Journalist and author Mary Ann Sieghart joins Julie for Episode Seven of Ask A Woman to discuss her new book ‘The Authority Gap’.

In the episode, Mary Ann explains her research into why women are still taken less seriously than men and how the pandemic could change things.

They also discuss the issue of sexism in schools, making parenting an equal occupation and just some of the 140 things Mary Ann thinks you can do to be a better feminist.

We hear the stories that inspired her book, advice from the women she admires the most and find out why a pirate Queen and Patti Smith would be her dream dinner guests.

Julia Samuel, the renowned psychotherapist and counsellor, joins Julie for Episode Six of Ask A Woman to share a lifetime's wisdom on embracing change and handling loss.

In a really absorbing conversation, Julia shares how different people will experience the impending unlocking of society, why everyone has suffered a form of loss in the pandemic, and why we need to change our attitude to change itself to remain healthy.

Following the recent unveiling of a statue for Julia's close friend, the late Princess Diana, at Kensington Palace, she addresses personal ways people can deal with grief and explains why the stiff upper lip still has a role to play in handling our emotions in 2021.

Plus, Julia outlines the priorities needed to live meaningful and happy lives - and why they won't be found on Love Island!

Former education secretary Justine Greening joins Julie Etchingham in Episode Five to explain why the government is better at handling potholes than people and needs to change.

The daughter of a Rotherham steel worker and first openly gay government minister resigned from the cabinet in 2018, before ultimately quitting Parliament, after then-PM Theresa May surprisingly moved her out of the key role in pushing social mobility.

Now pursuing the goal outside politics, Justine critiques the government's pandemic performance, explains what Boris Johnson got wrong when it came to Matt Hancock's exit and recounts the emotional moment she tweeted the truth about her sexual orientation.

You can read more about Justine's Social Mobility Pledge and why she's pursuing 14 levelling up goals across businesses, NHS Trusts, Councils and universities at https://www.levellingupgoals.org/

Are authors better equipped to handle lockdowns? Why is the pandemic dividing rather than uniting the world? And how do you handle being prosecuted for something a fictional character in your novel says?

Award-winning Turkish-British novelist Elif Shafak joins Julie Etchingham on Ask A Woman to answer those questions and more.

Elif has earned a global and devoted readership for titles that range from The Forty Rules Of Love, How To Stay Sane In An Age Of Division and The Bastard of Istanbul, the latter of which led to her being put on infamous trial - and emphatically acquitted - in 2006 for “insulting Turkishness” by addressing the Armenian genocide.

Aside from writing, she is also a political scientist and passionate women’s rights and freedom of speech activist.

In this episode of the podcast, Elif discusses:

01:30 - Why a publisher’s claim about lockdown’s impact on writers was wrong

3:35 - How the last 18 months have made her rethink her priorities in life

6:00 - The future of our society and why social media has left so many people voiceless

07:40 - Why the pandemic has brought out the worst of us after bringing out the best of us

11:10 - The danger of current culture wars

13:20 - How to unite with those we disagree with and why everyone is complex

16:35 - Why older people have a responsibility to listen to younger people and why the answer “I don’t know” is so rarely heard in 2021

20:02 - How academics, students and the rest of society should react to the furore over controversial statues

25:28 - How she looks back on being prosecuted in Turkey for the views of her fictional characters

27:14 - Why trust has to be restored in democracy, for the protection of women

30:25 - The truly imaginative guest who’ll join a legendary English writer and influential German-American political scientist at her dream dinner table

32:22 - And finally, why her belief in feminism can transform and unite both men and women

ITV News presenter Julie Etchingham is back with another series of Ask A Woman - the podcast that seeks enlightening answers from bright, powerful, fascinating and funny women.

Leading economist Kalpana Kochhar joins Julie this week to chat about why the pandemic is a wake-up call for gender equality.

Kalpana is the current Director of the IMF’s Human Resources Department and has worked for the Fund for over 30 years.

She will soon be joining the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation where she hopes to share her expertise in female leadership and empowerment.

In the episode, Kalpana discusses:

01:40 - navigating the pandemic as an HR boss

05:26 - how the pandemic has impacted working women

08.30 - the policies she would impose to protect vulnerable women

14:00 - why rich countries should be doing more

16:09 - the importance of equal representation

18:19 - working with female leaders at the IMF

21:37 - growing up in India and studying in America

25:08 - joining the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

27:25 - why Michelle Obama would join her grandmother as her dream dinner guest

30:22 - closing the gap for women in developing countries

New episodes of Ask A Woman are released every week - subscribe so you don't miss out.

ITV News presenter Julie Etchingham is back with another series of Ask A Woman - the podcast that seeks enlightening answers from bright, powerful, fascinating and funny women.

Criminal barrister Alex Wilson joins Julie this week to chat about her journey into law.

In the episode, Alex discusses:

2:46 - being mistaken for a defendant in court more than once

11:07 - how losing a close friend to knife crime inspired her journey into law

13:50 - navigating Oxford University

20:21 - convincing her family to become a criminal barrister

24:20 - what Boris Johnson needs to do to make a stand against racism

32:05 - how young women are changing the world

38:00 - why she's embarrassed by how the public treated Meghan Markle

40:25 - what she wants to achieve with her group Black Women in Law

New episodes of Ask A Woman are released every week - subscribe so you don't miss out.

ITV News presenter Julie Etchingham is back with another series of Ask A Woman - the podcast that seeks enlightening answers from bright, powerful, fascinating and funny women.

After a small pause caused by a big pandemic, Julie's out to find out what each guest has learned in lockdown and ask them: what comes next?

The first guest in the new eight-part series is comic performer, TV presenter and now novelist Mel Giedroyc, who tells Julie:

1:30 - why she's spent so much time in a cupboard in lockdown
4:00 - about the hilarious family crisis that erupted as she prepared to go live for Eurovision
6:13 - how the pandemic brought unexpected joy with her teenage children
9:30 - why a near-bankruptcy experience inspired her lockdown novel
16.20 - about reuniting after lockdown to act (and laugh at old photographs) with Sue Perkins
19.00 - her feelings on cancel culture and woke comedy and whether Mel and Sue's early routines would work now
24.10 - the three women (including one truly remarkable and radical ancestor) who she’d invite to her dream dinner party

New episodes of Ask A Woman are released every week - subscribe so you don't miss out.