The Woman's Hour Power List 2020, US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, Known Donation

Today we launch the Woman’s Hour Power List 2020 - Our Planet. We will be looking for 30 women based in the UK who are making a significant positive contribution to the environment or the sustainability of our planet. It will showcase inspirational initiatives and stories that are bringing about real change at all levels of society – from influencing global policy and changing human behaviour, to inventing eco-friendly products, spearheading scientific research, volunteering in community gardens, and inspiring a deep love of the natural world. Jane is joined by two of the judges - Lucy Siegle and Zunaira Malik - to discuss who we’re looking for and how listeners can tell us who they think should be in the running.

In 2016 Ilhan Omar became the United States’ first Somali-American lawmaker, joining the Minnesota House of Representatives as a Democrat. Two years later she In became one of the first two Muslim women elected to US Congress. She’s 37 and has described herself as ‘America’s hope and the President’s nightmare.’ In May this year George Floyd, an unarmed black man was killed by police in her home city of Minneapolis, sparking protests across the world. Her book is This is What America Looks Like: My Journey from Refugee to Congresswoman.

There’s been a rise in websites and Facebook groups offering Known Donation in recent years, where a person seeking to conceive uses a sperm or egg donation from someone they know or get to know before the treatment. What’s behind it, and what are the pros and cons of this method of assisted conception? We discuss with Sarah Norcross, Director of the Progress Educational Trust; Erika Tranfield, the mother of a donor-conceived child from a known donor; and Natasha Fox, a donor-conceived adult who does not know the identity of her biological father.

Presenter: Jane Garvey Producer: Lucinda Montefiore