Part of our exclusive Woman’s Hour interview with Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. She reveals the full story of her imprisonment in Iran to Emma Barnett. Nazanin explains how she survived solitary confinement, how the love of her daughter kept her alive.

Anita Rani speaks to documentary photographer Joanne Coates about her exhibition and book 'Daughters of the Soil' looking at the role of women in farming; a culmination of a year’s research where she explored the role of women in agriculture in Northumberland and the Scottish Borders. We also speak to arable farmer, Christina Willet, who farms with her son in Essex. 

This month, the health secretary announced a new plan to tackle ME and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in England. A listen back to our interview with Sean O’Neill, a senior writer for the Times, whose eldest daughter Maeve, passed away last October at the age of 27, after suffering from ME since she was a teenager. 

A recent landmark report called ‘Broken Ladders’ has revealed 75% of women of colour have experienced racism at work, 27% having suffered racial slurs and 61% report changing themselves to fit in. Produced by the Fawcett Society and the Runnymede Trust, ‘Broken Ladders’ explores and documents the experiences of 2,000 women of colour in workplaces across the UK, showing the entrenched racism that women of colour endure throughout their careers. Zaimal Azad, senior campaigns officer at the Fawcett Society spoke to Jessica Creighton.

We speak to and hear a live performance from Amara Okereke who has taken on the role of a life time as Eliza Dpolittle in My Fair Lady. Amara, who is 25 has been called 'the new face of British theatre' and has been performing at The Coliseum in London.

Producer: Surya Elango
Editor: Lucinda Montefiore

Weekend Woman's Hour:  Amara Okereke as Eliza Doolittle,  Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, Sean O'Neill on his late daughter's ME

The play Lotus Beauty set in a beauty salon in Southall tells the story of the Punjabi immigrant women it serves where culture meets the desire to fit in. The beauty salon is a backdrop for exploring themes such as domestic abuse, suicide, and a desperation for belonging. We hear from the plays Director Pooja Ghai, and from Kiran Landa, who plays the character Reita. 

In 1973, two Black girls - Minnie Lee and Mary Alice Relf - were sterilised without their knowledge in Alabama by a government funded organisation. The summer of that year, the Relf girls sued the government agencies and individuals responsible for their sterilisation. By 1979, the US Department of Health, Education and Welfare was ordered to establish new guidelines for the government’s sterilisation policy. A new book, Take My Hand, draws inspiration on this landmark case and explores the history of compulsory sterilisation against poor, Black and disabled women and girls in America. We hear from the author - Dolen Perkins-Valdez.

We hear from the documentary photographer Joanne Coates who has a new photography exhibition and book Daughters of the Soil looking at the role of women in farming . This work is a culmination of a year’s research where she explored the role of women in agriculture in Northumberland and the Scottish Borders. 

The poet Charly Cox takes us through her latest collection inspired by a piece of research by the dating website Plenty of Fish. It found that 51% of people have secretly brought a friend along on a date with them. Charly tells us about her own experience and some of the stories behind the eight poems she has written about blind dates and dating. 

Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed

The play Lotus Beauty, Women in Agriculture & America’s Sterilisation policy

Amongst all his other difficulties, Boris Johnson has promised to improve the outcome for rape victims, saying he will fix the system. It was a pledge made after the murder of Sarah Everard.  Today, long awaited guidelines on evidence in trials have been published which campaigners say will do just the opposite.  They'll deter women from coming forward because police and prosecutors will STILL be allowed to ask for personal records like medical and therapy notes and even school reports. We discussed this last month - when our reporter Melanie Abbott heard that draft guidelines prepared by the Crown Prosecution Service were being overturned. She joins us to tell us the latest.

Bravehearted is a new book that explores the extraordinary story of the women of the American ‘Wild West’ during the 19th century. Whether they were the hard-drinking hard-living poker players and prostitutes of the new boom towns, 'ordinary' wives and mothers walking two thousand miles across the prairies pulling their handcarts behind them, Chinese slave-brides working in laundries, or the Native American women displaced by the mass migration, all have one trait in common:  extreme resilience and courage in the face of the unknown. We speak to author and historian, Katie Hickman about a period of history she believes has never been as well-documented by women as this. 

The Living Wage Foundation has said that women are being disproportionately impacted by the cost of living crisis as they are more likely to be in low paid work. Today the government is set to announce support, the Financial Times’ Clear Barrett joins Jessica on the programme to discuss how this could help you. 

One of the most successful pop groups in history is back! 40 years since their last concert, ABBA, are once again performing. Well almost… Agnetha, Freida, Benny and Björn spent 5 weeks performing their songs in motion capture suits so that their movements could be captured and turned into ABBA-TARS. The end result? A digital, 360-degree, immersive concert experience which feels like you’re watching ABBA, from the 1970s, perform in front of you. Producer Svana Gisla has kept the whole production on track for five years.

A recent landmark report revealed 75% of women of colour have experienced racism at work, 27% having suffered racial slurs and 61% report changing themselves to fit in. Produced by gender equality organisation, the Fawcett Society, and the race equality think tank, the Runnymede Trust, ‘Broken Ladders’ explores and documents the experiences of 2,000 women of colour in workplaces across the UK, showing the harmful and entrenched racism that women of colour endure at every stage of their career journey. Zaimal Azad, senior campaigns officer at the Fawcett Society joins Jessica Creighton.



Presenter: Jessica Creighton
Producer: Kirsty Starkey

Interviewed Guest: Vera Baird
Reporter: Melanie Abbott
Interviewed Guest: Katie Hickman
Interviewed Guest: Claer Barrett
Inte

ABBA Voyage, rape disclosure, Katie Hickman, cost of living, women of colour & racism in the workplace

It has been just over two months since Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori returned to the UK from detention in Iran, and were reunited with their families. But for the family of London born businessman and wildlife conservationist Morad Tahbaz it’s been a different story. The family said they expected their father to be part of the same deal but he was only released on furlough and swiftly returned to prison. His daughter Roxanne Tahbaz joins Emma. 

On yesterday’s programme Nazanin paid tribute to those who campaigned for her release and in particular the ordinary women who supported her cause. Two of those women are retired primary school teacher Linda Grove and Freya Papworth from the organisation FiLia who organised a 24 hour fasting relay hunger strike. Both join Emma in the studio. 

Amara Okereke has taken on the role of a life time as Eliza Dolittle in My Fair Lady. Amara, who is 25 has been called 'the new face of British theatre' and has been performing at The Coliseum in London to rave reviews. She joins Emma to talk about the show.

Mina Smallman has spoken to Woman's Hour several times to talk about her grief after the murder of her daughters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman. Two weeks ago the two former police officers who took photos of her daughters and shared them with colleagues were back in court to try and get their sentences reduced. Mina was in court to see that happen, she joins Emma.

Presenter: Emma Barnett 
Producer: Emma Pearce

Roxanne Tahbaz, Mina Smallman, Amara Okereke on playing Eliza Doolittle

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe talks for the first time to Emma Barnett for this special Woman’s Hour programme.

In this exclusive interview she reveals the full story of her imprisonment in Iran. Nazanin explains how she survived solitary confinement, how the love of her daughter kept her alive and what Prime Minster Boris Johnson told her about the real reason for her imprisonment.

Nazanin was arrested in April 2016 after visiting her parents in Iran with her 21 month-old daughter Gabriella, on her way back to Britain. For the next six years the charity project manager was detained by the Iranian regime.  

She was sentenced to five years for plotting to overthrow the Iranian Government, and then in 2021, sentenced to another year for propaganda against Iran. Nazanin has always refuted those  allegations as strongly as she could, stressing that she was in Iran on holiday visiting her family. 

Her husband Richard Ratcliffe mounted a tireless campaign to free his wife, including twice going on hunger strike. In March 2020, as Covid took hold in Iran, Nazanin was temporarily released to her parents’ home under house in Tehran.

On 17 March this year, she was finally allowed to come home and be reunited with her husband and daughter. Her release, along with fellow British-Iranian national Anoosheh Ashoori, came after negotiations and diplomatic efforts that had intensified in the preceding months.  

At the same time the UK Government paid a £400 million debt to Iran dating back to the 1970s although both governments have said the two issues should not be linked.

CREDITS
Presenter Emma Barnett
Producer Woman’s Hour Sarah Crawley
Producer Director John O’Rourke
Executive Producer Tanya Hudson
Executive Editor Woman’s Hour Karen Dalziel

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe talks to Emma Barnett

This month, the health secretary announced a new plan to tackle ME and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in England. Woman’s Hour is joined by Sean O’Neill, a senior writer for the Times, whose eldest daughter Maeve, passed away last October at the age of 27, after suffering from ME since she was a teenager. Emma also talks to Dr Charles Shepherd, medical advisor to the ME Association.  

ITV's reality TV show Love Island has dropped its fast fashion sponsors for more sustainable, preloved fashion for its next season.  Love Island is known for setting fashion trends with contestants often wearing several outfits in each episode. But this time the outfits will be from Ebay and they will be second-hand. Emma is joined by Natalie Binns who is a fashion buying and sustainability sourcing consultant for several independent brands. 

In the last of our series Threads Listener Jeanie remembers her marvellous Aunty Mary whose Land Girl jacket holds so many happy memories.

Tens of thousands more youngsters will end up in care unless radical changes are made to child protection a major new review has warned. Polly Curtis, journalist and author of Behind Closed Doors: Why we break up families and how to mend them, joins Emma to discuss the findings of the report.

A statue of the 19th-century fossil hunter Many Anning was unveiled this weekend, on Saturday, in Lyme Regis in Dorset. Mary was a fossil hunter who made many significant discoveries. Her bronze statue is thanks to a local 15-year-old schoolgirl called Evie Swire, who campaigned for Mary to be immortalised Evie is at school today, but Emma is joined by her mother Anya Pearson.


Presenter: Emma Barnett
Producer: Lucinda Montefiore
Studio Manager: Tim Heffer

Mary Anning statue, Sean O'Neill and daughter's death from ME, Social care

Do you know much about nuns? Many people don’t, but some nuns in the US are turning to social media to bring religion into the 21st century. Sister Monica Clare from the Community of St John the Baptist went viral on Tik Tok after followers wanted to know her skin routine - now she answers people’s questions about being a nun. She joins Krupa as does Siobhan McSweeney, who plays fictional Sister Michael in Derry Girls to talk all about nuns. 

Actor Anne-Marie Duff talks to Emma about her new role as Constance, a working class matriarch from the Midlands in a new play that spans five decades of the lives, and deaths, of the Webster family. ‘The House of Shades’ by Beth Steel is on at London’s Almeida Theater until 18th June. 

Are you happiest when you’re in the office or do you prefer to work from home? Are you contemplating leaving a role because it’s no longer flexible? Dr Jane Parry, Associate Professor of work and employment at Southampton Business school and Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff speak to Emma about recent work from home data.

After Little Mix said goodbye to their fans with their final show on Saturday before going on hiatus, it seems that for the first time in decades, Britain is without a major girl band. Emma is joined by Melanie Chisholm from the Spice Girls and music journalist, Jacqueline Springer.

Women attending abortion clinics in the UK can face “regular harassment” according to a report from BBC Newsnight. Anti-abortion groups who gather outside services say they’re holding “prayer vigils” and offering help but some patients say they have been so distressed they’ve had panic attacks or even felt suicidal. Now charities are calling for protected areas outside all services which activists cannot legally enter. BBC Newsnight Correspondent Anna Collinson speaks to Krupa about it.

A new exhibition exploring female spiritual beings in world belief and mythological traditions around the globe opens at the British Museum this week. Feminine power: the divine to the demonic is the first exhibition of its kind to bring together ancient sculpture, sacred artifacts and contemporary art from six continents. Belinda Crerar, Exhibition Curator at the British Museum and Dr Janina Ramirez, a British Art Historian and author of Goddess a book for children written to accompany this exhibition join Krupa.

Photo Credit: Channel 4

Weekend Woman’s Hour: Siobhan McSweeney, Anne-Marie Duff, Mel C

It’s been ten years since the writer and activist Laura Bates founded the Everyday Sexism project, giving a platform to  thousands of women to document their everyday experiences of sexism, harassment and assault. In her new book, ‘Fix the System Not the Women’ she  argues we have wasted decades telling women and girls how to fix things, how to fix themselves, how to stay safe, it hasn’t worked because women were never the problem in the first place. She is calling for systematic reform of our key institutions and societal systems that she says are failing to protect women.

Spanish women  with severe Menstrual symptoms could be entitled to three days of leave a month - extended to five in some circumstances - if  a draft bill going through the Spanish parliament is approved.  It would make it the first legal entitlement of its kind in Europe. The bill is  part of a package of reforms that could also overturn laws passed by the previous government, including 16 and 17 year old girls no longer needing parental consent to have an abortion.  Maria Ramirez is a journalist and Deputy Managing Editor from ElDiario an online investigative and political news service based in Madrid.

A new exhibition exploring female spiritual beings in world belief and mythological traditions around the globe opens at the British Museum this week. Feminine power: the divine to the demonic is the first exhibition of its kind to bring together ancient sculpture, sacred artifacts and contemporary art from six continents. It will look at how femininity has been perceived across the world, and how feminine power has been used in deities, goddesses, demons, saints and other spiritual beings. Belinda Crerar is Exhibition Curator at the British Museum and Dr Janina Ramirez is a British Art Historian and author of Goddess a book for children written to accompany this exhibition 

Two-time Grammy nominee Beth Nielsen Chapman has had a career spanning 40 years. Inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2016, Nashville-based Beth, has released more than a dozen albums and written number one hits and songs recorded by the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Bette Midler, Elton John and Neil Diamond.  Beth joins Krupa to discuss her music and to perform her bluesy new single ‘Hey Girl’ (We Can Deal With It) an anthemic reaction to the ‘Me Too’ movement, a song Beth calls her “celebratory shout out to our sisters making their way in the world.”


Presenter: Krupa Padhy
Producer: Kirsty Starkey

Interviewed Guest: Laura Bates
Interviewed Guest: Maria Ramirez
Interviewed Guest: Belinda Crerar
Interviewed Guest: Dr Janina Ramirez
Interviewed Guest: Beth Nielsen Chapman

US singer/songwriter Beth Nielsen Chapman, Laura Bates, Menstrual leave/abortion reform in Spain, Feminine power & goddesses

Actor Anne Marie Duff talks to Emma Barnett playing a working class matriarch in a new play that spans five decades of the lives, and deaths, of the Webster family.

Last September 19, 2021, Sophia Huang Xueqin, the Chinese journalist who kick-started China’s #MeToo movement, disappeared. We find out what has happened to her from BBC Eye journalist Jessie Lau who's been investigating her disappearance,. Plus writer and journalist Lijia Zhang explains what it's like to be a feminist in China.

Plus Anna Eavis the Curatorial director at English Heritage tells us the the story of Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk, and mistress of King George II, as Marble Hill, a Palladian villa  built in the 1720s for her,  prepares to open to the public following its restoration 


Presenter Emma Barnett
Producer  Beverley Purcell
Photo credit;  Helen Murray

Actor Anne Marie Duff, Chinese feminism, the story of Henrietta Howard

Helen Fitzgerald grew up in rural Australia as one of 13 siblings. Her new novel Keep Her Sweet looks at what happens when 'normal' sibling rivalry turns into something else. She joins Krupa to explain why she's so fascinated by the dark corners of family life.

When was the last time you saw a nun? It feels like a very old-fashioned vocation – and there are less and less in the public eye now. But some nuns in the US are turning to Tik Tok to bring religion into the 21st century through social media. The Daughters of St Paul are known as the ‘media nuns’ on Tik Tok, they do skits and dances, and have millions of followers worldwide. Then Sister Monica Clare from the Community of St John the Baptist went viral because she was on Tik Tok and everyone wanted to know her skin routine…now she answers people’s questions about being a nun. And, of course, we’ve got everyone’s favourite - less PC nun – Sister Michael from Derry Girls, played by Siobhan McSweeney.

Women attending abortion clinics in the UK can face “regular harassment” according to a report from BBC Newsnight.   Anti-abortion groups who gather outside services say they’re holding “prayer vigils” and offering help but some patients say they have been so distressed they’ve had panic attacks or even felt suicidal. Now charities are calling for protected areas outside all services which activists cannot legally enter.  More than 100,000 women in the UK attended abortion services targeted by activists in 2019, according to latest data from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, which is a leading provider of abortions.  Anna Collinson is the Newsnight Correspondent who compiled the report.

It’s four years since journalist and actor Nicky Clark founded the Acting Your Age Campaign. Incensed by the lack of middle-aged women on stage, television and in film, and rarely seeing stories of women like herself portrayed, she has attracted a lot of support from women such as Meera Syal, Tracy-Ann Obermann and MP Jess Phillips. Actor and fellow-supporter, Juliet Stevenson joins Nicky and presenter Krupa Padhy to explain why it appears male actors on screen ‘have a whole life and women have a shelf life’ and why this campaign is necessary.

Helen Fitzgerald, Abortion Clinic Harassment, Nuns and Juliet Stevenson on Acting Your Age

Kate Rusby is one of the UK’s leading folk singers. She joins Andrea Catherwood to talk about her latest album 30: Happy Returns.  She's collaborated with musicians such as Ladysmith Black Mambazo, K. T. Tunstall and Richard Hawley to sing new versions of her old songs and to celebrate thirty years of making music.  

The footballer Jake Daniels has come out as gay. He's the first current male professional footballer to do so, which shows you how unusual it is. So, is it harder to be yourself in the men's game compared to the women's? With us on Woman's Hour is the footballer Lianne Sanderson who's won 50 international caps for England and was the first professional female player to come out 12 years ago, and Dr Rachael Bullingham, who's a senior lecturer at the University of Gloucestershire and specialises in homophobia in women's sport. 

We speak to the BBC's Sarah Rainsford who's covering the war in Ukraine about the Wives of Azov. Their husbands are part of the Azov Regiment who are seen as heroes in Ukraine because they've been defending Mariupol, but they've been trapped for more than two months in a steel works. Overnight some of them managed to get out of there. 

Paula McGowan's autistic son died when because he was given anti-psychotic drugs, despite warnings from him and his family. His death was described as ‘avoidable’. Paula is now on the brink of achieving her goal which is that all health and social care staff must, by law, undergo mandatory training in autism and learning disability awareness. We speak to Paula, as well as Alexis Quinn, who's been involved in piloting the training.

Kate Rusby, Gay Women and Sport, Motor Racing

After Little Mix said goodbye to their fans with their final show on Saturday before going on hiatus, it seems that for the first time in decades, Britain is without a major girl band. Emma is joined by Melanie Chisholm from the Spice Girls and music journalist, Jacqueline Springer.

We discuss recent work from home data with Dr Jane Parry, Associate Professor of work and employment at Southampton Business school and Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff.

In the wake of the tragic killings of toddlers Star Hobson and Arthur Labinjo Hughes, a government report is expected to be published shortly looking into what went wrong. Social workers had failed to act on warnings from relatives, which meant the children were not removed from their abusive homes. But a BBC One Panorama explores a different perspective - what about when children’s services intervene too far, too fast – and when they act unethically, even unlawfully towards children and their parents, causing lifelong trauma in the process? One local authority in Herefordshire has been severely and repeatedly criticised by a high court judge for breaching children’s human rights through what the judge called “appalling” social work practice. Woman’s Hour talks to Panorama Reporter Louise Tickle about her investigation.  

Women in the US have been raising concerns about period and pregnancy tracking apps on phones. BBC Technology reporter Shiona McCallum and Jillian York from the American digital rights group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, join Emma to discuss.     

Relationships for many of us are just downright fascinating. Susanna Abse is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and joins Emma to discuss her new book. 

Presenter: Emma Barnett
Producer: Emma Pearce

Girl Bands, Period Tracking Apps, Couples Therapy

Emeli Sandé is one of Britain’s most successful songwriters - with 19 million singles sold; including three number one singles, six million albums and four BRIT awards. Emeli joins Emma to discuss her music and career.

How are disabled children being affected by the war in Ukraine? There are claims that thousands have been forgotten and abandoned in institutions unable to look after them. The human rights organisation, Disability Rights International, has carried out an investigation. Their Ukraine Office Director, Halyna Kurylo joins Emma.

‘Alice’s Book’ by Karina Urbach tells the story of Karina's grandmother Alice Urbach. Before the Second World War Alice wrote a cookbook called Cooking the Viennese Way! - but when books by Jewish authors couldn't be distributed, Alice was taken off it. Karina talks about her family history, intellectual theft by the Nazis and her mission to restore Alice Urbach’s name to her cookbook.

Abi Morgan is a BAFTA and Emmy-award winning playwright and screenwriter whose credits include The Iron Lady, Suffragette and The Hour. She has now written her first book - This Is Not A Pity Memoir - about an extraordinarily tumultuous period in her and her family's life.

Last weekend the Baftas saw Sophie Willan, the actress and creator of Alma’s Not Normal, take home an award for best female performance in comedy. The sitcom is based on Sophie’s own experience of growing up in care, and focuses on her relationship with the women in her family. Sophie dedicated her win to her grandmother, Denise Willan, who sadly passed away half-way through filming the show.

Watching Eurovision tonight? Two hundred million people are expected to watch it, live from Turin. Representing the UK this year is Sam Ryder. He's doing well at the moment and is second favourite to win behind Ukraine. The UK really hasn’t done very well over recent years, but twenty-five years ago we won it with Katrina and The Waves and Love Shine a Light. Katrina joins Anita.

Weekend Woman's Hour: Emeli Sandé, Abi Morgan, Sophie Willan

‘Alice’s Book’ by Karina Urbach tells the story of Karina's grandmother Alice Urbach. Before the Second World War Alice wrote a cookbook called Cooking the Viennese Way! but when books by Jewish authors couldn't be distributed, Alice was taken off it.  Karina talks about her family history, intellectual theft by the Nazis and her mission to restore Alice Urbach’s name to her cookbook.

The Taliban have ruled that Afghan women will have to wear the full face veil for the first time in decades. It comes soon after the Taliban reversed their decision to allow girls to go to secondary schools. We catch up with Hasina Safi, who used to be the women’s minister in Afghanistan and is now a refugee in the UK, still living in an hotel. She joins Anita to discuss her reaction to this latest news and her hopes for the future of women in Afghanistan. 

Babies as young as six months recognise differences like skin colour according to research. So what’s the best way to talk to young children about race? Does it matter how diverse a child social circle is? And what about their parents' friendship groups? Tineka Smith is the author of Mixed Up: Confessions of an Interracial Couple and has a young son, and Uju Asika is an author, parenting blogger and has two teenage boys.

Watching Eurovision tomorrow? Two hundred million people are expected to watch it, live from Turin. Representing the UK this year is Sam Ryder. He's doing well at the moment and is second favourite to win behind Ukraine. The UK really hasn’t done very well over recent years, but twenty-five years ago we won it with Katrina and The Waves and Love Shine a Light. Katrina joins us.

Alice Urbach, Your children's friends, Katrina and The Waves

H*tler’s Tasters is a dark comedy about the young women who have the “honour” of being Adolf Hitler’s food tasters. The play explores the way girls navigate sexuality, friendship, patriotism, and poison during the Third Reich. Emma Barnett talks to its award winning playwright, Michelle Kholos Brooks 
 
After a record number of women are elected to Stormont we talk to Monica McWilliams an academic, peace activist, human rights defender and former politician who co-founded the Women’s Coalition political party in 1996 and was a signatory to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. 

A new survey by Working Wise has flagged that many working women are concerned about the gaps in work they've taken and what impact those gaps will have on their pension. The author of the research Mandy Garner tells us about her findings and we hear from Cecilia Floren who  is  worried about her pension.

On Sunday, the Baftas saw Sophie Willan, the actress and creator of Alma’s Not Normal, take home an award for best female performance in comedy. The sitcom is based on Sophie’s own experience of growing up in care, and focuses on her relationship with the women in her family. Sophie dedicated her win to her grandmother, Denise Willan, who sadly passed away half-way through filming the show. She joins Emma to talk about their relationship and the importance of grandparents.

Presenter: Emma Barnett
Producer: Lisa Jenkinson
Studio Manager: Giles Aspen
Photo Credit: Hunter Canning

Michelle Kholos Brooks, Monica McWilliams, Mandy Garner, Cecilia Floren, Sophie Willan

In former consultant neurologist Jules Montague's new book, The Imaginary Patient, she looks at how they can be influenced by many external factors. Who gets to choose which conditions are "real" or not, and is that a helpful question to ask? And what implications does that have for women? She joins Emma. 

Michael Gove, The Levelling Up Secretary, confirmed that there will be no emergency budget to help with the cost of living, even though the Queens Speech yesterday said that the Government would help. New research says that an estimated 1 and a half million households in the UK will struggle to pay food and energy bills over the next year. Sarah Pennells is a Consumer Finance Specialist at the Pensions Provider Royal London and has been gathering data on this. 

How are disabled children being affected by the war in Ukraine? There are claims that thousands have been forgotten and abandoned in institutions unable to look after them. The human rights organisation, Disability Rights International, has carried out an investigation. Their Ukraine Office Director, Halyna Kurylo joins Emma. 

It’s been just over a week since the the publication of a leaked draft document from the Supreme Court, which suggests Justices are set to overturn the landmark Roe v Wade, ruling, which gave women in American an absolute right to an abortion. To discuss what this means for women in America Emma is joined by Associate Professor Emma Long and State Senate candidate Leslie Danks Burke.

There'll be no emergency budget to help with the cost of living, even though the Queens Speech yesterday said that the Government would help. That's been confirmed by Michael Gove, The Levelling Up Secretary, this morning.

We've been celebrating the emotional power of old clothes in our series Threads. Zoe, who was known as 'strawberry girl' on her small university campus in Liverpool tells us about her 'scratch-and-sniff' t-shirt.

Jules Montague on diagnosis, Abortion in the US, A scratch and sniff T-shirt, Disabled children in Ukraine

Abi Morgan is a BAFTA and Emmy-award winning playwright and screenwriter whose credits include The Iron Lady, Suffragette, Sex Traffic, The Hour, Brick Lane and Shame. She is the creator and writer of BBC drama, The Split. She has now written her first book.   This is not a Pity Memoir about an extraordinarily tumultous period in her and her family's life.

Prima Facie starring Jodie Comer, best known for her role as Villanelle in Killing Eve, is making her West End debut. Both star and play have been performing to glowing reviews. It is an incisive investigation into the criminal justice system, how it deals with sexual assault and then fails those seeking justice through it. A one-woman show, it tells the story of a criminal defence barrister who is raped by a colleague. Suzie Miller, who wrote the play, joins Emma Barnett in the Woman’s Hour studio.

Would you let your 2 year old walk to the shops on their own? The long running Japanese TV show Old Enough!, which has become available to stream on Netflix, follows kids as young as 2 while their parents send them off on their first ever errand away from home. Unknowingly followed by undercover TV camera operators. It has sparked debate about how much freedom we give our toddlers in the UK.

Presenter: Emma Barnett
Producer: Lucinda Montefiore

Abi Morgan, Toddlers running errands, Suzie Miller

Emeli Sandé is one of Britain’s most successful songwriters. With 19 million singles sold including three number one singles, 6 million albums and four BRIT awards (including Best Female twice!). Emeli joins Emma to discuss her music, and has a specially recorded version of There Isn’t Much – a track written with Naughty Boy and Shaq, from her new album Let’s Say For Instance. 

Over the weekend in Afghanistan the Taliban ordered that all women must wear a burqa in public. It's the latest blow to women's rights in the country since the Taliban took power in August last year. Yalda Hakim is an International Correspondent for the BBC and spoke to us about this development. 

What is it like to run a fashion magazine? We ask Kenya Hunt, who became the first black Editor-in-Chief at Elle UK when she took over the role in March. With print readership in decline, and the fashion industry reeling from the pandemic, how does she plan to keep women reading magazines? 

Depp v Heard. It’s the court case that has gripped not just America but the whole world. The actor Johnny Depp is suing his ex-wife Amber Heard for defamation over an article in which she said she was a victim of abuse. The BBC’s Holly Honderich joins Emma to discuss this very public trial. 

Anna Kent is a humanitarian aid worker, NHS nurse and midwife. She was 26 when she joined Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) for her first assignment in South Sudan in 2007. She has subsequently worked as a midwife across the world including Ethiopia, Haiti, Bangladesh and the UK. She has now written a book, Frontline Midwife: My Story of Survival and Keeping Others Safe.

Presenter: Emma Barnett
Producer: Emma Pearce

Photo credit: Olivia Lifungula

Emeli Sandé, Depp v Heard, Afghanistan

Emma talks to Peggy Seeger who has enjoyed six decades of success with her music. Peggy was married to the singer Ewen McColl. Together they revitalised the British Folk Scene during the 50s and 60s. Now 86 years old, Peggy's own songs have become anthems for feminists, anti-nuclear campaigners and those fighting for social justice.

Exam season is upon us - Highers have begun in Scotland and A-levels and GCSEs start on the 16th May, but maybe your kids have end of year exams coming up too. As a parent what is the best way to support your child? Anita is joined by Dr Jane Gilmour, a Consultant Clinical Psychologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Candice Carty-Williams described her very successful first novel Queenie as 'the black Bridget Jones'. She has described her new novel People Person as her ‘daddy issues’ book and in it she celebrates families of all sorts. Her aim, she says, is to make visible the people she knows and the experiences she has had.

As Anne Robinson announces she's stepping down as the host of the Channel 4 quiz show Countdown, Emma Barnett catches up with her. Robinson was the first female to ever host the show, with 265 episodes under her belt since she joined just a year ago.

It’s been just over a year since the former husband of ITV presenter Ruth Dodsworth was jailed for coercive controlling behaviour and stalking. In a new ITV Tonight programme ‘Controlled By My Ex Partner: The Hidden Abuse' Ruth explores the crime of coercive control and what needs to be done to stop it.

Milli Proust, writer and floral designer in West Sussex, and Georgie Newbery, a flower farmer, discuss the growing trend of cut flower gardening.

Sex Parties have gone from being fringe underground raves to large, well-established sell-out club nights, in the last few years. We hear from Dr Kate Lister, Sex Historian and Author of A Curious History of Sex and Miss Gold - who runs One Night Parties, a sex party in London.

Weekend Woman's Hour: Peggy Seeger, Exam Stress, Candice Carty-Williams

Childbirth is something that more than 80% of women go through in their lifetime. But could that be about to change? Sci-Fi author Helen Sedgwick thinks we’re just a generation away from external, artificial wombs being used for childbirth. But what does this mean for the concept of motherhood and a woman’s place in society? Anita is joined by Helen and designer of an artificial womb Lisa Mandemaker.

Exam season is upon us -  Highers have begun in Scotland and A-levels and GCSEs start on the 16th May and finish on the 28th June, but maybe your kids have end of year exams coming up too. As a parent what is the best way to support your child? Especially if they have important exams looming but are doing everything they can to pretend that they don’t? Or perhaps you have the opposite problem and your child is paralysed with anxiety. How do you engage the teenage brain and support your child with their revision? Anita is joined by Dr Jane Gilmour, a Consultant Clinical Psychologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

What does your grandmother mean to you? The South African musician Toshi has released a new song – Khokhoba – which means ‘getting old’ in her native language of Xhosa. The song is dedicated to her grandmother and we hear about the spiritual and societal role that elderly women and grandmothers play in the Xhosa culture.

Sex Parties have gone from being fringe underground raves to large, well-established sell-out club nights, in the last few years! Why are we seeing a resurgence the sex party? We hear from Dr Kate Lister, Sex Historian and Author of A Curious History of Sex & Miss Gold, who runs One Night Parties, a sex party in London. They discuss how Covid-19 has changed the way we approach sex, the female gaze and hedonism through history