Woman's Hour

She is best known for her role as the Poplar-based midwife Trixie Franklin, in Call the Midwife. Helen George has also been a star of Strictly Come Dancing, sung with Elton John and at Buckingham Palace to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day. She now brings all her theatrical skills together by stepping into Deborah Kerr's shoes to play the part of Anna in a UK tour of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I.

Is ‘Stevenage Woman’ the new ‘Mondeo Man’? The Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer is being urged to focus on this female swing voter group in a new report by left-leaning think tank Labour Together. But how useful are these profiles and why are they used? And from ‘Workington Man’ to ‘Essex Man’, why are they typically male? We discuss with Rosie Campbell, Professor of politics and Patrick English, Associate Director at Yougov.

A House for Alice is the new novel by Diana Evans, a sequel to the much acclaimed Ordinary People. It is a multigenerational portrait of a black British family, and explores the impact of matriarch Alice’s decision to return to the country of her birth, Nigeria, to live out her later years. Diana joins Nuala in the studio to discuss the inspiration behind the novel.

Did you ever flick through Carole Jackson’s hit book ‘Colour Me Beautiful’ to “find your season”? The popular 1980s trend of ‘getting your colours done’ is back. The hashtag #colouranalysis has 766million views on TikTok and you can even find a filter to work out your colours for yourself. So, as we are once again asking ‘what season am I?” We talk to Journalist Kat Brown who is a big believer in the power of colour, and Nisha Hunjan, founder of Style ME UK, who uses colour analysis.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern

On the Woman’s Hour Power List this year, sports reporter Fiona Tomas joins Nuala to discuss the change in kits for the England Women’s football team and her work as a journalist.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern

Nuala McGovern talks to Costanza Hermanin from the European University Institute in Florence and Sarah De Lange from the University of Amsterdam about the success of this new breed of female leader.

In Afghanistan, the new school year has started. But for the second year running, a Taliban ban is keeping teenage girls out of school. The BBC World Service has launched a brand-new education series for children in the country aged 11-16 who are deprived from school, including girls whose secondary education has been stopped by the ruling Taliban. It's called Dars, which means 'lesson' in Dari and Pashto, the two national languages in Afghanistan. It is the first multi-platform educational programme for Afghan youth. We hear from one of the presenters of the programme Shazia Haya and one of its producers, Mariam Amam.

Are you afraid of the big, bad wolf? Where does this fear come from? Author Erica Berry was determined to find out after researching wild wolves in her home state of Oregon. In her book ‘Wolfish’ she searches through folklore and literature to see how wolves have become the symbol of predatory men and how that has shaped our fear.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern

The Conservative MP Miriam Cates said in the House of Commons that children were being exposed to “graphic” and "age inappropriate" material during their sex education classes. The Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has decided to bring forward a review of the Department for Education’s Relationships and Sex Education guidance in England. Two parents, Fiona, a listener and parent of four and Clare Page who was concerned about what her daughter was being taught discuss.

Sian Richardson from Pembrokeshire in Wales is Number 12 on our Woman’s Hour Power List 2023. Sian started The Blue-tit Chill Swimmers nearly 10 years ago, a cold water swimming community which now boasts an incredible 100,000 members world-wide. She explains why she’s encouraging people to get in the water and enjoy the outdoors.

Leah Williamson, who took the Lionesses to victory at the Euros in 2022, tops the Woman's Hour Power List 2023. She explains what role her mum plays in her success and talks about male allies in women’s football.

Money and Love: An Intelligent Roadmap for Life’s Big Decisions, is written by Stanford professor emeritus Myra Strober, who is an early feminist economist and Abby Davisson, one of Myra's former pupils who is now a social innovation expert. They give detailed advice about navigating the crossroads of finances within a relationship at different life stages.

Pessimism is for Lightweights is a new collection of poems by the celebrated performance poet Salena Godden. Salena discusses the collection, how poetry can confront misogyny and injustice, and why she personified death as a woman in her debut novel Mrs Death Misses Death.

Presenter: Anita Rani

Taiwan's first female president, Tsai Ing-Weng, arrived in New York yesterday to criticism from China. She is stopping over in the US on her way to Central America, but may meet with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on her return. China says that if it goes ahead, it could lead to a 'serious confrontation'. To find out more about Tsai Ing-Wen and the significance of this trip, Anita speaks to Tessa Wong, the BBC's Asia digital reporter who regularly reports on China.

Pessimism is for Lightweights is a new collection of poems by the celebrated performance poet Salena Godden. It consists of 30 poems written to celebrate courage and resistance, including poems responding to the Women's march, period poverty and everyday sexism. Salena joins Anita to discuss the collection, how poetry can confront misogyny and injustice, and why she personified death as a woman in her debut novel Mrs Death Misses Death.

Tracey Stevenson describes her experience of using a gambling site. In 2017 she was sent to prison after stealing £1.7 million from the company she worked for, in order to help fund her online gambling addiction. She also works for the St. Giles Trust helping women in the criminal justice system.

We have recently heard from two sisters - we are calling them Charlotte and Louise. One had a revelation in therapy that their mother was a narcissist and the realisation has changed her life. The other is more cautious - she knows their mum could be 'volatile' but she has empathy for her.Ena Miller talk to the two sisters together. What impact has all of this had on their relationship? Can they move forward?

Kelsie Grieg, or Kels as she's known in the gaming world, made history recently when she became the first woman to qualify for the Call of Duty Challengers Elite tournament. She explains how swapped the football pitch for video games after an injury forced her to give up a promising career on the pitch.

Presented by Anita Rani

New figures show that there is still a huge backlog of criminal cases waiting to get to court. And the worst delays are for rape and sexual offences. Reporter Melanie Abbott talks to a man who will wait 6 years after reporting he was raped in 2018, and the impact it has had on him and his mother who has been fighting to help him. We hear from Rape Crisis about their report Breaking Point, which shows a record high of sexual offence cases waiting to be heard, and outlines possible solutions for reducing them.

Anita talks about women, money and love with the authors of a new self help book. Money and Love: An Intelligent Roadmap for Life’s Big Decisions, is written by two American women, Stanford professor emeritus Myra Strober, who is an early feminist economist and Abby Davisson, one of Myra's former pupils who is now a social innovation expert. They give detailed advice about navigating the crossroads of finances within a relationship at different life stages.

Why does everyone want to go viral? And what happens when you do? Anita speaks to writer Julia Boggio who has managed to go viral three times in her life. One of which landed her on the Oprah Winfrey show. But, when Julia wanted to publish her debut novel, Shooters, she was told that she didn’t have enough followers on social media. So, she decided to take matters into her own hands and tried to get her book viral. And it worked. She tells Anita how she managed it.

Presenter: Anita Rani

She talks to Nuala McGovern about how she’s learned to cope with the condition in the elite sports world as well as the work she’s been doing to support other neurodivergent athletes to fulfil their potential.

There’s a new book out, The Equal Parent: how sharing the load helps the family thrive. Paul Morgan-Bentley, head of investigations at The Times, explores why it’s still so rare in this country for parents to spread or split the responsibility of parenthood, particularly early parenthood, and why it’s still expected that women should shoulder this pretty much alone. With him to discuss this and to explore ways the parental load could or should be spread more equally is writer and journalist Nell Frizzell who also has a book out: Holding the Baby: Milk, sweat and tears from the frontline of motherhood.

Lexi is an NHS nurse and mum of four, who succeeded in challenging ‘no kids’ barriers in the private rental market on the grounds that such bans disproportionately affect women. Going forward, the Property Ombudsman has determined that blanket bans on renting to families are in breach of its Code of Practice. This news comes as the charity Shelter publishes data which shows 1 in 5 parents in England have been unable to rent somewhere they wanted in the last five years because they have children. Lexi tells her story and we hear from the solicitor Jo Underwood.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern

The Woman's Hour Power List 2023 reveal show is here! This is your chance to hear from the women on our list, showcasing the 30 most remarkable women in sport in the UK right now.

Join Nuala McGovern, our judges Jessica Creighton, Ebony Rainford Brent and a studio audience live from the Radio Theatre.

Producers: Emma Pearce and Alex Webb

Earlier this month, the Conservative MP Miriam Cates said in the House of Commons that children were being exposed to 'graphic' and 'age inappropriate' material during their sex education classes. The Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has decided to bring forward a planned review of the Department for Education’s Relationships and Sex Education guidance in England.

To shed light on what is being taught in schools, and what this review may cover, Nuala McGovern speaks to a range of stakeholders, including headteacher and President of the Association of School and College leaders Evelyn Forde, director of the Sex Education Forum Lucy Emmerson, academic Dr Sophie King-Hill, and Tanya Carter from the Safe Schools Alliance. We also hear from parents and listeners including young people themselves.

Baroness Louise Casey has published the final report on her review into the Metropolitan Police. A female metropolitan police officer and Deputy Commissioner of the Met, Dame Lynne Owens, discuss the findings.

Known for shows like Love Island and The Only Way is Essex, social media influencer Georgia Harrison talks about her new TV documentary. It follows her successful legal battle against her former partner who filmed and shared a sex video of the two of them without her consent on the OnlyFans website.

Suzi Ruffell is on a mission to find the lighter moments in life as she navigates motherhood, touring the country and anxiety. The comedian's latest show Snappy is a series of confessional stories about settling down, living life with her "bossy toddler" and worrying about absolutely everything.

Mabel Constanduros was a trailblazing female broadcaster and comedian on BBC Radio in the early days of the corporation. She created the sitcom as a genre and brought soap operas to the UK. So why has history forgotten her? Mabel’s great-great nephew Jack Shillito and the academic Jennifer Purcell discuss.

Presenter Anita Rani