Today the government launches its much awaited Women’s Health Strategy for England. For generations women have lived with a healthcare system that is designed by men, for men. Despite making up 50 percent of the population and living longer than men, women have been under-represented in research, with little known about some female-specific issues, spending a greater proportion of their lives in ill health and disability, with growing geographic inequalities in women’s life expectancy. Having spoken to nearly 100,000 women the government say this will reset the dial on women’s health. Krupa Padhy speaks to Women's Health Minister Maria Caulfield and Dame Professor Lesley Regan the newly appointed Women's Health Ambassador. Tonight England's Lionesses will take on Spain in the quarter finals. The two teams will go head to head in Brighton, in what will be the first knockout game of the tournament. Although both are strong teams, England and Spain have previously competed against each other 15 times resulting in the Lionesses winning twice as many games as their opponents. England have also been scoring more goals than any team has ever done in the group stage. BBC Women's Sport Reporter, Jo Currie gives us an overview of the brilliant Lionesses taking to the pitch this year. Tim Berners Lee is often credited as the inventor of the World Wide Web. But who are some of the women who played an instrumental role in building the internet and the technology that surrounds it? We hear about Karen Spärck Jones, Sophie Wilson and Hedy Lamarr. And with a fifth of women in the UK experiencing online harassment and abuse, how can the internet be made more friendly to women? Krupa Padhy speaks to Charlotte Webb, who teaches internet equality at University of the Arts London and is the co-founder of the Feminist Internet and to Dame Stephanie Shirley who founded an all-women software company in the 1960s. Presenter: Krupa Padhy Producer: Kirsty Starkey Interviewed Guest: Marie Caulfield Interviewed Guest: Dame Professor Lesley Regan Interviewed Guest: Catherine Burns Interviewed Guest: Jo Currie Interviewed Guest: Dame Stephanie Shirley Interviewed Guest: Charlotte Webb
It’s being called medicine’s Me Too moment. Two female doctors have launched an online campaign gathering testimony about sexual harassment and a culture of sexism in the world of health care. Dr Becky Cox and Dr Chelcie Jewitt join Krupa to explain why they launched Surviving in Scrubs. Last week we looked at radical solutions to the ageing population and slowing birth rate, including a tax on the childfree. One country which has taken a unique approach is Hungary which introduced tax breaks and loans to encourage women to have more children in 2019. The BBC’s Nick Thorpe’s joins Krupa to discuss how successful the policy has been. Back in 1972, the very first England Women's Football Team beat Scotland in their first international victory, but unlike the men’s team, the Lionesses were not awarded official caps. Pressure has been mounting for the Football Association to recognise the 1972 team with caps. The reserve goalkeeper, Sue Wyhatt, joins us as the FA announce they will...
American author R J Palacio talks to Krupa Padhy about her latest novel "White Bird" Following the overturning of Roe V Wade in the US more women have talked openly about having had an abortion but many never speak openly about their experiences. In a series first broadcast in 2019 we hear five different personal testimonies from women. Today, a woman we are calling Amanda who only came to terms with her abortion 25 years later. How can learning your child’s ‘love language’ help you become a better parent? Child and Educational Psychologist, Dr Nneka Ikeogu, talks us through the 5 languages of love and explains how children give, and receive, love using them. We hear from the BBC’S South Asia Correspondent Rajini Vaidyanathan about how the economic crisis in Sri Lanka is affecting families across the country And how do women's bodies respond to extreme heat? We talk to GP Dr Radikha Vohra and Dr Jo Mountfield from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Presenter:...
A formal apology should be issued by the government to the thousands of unmarried mothers in England and Wales who had their babies taken for adoption in the 50s, 60s, 70s. In a report published today, the Joint Committee on Human Rights says the Government bears ultimate responsibility for the pain and suffering caused by public institutions and state employees that railroaded mothers into those unwanted adoptions. Harriet Harman MP is Chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights. Fulani chef Fatmata Binta has won the world's most prestigious gastronomy prize, the 2022 Basque Culinary World Prize, an international achievement award for chefs who improve society through food. Fatmata is the first African to receive the award, and won for her work celebrating nomadic food culture and exploring west African cuisine through her Dine on a Mat pop-up restaurant. What shape does a life take after fleeing a war? It's nearly five months since Russia invaded Ukraine and families across the U...
Since the overturning of Roe vs Wade in the United States here on Woman’s Hour we’ve looked at what this will mean for women in America, and also what the status of abortion is here in the UK. But what right do women around the world have to an abortion and could the overturning of Roe vs Wade in America lead other countries to follow suit? Macarena Saez is from the NGO Human Rights Watch and joins Emma. A new study shows women are now twice as likely as men to be extremely worried about their lives and those around them, after the pandemic. Journalist Eleanor Morgan and Charlotte Faircloth from UCL join Emma to discuss. The latest in our series about matriarchs, the redoubtable women in your lives. Today listener Alexandra on her fabulous Auntie Lilla who bred miniature Shetland ponies was 6'3" and a bit terrifying. Jersey has elected its first ever female Chief Minister – the equivalent of the island’s Prime Minister. Politics on the island has been largely male, white and mid...
Conservative MPs start voting in the first round ballot to see who will take over from Boris Johnson as Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister - 4 women and 4 men ,after the candidates were reduced to eight contenders. Some of the policy areas being debated are familiar: tax, immigration and our relationship with the EU. Some are less so and quite new to the political battlefield as defining issues for the candidates, such as what do each of them think constitutes being a woman. It is also striking that the political ghost of one woman is being invoked left, right and centre - Margaret Thatcher. Emma talks to Mrs Thatcher's former private secretary, Caroline Slocock. We also talk to Ella Robertson McKay the National Chair of the Conservative Young Women - which is made up of women under the age of 35. She reveals the results of a poll of their membership which asked who they want to be Prime Minister. Cases of Covid have been rising rapidly in the UK in recent weeks and new da...
The online platform TikTok has become one of the most popular social media apps in the world, with more than one billion monthly active users. Young people in particular love watching and creating videos and the content is often funny and upbeat. But author and content creator Tova Leigh contacted us to say she has noticed more and more disturbing content on the site that encourages violence against women and girls. Following the slew of sleaze and misconduct allegations against MPs at Westminster is there an argument for a change in the way our parliamentarians are selected? Would greater scrutiny of individual applicants at an early stage avoid some of the issues encountered over the last few years and could it lead to greater female representation? Emma Barnett talks to the political journalist Michael Crick who has recently founded the twitter thread Tomorrow’s MPs which monitors political party selection processes, and to the former Deputy Chief Whip of the Conservative party ...
Angélique Kidjo is a 5 time Grammy Award winner from Benin who has been called "Africa's premier diva". Later this month she will be headlining the WOMAD world music and dance festival. She’ll be talking on Woman’s Hour about why she sings in five different languages and how music can be a greater force for change than politics. A recent article in the Sunday Times asked whether we should tax the childfree. It got a lot of attention and Sarah Harper, Professor of Gerontology at Oxford University joins Emma to discuss, as does Daisy Buchanan, an author and podcast host who has chosen to be child free. The first international England Women’s football match was in November 1972, England vs Scotland. Neither team were awarded with ‘caps’ which are awarded to players whenever they represent their country in an international match. Nicola Sturgeon awarded the 1972 Scottish Women’s team with their long awaited caps before the Women’s World Cup final last year. The 1972 England Wome...
The actor Sally Phillips on her latest film on Sky Cinema 'How to Please a Woman. Set in Western Australia, Sally plays fifty-something Gina who, having just lost her job, feels invisible and stuck in a sexless marriage, and sets up an all-male house cleaning service that also offers sexual services. Photo SUCH FEISTY DAMES PTY LTD As Boris Johnson prepares to step down we hear from Nusrat Ghani the Conservative MP for Wealden and vice-chair of The 1922 committee that represents backbench conservative MPs. The members of the 1922 Committee wield a lot of power in the Conservative Party and runs the selection process for new leaders. Charlotte Carew Pole the Director of Women2Win, an organisation which aims to increase the number of Conservative women in Parliament. The rise in women being prescribed anti depressants. Dr Nighat Arif a GP who specialises in women's health explains. The American soul singer PP Arnold found fame in the 1960s as an Ikette with the Ike and Tina Turner Rev...
The actor, writer and comedian Sally Phillips best known for Smack the Pony, the Bridget Jones trilogy, Miranda, Veep and, of course, Radio 4’s very own award-winning 'Clare in the Community' returns to our screens next week in the third series of Sky’s popular parenting comedy Breeders. And on Sky Cinema from today she takes the starring role in a new film ‘How to Please a Woman’. Set in Western Australia, Sally plays fifty-something Gina who, having just lost her job, feels invisible and stuck in a sexless marriage, and sets up an all-male house cleaning service that also offers sexual services. With the school holidays having already started in Scotland and Northern Ireland and fast approaching in England and Wales, the charity Pregnant Then Screwed surveyed 28,000 parents, 99% women, on their childcare plans for the summer. From the data they found 1630 women who had had an abortion in the last five years said childcare costs had influenced their decision and nearly 1 in 5 o...