Woman's Hour

The Labour and Cooperative MP Stella Creasy is threatening legal action over her forthcoming maternity leave cover. Backbench MPs are currently allowed to take informal maternity leave, but not all their duties are covered during their absence. For instance they can employ office staff to help with constituency issues Ms Creasy says she’s currently only being offered two thirds of her salary to employ a suitable replacement but she says that won’t cover important tasks like meeting Ministers, media work or doing school visits. Also a replacement is unable to speak in the House of Commons or attend parliamentary committees. Ms Creasy has said: "I think every woman should be able to have paid maternity cover, proper cover - it's not just about being paid, it's that somebody else will be doing that job.”

She may just be 13 years old but Libby Scott has just released her third novel ‘Ways to Be Me’ in collaboration with the author Rebecca Westcott. Along with the hugely successful Can You See Me? and Do you Know Me?, the three novels feature the story of Tally who is autistic. The books have been widely praised for their realistic portrayal of autism. Although not autobiographical Tally’s story is partly based on Libby’s own experiences of being autistic herself. This latest one - a prequel to Can You See Me? - goes back in time to the period just before she gets a diagnosis age 10. Libby and her mum Kym join Chloe.

A humanitarian ceasefire has just been called but since November last year the fighting between the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and government forces in Ethiopia has left thousands of people dead. More than two million have been displaced and 350,000 pushed towards famine. There are reports of women who were kidnapped by soldiers and held as sexual slaves. Chloe discusses the situation with BBC Africa Correspondent in Nairobi - Vivienne Nunis and Rita Kahsay, co-ordinator of the Tigray Youth Network based in the UK.

Fertility clinics in the UK are removing an unsafe number of eggs from women hoping to have IVF, according to a new study. Looking at data from UK fertility clinics between 2015 and 2018, researchers found that some were retrieving far too many eggs from women, reporting cases of up to 50 eggs being removed in a single procedure. The ideal 'safe yield' is around 12 eggs. Chloe Tilley discusses the implications with Joyce Harper, Professor of Reproductive Science at the Institute of Women's health at UCL, and the author of Your Fertile Years.

As we know travellers are obliged to quarantine in a hotel at their own cost after returning from countries on the UK's red list, where Covid infection rates are high. They spend 10 nights in their room and are allowed out for daily exercise only when accompanied by a guard. Private security companies have been hired by the government to ensure hotel guests observe quarantine rules. Kathy Godolphin had a disturbing experience saying she experienced sexual harassment at a hotel after returning from working on a conservation and anti-poaching project in Zimbabwe. She joins Chloe Tilley to discuss the aftermath of that ten days.

Presented by Chloe Tilley

Sports psychologist Dr Josephine Perry has some insight into what makes athletes tick, but wasn't prepared for what happened to her yesterday morning when she was doing laps at a swimming pool. A man she had overtaken pulled her under water by her feet and held her down, before shouting at her. When she shared the incident on social media her timeline filled up with women saying similar things had happened to them.

“Purity Culture” is a term used in conservative households that attempts to promote a biblical view of purity by discouraging dating and promoting virginity before marriage. Chloe speaks to two young women – Chrissie and Kirtika – about their own experiences of growing up in households that promoted purity culture.

On Thursday it'll be 100 years since the Plumage Act banned the importation of feathers for use in hat-making. At its peak in the late 1800s, the trade in plumage was placing over 60 bird species at risk of extinction. But then a group of women, led by Emily Williamson, started a 30-year campaign to ban feathers from fashion. Beccy Speight from the RSPB is hoping a series of campaigns will bring Emily Williamson's achievements back to life.

Attitudes towards corporal punishment have shifted significantly in recent decades, such that smacking is now banned in 59 countries around the world. That includes Scotland, where a smacking ban came in last year, and a similar ban is due to come into force in Wales in 2022. New research out today from University College London suggests England should follow their lead.

Presenter: Chloe Tilley

The presenter, journalist and “Queen of Mean”, Anne Robinson, is best known for her acerbic style of presenting on 'The Weakest Link'. In the 1960s she was the first young female trainee on the Daily Mail, worked at the Sunday Times and the Daily Mirror, and went on to host programmes from Points of View to Watchdog. Today Anne takes up the Countdown reins as the first female host of Channel 4’s longest running series. She will join numbers whizz, Rachel Riley and wordsmith, Susie Dent, to make a formidable female trio. She joins Chloe Tilley.

Last week the government voted down proposals to make it illegal to film or photograph someone breastfeeding without their consent. MP’s like Stella Creasy, who has experienced this herself when teenage boys took photos of her as she breast fed her baby while on a train, and the MP Jeff Smith, wanted to make an amendment to the Voyeurism Act of 2019 - more commonly known as the Up-skirting Act - which focused on making it illegal to take photos and films of the lower part of the body or ‘up a skirt’. This recent proposal is for a simple amendment to be made to the 2019 Act to include the upper body and so protect breastfeeding mums. In April this year Julia Cooper found a man taking photos of her as she breast fed her baby in the park.

When Gwen Strauss' aunt Hélène was in her 80's she nonchalantly mentioned at lunch that she had led a band of women in an escape from a Nazi death march, in the dying days of the war in Europe in 1945. The women were all members of the French Resistance, although two were Dutch and one Spanish. Gwen embarked on a search for these women, scouring France and Germany to track down their records, their families and their memories. Gwen – an award-winning children’s book author - has now painstakingly reconstructed what happened in her new book 'The Nine'.

The reality TV dating show Love Island is back on our screens. The show is undeniably popular and creates many water cooler moments, but what can it actually tell us about modern love and dating? We speak to journalist, podcaster, and author of new book 'Millennial Love', Olivia Petter and Nichi Hodgson, author of 'The Curious History of Dating', about how important the series might be in helping millennials and Gen Z find true love after lockdown.

Presenter: Chloe Tilley

Interviewed Guest: Anne Robinson

Anita Rani with Bank Note designer Debbie Marriott, Protecting the title "nurse", Author Kate Moore & "Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner"

Presenter: Anita Rani

Britney Spears spoke publicly in a LA court yesterday about the conservatorship that she sees as controlling her life. Her father was granted control over her affairs after she went to hospital because of mental health concerns. Now she says her father controls her "100,000%" and told the judge she was traumatised and cried every day. "I just want my life back," she said. We talk to BBC Newsbeat reporter Lindsay Brown and the writer Pandora Sykes who presents a soon to be released, eight-part podcast series called Pieces of Britney.

We talk about Jackie Collins who was often dismissed as the Queen of Sleaze but she's one of the most successful female authors of all time. But who really was the woman behind the glamour? A new film is coming out about her called Lady Boss, so we talk to the film director Laurie Fairrie as well as Jackie's eldest daughter, Tracy Lerman.

This week we had International Women in Engineering Day, so today we celebrate some of our future scientists. Three of them have just won the GSK Young Engineer and Young Scientist of the Year awards. We speak to Kaede Sugano, Saashi Ghaie and Serena Jacob.

And weddings. We get the latest information about what you can and can't do if you're having a wedding soon, and we also speak to Marjorie Wallace who's just got married at 78.

Nightclubs are shut, dancing at weddings is not allowed and gigs and festivals are still uncertain. If you want to dance you have to do it at home. Woman's Hour shares your DIY dancing stories and gets tips from Guilty Pleasures DJ, Sean Rowley and Strictly dancer, Amy Dowden.

Laurel Hubbard is going to be the first transgender athlete to compete at the Olympics which starts next month. It's controversial, and she'll make history. She'll be part of the New Zealand women's weightlifting team at Tokyo. Laurel came out as transgender in 2013 - and qualifies for the Olympics on the basis that her testosterone levels have been kept below a certain level for at least a year. But how does a reduction in testosterone affect other aspects of the body - such as haemoglobin levels, muscle mass and strength - that could influence competitive performance? And what research is needed to help inform the balance between inclusivity and meaningful competition in sport? Joanna Harper, a PhD researcher at Loughborough University talks about her latest study.

Imagine having your home destroyed, losing your livelihood, and then being intimidated by those now on the land. That’s what hundreds of women in Western Uganda say has happened to them; they were violently evicted from their homes to make way for a sugar plantation. In an investigation for Woman's Hour, they've told us they are now left with no option but to live in extremely poor conditions in a makeshift camp, where they face physical and sexual abuse from the plantation workers. To make things worse, many of their husbands have abandoned them while they find employment elsewhere. The UK provides overseas aid for these woman as they fight for compensation for their lost land. But, that UK funding is due to end soon, even though after five years a legal dispute over the land is still unresolved.

Two novels - one published tomorrow and one just out in paperback explore the human impact of environmental disaster through the lives of girls and women. They both ask - what is really important to us? What lasts when everything we think we need is stripped away? Kate Sawyer, author of 'The Stranding', her first novel, and Diane Cook, whose book 'The New Wilderness' was shortlisted for The Booker Prize last year, discuss their work.

Presenter: Emma Barnett

Interviewed Guest: Joanna Harper

Wednesday will be the first ever World Female Ranger Day, celebrating the work of female rangers around the world who do an important but ultimately dangerous job protecting wildlife from poachers. The emphasis this year is on the work of female rangers in Africa where there are approximately 3,500 female rangers in teams in 18 countries all over the continent working to protect endangered wildlife. One of those women is Collet Ngobeni of the all-female team The Black Mambas in South Africa. Emma also speaks to Holly Budge, the founder of the charity How Many Elephants.

Miscarriage is a unique type of grief - occurring in one in four pregnancies - and yet it still often goes unacknowledged. Women usually wait 12 weeks before announcing a pregnancy so if they experience miscarriage early on it can be an extremely distressing and lonely experience. For women who do choose to share the news and then discover they have miscarried, it means having to inform family and friends who may find it difficult to know the right thing to say.

Under-18s who want nude pictures or videos of themselves removed from the internet can now report the images through an online tool - being billed as a world first.

Boric acid is a white powder that can do everything from getting stains out of clothes and stopping your fridge smelling, to killing ants and cockroaches. But if you look for boric acid on social media, there's another use - as a vaginal pessary to supposedly treat thrush-like infections and bacterial vaginosis. Bacterial vaginosis is common, isn't considered a sexually transmitted infection, and isn't typically serious. But Dr Jen Gunter, a Canadian-American gynaecologist and author of the Vagina Bible says she's seen an increase in the use of boric acid vaginal pessaries among her patients over the past few years, paralleling what she calls an ‘explosion’ of new over the counter boric acid products and heavy marketing from celebrities, influencers, naturopaths, and functional medicine providers.

Ana Diamond spent 200 days in prison in solitary confinement at the age of 19, after travelling from home in the UK to visit her grandmother in Iran. She was held in a tiny windowless cell in Evin prison, Tehran, in the same block as the Iranian British charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. The guards interrogated and taunted her saying the only place she would ever graduate from was Evin prison. But this weekend she has been celebrating having scored a first from Kings College and receiving a scholarship to study for a postgraduate degree at Oxford University. Emma talks to Ana about moving forward after such a traumatic and life changing experience.

The Chief Inspector of Schools Amanda Spielman, talks to Emma Barnett about the problem of sexual abuse in schools and colleges and reflects on what needs to be done to bring about change.

Presenter: Emma Barnett

Composer Shirley J. Thompson is the first woman in Europe to have composed and conducted a symphony within the last 40 years. She tells us about her new work Emanation, which she’s written for the disabled-led ensemble BSO.

Dame Darcey Bussell Former Principal of The Royal Ballet & Strictly Judge, President of the RAD & creator of Diversity Dance Mix, Dame Darcey Bussell tells us about her mission to rescue Britain’s ballet dancers and raise spirits and money for struggling dance companies by creating the British Ballet Charity Gala at the Royal Albert Hall in London bringing together eight ballet companies in one evening of dance.

We discuss the results of a BBC Freedom of Information request which asked police forces in the UK how many police had been accused of sexual misconduct. We hear from our reporter Melanie Abbott, from Ruth a former officer who found herself being sexually assaulted by a colleague and Harriet Wistrich from the Centre for Women’s Justice.

This year the government has announced an extra 19 million pounds for domestic abuse schemes in England and Wales the majority of which will go to towards perpetrator programmes. . But just how effective are they? We hear from John who has just completed a 20 week domestic violence prevention programme at the Hampton Trust and to Vicky Gilroy who is a facilitator on those prevention programmes at the Trust.

In today’s online digital world everything we do now on our phones or our computers—everything we look at, click on or say online—becomes “data”. Companies and governments increasingly share and use this information to make decisions about our lives. A small UK based team of experts called Foxglove is challenging how our data’s used and they’ve had some remarkable successes over the last year. It’s director Cori Crider tells us how the group successfully challenged the A Level grading algorithm last year.

Presenter: Anita Rani

Dame Darcey Bussell is the former Principal of The Royal Ballet & Strictly Judge, President of the RAD & creator of Diversity Dance Mix. She joins Anita to talk about her passion for dance and her mission to rescue Britain’s ballet dancers, and raise spirits and money for struggling dance companies, by creating the British Ballet Charity Gala. The event was performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London bringing together eight ballet companies in one evening of dance. It will be pay per view streamed from 7pm tonight and available on demand until 18 July.

This Sunday is Father’s Day, and a new film out today on Netflix – ‘Fatherhood’ - explores the life of a single father raising his daughter. What is it like for the men who are lone parents? And how do young women feel growing up without a mother? Anita speaks to two fathers, and their daughters, to share their stories.

The government has just published its delayed review into how the criminal justice system deals with rape in England and Wales. It comes after charges, prosecutions and convictions for rape fell over the last five years and looks at every part of the system from when an allegation is made to whether or not it makes it trial and then conviction. A crucial part of the legal chain is the Crown Prosecution Service which decides which cases go forward for trial based on the available evidence. The head of the CPS is the Director of the Public Prosecutions – currently Max Hill QC. He joins Anita to discuss the government’s review and their own plans for increasing conviction rates.

Presented by Anita Rani