The Conversation

The weaker sex? The fairer sex? The female body has often been viewed as less strong and less powerful than that of men. Datshiane Navanayagam meets two female scientists who are challenging that assumption. They reveal the ways in which women’s bodies actually come out on top.

Starre Vartan is an Australian science journalist, based in America. In her book The Stronger Sex she explores the different areas where women have the physical edge over men, from endurance events to immune response.

Marlo Möller is Professor of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. Her research explores why women appear to be better at fighting off and surviving diseases like tuberculosis.

Produced by Hannah Sander

(Image: (L) Starre Vartan, credit Starre Vartan. (R) Marlo Möller, credit Annecke Vermeulen.)

Statues in parks and city centres are meant to celebrate history and inspire for the future. But it's thought that in nearly every country in the world, women only make up 2-3% of the public statues. Datshiane Navanayagam talks to sculptors from the US and Nigeria who are working to redress the balance.

Meredith Bergmann is an American sculptor creating giant bronzes of significant female public figures for parks and historical sites around the United States. Her “Women’s Rights Monument” was unveiled in 2020 for the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. It was the first statue of a woman, joining 22 statues of historical men in Central Park in New York.

Sokari Douglas Camp makes steel sculptures that vary in size from 30cm to 5m tall. Influenced by her Nigerian heritage, her latest exhibition, Fashion and Fortune, explores clothing, commerce and emblems of wealth using elaborate headdresses and the incorporation of coins to highlight both oppression and creativity.

Produced by Jane Thurlow

(Image: (L) Sokari Douglas Camp, credit Jonathan Greet. (R) Meredith Bergmann, credit Michael Bergmann.)

The film industry is massively dominated by men. But women-only film festivals are shaking things up, celebrating the female directors, producers, cinematographers and editors behind the camera. Datshiane Navanayagam meets two women who run female film festivals.

Bina Paul in India is the director of the Asian Women's Film Festival in New Delhi. As a film editor with decades of experience, she recently saw one of her films celebrated at the Cannes film festival in France.

Amal Ramsis in Egypt founded and runs the Between Women Filmmakers’ Caravan (BWFC), which showcases films directed by women from the Arab world and Latin America. She is also a documentary filmmaker.

Producer: Hannah Sander

(Image: (L) Bina Paul, courtesy Bina Paul. (R) Amal Ramsis, credit Rania Zahra.)

Tourette syndrome is a motor disorder that begins in childhood or adolescence. Characterized by movement tics and at least one vocal tic, it's often portrayed as unrestrained swearing. However, coprolalia only affects ten percent of people with Tourette’s. Datshiane Navanayagam talks to women from Argentina and the UK about their mission to talk about this widely misunderstood condition.

Lauren Wyatt says the most difficult part of having Tourette's is the public perception and reaction. Lauren says she experiences harassment almost every time she goes out with people mimicking tics, threatening her, or sometimes even throwing things. She's part of a campaign by Tourette's Action in the UK – #NoChoice – which is highlighting Tourette’s as a medical condition. Lauren says she lives in constant pain due to her tics which are out of her control and have damaged her body beyond repair.

Belén Prieto is an Argentinian psychologist currently living and working in Spain. She has Tourette's and is a volunteer with TTAG (Tics and Tourette's Across the Globe), an umbrella organisation for Tourette's Syndrome, raising awareness and supporting those with the condition.

Produced by Jane Thurlow

(Image: (L) Belén Prieto, credit Miguel Pereda. (R) Lauren Wyatt, credit National Diversity Awards.)

There has been a marked increase in enrolment in early childhood education globally, but access and approaches differ hugely around the world.

Professor Nirmala Rao researches ways of measuring the impacts of early childhood development and education particularly within the Asia-Pacific context, at the University of Hong Kong. She believes that it is essential to push research to the forefront to inform social policy relevant to children and their families.

Jessica Blom is the Deputy Director of The Centre for Early Childhood Development in South Africa - a national resource which provides training, support and advice in the field of early childhood development with the aim of improving the education and care of the country’s youngest citizens from disadvantaged communities.

Produced by Hannah Dean

(Image: (L) Jessica Blom, credit Barry Christianson. (R) Prof. Nirmala Rao, WAL-PHOTO courtesy of Faculty of Education, HKU.)

Traumatic events can leave an enduring psychological impact. Datshiane Navanayagam talks to two psychologists about how they help women heal from trauma.

Jane Abatoni Gatete heads the Rwanda Organization of Trauma Counsellors (ARCT- Ruhuka). She has over 25 years of expertise and practical experience in mental health support. As well as working as a psychiatrist in individual and group settings she has trained hundreds of others to support a nation recovering from the trauma of war and genocide.

Dr Adshead is one of Britain’s leading forensic psychiatrists with 30 years’ experience working in some of London's first trauma clinics and Broadmoor prison. She says that traumatic events, experiences that change your identity, can happen not only acutely and suddenly but take place slowly over time. While many people will recover naturally, some have long-term impacts that require treatment. Her latest book is called Unspeakable: Stories of Survival and Transformation After Trauma.

Produced by Jane Thurlow

(Image: (L) Gwen Adshead, credit Richard Ansett BBC. (R) Jane Abatoni Gatete, courtesy Jane Abatoni Gatete.)

Have you ever finished a book or television series and wished you could stay longer in that world? Fan fiction is a thriving art form, with millions of women writing and sharing their tributes to favourite stories, by taking famous characters and placing them in new situations. Datshiane Navanayagam meets women who take part and study this world.

Producer: Hannah Sander

(Image: (L) Dawn Wells-Thumma, courtesy Holly Lillis. (R) Kristine Michelle Santos, credit Aaron Vicencio)

Epilepsy is a brain condition that causes repeated episodes of sudden, brief changes in the brain's electrical activity causing seizures or convulsions. It's thought 50-million people have the condition, which can't be cured. The right treatment can alleviate symptoms but diagnosis and treatment is limited in many countries.

Consultant neurologist Sofia Eriksson is from Sweden and works in the UK at University College London Hospital where she used to be the hospital’s clinical lead for epilepsy. She's president elect of the British Association of Neurologists. Sofia says it’s important more people talk openly about the condition to help stop people who have it feeling so isolated.

Betty Barbara Nsachilwa had her first seizure when she was 13 years old. It took 18 months to find the right medication that has kept her seizures under control since. She says she's been lucky to have the support of her family and colleagues but says many others in Zambia face discrimination and stigma. Betty Barbara co-founded the Epilepsy Association of Zambia in 2001 to increase awareness and education about the condition and support others living with epilepsy.

(Image: (L) Betty Barbara Nsachilwa, courtesy Betty Barbara Nsachilwa. (R) Sofia Eriksson, credit Hannah Lovell.)

Confronting the death of a loved one – or the end of our own life – can be frightening and overwhelming. And yet it is something that will happen to all of us. So how can we open up conversations about the way we want to die? Is it possible to avoid pain and suffering? And who are the people who will care for us in our final moments?

Datshiane Navanayagam talks to two women who work in palliative care.

Dr Tania Pastrana is from Colombia and is now based in Germany where she works for the International Association for Hospice & Palliative Care (IAHPC). And Dr Catherine Millington-Sanders is a general practitioner, and national lead in palliative care for the Royal College of GPs.

Producer: Hannah Sander

Datshiane Navanayagam talks to Whitley Fund for Nature winners from India and South Africa who are protecting endangered frogs and salamanders.

Dr Barkha Subba is leading the first grassroots protection for the Himalayan Salamander in Darjeeling. The scientific adviser at local NGO, Federation of Societies for Environmental Protection (FOSEP), Barkha is working to restore habitat, remove invasive species and screen for deadly diseases, as well as engage local people in awareness programmes promoting sustainable land use and eco-friendly tourism.

Environmentalist Jeanne Tarrant works on protecting frogs and their habitat in South Africa. Almost two-thirds of the country’s 135 frog species are found nowhere else. She uses frogs as flagships for habitat protection, contributing to the broader conservation of freshwater and grassland areas that serve as important watersheds and carbon sinks.

Produced by Jane Thurlow

(Image: (L) Jeanne Tarrant, credit SABC. (R) Barkha Subba, credit Whitley Fund for Nature.)