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Woman"s Hour

BBC Radio 4

Women"s voices and women"s lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.

society & culture

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57:31

Afghanistan earthquake, Friendship anxiety, Invasive...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/09/04

It has been four days since the huge 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck the mountainous eastern region of Afghanistan, near the city of Jalalabad. Over 1,400 people are reported to have been killed by the initial quake and its aftershocks, with over 3,000 injured. While already living their lives under the restrictions imposed by the Taliban, how are women and girls affected by this disaster? Nuala McGovern talks to Mahjooba Nowrouzi, senior journalist for the BBC’s Afghan Service.After the fall of the

56:56

03/09/2025

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/09/03

Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.

57:36

Femicide Census, Period Pain, Eve Miles, Forced Adoption

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/09/02

New figures from the latest Femicide Census out are out today. It records the killings of women. It shows that 122 women, that’s more than 2 women a week, were killed by men and boys in 2022. Most women were killed by a current or former partner, but it also reveals that 10% were killed by their sons. To discuss the findings Nuala McGovern was joined by the co-founder of the Femicide Census, Dr Karen Ingala Smith.New research from Oxford University has revealed that teenagers who suffer moderate or

56:47

Weekend Woman's Hour: Forced adoptions, Author Paula...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/09/01

The former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has added his voice to calls for an apology for what he has called the state's role in the "terrible tragedy" of historic forced adoptions. Between 1949 and 1976, thousands of pregnant women and girls in the UK were sent away to "prison-like" homes run by the church and state and had their babies put up for adoption. In 2021, an inquiry concluded that the State bore ultimate responsibility for the suffering inflicted on vulnerable women and their children,

57:29

Childcare, Robin Wright on The Girlfriend, Life after...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/09/01

As of today, eligible working parents in England can access 30 funded hours of childcare – in term time only - for children aged nine months to four years. The government is doubling the amount of funded hours it offers, but there are concerns about availability and staffing. New research from Growth Spurt and Women in Data shows that more than half of parents can’t access the funding without restrictions, paying fees or meeting extra conditions. Nuala McGovern talks to Early Years Minister Stephen

55:07

Forced adoptions, Belinda Carlisle, Harvest mice release

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/09/01

56:47

Double jeopardy fight, Fertility rates, SRY tests,...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/08/28

New ONS stats show that fertility rates are the lowest in England and Wales since 1938 when they were first recorded. Dr Bernice Kuona is researcher in fertility and family relationships at the University of Southampton and explains the research to Anita Rani.Ann Ming’s 22-year-old daughter Julie went missing in Billingham, County Durham, in 1989. The police launched an investigation but following a search of Julie’s house they failed to find her. Three months after Julie’s disappearance, Ann went

56:37

Child abuse & VAWG, Novelist Miriam Robinson, Taylor...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/08/27

Ten child protection organisations have written an urgent letter to the home secretary expressing concern over the omission of child sexual abuse from the upcoming government strategy on violence against women and girls. A draft version of the strategy, due to be published in September, was leaked to Sky News's Mollie Malone, who first broke the story. She joins Nuala McGovern, along with Anna Edmundson from the NSPCC, one of the organisations that signed the letter.Miriam Robinson’s debut novel And

57:23

Gender pay gap, 'Spicy' fiction, Is rugby safe?...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/08/26

A new report, published yesterday, says Britain’s gender pay gap has been understated for two decades, casting doubt on the accuracy of official figures. It's news that might have big implications for women in the workplace and policymakers, from the Bank of England to ministers, who rely on these figures to make big economic decisions. Alex Bryson is Professor of Quantitative Social Science at University College London and worked on this research and Amy Borrett is a data journalist at the

54:25

Stalking & heart disease, Cellist Laura van der...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/08/25

Sussex-born cellist Laura van der Heijden won the BBC Young Musician of the Year at the age of 15 in 2012. She's now been named as the Royal Philharmonic Society's Instrumentalist of the Year and will be the Artist in Residence at this year's Lammermuir Festival in Scotland. Laura tells Kylie Pentelow about her repertoire, her love of the outdoors, and plays live in the studio.Women who've been stalked, or had to take out a restraining order, have a much higher chance of suffering a heart attack or

56:59

Woman's Hour Special: Women's Rugby World Cup

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/08/22

Join Anita Rani as she broadcasts live from Blaydon Rugby Club in Gateshead ahead of the first game of the Women's Rugby World Cup. Tonight England kick off the tournament on home soil by facing the USA in Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. To preview tonight's game and the tournament to come, we are joined by former England player and World Cup winner Kat Merchant.We also hear from the Managing Director at World Rugby, Sarah Massey on how she hopes to ensure this World Cup is a success.Blaydon

53:14

21/08/2025

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/08/21

Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.

55:43

Sister Bliss, Maternity reports, River women, Karis...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/08/20

Sister Bliss started out DJing on London’s gay club scene, before co-founding Faithless in 1995 and became one of the few women of her generation to help shape UK dance culture. Faithless have sold more than 20 million albums and amassed close to a billion streams. 30 years on from the hit dance anthem Insomnia, she joins Nuala McGovern to discuss their latest album - Champion Sound.Too many recommendations, not enough implementation - these are the findings of the latest report into maternity

57:44

Mounjaro price rise, The Real Housewives of London,...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/08/18

As Mounjaro increases its prices, there are fears that more women will turn to black market drugs. Nuala McGovern talks to pharmacist Sehar Shahid about how easy it is to swap brands of the weight loss drug, and to Jeanie Annan-Lewin, who buys the medicine privately, about whether she will still be able to afford it.If you pop into a nail bar in a big city in the UK, you may notice the technician might be Vietnamese – and they could be here illegally. UK Border Force has been carrying out a

56:48

Weekend Woman’s Hour: Afghanistan, RFU President...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/08/16

Four years after Taliban fighters retook the capital Kabul on 15 August 2021, UN Women, the gender equality agency, is warning that the situation for women and girls in Afghanistan is increasingly untenable. They say without urgent action, this untenable reality will become normalised and women and girls will be fully excluded. To discuss further Anita Rani was joined by Fawzia Koofi, former deputy speaker of the Afghan Parliament & peace negotiator, and BBC senior Afghan reporter Mahjooba

55:11

Women in Afghanistan, Alison Goldfrapp, VJ Day, High...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/08/15

Four years after Taliban fighters retook the capital Kabul on 15 August 2021, UN Women, the gender equality agency, is warning that the situation for women and girls in Afghanistan is increasingly untenable. They say without urgent action, this untenable reality will become normalised and women and girls will be fully excluded. To discuss further Anita Rani is joined by Fawzia Koofi, former deputy speaker of the Afghan Parliament & peace negotiator, and BBC senior Afghan reporter Mahjooba

54:19

Post Office scandal, RFU President Deborah Griffin,...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/08/14

Rooprit Gill ran the Post Office in Handsworth, Birmingham, a business started by her father. But that came to an end when, like hundreds of other postmasters and mistresses, she was falsely accused of stealing money due to a faulty Post Office computer system. Rooprit — known as Roopie — joins Anita Rani on her first day back in the family Post Office after more than a decade.As rugby fans across the UK look forward to the Women’s Rugby World Cup, Anita speaks with rugby trailblazer Deborah

56:41

Women and heat, Surrey Police on catcalling stunt,...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/08/13

As a heatwave grips the UK, we ask whether soaring temperatures impact women differently to men and what should be done about it. Professor Mike Tipton, Professor of Human and Applied Physiology at the University of Portsmouth, joins Nuala McGovern to explain.The author Paula Sutton has written her second novel, The Body in the Kitchen Garden. The interiors stylist and TV and social media personality talks to Nuala about creating plots to challenge her fictional detective Daphne Brewster, and her

57:04

Nurses facing abuse in A&E, Sailor Jazz Turner, What...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/08/12

The chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing says their members are facing "abhorrent" levels of violence in accident and emergency departments. Nicola Ranger tells Nuala McGovern that their Freedom of Information request to hospital trusts in England found that there were more than 4,000 incidences of physical violence against staff in 2024, almost double the amount five years ago. She believes this could be linked to an increase in waiting times.Emma Holten tells us we need a feminist

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