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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

All Episodes

57:24

16/09/2025

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/09/16

As Donald Trump arrives in the UK for his second state visit, we examine how women feel about the US President now and how the Epstein scandal might feature in discussions as Keir Starmer faces more pressure about how he handled Lord Mandelson’s resignation. Nuala McGovern speaks to Katy Balls from The Times, women’s campaigner Alix Valentine and Mischa Smith, the news and features editor for Marie Claire UK. How well does the law serve women? That’s a question Nuala puts to Brenda Marjorie

57:40

Patricia Lockwood, SEND rally, Maternity review,...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/09/15

Patricia Lockwood is a poet, memoirist and novelist whose work straddles the literary world and the wilds of the internet. Patricia first went viral with her traumatic poem Rape Joke, while her memoir Priestdaddy, about being the daughter of a Catholic priest, has been called a modern classic. Patricia talks to Nuala McGovern about her new book, Will There Ever Be Another You, which explores the surreal disorientation of illness, memory and recovery in the wake of Covid. The list of hospital trusts

55:13

Weekend Woman’s Hour: Davina McCall, Papua New...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/09/13

Davina McCall, one of TV’s most popular presenters has a new book out, Birthing, co-written with the midwife, Marley Henry. Davina joined Anita Rani to talk about her stellar career so far, including hosting Big Brother for 10 years, campaigning for better menopause care and building a fitness empire. What makes her tick? And what drives her forward to clear hurdles such as an usual childhood, drug addiction and most recently, brain surgery for a benign tumour that she nicknamed Jeffrey?As the 50th

57:28

Davina McCall, Highland Games, Essex accents

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/09/12

Davina McCall, one of TV’s most popular presenters has a new book out, Birthing, co-written with the midwife, Marley Henry. Davina joins Anita Rani to talk about her stellar career so far, including hosting Big Brother for 10 years, campaigning for better menopause care and building a fitness empire. What makes her tick? And what drives her forward to clear hurdles such as an usual childhood, drug addiction and most recently, brain surgery for a benign tumour that she nicknamed Jeffrey.Funding of at

56:10

Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Pregnancy drug DES, Novelist...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/09/11

For decades thousands of pregnant women across the UK were prescribed the drug Diethlystilbestrol or DES, a synthetic hormone that was meant to help prevent miscarriage. But the drug left a legacy of life-altering health problems for some of their children, including infertility and rare cancers. Anita Rani speaks to ITV Social Affairs Correspondent Sarah Corker who has investigated what they are calling a medical scandal that continues to devastate lives, talking to the women who say more must be

57:05

Noel Clarke libel case, Bras after cancer, Comedian...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/09/10

On 22 August, the High court rejected Noel Clarke’s claim that accusations against him by more than 20 women were false and part of a conspiracy.The writer, actor and producer of the Kidulthood trilogy sued the Guardian News & Media over seven articles and a podcast published between April 2021 and March 2022 in which women accused him of sexual misconduct. He was seeking £70 million in damages. In a high court judgment with a 220-page document, Mrs Justice Steyn rejected Clarke’s claims, and

57:34

Jung Chang, Labour deputy leader race, Jaysley Beck's...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/09/09

Jung Chang’s Wild Swans, the epic family memoir that followed the lives of Jung, her mother and grandmother through China's 20th century, was banned in mainland China, but was a smash hit worldwide upon publication in 1991. Now Jung’s sequel, Fly, Wild Swans, brings her family’s story up to date. She joins Nuala McGovern.The Labour deputy leadership race could be an all-woman affair, with all current declarations coming from female MPs. Nuala gets the lowdown from Kitty Donaldson, chief political

57:21

Angela Rayner fallout, Do we need to take creatine?...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/09/08

The fallout from Angela Rayner's departure continues to dominate the headlines today as Labour's National Executive Committee is expected to meet to agree the timetable for the race to replace Rayner as the party's deputy leader. Since the reshuffle, women fill three of the four great offices of state for the first time, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Home Secretary, and the Foreign Secretary. To discuss the role of women in Labour’s reshuffled cabinet and the party's future leadership - as

56:34

Weekend Woman’s Hour: actor Robin Wright, life after...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/09/06

Actor Robin Wright joined Nuala McGovern to discuss directing and starring in new series The Girlfriend, based on the book by Michelle Frances. Best known for her award-winning role in House of Cards and much-loved movies such as Forest Gump and The Princess Bride, Robin plays Laura in the psychological thriller, a protective mother who is deeply suspicious of her son’s new girlfriend Cherry, played by Olivia Cooke.Woman's Hour spoke to women who have had the experience of someone close to them

57:27

Menopause and severe depression, Disliking your...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/09/05

In the last of our series on life after suicide, our reporter Jo Morris meets Stef whose mother took her own life when Stef was 19. On experiencing severe depression as she approached the menopause herself, Stef found herself considering ending her own life. This has led her to thinking her mother’s death was also menopause related.So is there a link between menopause and women who choose to end their own life? Research in this area is all relatively new, but our guest Professor Pooja Saini,

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

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