The Conversation

By BBC World ServiceSociety & Culture

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The Conversation episodes

October 17, 2020 Bonus podcast: Goodbye To All This
Today we have something a bit different for you. It’s a new podcast from the BBC World Service called Goodbye to All This. It’s a powerful memoir by Australian writer Sophie Townsend, who lost her husband Russell to cancer. It’s the intimate journey of learning to navigate grief while bringing up two daughters. It reflects on life, love, loss and coming back out the other side.
This is the first episode of the show. You can find it wherever you get your podcasts. We will be back with The Conversation on Monday.
Artwork design: D8.
23 min
October 14, 2020 Singing my way to stardom
Pop singers from Afghanistan and Northern Ireland tell Kim Chakanetsa what it's like to perform in, coach and judge major singing competitions.
Aryana Sayeed is the biggest female pop star in Afghanistan. She’s been a judge on one of the country’s biggest TV shows, Afghan Star and a coach on The Voice of Afghanistan. The multi-award winning performer was born in Kabul and raised in Switzerland, later moving to the UK. Aryana is also a women's rights activist, and wants to deliver a message of peace, love, and empowerment through her music.
Janet Devlin was a quarter-finalist in the UK singing competition The X Factor. At just 16 years old and from a small town in Northern Ireland, she didn’t love the attention that came with it and struggled against her inner critic on stage. She talks about the importance of being open about her mental health issues and addictions, and how the support of a female fanbase has brought greater confidence.
IMAGE DETAILS
L: Janet Devlin (credit - Emma-Jane Lewis)
R: Aryana Sayeed (credit - Neelio Paris)
29 min
October 05, 2020 Speaking up about racial injustice
Two women talk to Kim Chakanetsa about their anti-racism campaigns in Lebanon and Netherlands and the emotional toll of speaking out.
Jessica de Abreu is an activist and co-founder of The Black Archives in Amsterdam. As part of the Kick Out Zwarte Piet group she protests against the annual tradition in the Netherlands where children and adults alike dress up with black face to celebrate Santa’s helper ‘Black Pete’. In the past protesters have been attacked and ignored by a country that has long seen this as harmless fun. Massive turnouts at recent BLM inspired protests could suggest a turning of the tide.
Ubah Ali is from Somaliland and currently studying at the American University of Beirut. She talks about Lebanon's ‘kafala’ system, which excludes the predominantly Black migrant workforce from labour laws. She says she’s regularly mistaken for a domestic worker and fights to challenge preconceptions about Black women.
IMAGE DETAILS
L: Ubah Ali (credit - Ubah Ali)
R: Jessica de Abreu (credit - Marcel Wogram)
28 min
September 28, 2020 Feminism, sex and relationships
How does feminism influence our love lives? Is it possible to hold true to feminist principles of equality when dating apps reduce us to swipe-able products on a page? Kim Chakanetsa talks to two women who write about sex and dating.
Priya Malik is a columnist and spoken word poet, who writes about feminism, love, sex and dating. She moved to Australia with her husband but returned home to Mumbai after her divorce and is now in a relationship which has equality at its heart.
Annie Lord is a journalist who writes about sex and relationships for British Vogue. A committed feminist she admits it can be hard to hold on to those principles of equality in the world of dating.
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L: Priya Malik (credit - Priya Malik)
R: Annie Lord (credit - Annie Lord)
27 min
September 21, 2020 Women fighting abuse under lockdown
As the coronavirus pandemic spread across the globe, victims of domestic violence found themselves facing a double threat - that of a deadly virus outside and abuse at home. Distress calls to domestic violence hotlines have soared - leaving charities overwhelmed and struggling to meet demand.
Kim Chakanetsa talks to two women supporting domestic abuse survivors.
Hospitalised by a former partner twice before being able to leave, Marica Phipps set up Battered Not Broken, a US charity providing education, support and resources for victims of domestic abuse.
Tamara White is an Area Manager for Hestia, a charity that supports adults and children in times of crisis. It is one of the largest providers of domestic abuse refuges in London and South East England.
IMAGE DETAILS
L: Tamara White
R: Marica Phipps
27 min
September 14, 2020 Writing a feminist anthem
Two women who’ve used music to empower women talk to Kim Chakanetsa about writing a song that becomes a rallying cry around the world.
Madame Gandhi is a percussionist, producer and activist who has drummed for M.I.A and toured with Oprah. Her musical catalogue doubles as a manifesto for gender equality.
Sibila Sotomayor is part of LasTesis - a collective of four female artists in Chile who wrote the song, A Rapist in Your Path. Within a few weeks of its first performance it was replicated hundreds of times around the world, and videos of flashmob performances from Turkey to Venezuela have gone viral.
IMAGE DETAILS
L: Sibila Sotomayor (credit: Sibila Sotomayor)
R: Madame Gandhi (credit: Djeneba Aduayom)
28 min
September 07, 2020 Albinism: Dispelling the myths
Two women with albinism talk to Kim Chakanetsa about countering superstition and prejudice around the condition.

As a ‘white African’ growing up in Nigeria Ikponwosa Ero was well aware of the danger some people with the condition face. In June 2015 she was appointed the first UN Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism and campaigns against stigmatisation, myths and violence.

Connie Chiu is known as the first international fashion model with albinism. Born in Hong Kong she and her family moved to Sweden when she was a child to avoid harsh sunlight and in an effort to help her 'fit in.' She talks about challenging conventional ideas of beauty and wants to dispel the myth that albinism is limiting.
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Left: Ikponwosa Ero (credit: A F Rouen)
Right: Connie Chiu (credit: Ellis Parrinder)
28 min
May 11, 2020 Nurses on the frontline
Nurses risking their lives to treat coronavirus patients. Hospitals around the world - and in particular Intensive Care Units - have been described as the frontline of the pandemic. It's there that the sickest Covid19 patients are looked after round-the-clock by highly specialised nurses. Kim Chakanetsa talks to two of them at the height of the current outbreak.
Hannah Gray is a 23-year-old nurse working in an Intensive Care Unit at a major London hospital. Her unit has rapidly expanded to accommodate extra patients, and all the staff are getting used to working in full PPE or Personal Protective Equipment. Hannah has been documenting her experiences on her blog, The Corona Lisa.
Bianca Dintino is a 26-year-old critical care nurse based at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. She was among the first to volunteer to work with coronavirus patients when they started arriving at her hospital in mid-March. She describes the camaraderie that has developed among her co-workers.
Image:
(l) Bianca Dintino (credit: Anne Marie)
(r) Hannah Gray (credit: Simi Sebastian)
27 min
April 13, 2020 The vagina myths
The vagina: separating myth from fact. Kim Chakanetsa and her two expert guests examine a part of the body that's often shrouded in mystery and shame.
Dr Jen Gunter has been described as the world's most famous gynaecologist, and is also known as a fierce critic of the multi-million dollar wellness industry. The Canadian-American author of The Vagina Bible says 'Weaponizing women’s bodies is profitable' and believes companies are making money out of women's fears about their genitals. She wants to empower instead by debunking the myths and health misconceptions.
Dr Susan Adongo Meme is an obstetrician and gynaecologist at Kenyatta National Hospital in Kenya. She says most women don't know that the place they urinate from is not the same place they menstruate from. Cultural taboos mean they are not encouraged to even look 'down there' and there's a general belief that the vagina is unclean. Potentially harmful douching is therefore widespread - as it is in other parts of the world, including the US.
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L: Dr Susan Adongo Meme (credit Dr Susan Adongo Meme)
R: Dr Jen Gunter (credit Jason LeCras)
28 min
April 06, 2020 Endurance cyclists
Riding across continents in some of the world's toughest cycle races. Kim Chakanetsa talks to two women who've used their reserves of physical and mental strength.
Fiona Kolbinger was the winner of the Transcontinental Race in 2019. She crossed Europe, from Bulgaria to France - a distance of 4000km - in ten days two hours and 48 minutes. She beat the second closest rider, a man, by almost six hours. She says when a part of her was in pain she focused on the bits of her body that had hurt yesterday but had got better, knowing that something different would hurt tomorrow!
Emily Chappell worked as a cycle courier in London before developing a taste for long distance adventures, cycling from Wales across Asia to Japan. In her first Transcontinental Race in 2015 she made it only halfway, waking up suddenly on her back in a field, floored by the physical and mental exertion. The following year she was the first woman to cross the line - two days ahead of the other female competitors. She says these cycling challenges make her feel powerful and confident in all aspects of life and more women should give it a go.
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(L) Emily Chappell (credit: Kristian Pletten)
(R) Fiona Kolbinger (credit: James Robertson)
27 min