Woman's Hour

Presented by Jenni Murray.

Every few days we hear of more jobs going. The Bank of England said at the end of last week that unemployment is likely to hit 2.5 million this year. That means the jobless total would almost double by Christmas. Tonight there’s a Channel 4 documentary series starting which focuses on a job centre in Leeds and the people who use it. Jenni is joined by Olivia, who is a single mother mum and unemployed, Jan Baxter, who works at the jobcentre in Leeds and Helen Barnard, Acting Director of

In Daisy Johnson’s novel Sisters July and September have an uncannily close relationship and one is more powerful than the other. Their mother struggles to cope and when things come to a head after a nasty incident at school they flee to a house in Yorkshire which turns out not to be the refuge they needed. Jenni talks to Daisy Johnson about horror, adolescence and the relationship between the two.

The BBC Elite British Sportswomen's Survey was sent to 1,068 women in 39 different sports and received 543 responses. The survey covers trolling; funding and impact of Coronavirus; Periods and the Pill; Racism; Sexism; Abortion and Family Planning; Mental Health. Jenni discusses the findings with Becky Grey, BBC Sports reporter, Susannah Townsend, Gold medal hockey player, Priyanaz Chatterji, Scottish cricketer for Scottish Women’s Team and Tammy Parlour, CEO of Women Sport’s Trust.

Producer: Louise Corley

The multi award winning writer Zadie Smith on 'Intimations', a collection of personal essays about lockdown. Photo courtesy of Dominique Nabokov.

The rise in families with children under 5 needing help from baby banks has risen significantly since the pandemic began. We hear from Lauren Elrick who has a fifteen month old daughter and uses Abernecessities in Aberdeenshire. Sophia Parker, chief executive of Little Village baby bank in London and Tracy Thorn, an NHS family nurse.

A television tampon advert has been banned in Ireland for causing widespread offence. Alexandra Ryan, CEO of Goss Media, and the radio presenter and former doctor Ciara Kelly discuss.

Victoria Cilliers’ story made headlines in 2015, when it emerged her husband had tried to kill her by tampering with her parachute. Against all odds, she survived. After two trials he was sentenced to 18 years on two counts of attempted murder. Now she's written a book called 'I Survived'.

At the funeral service of John Hume, the Northern Irish politician and Nobel Prize winner, it was said that 'when the history of Ireland is written, if Pat Hume's name is not beside John's, it will be incomplete history'. Pat, his wife, had been at his side during the Troubles, during peace, and his years of living with dementia. Jenni hears from Eimear O'Callaghan, former BBC News Editor, and Monica McWilliams, Emeritus Professor at Ulster University.

Teenage sisters, Ella and Amy Meek are the founders of Kids Against Plastic. This week they were speaking at online climate change forum, hosted by the all-electric Formula E race Team Envision Virgin Racing. They told us about their concerns about the rise in single plastic use, and how we can all be plastic clever.

Presenter: Jane Garvey

Would you stand up for your mate if she was being discriminated against? Would you stick up for her, even if it caused you problems? Today we discuss how to be a good ally. Whether it’s racism, sexism or homophobia what’s the best way to speak up and support your friends? We're joined by Chloe Laws from Glamour Magazine, Richie Brave who presents Brave Conversations on BBC 1Xtra, and Danielle Dash who's a freelance writer.

Victoria Cilliers’ story made headlines in 2015. We heard how her husband tried to kill her by tampering with her parachute. Against all odds, she survived. After two trials, and the world’s press scrutinising their relationship, he was sentenced to 18 years on two counts of attempted murder. Now she's written a book called 'I Survived'.

We chat to two Black businesswomen about their successes and challenges. They share their advice about setting up your own business. They are Rose Adkins Hulse, Founder & CEO of ScreenHits TV and Shalom Lloyd, Founder & MD of Naturally Tribal.

Zadie Smith’s newest book, ‘Intimations’, was written during the early months of lockdown. It is a series of personal essays reflecting on the unprecedented situation of a worldwide pandemic, hoping to provoke readers to reflect on what has happened and what might come next.

Maternity care is to be the first focus of an independent new panel set up by the Health and Social Care Committee to give ratings to pledges made by the government. Ros Bragg from Maternity Action talks about what she would expect to be looked at, and the Chair of the new panel, Dame Jane Dacre, Professor of Medical Edcation at University College London, explains how patients’ experience will form a part of this evaluation.

In a new series we’re talking to women about their scars. They all talk about physical and emotional pain and the business of having to deal with other people’s reactions on a day to day basis and of coming to terms with the skin they are in. Today, Emily’s story.

Xuefei Yang is one of the world’s leading classical guitarists. Born in China, she started playing guitar aged seven, less than a decade after the end of the cultural revolution at a time when guitars were not well known in the country. By aged 10 she had already given her first public appearance. She toured the world as a schoolgirl and has now performed in over 50 countries. Her latest album, Sketches of China, draws from over 2000 years of Chinese culture and music. Making it has been a long-held dream, requiring transposing traditional music for the guitar to increase the repertoire for her instrument. She talks to Jenni about the stories behind the album, the story of the kidnapped intellectual woman Wenji Cai during the Han Dynasty and why it’s important to her to celebrate Chinese culture now.

The Duchess of Cambridge has spearheaded a campaign to persuade retailers to donate items to baby banks around the UK. New figures from the three big charities – Baby Basics, Little Village and AberNecessities have published figures which show the number of families with children under five who’ve needed their help has risen significantly since the coronavirus crisis began. How are they managing to cope? We hear from Lauren Elrick who has a fifteen month old daughter and uses Abernecessities in Aberdeenshire. Sophia Parker, chief executive of Little Village Baby bank in London and Tracy Thorn, an NHS Family Nurse.

For the first time in its 29-year history, female artists and female-fronted bands have outnumbered men on the shortlist for the Mercury Prize. Alongside Dua Lipa and Laura Marling, Georgia has been nominated for her second album ‘Seeking Thrills’. She joins Jenni to discuss her music, the transcendental power of the dancefloor, and being nominated for the Mercury Prize, 25 years after her father.

This morning the funeral of John Hume, the Northern Irish politician and Nobel Prize winner will be held. He’s survived by his wife and professional partner, Pat. Who is the woman for whom the The John and Pat Hume Foundation for Peaceful Change and Reconciliation was formed? We hear from Eimear O'Callaghan, former BBC News Editor, and Monica McWilliams, Emeritus Professor at Ulster University.

Luan Goldie has written a new novel called Homecoming. Set in London and Kenya over a period of twenty years, it is a story about love, family and friendship. Luan is a primary school teacher and her last book, Nightingale Point, was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2020 and she won the Costa Short Story Award in 2017.

Presenter: Jenni Murray

Empowering schoolchildren to identify propaganda and distorted facts online

How can you help your children to identify fake news on the internet? With the explosion of different platforms it can be hard to keep tabs on what they are watching. Jane finds out from the editor of 'The Week Junior', Anna Bassi, and Juliane von Reppert-Bismarck, the founder of 'Lie Detectors', an award-winning news literacy project which empowers schoolchildren to identify propaganda and distorted facts online.

Matt Hancock announced on 30 July that we should move towards more ‘zoom medicine’, but how does this impact women and women’s health issues? We speak to Dr Clare Gerada who advocates for a mixed approach - she believes patients should always be given the choice between a face to face or online appointment

Over the next two weeks we are talking to women about their scars. They all talk about physical and emotional pain, and the business of having to deal with other people’s reactions on a day-to-day basis. And they speak of coming to terms with the skin they are in. Ena Miller went to meet 49 year old Jayne in Shropshire and heard her story.

Journalist Emma John is also a classical trained musician who’d fallen out of love with her violin. A chance trip to the American south introduces her to bluegrass music. It feels like a homecoming. Emma gives up her job and undertakes a musical quest into the Appalachian mountains. The result a book: Wayfaring Stranger: A musical Journey in the American South. Emma talks to Jane about the breakthroughs and difficulties of her musical journey

Presenter: Jane Garvey

Interviewed Guest: Dr Clare Gerada

Listen to sisters Ella and Amy. They're behind Kids Against Plastic and talk to us about the world's reliance on plastic, especially single use plastic, and the way we just dump it. On Wednesday they're part of the online climate change forum called ‘Race Against Climate Change’.

We go to Ireland to hear about a tampon TV ad which has caused a stir, so much so it's been taken off air. Some people have been offended by it due to its straightforward description of how you use them. Two Irish women defend the ad. They're Alexandra Ryan and Ciara Kelly.

After Ireland we go to India to learn about a petition which urges the Indian Prime Minister to encourage men to do their fair share of housework. So far the petition has 70,000 signatures.

And we go to the jazz and soul singer, Zara McFarlane who talks about her album Songs of An Unknown Tongue. She says that her latest single called Black Treasure is a "declaration, proclamation and celebration of black Britishness and womanhood."

We discuss the process of recovery after domestic abuse, the way that these relationships can stay with you but also how you can build a new life after. How do those who have survived abuse find their behaviour affected? What do they wish that their friends and family had understood? And how can friends and family can help? With Sue Penna, co-founder of Rockpool who deliver trauma-informed training programmes for those working with survivors of abuse, and Jennifer Gilmour, an author and advocate for women in abusive relationships, and founder of #AbuseTalk on twitter and the Abuse Talk podcast.

The school summer holidays are underway across the UK – but this year they’re going to be a bit different. Thanks to coronavirus there’s a shortage of childcare and holiday clubs, helpful grandparents are mostly off-limits, parents are already exhausted from juggling home-working and home-school for four months, and teenagers are faced with another six weeks of restricted freedoms. So how are people planning to make it through to September? Joeli Brearley is the founder of Pregnant then Screwed, and Leann Cross is the director of Home Start Greenwich.

Now that cycling may soon be on prescription and bikes are soaring in popularity due to the pandemic, how can women ensure they have a pain-free ride? Endurance cyclist and coach Jasmijn Muller talks about what she’s learned from years of serious pain, and specialist women’s cycling physio Bianca Broadbent gives her top troubleshooting tips for everything from saddles to lubricating cream, and not wearing pants.

We explore what it’s like to be a black woman and work in the music industry. Jacqueline Springer is a music lecturer and journalist. Fleur East is an artist and songwriter who rose to fame after coming second on the X Factor in 2014. Lioness MC is a Grime rapper who has been making songs for over 10 years.

In her book Sex Robots and Vegan Meat, journalist Jenny Kleeman explores seismic changes in four core areas of human experience: birth, food, sex and death. We hear about the implications of fully functioning artificial wombs and what sex robots mean for future relationships between men and women.

In the next of our summer series of How to guides, we discuss how to end your relationship well. It seems lockdown has accelerated the process for some couples, with one UK-wide legal services firm reporting a 42% increase in enquiries about divorce between March and May. We offer you expert suggestions on managing the practical, emotional, legal and financial aspects of splitting up, with the least damage to you and others. Jenni is joined by family lawyer and mediator Rebekah Gershuny, FT Money digital editor Lucy Warwick-Ching, family therapist Joanne Hipplewith and founder of amicable Kate Daly.

Presenter: Jenni Murray

How to End a Relationship, Alice Oseman, Mother and Baby Units in Prison.