Prime minister but the incredible costs involved – around £37 billion – have been criticised for failing to make an impact. The system has improved but what will its legacy be? Dido Harding talks to Emma Barnett on Woman’s Hour today in her first interview since leaving the role last month and reflects on the ups and downs of the last year.As we celebrate Pride Month throughout June we thought we'd spend a moment celebrating the relationship between gay men and their female BFF. From reality stars like Jenny and Lee on Googlebox and Olivia Bentley's relationship with Ollie and Gareth in Made in Chelsea to Will and Grace to the designer Halston and Liza Minelli. What is it about the relationship that makes them so special?A group of MPs, Including t

How possible is it to actually earn a living from sport? The latest BBC Elite British Sportswomen’s Survey found that four out of five elite British sportswomen feel they are not paid enough compared to their male counterparts and more than 60% of UK’s top female athletes make less than £10,000 a year. On the other hand revenue generated by women's sport in the UK is set to grow to £1bn a year by 2030 – up from £350m a year currently – making it one of the fastest growing sectors in the sports industry. The Women’s Sports Trust says the key to unlocking this impressive growth will be the increased visibility of female athletes and teams. Emily Defroand is a Great Britain and England Hockey player, Zarah El-Kudcy is a Trustee at the Women’s Sports Trust and the Head of Commercial partnership development at Formula 1, and Dr Ali Bowes is a senior lecturer in the Sociology of Sport at Nottingham Trent University.Lord Michael Heseltine, who was Deputy Prime Minister in the mid-nineties, says he's had to attend

Arooj Aftab is a Pakistani composer, based in Brooklyn. She joins Anita to talk about her music and influences from jazz and Qawwali to Jeff Buckley and Abidi Parveen. She explains how grief has shifted the tone of her music to ‘heavy metal harp’, and discusses her latest album, Vulture Prince, which honours and reimagines centuries-old ghazals, a form of South Asian poetry and music that she grew up listening to with her family.Now the dust has settled on the recent court ruling on compensation for women with PIP Implants, it's become clear a group of women will miss out. The French court ruled that those who had implants pre 2006 will not get any money, as it decided the safety regulator who approved the implants for market couldn't have been aware of any problems before that date. Lawyers representing the women will go back to the French supreme court to fight this. Melanie Abbott has been looking into this.Therapist and researcher, Guilaine Kinouni’s book Living While Black looks at the racial inequaliti

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is the author of novels including 'Purple Hibiscus', 'Half of a Yellow Sun', which won the Orange Prize (now called the Women’s Prize for Fiction), and 'Americanah', which won the US National Book Critics Circle Award. Chimamanda has also delivered two landmark TED Talks: The Danger of A Single Story, and We Should All Be Feminists, which started a worldwide conversation about feminism and was published as a book in 2014. She has now written a more personal book. On 10 June 2020 her father died suddenly in Nigeria. A self-confessed daddy’s girl, she has now remembered her father in a tribute, 'Notes on Grief'. Her mother has since also died. How do you deal with double heartbreak? Chimamanda joins Emma to examine the layers of loss and the nature of grief.Lord Michael Heseltine, who was Deputy Prime Minister in the mid-nineties, says he's had to attend a House of Lords course to do with what's right and what's wrong when it comes to conduct between colleagues, especially between men a

You may have visited Kew Gardens and seen the incredible gallery of botanical art created by Marianne North - she is one of several female artists being featured at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum as part of Coventry's UK City of Culture Celebrations. The exhibition, called UnNatural History, explores not only the historical role of artists in the science of natural history - but also contemporary artists addressing the current climate crisis. But with so much focus on the environment how effective is art in grabbing the public's attention? Alice Sharp is the founder of Invisible Dust who have curated the exhibition and Frances Disley is an artist who examines the medicinal properties of plants and healing power of nature. Why, after decades of social progress is motherhood still so much harder than it needs to be? Why aren't we honest about the realities of being a mother? These are just two of the themes explored in a trio of books about motherhood that have just been published. It's not as if these

It's one of the most unforgettable moments in pop. Sinead O'Connor singing Nothing Compares 2 U straight into the camera. Big eyes, shaved head, minimal make up - tears rolling down her cheeks. It catapulted her to fame whether she liked it or not. Sinead joins Emma to talk about her autobiography," Rememberings" The ‘work from home’ guidelines are expected to be scrapped on June 21 - should the government’s current roadmap continue. If you were writing a manifesto for the best way for women to work post-pandemic what would it say? We hear from author and columnist, Elizabeth Uviebinené who argues in her new book ‘The Reset’ for a fundamental reset of our entire work culture, Danny Harmer, Chief People Officer for Aviva on how big companies are addressing the flexibility needs of their workforce and Mark Gatto, father of a two-year-old and research associate in masculinities and working parenthood, Presenter Emma Barnett Producer Beverley Purcell PHOTO CREDIT; Donal Moloney

Over the last few weeks and months we have seen women make huge progress in the world of sport. It was just over a month ago that the jockey Rachael Blackmore made history by becoming the first female rider to win the Grand National in its 173 year history. Also last month Rebecca Welch became the first female referee to oversee an English Football League match in 134 years. And the former footballer Alex Scott has become the presenter of the BBC’s Football Focus, becoming the show's first permanent female host in its history.It comes against a backdrop that has seen viewing figures for women’s football and rugby continue to grow despite a virtually invisible summer of competition last year. But a recent BBC Survey of elite sportswomen found that more than 60% earn less than £10,000 a year from their sport. So what still needs to be done when it comes to building on women’s success in sport and how can this upward momentum be maintained and include a variety of sports and not just football, cricket and rugby

A former senior Army officer is calling for the military to have a “#MeToo moment” and is claiming that hundreds of female troops have been raped and sexually abused by colleagues. Lt Col Diane Allen, who served for 37 years, says the Armed Forces are being run by “a toxic group of privately-educated white senior officers” We talk to Diane Allen and also hear from the Defence Minister Baroness Goldie.Some women and trans men are reporting unusual symptoms after having their Covid vaccinations – ranging from menstrual irregularities to bleeding post menopause. We talk to the reproductive immunologist Dr Viki Male from Imperial College in London to find out what’s behind these symptoms.The best selling author of the Geek Girl series Holly Smale has been diagnosed with autism at age 39. She said she feels relief that she now has an explanation for why she’s felt she’s never “fitted in”.Prof Catherine Heymans, astrophysicist and world-leading expert in the so-called dark universe, is now the Astronomer Royal of S

Some women and trans men are reporting unusual symptoms after having their Covid vaccinations – ranging from menstrual irregularities to bleeding post menopause. We talk to the reproductive immunologist Dr Viki Male from Imperial College in London to find out what’s behind these symptoms and also consider the issue of vaccine hesitancy amongst young women, vaccination during pregnancy and the impact of Covid and the vaccine on breast feeding mums. Of the twelve judges on the Supreme Court – the highest court in the land – all are white and only two are women. So what needs to be done to increase diversity within the UK judicial system, and what obstacles remain in place today? Vicky Fox, the Chief Executive of the Supreme Court, and Stephanie Boyce, President of the Law Society discuss. Paris Lees is a journalist, anti-bullying campaigner, and a Contributing Editor at British Vogue. She was the first openly trans woman to present on BBC Radio 1, and also the first to appear on Question Time. She’s written a m

Karen Hadaway was one of two little girls murdered in the Babes in the Wood case. Her mother, Michelle, tells us about giving her daughetr's clothes to Martin Bashir in 1991 to get DNA tested. She still hasn't got them back. He says he can't remember the exchange. Michelle describes her feelings in light of the Dyson investigation. Should the mass destruction of nature, also known as ecocide, be a crime? At the moment there are four crimes covered by the International Criminal Court - genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression. Now campaigners are pushing to have ecocide added to the list. We're joined by Jojo Mehta, the co-founder of Stop Ecocide International and barrister Philippe Sand. Seven years ago “Eva Carter” saved her partner's life. She tells Emma how the experience of that night and her feelings at the time and afterwards fed into her novel How To Save A Life.In recent days there has been a huge outpouring on social media of women sharing their experiences of sexism

Gemma Arterton’s latest acting role is in a play called Walden. It's on in London’s West End and it's the story of estranged twin sisters: one's a botanist for Nasa and the other's a former architect for Nasa. They meet up in a remote cabin in the woods sometime in the future, when the earth’s situation is looking bleak.We take a look at some of claims made yesterday by Dominic Cummings about care homes with Gisella Casciello Rogers whose 85 year old father died in one last year. And we also have Helen Wildbore from The Relatives and Residents Association. Prof Catherine Heymans, astrophysicist and world-leading expert in the so-called dark universe, is now the Astronomer Royal of Scotland. She's the first woman to hold this prestigious role, but the problem is she's still not entirely convinced she should have the job. She suffers from impostor syndrome, but we know she shouldn't! She talks to Emma about challenging the status quo and dealing with aggressive criticism.And we have Annie Macmanus (formerly

A former senior Army officer is calling for the military to have a “#MeToo moment” and is claiming that hundreds of female troops have been raped and sexually abused by colleagues. Lt Col Diane Allen, who served for 37 years, says the Armed Forces are being run by “a toxic group of privately-educated white senior officers” We talk to Diane Allen and also hear from the Defence Minister Baroness Goldie. Dominic Cummings, the Prime Minister’s former chief advisor, will today face questions from senior MPs over the government’s response to the pandemic. Cummings is a controversial figure in Westminster, and since leaving his position as Boris Johnson’s top aide, he has not gone quietly, making a series of damning claims against the Prime Minister and government. But would the media and political coverage have been the same had he been a woman? Caroline Nokes, the Conservative chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, joins us to discuss. Art historian Catherine McCormack has just published an impassioned

On Woman's Hour today Emma Barnett talks to the best selling author Holly Smale about being diagnosed with autism at age 39. The author of the "Geek Girl" series has said she feels relief that she now has an explanation for why she’s felt she’s never “ fitted in”.We speak to the journalist Rosamund Urwin about her scoop on the Martin Bashir story and also to the Digital Minister Caroline Dinenage MP about what’s in the new Online Safety Bill.In a few weeks, a French woman will stand trial for killing her husband, but she's got the support of thousands of people in France who've signed a petition and want her pardoned. Valerie Bacot was with her older husband for decades. Valerie's now 40, but she knew her husband since she was 12. From then on he molested her, beat her, raped her and used her as a prostitute. We talk to Ursula Le Menn is from Osez le feminisme! a French feminist campaigning organisation and she knows family and friends of Valerie and also to Anne-Elisabeth Moutet a journalist based in Par

A TV comedy series featuring funny and bold Muslim women – ‘We Are Lady Parts’ is a new six part comedy series for Channel 4. It follows the highs and lows of the female punk band Lady Parts. Anita speaks to Anjana Vasan and series writer Nida Manzoor.The Government has announced a range of measures to protect the environment, from banning peat in garden centres to increasing the rate of tree planting and reversing the loss of species diversity. A 10p charge on single-use plastic bags came into force in England on Friday. But what difference will these policies - and others made in the run-up to COP26 - make to the crisis facing nature and the climate? Emma speaks to Environment Minister Rebecca Pow.Listener Clementine Baig was diagnosed with Primary Ovarian Insufficiency last year, and got in touch to share her experiences with infertility. She's joined by the Podcaster Noni Martins, whose husband was diagnosed with Male Factor Infertility in 2019, to explore how an infertility diagnosis can impact families,

New research shows that girls face unique and escalating risks as they turn 18. The transition from girlhood to adulthood could be an opportunity to get things right, but with little to no specialist support for young women as a group, it becomes a missed opportunity to prevent young women’s needs becoming more complex and entrenched. Anita is joined by Prisons and Probation Minister, Alex Chalk, Jessica Southgate, CEO of Agenda and by 21 year old, Dani, who, despite a chaotic childhood and being left with no support from 16, turned her life around.A new anthology has just been published called Women on Nature. It includes women from the 14th century to the present day, fiction writers, poets, biographers, gardeners, farmers, theologians, artists and many more. Anita talks to the editor, writer Katharine Norbury, about her selection and why she thinks her anthology provides a fresh vision of the natural world and an alternative to conventional nature writing.A TV comedy series featuring funny and bold Muslim

Since the beginning of the pandemic, shed sellers have seen a surge in demand - especially those that can be used as home offices. And existing summerhouses and garages have been commandeered, particularly by women, as a growing number expect to be working from home. Instagram is awash with images of so-called "She Sheds". Emma discusses the attraction with Joanne Harris who writes from her shed and Gill Heriz, author of A Woman's Shed.What does it say about society when protestors threaten to rape their enemies’ mothers and daughters? This is what happened in North London at the weekend when protestors waving Palestinian flags passed through a Jewish community in Finchley. Four men have now been arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated public order offences. We look at the wider issue of how rape is threatened as a common insult, used for revenge in gangs and in the wider context of war. Emma talks to the writer and feminist activist Julie Bindel and to the historian Sir Antony Beevor.This week the gover

Since the first publication of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in 1865, the books have never been out of print and remain one of the most influential texts in the world. The Victoria and Albert Museum are opening their show Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser this Saturday, which explores why Alice is the ultimate female icon for our times, and how she continues to be such an enduring inspiration. The curator, Kate Bailey and artist and designer Kristjana Williams join Emma to discuss her appeal. In the past, open-relationships might have conjured up the vision of keys in a bowl at the end of the night. But today, the terms polyamorous and consensually non-monogamous are increasingly normalised when it comes to relationships and dating. They describe people who are involved in, or are looking for relationships with more than one partner, with the understanding that one person cannot always be expected to meet all of your needs. And for some people, monogamy just doesn’t work for them. We hear from three people wh

Despite a long and courageous history of female spies, the UK's secret intelligence agencies - MI5, MI6 and GCHQ - are still overwhelmingly dominated by men. The head of GCHQ, Jeremy Fleming, has committed his agency to up its efforts to 'attract talented women' as part of a wider focus on increasing diversity and inclusion. But will more women in the intelligence services make us safer? Not necessarily, says Sally Walker, who was until recently one of the most senior women at GCHQ and the creator of the UK's National Cyber Force. She talks to Emma about her take on diversifying the world of spies, and what's really needed to keep us safe from the constant, often invisible threats to the UK's national security. This week we're allowed to do more and more, as lockdown eases further. Hug with caution, have a meal inside a restaurant, a drink inside a pub and go to the theatre. One theatre that pulled up the curtain last night is the Bush Theatre in London with a play called Harm. It's a monologue, and the ac