Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Joan Armatrading joins Nuala McGovern to discuss her 23rd studio album, How Did This Happen and What Does it Now Mean?

Losing a baby in the early stages of pregnancy can be an extremely painful experience. Having to think about what you're going to tell your employer about why you're not able to come to work can compound the difficulty. In the UK you are not entitled to any time off work if you experience miscarriage in the first six months of pregnancy. But today, the Women and Equalities Select Committee is hearing evidence for the case of extending your right to bereavement leave to the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. Sarah Owen MP, Chair of that Committee is in the Woman's Hour studio.

Baroness Lola Young of Hornsey has spent the last 20 years as an independent crossbench peer in the House of Lords, championing social justice causes such as the fight against modern slavery and promoting ethical fashion. She was also one of the first black women to enter the Lords. In her memoir Eight Weeks, she reflects on her childhood in the care system during the 1950s and 60s and the challenges she faced moving between foster care and children’s homes, and what she learnt from accessing her care records some fifty years later.

After writing her Spinal Column for the Times newspaper since 2010 – the first just two weeks after breaking her neck and back in a riding accident - columnist and author Melanie Reid has decided it’s time to stop and has published the final one. She joins Nuala to discuss why she has made that decision and what her plans are now.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern

Judges at the Supreme Court are today considering how women are defined in law in a landmark case brought by Scottish campaigners. It will address what “sex” means legally, and will set out exactly how the law is meant to treat trans people. BBC Scotland Policital Correspondent, Phil Sim, joins Nuala McGovern to explain more.

Song writing partnership Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear are making history by becoming the youngest and first female songwriting duo to compose for a Disney feature film in the highly anticipated Moana 2. The Grammy Award-winning pair join Nuala live in the studio to discuss what the songs mean to them, and their career so far.

The film Mediha tells the story of a teenage Yazidi girl who was captured by the Islamic State group in the 2014 genocide against the Yazidi people and kept for four years as a sex slave. To help her process her trauma, she has filmed her life and her journey to try and find her missing family members. Mediha herself joins Nuala alongside the director and producer of the film, Hasan Oswald.

Following the death of bestselling novelist Barbara Taylor Bradford, Nuala talks to her publisher, Lynne Drew, and to television presenter and author Fern Britton who was a fan and a friend of Barbara’s. They’ll discuss Barbara’s extraordinary rise from typist to multi-millionaire author and the enduring appeal of her work, including her 1979 smash hit A Woman of Substance.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern

The woman who accused the mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor of raping her has won her civil case against him. He has been ordered to pay nearly a quater of a million euros in damages. Mr McGregor says he will appeal. Nuala McGovern speaks to Orla O'Donnell who is the RTE News Legal Affairs Correspondent.

A BBC Panorama documentary is out today which asks: Why are more young women dying from alcohol-related liver disease than ever before? The BBC’s Hazel Martin, who’s 32, was diagnosed with the condition. She’s been investigating how she became one of a growing number of young women surprised to discover their social drinking habits had put their lives at risk. Hazel joins Nuala as does Professor Debbie Shawcross, Consultant Hepatologist at Kings College Hospital.

Journalist Lili Anolik had already written a book about obscure LA writer Eve Babitz when she read a letter Eve had written but not sent to her sometime friend, the literary superstar Joan Didion. Lili realised that the key to understanding Joan was held by Eve and vice versa and she joins Nuala to discuss her new book, Didion and Babitz.

A new play at the Royal Court Theatre in London explores the impact of the child sexual exploitation and grooming scandals that took place in Northern and Midlands towns in England in the late 90s to the early 2010s. Emteaz Hussain, the play's writer, joins Nuala to discuss it.

US pop star Chappell Roan has made it onto the shortlist for BBC Radio 1’s Sound of 2025. Just a year ago she was a backing singer for Olivia Rodrigo – so what do we know about her? Laura Snapes, deputy music editor at the Guardian, joins Nuala to tell us more.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern

Oscar-winning Michelle Yeoh’s career has spanned four decades. Starting out as a martial arts actor, she became a key figure in the Hong Kong action scene. But it was her role in James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies that catapulted her into Hollywood. She's since starred in many hits including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the multi-Oscar winning movie - including for her own performance - Everything Everywhere all At Once. Now, she’s in the film adaptation of the musical Wicked. She joined Nuala McGovern live in the studio to discuss it.

BBC analysis suggests that the rate at which primary school pupils are being suspended from state schools in England has more than doubled in a decade. Permanent exclusion rates of primary-age pupils have also gone up, by almost 70% in the same period. Campaigners say children excluded from school at a young age experience long-term impacts. It's worth also stating that nearly 90% of those permanently excluded over the past five years also had special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The government has acknowledged the situation is at "crisis point", and says it is determined to "drive up standards" in schools. Anita Rani spoke to Lydia, whose son Eddie has been suspended from school 14 times this year.

Twenty-four year old product design and technology graduate Olivia Humphreys is a Global Medical Winner of the James Dyson Award 2024. Her invention, Athena, is a portable hair-loss prevention device for chemotherapy patients. She talks to Nuala how the product works and how her mum inspired it.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson is the double World and double Commonwealth Games heptathlon champion. This year she won the Olympic silver medal in Paris, her first ever Olympic medal. Katarina joined Anita to talk about her new book, Unbroken, in which she opens up about the pressures of representing Great Britain as a 19 year old at the London 2012 Olympics, her struggles with body image and the relentless resilience and determination she has shown in coming back from career-threatening injuries.

Bethany Hutchison is one of eight female nurses who are taking their NHS Trust to an employment tribunal for allowing a trans woman to use their changing facilities at work. Bethany spoke to Nuala about why she feels she needed to bring this case, and how she hopes it will be resolved.

The film Gladiator II stars Paul Mescal as Lucius and Connie Nielsen returns to her role as Lucilla. The sequel also includes a female gladiator for the first time, Yuval Gonen plays the role of Arishat. Anita is joined by classicist and author Dr Daisy Dunn and the film critic Larushka Ivan-zadeh to discuss how accurate this portrayal is and the role women play in the film.

Presenter: Anita Rani

Adopted children may be allowed much closer contact with their birth families in the future as part of “seismic” changes recommended in a new report published earlier this month. At the moment family courts set out the level of contact the child will have with their birth parents, usually letters sent via an intermediary. But that could change. Anita Rani hears from two women who were adopted, who share their thoughts on what these changes could mean for adopted children, and Prof Beth Neil who helped to write the report.

Gladiator II stars Paul Mescal as Lucius and Connie Nielsen returns to her role as Lucilla. The sequel also includes a female gladiator for the first time, Yuval Gonen plays the role of Arishat. Anita is joined by classicist and author Dr Daisy Dunn and the film critic Larushka Ivan-zadeh to discuss how accurate this portrayal is and the role women play in the film.

'I Did Something Bad' is the debut novel by Pyae Moe Thet War. It tells the story of journalist Khin Haymar assigned by Vogue to get a scoop on Tyler Tun, Hollywood’s hottest movie star in exchange for a top job. But along the way a man ends up dead. Will the pair fall in love and can they get away with murder? Pyae joins Anita to talk about wanting to write a rom-com with murder set in her hometown of Yangon, Myanmar and why the novel features some serious social commentary on abortion, corrupt police and representation in film.

Presenter: Anita Rani

Katarina Johnson-Thompson is the double World and double Commonwealth Games heptathon champion. This year she won the Olympic silver medal in Paris, her first ever Olympic medal. Katarina joins Anita Rani to talk about her new book, Unbroken, in which she opens up about the pressures of representing Great Britain as a 19 year old at the London 2012 Olympics, her complex relationship with her mentor-turned-rival Jessica Ennis-Hill, and the relentless resilience and determination she has shown in coming back from career-threatening injuries.

BBC analysis suggests that the rate at which primary school pupils are being suspended from state schools in England has more than doubled in a decade. Permanent exclusion rates of primary-age pupils have also gone up, by almost 70% in the same period. Campaigners say children excluded from school at a young age experience long-term impacts. It's worth also stating that nearly 90% of those permanently excluded over the past five years also had special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The government has acknowledged the situation is at "crisis point", and says it is determined to "drive up standards" in schools. Anita spoke to Lydia, whose son Eddie has been suspended from school 14 times this year, and Vanessa Longley, chief executive of the charity Chance UK, a charity which supports primary-aged children.

The Iraqi Parliament is currently considering an amendment to personal status law that in effect could remove protections for women and lower the legal age of marriage to nine. There could also be changes to a women's right to divorce, child custody and inheritance. Joining Anita to discuss these proposals are Caroline Hawley, the BBCs Diplomatic correspondent, and Sarah Sanbar, Iraqi researcher for Human Rights Watch.

A new Netflix film tells the story of the invention of IVF, and the woman whose contribution to this world-changing discovery has been largely forgotten, embryologist Jean Purdy. Award-winning actress Thomasin McKenzie talks to Anita about portraying Jean, and her two decades of acting, despite only being 24 years old.

Presenter: Anita Rani

Yesterday, the closing arguments were made in the trial of Dominique Pelicot and 50 other men accused of raping Gisèle Pelicot - a case that has not only shocked France but far beyond that country's borders. To understand what impact the trial has had on women in France, Nuala speaks to Blandine Deverlanges, a feminist activist in the region where the trial is taking place who has been attending the trial of Dominique Pelicot.

Bethany Hutchison is one of eight female nurses who are taking their NHS Trust to an employment tribunal for allowing a trans woman to use their changing facilities at work.  Bethany speaks to Nuala about why she feels she needed to bring this case, and how she hopes it will be resolved.

The Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning actor Gillian Anderson has compiled a collection of women's sexual fantasies in her book Want. She tells Nuala why she wanted to work on this project, following her role as Dr Jean Milburn in Sex Education, and also responds to the recent Presidential election in the US.

Filmmaker Elizabeth Sankey has long had an affinity with witches – both the fictional depictions we get in film and TV and the women themselves caught up in the Witch Trials of the Early Modern Period. But it was her experience of perinatal mental health issues following the birth of her son that really forged a connection for her between what she'd been experiencing and witches themselves. She's produced a new documentary to look at exactly that.

Presented by Nuala McGovern

In Lucy Manning’s words, it started with a phone call... A call from a withheld number late at night in October 2022 where the unknown male caller appeared to be masturbating as he made lewd comments about her. And so began what she describes as a two-year ordeal to get police to arrest and charge the man responsible for making those calls. Lucy joins Nuala McGovern in the Woman’s Hour studio.

As thousands of farmers gather to protest planned changes in inheritance tax rules for agricultural properties, Nuala asks BBC Farming Today presenter Anna Hill how this is affecting women farmers, who according to the National Farmers' Union make up a majority of the farming workforce in England and Wales.

Zainab Johnson, one of America’s freshest voices in stand-up comedy, is making her UK debut this week at London’s Soho Theatre. She joins Nuala to discuss mining her massive family for material, being a gun owner and her thoughts on the recent US election.

New Zealand actor Robyn Malcolm joins Nuala to talk about her morally complex and challenging new drama, After the Party. Robyn co-created the drama and plays the lead character, a woman who has accused her husband of sexually assaulting a teenage boy. She tells Nuala about representing real middle-aged women on screen.

24-year-old product design and technology graduate Olivia Humphreys is a Global Medical Winner of the James Dyson Award 2024. Her invention, Athena, is a portable hair-loss prevention device for chemotherapy patients. She explains how the product works and how her mum inspired it.

Oscar-winning Michelle Yeoh’s career has spanned four decades. Starting out as a martial arts actor, she became a key figure in the Hong Kong action scene. But it was her role in James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies that catapulted her into Hollywood. She's since starred in many hits including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the multi-Oscar winning movie - including for her own performance - Everything Everywhere all At Once. Now, she’s in the film adaptation of the musical Wicked. She joins Nuala McGovern live in the studio to discuss it.

The Women's Equality Party voted to dissolve the organisation at a special conference this weekend. The political party was launched in 2015 to campaign for gender equality. Citing financial challenges and a changed political landscape, the leadership chose to recommend members vote to close down the party. In an exclusive interview, the two party co-founders - Catherine Mayer and Sandi Toksvig - join Nuala.

In a recent article, the author and writer Alice Vincent asks: Why does nobody speak about post-breastfeeding depression? This was something she experienced after she stopped breastfeeding her son. Alice joins Nuala to discuss her experience of stopping breastfeeding along with Hilda Beauchamp, perinatal and infant mental health lead at the Institute of Health Visiting, and a midwife and health visitor by background.

Es Devlin is the artist and stage designer responsible for some of the most iconic moments in recent popular culture. Her innovative staging is currently on display at the National Theatre's The Lehman Trilogy at the Gillian Lynne Theatre and her new work, Face to Face, is coming soon to Somerset House. She joins Nuala to discuss her career.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern

A new Woman's Hour series, Forgotten Children, explores the impact on families when one or both parents are sent to prison. Reporter Jo Morris hears from Kerry Wright, who was just 17 and living in Spain with her parents when British police arrived at their door and arrested both of them, from Nan (not her real name), whose daughter received a prison sentence, leaving Nan to care for her five grandchildren and to Emily (not her real name), whose husband was sentenced to prison for domestic abuse. Nuala McGovern also spoke to Sarah Burrows, founder of Children Heard and Seen, a charity supporting children and families with parents or partners serving prison sentences, and Lucy Baldwin who is a research fellow at Durham University and a criminal justice consultant.

As a new musical adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada, with lyrics contributed by the American musician Shaina Taub and music by Elton John, hits London's West End, Anita Rani was joined by the show’s leading ladies, Vanessa Williams, Georgie Buckland and Amy Di Bartolomeo to discuss the enduring appeal of this story.

Nuala spoke to TV presenter and author Giovanna Fletcher from the Himalayas at the start of her trek to raise money and awareness for CoppaFeel! the breast cancer charity.

Preterm birth is the leading cause of neonatal death in the UK. Today the House of Lords Preterm Birth Committee have published a report calling on the government to do more to reduce the risks of babies being born prematurely and to improve the lives of those families who are affected. Anita discusses proposed changes with Nadia Leake, who gave birth to twins eleven years ago at just 22 weeks and is the author of 'Surviving Prematurity,'

Evelyn Forde was the first black female president of the Association of School and College Leaders, awarded an MBE for services to education, and named Times Educational Supplement Headteacher of the Year in 2020. In her book Herstory: A Leadership Manifesto, Evelyn shares her journey through the education system, her experiences of racism in her career, alongside the testimonies of other black leaders in the sector. With just 1% of headteachers in state schools in England from a black background, she joined Nuala to discuss why she thinks urgent action is needed to address the issue in education.

Presenter: Anita Rani