Woman's Hour

Radio DJ Emma Wilson believes that the policeman Wayne Couzens who kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard exposed himself to her in an alleyway some 13 years ago. Emma reported it to the police at the time – no action was taken, but she has decided to speak out now because when she did report it she was not happy with the response.

One of the key findings of our equality poll to mark our 75th anniversary has been the extent to which women don’t feel equal when it comes to issues of sexual abuse and exploitation. Almost 70% of the women we asked said it was a concern and the issue is currently front and centre of the news agenda following the murders of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa to name just two women. Emma Barnett talks to the writer Joan Smith and the former Victims Commissioner the Conservative Peer Baroness Newlove who is unimpressed by Boris Johnson’s unwillingness to recognise misogyny as a hate crime and is trying to change the law on the issue.

Probably best known to most for her television role as lawyer Lucca Quinn in The Good Wife and then the follow-up series The Good Fight, Cush Jumbo is currently playing Hamlet at the Young Vic in London. Delayed for a year by the pandemic, the play sold out months before opening. As the first woman of colour to play the part in a major production on a British stage she joins a list that goes back to 1741 of UK female actors playing the Prince of Denmark. Cush joins Emma.

On Radio 4's Day of the Scientist, we looks at women's trust in science. The latest Public Attitudes to Science survey found that women are less likely to feel connected to science in their everyday lives; less likely to actively engage with science; and were less trusting of scientists and media reporting of scientific issues. What's going on to put women's faith in science on such shaky ground? Emma speaks to Megan Halpern, assistant professor in the history, philosophy and sociology of science at Michigan State University, and Dr Emily Dawson from University College London, who researches how people learn about and engage with science – and why so many women are being put off.

Image: Cush Jumbo in Hamlet at the Young Vic

To mark our 75th anniversary last week we commissioned a poll to explore how you feel about equality in 2021 and how much progress you believe women have made since the first episode of Woman’s Hour was broadcast in 1949

Over two thirds of the women we spoke to said it was down to experiences of sexual exploitation and abuse while three while three quarters put it down to inequality within their homes because of the unfair division of housework..

What your reality? At the heart of our Poll the gap between the equality the law says we should have as women and the reality of our lives.

How's your life compare to that of your mother or grand mother? How do you think we can achieve equality both in the home and in the workplace...

What would help? Is more flexibility in the workplace and the same rewards as your male colleagues the answer. Or is the lack of childcare or help with older relatives that you care for the thing that's holding you back?

What change or changes would you most like to see over the next 75 years?

Lines are open at 8am on Monday morning. Text us on 84844 . On social media it’s @BBCwomanshour or you can email us via our website .

Presenter Emma Barnett

Baroness Brenda Hale is a former judge who served as the first female president of the Supreme Court. She has written a book, Spider Woman, that spans her life and work.

We hear from Professor Anita Hill who thirty years ago faced an all-male, all-white Senate Judiciary Committee—led by the then, Senator Joe Biden—to testify that her boss, Supreme Court Justice nominee Clarence Thomas, had sexually harassed her. It was a landmark moment for these issues and inspired countless women to come forward with their stories, to file complaints, and even to run for office; creating an unintentional trail blazer.

Abi Sampa describes herself as a "weird warbling electric Veena player". She trained as a dentist and then appeared on The Voice in 2013, where she wowed the judges with her unique style of as a fusion of western pop and Indian classical music.

Over the last few years, the figures around celibacy have generally been on the rise - particular amongst young women. What’s to be gained from making this life choice? Anita speaks to sex therapist Danielle Bennett, and two women who have experience with celibacy. Laura Kennedy is in her 30’s and was celibate for six years. Shirley Yanez is in her 60's and became celibate as part of a conscious change in lifestyle.

Mina Smallman, the mother of Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry, the sisters who were murdered in a North London park last year, speaks to us about her grief and women's safety.

Joan Diana Gayford nee Wilson joined the BBC as a talks producer shortly after the Second World War. Not long after a new programme hit the airwaves. 75 years later, you can hear Emma talking to Diana Gayford who was working on Woman’s Hour when it first came to air at 2pm on 7th October 1946.

Over the last few years, the figures around celibacy have generally been on the rise - particular amongst young women. What’s to be gained from making this life choice? And what should one know before deciding to become celibate? Anita speaks to sex therapist Danielle Bennett, and two women who have experience with celibacy. Laura Kennedy is in her 30’s and was celibate for six years. Shirley Yanez is in her 60s and became celibate as part of a conscious change in lifestyle.

Chinaza Onyechi has always dreamed of becoming a film maker but she says like other children from a Nigerian background she was encouraged to take up a more traditional career like law, medicine or engineering. But she is now one step closer to that film-making dream, after being awarded the MetFilm School's first Black Student of Talent scholarship. The scholarship covers full tuition fees for a year and could be worth around £50,000 depending on the course.

Susan Ogilvy rediscovered learning in her seventies. As a botanical artist from Somerset, she started a journey into painting nests she serendipitously found. This was the start of an ornithological education, specifically into birds nests. Ogilvy has since painted more than fifty bird nests from life, each time marvelling at its ingenious construction. They have been collated in her new book, Nests. The first in a genre that has been dominated by male authors with very little focus on birds nests.

Do gender-neutral terms, such as "homicide" and "murder," systematically ignore targeted violence against women? Should femicide be seen as a separate category? If women are being killed specifically because they're women, does that matter? Do motives matter? Anita is joined by Karen Ingala Smith, co-founder of Femicide Census and Chief Exec of Nia, a charity that runs services for women and girls who have been subjected to sexual and domestic violence and abuse.

Abi Sampa describes herself as a "weird warbling electric Veena player". She trained as a dentist and then appeared on The Voice in 2013, where she wowed the judges with her unique style of as a fusion of western pop and Indian classical music. She joins Anita to explain how she plays the electric Veena and to describe her performances with the orchestral Qawwalli Project, reviving old Sufi poems and putting their own spin on them musically with a western orchestral style.

Presenter: Anita Rani

Interviewed Guest: Danielle Bennett

Our specially commissioned poll to celebrate Woman’s Hour at 75 looks at women and equality in the UK today. It finds the place that women feel the most unequal is in the home, at work in terms of pay and benefits and in terms of safety due to their experience of sexual exploitation and abuse. Emma Barnett talks about the issues raised with our panel including the author Jeanette Winterson, the commentator Inaya Floarin Iman and the founder of the Everyday Sexism Project Laura Bates.

Joan Diana Gayford nee Wilson joined the BBC as a talks producer shortly after the Second World War. Not long after a new programme hit the airwaves. 75 years later, to the day, you can hear Emma talking to Diana Gayford who was working on Woman’s Hour when it first came to air at 2pm on 7th October 1946.

Brenda Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond joins Emma on this anniversary programme. She is a former judge who served as the first female president of the Supreme Court. In 2019 she made headlines announcing the Supreme Court’s judgement that the prorogation of Parliament was ‘unlawful, void and of no effect’. She has written a book, Spider Woman, that spans her life and work.

Presenter: Emma Barnett

Mina Smallman, the mother of Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry, the sisters who were murdered in a North London park last year, speaks to us about her grief and women's safety. She also talks about wanting to reach out to Sarah Everard’s mother because of the particular type of grief they share. She also reminds us of the type of people her daughters were.

We get the latest from the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester with the BBC's Political Correspondent, Chris Mason.

We hear from Pauline Campbell who's written a book called Rice and Peas and Fish and Chips. It's part social & political commentary, part memoir and explores what it means to be British. Pauline grew up in 1970s London as a first generation, immigrant child of Caribbean parents. She left school with virtually no qualifications after being told she wasn't clever enough for University. But at 23, when she was working as a housing benefits officer, she got a place at university to study law. Even though she was ‘black, old and a woman’ - her words - she kept going and qualified as a lawyer when she was 41. Now she's an award-winning local government lawyer.

FASD stands for Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. They're a range of lifelong disabilities caused by a mother drinking alcohol during pregnancy. They include physical, mental, behavioural and learning problems. A new study by The University of Salford says that between 600 and 1,300 children across Greater Manchester may have developed the condition every year. Based on those figures, the National Organisation for FASD believes that 1.2 to 2.4 million people in the UK may have had FASD in 2020. So what are the reasons for this increase and why is FASD so often misdiagnosed?

We hear from Professor Anita Hill who thirty years ago faced an all-male, all-white Senate Judiciary Committee—led by the then, Senator Joe Biden—to testify that her boss, Supreme Court Justice nominee Clarence Thomas, had sexually harassed her. It was a landmark moment for these issues and inspired countless women to come forward with their stories, to file complaints, and even to run for office; creating an unintentional trail blazer. Now an advocate, educator and author she talks to Emma Barnett about her new book Believing: Our Thirty-Year Journey to End Gender Violence.

Research suggests that talking to people we don't know can be good for us. Why don’t we do it more often? How has the pandemic impacted our desire to talk to people we don’t know? Dr Gillian Sandstrom, senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Essex, tells us the benefits of making small talk and gives us some tips on how to do it.

Plus ahead tonight’s 2021 Gramophones, Awards, the classical music version of the Grammys which will be streaming live this evening we talk to Fatma Said.

Presenter Emma Barnett

Is the Police institutionally misogynistic? It's the question that's been raised now that a police WhatsApp group has come to light which Wayne Couzens was part of. It contained offensive messages. We also know that another police officer called PC David Carrick has been charged with rape. Plus there have been reports of 26 Metropolitan police officers committing sex crimes since 2016. Janet Hills, who's just retired as the Chair of the Metropolitan Black Police Association joins us to discuss, and we go to the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester to speak to MP Laura Farris. 

We hear from Jenny McCullough who used to work as a clerk in The House of Commons. It was her dream job but she made complaints about Keith Vaz who used to be the Chair of Home Affairs Select Committee. Feeling bullied and undermined, she eventually resigned from her job but a fortnight ago a House of Common's Independent Expert Panel upheld her complaints. She explains why that's significant, both personally and for the culture of Parliament.

The Magic Circle appointed its first female president last week: the first in its 116 year history. But who are the women who paved the way? Academic and magician Dr Naomi Paxton shares the stories of female magicians throughout history and reflects on the challenges facing them today.

Zoe Billingham, one of the top inspectors at Her Majesty’s of Constabulary, and Dame Vera Baird, the Victims' Commissioner for England and Wales on the reaction to further details about Sarah Everard's murder and the subsequent life prison sentence handed down to the former Met Police officer Wayne Couzens.

Intergenational friendships, how is it different from being friends with someone your own age? Best friends 60 year old Sue and 33 year old Emily discuss.

The actor Lashana Lynch on making Bond history as the first black female 007 in 'No Time to Die'.

The woman whose husband of 15 years became a covid conspiracy theorist.

Flick Bayliss on her experience as a 'late life lesbian;, and writing lesbian erotica.

Presenter: Anita Rani

Are you in an intergenerational friendship? Anita speaks to Emily who’s 33 and her best friend Sue who’s 60 about the unique benefits of friendships across the ages.

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick has admitted that trust in the police force has been "shaken" by the murder of Sarah Everard. So where do we go from here? And what support is there for the bereaved families who have lost loved ones to male violence? Anita speaks to Dame Vera, the Victims' Commissioner for England and Wales.

Irish Indian poet and writer, Nikita Gill and British Sri-Lankan producer and live performer Gnarly will appear together for two nights at the Southbank Centre in London tonight and next week. Poems written by Nikita are transformed into songs by Gnarly, merging traditional and digital art and creating, what they say is something no one has seen before. They join Anita in the studio for a chat and a bit of a performance.

Writer and broadcaster Liz Fraser has written a memoir about being in a relationship with a man she loves, the father of her child who is also an alcoholic. For a time, she failed to realise how serious his addiction was and she also kept the often shocking truth of what was going on entirely to herself, trying in vain to help her partner find a path to sobriety. Finally she herself broke from the trauma and started to speak out. She joins Anita to talk about her experiences described in her book, Coming Clean: A true story of love, addiction and recovery.