Woman's Hour

By BBC Radio 4

Personal Journals Society & Culture

What's Woman's Hour about?

Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.

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Candi Staton, Narcissistic ...

06.06.2023

Four-time Grammy award nominated singer Candi Staton has moved between several musical genres during of the course of her celebrated career – from soul, R&B, gospel and disco. However, dance music has always been her main groove with iconic tracks ...

Woman's Hour episodes:

06.06.2023 Candi Staton, Narcissistic mother 'Bethany', Author Emma Cline, Smart phones in school, Nurses Four-time Grammy award nominated singer Candi Staton has moved between several musical genres during of the course of her celebrated career – from soul, R&B, gospel and disco. However, dance music has always been her main groove with iconic tracks ...
06.05.2023 Women in Ukraine, Baroness Sue Campbell, Abortion law in Texas, Drastic hair The Sunday Times' Christina Lamb on the women involved in the war effort in Ukraine. We look at the trend of brides having their long hair cut into bobs before re-emerging with new hair at their wedding. Kyrelle Burton of ...
06.03.2023 Weekend Woman's Hour: Witness Protection, Gender Pension Gap, Big Boobs and Dr Edna Adan Ismali A woman who was stalked by her husband and then placed into witness protection with a new identity to escape him, says she feels like she's the one being punished. She's complained to the police about the way her case ...
06.02.2023 Edna Adan Ismail, winner of Templeton Prize, Online games, Vasectomy increase in US, Iranian female journos on trial Two female journalists in Iran are on trial for covering the death of 22 year old Mahsa Amini, the Kurdish-Iranian woman who died in custody last year sparking protests across the country and months of unrest and shocked the world. ...
06.01.2023 Witness protection, Anti-LGBT law in Uganda, Author Harriet Gibsone, Women's World Cup squad A woman who was stalked by her husband and then placed into witness protection with a new identity to escape him, says she feels like she's the one being punished. She's complained to the police about the way her case ...
05.31.2023 Gender pension gap, Trampolining, A Paedophile in the Family When Rebecca Perry was growing up, she competed nationally and internationally as a trampolinist. She went on to become a published poet and has now ventured into non-fiction with a beautifully written memoir, On Trampolining. She joins Nuala in the ...
05.30.2023 Childcare debt, Big boobs, Succession As figures show more than a third of parents are using debt to pay for childcare, Nuala will be meeting two women who’ve gone deep into the red to pay nursery fees in order to maintain a career and discussing ...
05.29.2023 Why we lie, The Traitors star Amanda Lovett, Lies told by families, Lying to your partner Why do we lie? And what is happening in our brain when we do it? Nuala asks psychologist Dr Sharon Leal, Senior Research Fellow and Member of the International Centre for Research in Forensic Psychology at the University of Portsmouth ...
05.27.2023 Weekend Woman's Hour: Period Inequality, Dr Katriona O’Sullivan, Electropop duo Let’s Eat Grandma A recent survey of a thousand teenage girls has found that nearly half of them have struggled to access products at school. On Sunday a Period Parade will make its way through London to call for continued support to combat ...
05.26.2023 The Turkish elections and female voters In the last two years Turkey has withdrawn from the Istanbul Convention which "creates a comprehensive legal framework and approach to combat violence against women" and at the same time international observers have raise concerns over femicide rates in the ...
05.25.2023 Tina Turner legend, Let's Eat Grandma, Whips, Sudan's women, Helen Hardy Tributes are being paid to the Queen of Rock n Roll, Tina Turner, who has died aged 83 after a long illness. Turner became one of the world's most famous music icons, known for her smash hits What's Love Got ...
05.24.2023 Independent Inquiry into child sexual abuse, writer Katriona O'Sullivan, electric cars, fertility laws in France After more than seven years taking evidence, six months ago the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse published their final report which put forward 20 recommendations for the government. This week the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, announced they had accepted ...
05.23.2023 Adoption, Protesting Indian Wrestlers, Naoise Dolan According to a new report from Adoption UK nearly half of families with adopted children aged 13 to 25 say they are at ‘crisis point’ or ‘facing severe challenges’. Author, Becky Brooks, discusses her report alongside Clare, a parent of ...
05.22.2023 Women of Northern Ireland; Baroness Nicky Morgan; Looking good for your age; Menopause drugs update Starting on BBC Two, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC iPlayer tonight, Once Upon A Time In Northern Ireland gives voice to the people who lived through the Troubles, sharing intimate stories from all sides of the conflict. The series airs ...
05.20.2023 Suranne Jones, Karen Millen, Eating disorders, Men and contraception, Kissing Psychiatrists say they’re worried that some people with eating disorders are being offered palliative care. They say an eating disorder is not a terminal illness and most people can recover. Our reporter Carolyn Atkinson speaks to two women who currently ...
05.19.2023 Kesha, Kissing, Holly Smale on The Cassandra Complex, 'Depp v Heard' series, Manisha Tailor, assistant head of coaching at QPR The American singer/songwriter Kesha’s first major success came in 2009 when she was featured on rapper Flo Rida's number-one single "Right Round". She’s since had two number one albums and nine top ten singles including Tik Tok, We R Who ...
05.18.2023 Feminist porn, Karen Millen, I Can Hear The Cuckoo, Forced marriage Erika Lust makes adult films that focus on female pleasure, diversity and what she calls ethical production. She has big ideas about how to change the porn industry and joins Anita Rani in the studio to discuss them. Karen Millen, ...
05.17.2023 Suranne Jones, Housing, Eating disorders, Physicist Professor Dame Athene Donald Bafta-winning actor Suranne Jones is back on our screens with Maryland, a three-part drama about two sisters discovering that their mother was leading a secret life. Suranne, who plays the younger sister Becca, is also executive producer on the series. ...
05.16.2023 Calls for allergy tsar, Men and contraception, Judy Blume books Tanya Ednan-Laperouse and Emma Turay are two women who lost their teenage daughters due to severe allergic reactions to food they had eaten. They are calling for the government to put in a place an ‘allergy tsar’ to prevent what ...
05.15.2023 Can trauma in childhood become a driving force for success in later life? In their book What I Wish I’d Known When I Was Young, they interview the likes of Ruth Davidson and Mary Portas and explore the psychology behind their experiences. Hayley is joined by Alice Thomson and also by the science ...
05.13.2023 Weekend Woman's Hour: Activist Masih Alinejad, Malorie Blackman, Bel Powley and Kate Ferdinand Masih Alinejad, Iranian American journalist, women's rights campaigner and a Time Woman of the Year 2023, is an outspoken critic of the Iranian government. She joins Anita to talk about her fight for women's rights in Iran. ‘Just Saying’ is ...
05.12.2023 Maureen Lipman, Kate Ferdinand, Power Lister Rimla Akhtar, Women ambassadors In her latest stage role Dame Maureen Lipman plays Rose in a one-woman memory play with its Jewish heroine sitting Shiva – mourning for the many dead, and moving through Jewish twentieth century history. On stage alone for two hours, ...
05.11.2023 Operation Identify Me, Iran, Rosie & Chris Ramsey, Race Across the World Masih Alinejad, Iranian American journalist, women's rights campaigner and a Time Woman of the Year 2023, is an outspoken critic of the Iranian government. She joins Anita to talk about her fight for women's rights in Iran. The winners of ...
05.10.2023 Malorie Blackman, Trump verdict, Kitemark for female-founded firms, Netball Just Saying’ is a memoir by the bestselling author Malorie Blackman, former Children’s Laureate, best known for her Noughts & Crosses series for young adults. Malorie received eighty-two rejection letters before she finally found a publisher. Seventy published books later ...
05.09.2023 Bel Powley, UTIs, Thai Elections, Theatre for Teenagers, Under Pressure Most of us are familiar with the story of Anne Frank, the young Jewish girl who wrote a diary while hiding from the Nazis with her family, in Amsterdam during the Second World War. You are probably less familiar with ...
05.08.2023 Julian of Norwich and the power of inspirational words in tough times Words to live by and finding hope in the face of terrible suffering, the life of the anchoress or hermit Julian of Norwich, the power of walking and nature to heal and art that replaces adverts with words of love ...
05.06.2023 Weekend Woman's Hour: Maternal mental health; Actors Laura Dern and Diane Ladd & Comedy drama Black Ops An estimated one in five new and expectant mums develop perinatal mental illnesses such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and psychosis, according to the Royal College of Psychiatrists. While every pregnant woman should be screened for mental health issues at ...
05.05.2023 Plaid Cymru & culture of harassment, Egg freezing, Taylor Swift, Lisa Selby & Blue Bag Life, Wrexham and DJ Katie Owen Plaid Cymru have apologised after a damning review found a culture of harassment, bullying and misogyny in the party. The party had "failed to implement a zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment" and that women had been "especially" let down. Dan ...
05.04.2023 Maternal mental health, Ellie Goldstein, Kneelers, Black Ops, Power List An estimated one in five new and expectant mums develops perinatal mental illnesses according to the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Whilst every pregnant woman should be screened for mental health issues at their 10-week antenatal appointment, new data from NHS ...
05.03.2023 Ellie Wilson, Women-only tower block, Rejection, Women's Hour For Ellie Wilson, now 25, it’s been a year since the man she once called her boyfriend was convicted of raping her and sentenced to five years in prison. Research shows that one in four women have been raped or ...
05.02.2023 Caregivers, What do we know about Queen Charlotte, Ukrainian musical prodigies There are two new books about the experience of caregiving: Who Cares: the hidden crisis of caregiving and how we solve it by Emily Kenway and Mothercare: on ambivalence and obligation by acclaimed American novelist, Lynne Tillman. Both Emily and ...
05.01.2023 Actors Laura Dern and Diane Ladd, Nurses Strikes, Sarah Gilmartin The book Honey, Baby, Mine is a joint project of mother/daughter actors Diane Ladd, and Laura Dern. Working together is not unusual for these two as over decades they have taken their connection onto our screens but as fictional parent ...
04.29.2023 Ruby Wax, Abortion in Ireland, Jo Hansford MBE and Comedian Zoe Lyons What happens when a woman famous for talking to people, and for her razor sharp wit, is left stranded on a desert island with just herself and a hermit crab for company? Author, comedian, broadcaster and mental health campaigner Ruby ...
04.28.2023 Ruby Wax, Murty women, Summer clothes, National Baby Female choreographers What happens when a woman famous for her razor sharp wit is left stranded on a desert island with just her own company and a hermit crab called Spartacus? Author, broadcaster and mental health campaigner Ruby Wax joins Anita to ...
04.27.2023 Kingship, Fibromyalgia, Trump, Ireland abortion In 2018 the people of Ireland voted to repeal the 8th amendment and grant women access to safe and free abortions up to 12 weeks into pregnancy. Ireland was promised ‘excellent’ abortion services but what is the reality 5 years ...
04.26.2023 Women in Sudan, Jo Hansford, Paula Barker MP, Author Fran Hill As a ceasefire continues in Sudan we look at how the conflict in the country has impacted women. Nuala is joined by CNN Chief International Investigative Correspondent Nima Elbagir. Jo Hansford MBE has been described as the “best tinter on ...
04.25.2023 Stella Assange, Sexual assaults in hospitals, Comedian Zoe Lyons on her midlife crisis Stella Assange is the wife of Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, a whistle-blowing platform that publishes classified material provided by anonymous sources. He is currently being held in Belmarsh Prison pending extradition to the US, where he is wanted ...
04.24.2023 Russian feminism, Adele Roberts, Under Pressure - Kate and Annie, ACL injuries in women's sport It's been reported that a draft law that would recognise feminism as an extremist ideology is under consideration by Russia’s state duma - that's the lower chamber of parliament. Nuala asks the prominent women’s rights activist and opposition politician Alena ...
04.22.2023 Lynn Nottage, Maggie Murphy, CBI Investigations, Race across the world, Emergency alerts, Therapy speak A second woman has come forward alleging that she was raped by two male colleagues when she worked at the Confederation of British Industry. Anita Rani speaks to the Guardian journalist who uncovered the story, Anna Isaac. Is 'therapy speak' ...
04.21.2023 Rachel Weisz, Lewes FC, Adele Roberts Marathon Challenge Academy award-winner Rachel Weisz joins Anita Rani to talk about her new series Dead Ringers, a psycho-sexual thriller about identical twins who are gynaecologists and obstetricians. It is a new adaptation of the 1988 film starring Jeremy Irons, in which ...
04.20.2023 Cost of living, Lynn Nottage, Gel manicures, 'Rosewater' by Liv Little Published in 2001, ‘The Secret Life of Bees’ was a New York Times bestseller for more than 125 weeks and was made into an award-winning film starring Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson and Alicia Keys in 2008. Now the ...
04.19.2023 Kristine Kujath Thorp Kristine Kujath Thorp is the star of new ‘unromantic comedy’ Sick of Myself. The film follows the unhealthy and competitive relationship between bored waitress Signe and her boyfriend Thomas; both self-proclaimed narcissists obsessed with attention. When Thomas suddenly breaks through ...
04.18.2023 Disparities in maternal deaths, Vardy v Rooney: The Wagatha Christie Trial, Ellie Downie, Emergency Alert System, Small Pipes A new report from the women’s and equalities committee is calling on the government to eliminate what it calls ‘appalling disparities in maternal deaths between black and white women’. Black women are 3.7 times more likely to die in pregnancy, ...
04.17.2023 Lolita Chakrabarti, Ian Paterson investigations, Therapy speak, Child sexual abuse in Uganda, Girl’s World Ian Paterson, who became known as the butchering breast surgeon, is currently serving a 20-year jail term after being convicted of 17 counts of wounding with intent and 3 counts of unlawful wounding. Now the Sunday Times has revealed that ...
04.15.2023 Hadley Freeman, Baroness Warsi, Derry Girls' actors Siobhan McSweeney and Louisa Harland on the London stage, AI, Emma Booth The writer Hadley Freeman stopped eating when she was 14, and spent the next three years in and out of hospital, battling with anorexia. Now in her mid-forties, she says she didn’t completely close the door on the disease until ...
04.14.2023 Remembering Mary Quant, Hen parties, Architect Sumayya Vally, WH Power list change-maker Emma Booth The fashion designer Dame Mary Quant, best known for popularising the mini skirt which helped define the swinging sixties has died at the age of 93. The Telegraph's fashion writer Melissa Twigg who knew Mary and the fashion Amber Butchart ...
04.13.2023 Baroness Warsi, Labiaplasty, secondary breast cancer and “Clustercore” The conservative peer Baroness Sayeeda Warsi has criticised the home secretary Suella Braverman for using "racist rhetoric". She says her recent comments on small boats and grooming gangs have "emboldened racists". Baroness Warsi held a number of ministerial roles in ...
04.12.2023 Derry Girls' actors Siobhan McSweeney and Louisa Harland on London stage, Laura Trevelyan, Mrs Pankhurst's Bodyguard Brian Friel’s classic play Dancing at Lughnasa has opened at the National Theatre in London. Telling the story of the five Mundy sisters, two of the actors, more recently on our screens in Derry Girls – newly-Bafta nominated Siobhan McSweeney ...
04.11.2023 Hadley Freeman, Latest in Iran, Rom Coms The writer Hadley Freeman stopped eating when she was 14, and spent the next three years in and out of hospital, battling with anorexia. Now in her mid-forties, she says she didn’t completely close the door on the disease until ...
04.10.2023 Artificial Intelligence and Women How is the rapid progress in AI technology going to impact women? The Financial Times’ Artificial Intelligence Editor Madhumita Murgia joins Nuala McGovern to talk us through the issues of gender bias, legal grey areas and possible dangers for women ...

Older episodes

Woman's Hour

What's Woman's Hour about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Woman's Hour episodes:

Candi Staton, Narcissistic mother 'Bethany', Author Emma Cline, Smart phones in school, Nurses

Women in Ukraine, Baroness Sue Campbell, Abortion law in Texas, Drastic hair

Weekend Woman's Hour: Witness Protection, Gender Pension Gap, Big Boobs and Dr Edna Adan Ismali

Edna Adan Ismail, winner of Templeton Prize, Online games, Vasectomy increase in US, Iranian female journos on trial

Witness protection, Anti-LGBT law in Uganda, Author Harriet Gibsone, Women's World Cup squad

Gender pension gap, Trampolining, A Paedophile in the Family

Childcare debt, Big boobs, Succession

Why we lie, The Traitors star Amanda Lovett, Lies told by families, Lying to your partner

Weekend Woman's Hour: Period Inequality, Dr Katriona O’Sullivan, Electropop duo Let’s Eat Grandma

The Turkish elections and female voters

Tina Turner legend, Let's Eat Grandma, Whips, Sudan's women, Helen Hardy

Independent Inquiry into child sexual abuse, writer Katriona O'Sullivan, electric cars, fertility laws in France

Adoption, Protesting Indian Wrestlers, Naoise Dolan

Women of Northern Ireland; Baroness Nicky Morgan; Looking good for your age; Menopause drugs update

Suranne Jones, Karen Millen, Eating disorders, Men and contraception, Kissing

Kesha, Kissing, Holly Smale on The Cassandra Complex, 'Depp v Heard' series, Manisha Tailor, assistant head of coaching at QPR

Feminist porn, Karen Millen, I Can Hear The Cuckoo, Forced marriage

Suranne Jones, Housing, Eating disorders, Physicist Professor Dame Athene Donald

Calls for allergy tsar, Men and contraception, Judy Blume books

Can trauma in childhood become a driving force for success in later life?

Weekend Woman's Hour: Activist Masih Alinejad, Malorie Blackman, Bel Powley and Kate Ferdinand

Maureen Lipman, Kate Ferdinand, Power Lister Rimla Akhtar, Women ambassadors

Operation Identify Me, Iran, Rosie & Chris Ramsey, Race Across the World

Malorie Blackman, Trump verdict, Kitemark for female-founded firms, Netball

Bel Powley, UTIs, Thai Elections, Theatre for Teenagers, Under Pressure

Julian of Norwich and the power of inspirational words in tough times

Weekend Woman's Hour: Maternal mental health; Actors Laura Dern and Diane Ladd & Comedy drama Black Ops

Plaid Cymru & culture of harassment, Egg freezing, Taylor Swift, Lisa Selby & Blue Bag Life, Wrexham and DJ Katie Owen

Maternal mental health, Ellie Goldstein, Kneelers, Black Ops, Power List

Ellie Wilson, Women-only tower block, Rejection, Women's Hour

Caregivers, What do we know about Queen Charlotte, Ukrainian musical prodigies

Actors Laura Dern and Diane Ladd, Nurses Strikes, Sarah Gilmartin

Ruby Wax, Abortion in Ireland, Jo Hansford MBE and Comedian Zoe Lyons

Ruby Wax, Murty women, Summer clothes, National Baby Female choreographers

Kingship, Fibromyalgia, Trump, Ireland abortion

Women in Sudan, Jo Hansford, Paula Barker MP, Author Fran Hill

Stella Assange, Sexual assaults in hospitals, Comedian Zoe Lyons on her midlife crisis

Russian feminism, Adele Roberts, Under Pressure - Kate and Annie, ACL injuries in women's sport

Lynn Nottage, Maggie Murphy, CBI Investigations, Race across the world, Emergency alerts, Therapy speak

Rachel Weisz, Lewes FC, Adele Roberts Marathon Challenge

Cost of living, Lynn Nottage, Gel manicures, 'Rosewater' by Liv Little

Kristine Kujath Thorp

Disparities in maternal deaths, Vardy v Rooney: The Wagatha Christie Trial, Ellie Downie, Emergency Alert System, Small Pipes

Lolita Chakrabarti, Ian Paterson investigations, Therapy speak, Child sexual abuse in Uganda, Girl’s World

Hadley Freeman, Baroness Warsi, Derry Girls' actors Siobhan McSweeney and Louisa Harland on the London stage, AI, Emma Booth

Remembering Mary Quant, Hen parties, Architect Sumayya Vally, WH Power list change-maker Emma Booth

Baroness Warsi, Labiaplasty, secondary breast cancer and “Clustercore”

Derry Girls' actors Siobhan McSweeney and Louisa Harland on London stage, Laura Trevelyan, Mrs Pankhurst's Bodyguard

Hadley Freeman, Latest in Iran, Rom Coms

Artificial Intelligence and Women