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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

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

57:31

Goalkeeper Hannah Hampton, Celine Song on...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/08/11

England goalkeeper and Lionesses legend Hannah Hampton joins Nuala McGovern on Woman's Hour fresh from winning the UEFA European Women's Championship. Born with a serious eye condition, doctors told her she should never play football. She came into the recent Euros with questions over her ability to fill the gloves of recently retired Mary Earps. To add to that, she revealed her grandfather had died just days before the biggest tournament of her life began earlier this summer. Despite this, Hannah

56:49

Weekend Woman’s Hour: Female breadwinners, Married...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/08/09

What happens when a woman earns more than her partner, or is the sole earner in a household? For some couples, it’s a practical arrangement that works well. For others, it can bring unexpected tensions, challenging traditional ideas about gender, identity and power. Listener Karla emailed the programme to say that she wanted to talk about what it means to be a female breadwinner. She joined Anita Rani along with Melissa Hogenboom, author of the book Breadwinners.After 30 years of marriage, Margaret

57:32

Listener Week: Living with an incurable diagnosis,...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/08/08

It's the final day of Woman's Hour's Listener Week, where all the topics in the programme have been decided by YOU!Listener Brenda wrote in about her situation: “I would love to hear you talking about a mother's play-book or instruction manual for getting through cancer. I would love to know how others are doing it.” Ailsa McDonagh also got in touch after an on-air shout out. She has been living with cancer for almost 10 years and received her diagnosis when her children were aged one and three

55:58

Listener Week: Female breadwinners, Attitudes to...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/08/07

Listener Week continues on Woman's Hour as we bring your stories, ideas and the issues you want to hear about to the air.What happens when a woman earns more than her partner, or is the sole earner in a household? For some couples, it’s a practical arrangement that works well. For others, it can bring unexpected tensions, challenging traditional ideas about gender, identity and power. Listener Karla emailed the programme to say that she wanted to talk about what it means to be a female breadwinner

57:15

Listener Week: MND and women, Not being a granny,...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/08/06

Motor Neurone Disease is a condition that affects nerves found in the brain and spinal cord which tell our muscles what to do. The disease is life shortening and there is no cure. One listener, Diana Keys, was diagnosed in May 2023. She tells us about her experience and asks why does representation of MND in the media skew so heavily towards men? Diana is joined by Dame Pamela Shaw, an academic neurologist and world-leading researcher in MND.Listener Sally Ruffles describes herself as a 68 year old

57:10

Listener Week: Testosterone, Talking to adult...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/08/05

Listener Week continues on Woman's Hour as we bring your stories, ideas and the issues you want to hear about to the air.Carola got in touch to ask if we could find out more about the benefits of testosterone for post-menopausal women. Dr Joyce Harper, Professor of Reproductive Science at the Institute for Women’s Health at University College London, joins Nuala McGovern to discuss the evidence.When we think about children in situations of domestic abuse, it’s often young children we think of -

57:18

Listener Week: Seatbelts and busts, Recruitment and...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/08/04

To kick this week off, we heard from listener Melanie Williams. Melanie is forever having to adjust her seatbelt because of her bust size. She worries if she were to be in an accident she would end up choking or being strangled by her seatbelt rather than protected by it. Melanie joins Nuala McGovern to discuss, along with motoring journalist Maria McCarthy who has been looking into the issue. How might the use of AI in recruitment be negatively impacting women's chances of finding work? Listener

52:58

Weekend Woman’s Hour: Lionesses' win & Diane Bronze,...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/08/02

The Lionesses have made history by becoming the first England football squad to win a major trophy on foreign soil, they successfully defended their European title in Basel last night. The match went to extra time and penalties - Clare McDonnell got reaction and reflection from guests including 5Live commentator Vicki Sparks, BBC Sport correspondent Katie Gornall, chief executive of the Women's Professional League Nikki Doucet and star player Lucy Bronze's mum Diane.The BBC has found that five women

57:23

Hattie Williams, Trump's tariffs, Playwright Shaan...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/08/01

Hattie Williams lost her mother when she was 18 years old leaving her feeling anchorless and needing to embark on a self-exploratory journey to recover some stability. When she experienced motherhood, she felt that she had achieved that. She tells Anita Rani how these experiences inspired her first novel, Bitter Sweet, which she wrote on her maternity leave. The US has announced fresh tariffs on more than 90 countries. Lesotho is one of the countries being hit by a 15% tariff on its exported goods

54:24

Michelle Collins, Women's Golf, Access to work, Girls...

Woman"s Hour ·

2025/07/31

The Women’s Open begins at Royal Porthcawl on the south coast of Wales where over the next four days the biggest names in women's golf will compete to win the fifth and final major of the year. Datshiane Navanayagam is joined by The Telegraph's golf correspondent James Corrigan. Actor Michelle Collins, best known as Cindy Beale in the BBC’s EastEnders, makes her Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut in Motorhome Marilyn, a dark comedy inspired by Michelle's real-life encounter with a woman Cindy saw in

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