Woman's Hour

All eyes were on Laurel Hubbard at yesterday's women's Olympic weightlifting. That's because she's the first transgender athlete to compete in the Games, but it was Team GB's Emily Campbell who made history. Five years ago, Emily was working with children who had special needs, but now she's the first British woman ever to stand on the Olympic podium for weightlifting, taking home the silver. We talk about women and weightlifting with Sam Prynn from StrongHer Gym.

Women trash-talking men and attempts to redress the gender imbalance have gone too far: that's what the journalist James Innes Smith believes. He shares his viewpoint with Fiona Sturges, from the Financial Times and the Guardian, who doesn't agree.

Some NHS trusts have issued guidance stating that people should stay on hospital wards based on the gender they identify with and can choose which showers and toilets to use. That's according to today's Daily Telegraph. But many people feel that the privacy from single sex wards is part of their recovery. The merits of mixed versed single sex wards has always been debated and policy has changed as a result. We speak to Sally Sheard, a health policy analyst and historian.

Porn made especially for teenagers: what do you think? In a now deleted but much discussed and decried tweet last week the journalist Flora Gill suggested "entry level" porn should be made available to teenagers as an antidote to the hard core material they’re already accessing online. Does she have a point? We talk to journalist and author Eleanor Mills, and Lucy Emmerson from the Sex Education Forum.

Introvert or extrovert? Which are you? Are you in a relationship with the opposite, and has lockdown made it tough? We speak to Ali Roff Farrar who's an introvert whose husband is an extrovert, and Sonya Barlow who's an extrovert and is going out with an introvert.

Over the weekend Carrie Johnson announced she was expecting another baby describing it as a "rainbow" baby because she'd experienced a miscarriage earlier this year. Ruth Bender Atik from The Miscarriage Association talks to Andrea.

Presenter: Andrea Catherwood

The writer Jeanette Winterson tells us why women need to be at the heart of the Artificial Intelligence revolution and about her new essay collection which covers 200 years of women and science.

The British stand-up comic, writer and actor London Hughes tells us about making it big in America and the difficulties of dating during a pandemic.

The singer-songwriter, Josie Proto, tells us about her frustration towards the extreme measures women feel they need to take in order to simply get home safely. She performs the new song it has inspired ‘I Just Wanna Walk Home’.

We hear why the government’s new violence against women and girls strategy ignores the needs of black and minoritised women. We hear from Ngozi Fulani, the founder and director of Sistah Space, a small charity that offers specialist support for African & Caribbean heritage women affected by abuse and from Professor Aisha Gill, an expert criminologist working on violence against women and girls in Black and minoritised communities for over 20 years.

Helen Thorne, the other half of the Scrummy Mummies duo, tells us about finding out about her husband’s infidelity during lockdown and finding happiness after divorce.

And the paralympian Stef Reid will represent Team GB in Tokyo next month in the long jump. She tells us how sport helped shape her sense of self and why she’s working to encourage girls to take up sport and stick with it.

Presenter: Anita Rani

Since moving to the US last year, the British stand-up comic, actor, writer and presenter London Hughes is making it big. Her stand up special To Catch A D*ck - originally performed at the Edinburgh Fringe - has been adapted for TV and is streaming globally on Netflix. She’s also one of the hosts of Netflix's weekly chat show Afterparty and a new comedy Hot Mess is set to follow with Universal. Her success in the US comes not long after she spoke out about the lack of opportunities in the UK given to black female comic talent to shine. She speaks to Anita from LA.

Has the pandemic contributed to an increase in stalking? The number of stalking and harassment offences rose by 28 per cent in the year to March 2021, according to the Office for National Statistics. The Suzy Lamplugh Trust say that half of the one hundred and eleven stalking victims they surveyed, had experienced an increase in the behaviour either online or offline during Covid lockdowns. Anita is joined by their Chief Executive Suky Bhaker to discuss.

It is estimated that 1 in 25 children is affected by a genetic disorder in the UK - this can range from mild to life-threatening. For the women living with an inherited condition, pursuing motherhood can be a scary and challenging process. We speak to two women about their own experiences, the support they received, and advice for other soon-to-be parents in a similar position. Carlie lives with Cystic Fibrosis and has a young son. Francesca has Sickle Cell and two young daughters.

Gymnastics have been at the centre of coverage of this Olympics after Simone Biles withdrew from a number of events citing issues with her mental health. She's been cheering her team mates on from the side lines, including Sunisa Lee who won the gymnastics individual all round gold medal yesterday. Anita finds out more about Lee, the 18-year-old daughter of refugees who fled Laos for the US at end of the Vietnam war, with the Telegraph's Women's Sports Reporter Molly McElwee.

Just a few days before the national lockdown in March 2020 Helen Thorn’s life imploded. The comedian - you might know her as half of the Scummy Mummies duo - found out her husband had been unfaithful. She tells us how she navigated the heartbreak, divorce and single parenthood with home-schooling, enforced social isolation and only being able to leave your house once a day for exercise. Her book ‘Get Divorced, Be Happy’ details her first year of separation.

Image credit: Ryan Pfluger

Jeanette Winterson talks about her new essay collection which covers 200 years of women and science, from Mary Shelley to AI. She asks what love, caring, sex and attachment will look like when humans form connections with non-human helpers teachers, sex-workers, and companions? And what will happen to our deep-rooted assumptions about gender? Will our own bodies be enhances by biological and neural implants making us trans human and keeping us fitter, younger and connected?

When Ena Miller gave birth to her baby called Bonnie just over a year ago - she expected to receive the standard comments..."Oh she's so beautiful, aww look at her little nose, she's so cute, aww what a big baby..." She did get those, but she also got negative remarks from friends and strangers about the colour of her baby's skin. Ena realised she was not alone and went to meet two other mothers Fariba and Wendy to talk about their experiences and ask for their advice.

Colourism, which is also called shadism or skin tone bias, is prejudice in which people of colour with light skin are privileged over those with darker skin. Colourism can occur both within and between racialised groups. Natalie Morris, journalist and the author of Mixed/Other: Explorations of Multiraciality in Modern Britain and Dr Aisha Phoenix, Social Justice lecturer at King's College London discuss the history of colourism and how it impacts people of colour.

Paralympian Stef Reid is heading to Tokyo next month to represent team GB at the 2020 games in the long jump. She's a five-time world record holder and a triple Paralympic medallist. A boating accident at the age of 15 resulted in Stef having the lower part of her right leg amputated. Her parents and teachers encouraged her to keep playing sport. After new research showing one in three teenage girls drop out of sport, Stef is now on a mission to keep girls involved.

Presented by Jessica Creighton

An estimated 50% of women in the UK will have a urinary tract infection at some point in their lives and between 20-30% are likely to have a recurrence. For some, these recurrent infections can lead to a significant impact on their health and way of life. Dr Agnes Arnold-Forster, a medical historian from McGill University with a personal history of UTIs has produced a documentary with two others, to shine a light on the experiences of women with UTIs. She and Dr Catriona Anderson, a GP specialised in treating UTIs, discuss why some women feel failed by the system.

We need to rewrite the rules of child protection says Professor Carlene Firmin. She talks to Jessica Creighton about her work in this area, how it differs from previous approaches and how it might help the ‘disappearing girls’ Woman’s Hour has talked about recently – those young girls, often in care, at risk of sexual exploitation who regularly go missing. Anna Holland a consultant social worker for the NSPCC joins them.

Rising singer-songwriter, Josie Proto, started out playing her grandmother’s guitar. Her frustration towards the extreme measures women feel they need to take in order to simply get home safely has inspired her new song. She talks about her music and performs live with “I Just Wanna Walk Home”, described by Radio 1’s Annie Mac as “The Hottest Record in the World”.

There are three months to go before the start of COP26 negotiations in Glasgow - the 26th attempt to agree on actions to combat the climate crisis. But if the past 25 meetings haven't provided a solution, what needs to change to get the results the planet needs? Bianca Pitt, one of the co-founders of the campaign SHE Changes Climate, is convinced that the key is having a lot more women leading at the negotiating table. Bianca explains why women will make a difference. She is joined by environmental lawyer and expert in international climate negotiations, Farhana Yamin - who describes her experience of getting 197 countries to agree, and what she thinks women can bring to a sustainable future.

Presenter: Jessica Creighton

Interviewed Guest: Dr Agnes Arnold-Foster

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

The government’s new violence against women and girls strategy was published last Wednesday. Many organisations welcomed the commitments it made but many had criticisms for areas not addressed, not least the specific needs of Black and minoritized women when facing domestic violence. Ngozi Fulani is the founder and director of Sistah Space, a small charity that offers specialist support for African & Caribbean heritage women affected by abuse. Professor Aisha K. Gill is an expert criminologist at University of Roehampton, working on violence against women/girls in Black and minoritised communities for over 20 years. They discuss the needs of these women and how big a problem this is in Black and minoritized communities.

Why there is a lack of visibility of South Asian Women in sport? Mara Hafezi is a women's health coach and personal trainer, working predominantly with South Asian women. An endurance sport enthusiast, she is the Sports Co-Lead for South Asian Heritage Month. Shaheen Kasmani is a senior project manager for Maslaha, an organisation that seeks to change and challenge the conditions that create inequalities for Muslim communities. Shaheen also helps run Muslim Girls Fence - set up to encourage young Muslim women into fencing.

Maternity services in the UK have in recent years faced a series of scandals, reports and investigations - all of which highlight the failings in midwifery. But what do the midwives themselves think of it all? Jessica speaks to two midwives about their experience of working on the front line and what they think needs to happen to turn things around.

What does home mean to you? A place, a physical structure, a deep emotional bond or an absence of any of these? The visual artist Harriet Hill has just completed a month-long walk from her home in South-East London to her childhood home in Mid Wales. She was wearing a costume of the word ‘HOME’, made from yellow canvas over a bamboo and fibreglass frame mounted on a pair of 20” bike wheels. Inside the word was everything she needed to make home for the month of the walk - from a pull-out tent to a solar charger! Passing through diverse communities Harriet investigated the commonalities and differences in how people relate to home.

Presenter: Jessica Creighton

Interviewed Guest: Shaheen Kasmani

It is 10 years since the tragic death of the singer Amy Winehouse from alcohol poisoning at the age of just 27. A new documentary film, Reclaiming Amy on the BBC on features Amy's closest friends and family and seeks to tell the story of the real Amy. We hear from her mother, Janis and close friend Catriona Gourlay.

For the first time in 125 years, Team GB are taking more women athletes to the Tokyo Olympics than men. So could this be the best ever Games for women? Dame Katherine Grainger, Britain's joint most decorated female Olympian and Chair of UK Sport; double Olympic boxing champion Nicola Adams and Anna Kessel, Women's Sport Editor at The Telegraph discuss.

More than 1000 bodies of indigenous children have been found in unmarked graves outside of former residential schools in several parts of Canada over the last few months. Assistant Professor in the History & Classics Department from the University of Alberta tells us about the history of these schools - and the impact they had on the indigenous communities in Canada. And President of the Native Women’s Association of Canada, Lorraine Whitman talks about the aftermath of these discoveries - and the fight for justice for the many missing and murdered indigenous women across the country.

We also hear from artistic swimmers Kate Shortman and Izzy Thorpe who are representing Great Britain at the Tokyo Olympics. The pair have spoken out about receiving trolling and bullying for their professional synchronised swimmer physiques, describing themselves as having "big shoulders, small boobs and small bums".

The fashion historian Lucy Adlington & Style Coach Loulou Storey discuss workwear trends.

In the digital age, the humble typewriter seems rather quaint. But according to a new exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland, the typewriter is a technology with a key role in the story of female emancipation. We hear from the exhibition's principal curator, Alison Taubman.

Presenter: Anita Rani

The Opening Ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics starts today and Team GB are taking more women athletes than men for the first time in 125 years. Of the 376 athletes selected, 201 are female. So could this be the best ever Games for women? We talk to Dame Katherine Grainger, Britain's joint most decorated female Olympian and Chair of UK Sport; double Olympic boxing champion Nicola Adams and Anna Kessel, Women's Sport Editor at The Telegraph.

Staying with the games, we’ll hear from artistic swimmers Kate Shortman and Izzy Thorpe who are representing Great Britain at Tokyo 2020. The pair have spoken out about receiving trolling and bullying for their professional synchronised swimmer physiques, describing themselves as having "big shoulders, small boobs and small bums".

We talk to the writer and activist Frankie Miren’s about her novel "The Service" in which she draws on her personal experience to look at the vulnerabilities and dangers of life as a sex worker.

One listener has contacted us about a new support group they've set up based on her own experiences of abuse within a religious organisation. She tells us about “Escape-escapee” which she says will help people who want to leave what she calls "high control groups". She was abused by a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses and her case went to the High Court six years ago.

Another listener Laura Middleton-Hughes got in touch about her nipple tattoos. She tells Anita why she chose to have 3D areoles tattooed on her breasts after reconstructive surgery,

Presenter: Anita Rani