Rosamund Kissi-Debrah, No.10 - Women Behind the Scenes, Crime writer Claire McGowan, Gender Politics.

Rosamund Kissi-Debrah is number three on the Woman’s Hour Power List 2020: Our Planet. She is a tireless campaigner for cleaner air, following the tragic death of her daughter Ella from a series of severe asthma attacks. Since then she’s created powerful change from a grassroots level, influencing the Mayor of London and working with the World Health Organisation. She joins Jessica to speak about her work and her hopes for making a difference.

Boris Johnson’s government has been criticised for its lack of women at the top table and for being run by a “toxic boys club” behind the scenes. The dramatic departure of Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain from Downing Street has led to calls for a female led reset at Number 10: The Prime Minister’s fiancée Carrie Symonds is a former conservative party strategist, the head of the No10 Policy Unit is Munira Mirza who is described as the PM’s “nonsense detector” and his new Press Chief is Allegra Stratton. Jessica Creighton talks about the power shift to Katie Perrior who was Chief of Staff for Theresa May and to Anji Hunter who was Tony Blair’s “gatekeeper” and longest serving aide.

Crime writer Claire McGowan talks to Jessica about her new novel The Push, a murder mystery set in an antenatal group, where all the parents-to-be are keeping secrets.

If you don’t feel you know enough about gender politics, a new – and free – course is now available online. It covers gender equality, gender history and stereotypes. It’s been developed by the University of Glasgow. New research indicates that nearly 9 million people in Britain don’t really understand what toxic masculinity is and nearly 8 million people said they didn’t know enough about LGBTQ rights. Jessica discusses the issues with Dr. Tanya Cheadle, Lecturer in Gender History at The University of Glasgow and Jordan Stephens, who is a mental health campaigner and one half of Rizzle Kicks.

Presenter: Jessica Creighton Producer: Louise Corley Editor: Beverley Purcell