Sania Mirza started playing tennis at the age of 6 and has gone on to become one of the most prominent names in the women’s game. She is considered a national treasure in her native India. But her life off the court has won her fans as well as critics with some of her compatriots questioning her outspokenness on women’s rights and her marrying a man of Pakistani origin. Yogita Limaye talks to her about the ups and downs of celebrity, the objectification of women and encouraging female participation in sport.

The Japanese Prime Minister has promised that within five years, around a third of all Japanese executives will be women. How achievable is that? Mariko Oi reports from Tokyo.

Nomsa Maseko talks to make-up entrepreneur Bobbi Brown about starting out in 1980s New York and her three-decade career developing the clean, polished look she is famous for.

Alek Wek is a model who spent years of her life fleeing from civil war in South Sudan. She talks to Anne Soy about being a model, life as a refugee and her father's lessons.

Two nurses who care around the clock for the sick and dying in Uganda and Singapore, discuss their priorities and experiences. Hear from Rose Kiwanuka and Subadhra Devi Rai.

London’s midwives deliver babies born to mothers from around the world. Smitha Mundasad talks to those who provide care for mothers in one of the world’s most diverse cities.

How does the news serve and represent women? And why, in some countries, do women reject traditional news media for news on social media? A panel of experts on global news discuss

Aasmah Mir hosts an intimate and revealing discussion between three women from the Jamaican diaspora in Handworth, a suburb of Birmingham. Enid Weir arrived in a cold, damp, dark Britain in 1960 and instantly wanted to return to Jamaica. But, at the age of 77, she now calls the UK her home. Joining her is 45-year-old businesswoman Sharon Warmington and 22-year-old student Rheanna Russell.

(Photo: A Caribbean woman and three children in London, UK, March 1963. Credit: Evening Standard/Getty Images)

Aasmah Mir hosts an intimate and revealing discussion between three women from the Bangladeshi diaspora in east London. Shaheen Choudhury Westcombe arrived in Britain in 1972 as civil war raged back home in Bangladesh. She was the first woman to train as an architect in Bangladesh but ended up helping her community in the UK through her work for local government. Joining her is 44-year-old Shamshia Ali, who works for a number of Bangladeshi women’s groups, and 27-year-old Shanaz Begum from the Mulberry School for Girls in Tower Hamlets.

(Photo: A child in Brick Lane in the East End of London near Whitechapel, 1979. Credit: Evening Standard/Getty Images