Elizabeth Siddal and Pre-Raphaelite women, SNP Conference 2019, Faecal incontinence after childbirth

Picture: Ophelia by John Everett Millais, 1865-66. Private Collection The Scottish National Party brings the autumn political conference season to a close this week. The leader of the SNP has made her party’s position clear – she wants the Conservative government out, a Brexit extension secured and a General Election as soon as possible. Last week the First Minister told the Scottish Parliament: "We need to get powers out of the hands of Boris Johnson and his ilk and into the hands of this Parliament so that we don't have to put up with Tory welfare cuts anymore because we can take the right decisions here in the first place to lift people out of poverty." Jane is joined by Shirley Anne Somerville, MSP for Dunfermline and West Fife and Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Social Security and Older People to discuss the SNP’s offer to women voters on Brexit, Scottish Independence and other pressing policy issues ahead of a much anticipated General Election. The “Pre-Raphaelite Sisters” exhibition opens at the National Portrait Gallery this week to show just how engaged and central women were to the production of the art. Over the next few days Woman's Hour features some of these overlooked models, artists, makers, partners and poets. Dr. Jan Marsh curated the exhibition and wrote The Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood in 1985 and Dr. Alison Smith curated Tate's major Burne-Jones exhibition last year. Today Elizabeth Siddal. Faecal Incontinence: "It’s like a dirty secret,” one listener told us. Why is faecal incontinence after childbirth so hard to talk about, even to your GP? While conversations around many of the effects of childbirth – from postnatal depression to pelvic floor problems – have become more common in recent years, bowel problems, less so.

It’s thought that sphincter injuries can affect 1 in 10 mothers who’ve had vaginal births - with a higher risk to those having their first baby. So why don’t we talk about it more? Jane speaks to two Woman's Hour listeners living with faecal incontinence and to Dr Sara Webb, Research Midwife at the Institute of Applied Health Research, Birmingham University. Sarah Phelps, award-winning British screenwriter, joins Jane to talk about her latest TV crime thriller Dublin Murders which starts tonight on BBC1. It's drawn from Tana French’s internationally bestselling Dublin Murder Squad books and stars Killian Scott and Sarah Greene as the two ambitious detectives investigating two murders in Ireland around the turn of the millennium. Presenter: Jane Garvey

Producer: Caroline Donne

Interviewed guest: Shirley Anne Somerville MSP

Interviewed guest: Jan Marsh

Interviewed guest: Alison Smith

Interviewed guest: Dr. Sara Webb

Interviewed guest: Sarah Phelps