Woman's Hour

A midwife from a maternity unit tells us why she and over thirty of her colleagues are refusing to have the Covid jab. We hear from the Royal College of Nursing who want the Government to pause the vaccine mandate for NHS staff immediately because of the threat to an already understaffed NHS. And we speak to Professor Ian Jones, a Virologist at the University of Reading about the science of infection and transmission.Almost 300 years after the Witchcraft Acts were repealed, a bill has been bought forward in the Scottish parliament to pardon those convicted. This comes after a two-year campaign to clear the names of nearly 4,000 people accused of witchcraft. We are joined by Zoe Venditozzi, co-founder of the campaign, and Marion Gibson, Professor of Renaissance and Magical Literatures at the University of Essex.Helen Pankhurst, the great-granddaughter of Suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst, talks about the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill which the House of Lords will debate on Monday. Reflecting on historical and global parallels, she talks about the role of protest in the fight for equality.Skin issues in adolescence can shape lives. We speak to Dr Tess McPherson, the current president of the British Society of Paediatric and Adolescent Dermatology, and Maia Grey, an acne positivity blogger who has lived with acne since her early teens.We are joined by British actor Adjoa Andoh and the award-winning British composer Julie Cooper, who have collaborated on the title track of a new album called Continuum. Julie wrote the music and Adjoa responded with a poem called "Hold out the Heart", capturing the emotions of the pandemic.

A midwife from a maternity unit tells us why she and over thirty of her colleagues are refusing to have the Covid jab. They will all lose their jobs when the Government’s vaccine mandate for NHS staff comes into force on April 1st, putting the unit at risk, and leaving pregnant women wondering what it means for them and their babies. We also hear from the Royal College of Nursing who want the Government to pause the vaccine mandate for NHS staff immediately because of the threat to an already understaffed NHS. And we speak to Professor Ian Jones, a Virologist at the University of Reading about the science of infection and transmission, and the impact on the NHS workforce and their patients.Diet and fitness expert Rosemary Conley CBE celebrates fifty years of keeping Leicestershire - and the rest of the country - fit. Rosemary was 25-years-old when she held her first class in a local village hall in 1972. Since then, she's written 36 books, presented dozens of fitness videos and continues to run classes in the county. She joins Anita to talk about the changes she's seen when it comes to women's diet and fitness and what we all can do to keep ourselves healthy.This week doyenne of the slam poetry and performance scene Joelle Taylor won the TS Eliot Poetry Prize. Fellow poet and slam champion Kat Francois explains why it matters and why women should give slam a try.The House of Commons' Home Affairs Committee is exploring the scale of the problem of spiking in nightclubs, pubs. festivals and house parties. Zara Owen, a student at Nottingham University who believes she was spiked with a needle last October while on a night out with friends, and Dawn Dines, the founder of Stamp Out Spiking UK both gave evidence to the committee this week.Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Dianne McGregor

How can we have a healthier relationship with tech, the internet and social media? In her new book Disconnected, podcaster Emma Gannon looks at how we can take back control, set boundaries, and unlearn bad habits from doomscrolling to having opinions for opinion’s sake. She also reflects on whether a constructive call-out culture is more beneficial than cancel culture online.Helen Pankhurst, the granddaughter and the great-granddaughter of Suffragettes, Sylvia and Emmeline Pankhurst talks about the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill which the House of Lords will debate on Monday. Helen argues our right to protest which is a fundamental part of democracy, is under threat. Reflecting on historical and global parallels, she argues that protest is both a safety valve and catalyst for change in the fight for equality, including women’s rights, race, disability, social inequality and climate.Plus can theatre be used as a health and wellbeing tool to support women’s understanding of their relationship with sex? A Play About Sex partners academic research with creative practice to find out. Independent theatre producer, Hannah Farley-Hills explains how.Prince Andrew is to face a civil case in the US over allegations he sexually assaulted a woman when she was 17, after his legal bid to have it thrown out failed. To help us understand the detail of why it was unsuccessful we hear from Dominic Casciani our Home and Legal Affairs Correspondent. Plus Georgina Calvert-Lee, an employment and equality lawyer at McAlister Olivarius, an expert on NDAs and settlements looks at what justice might look like from Virginia Giuffre's positionPresenter Emma Barnett Producer Beverley Purcell

Adjoa Andoh is British actor who has graced stage and screen and is perhaps best known as Bridgerton's Lady Danbury - but you may not be aware that in addition to being a director and producer she is also a writer. She has collaborated with the award-winning British composer Julie Cooper on the title track of a new album called Continuum. Julie wrote the music and Adjoa responded with a poem called "Hold out the Heart" capturing the emotions of the pandemic and timed to the ebb and flow of the music. Adjoa and Julie join Emma to talk about composing the album and their musical journey during lock down.This week the US Mint began circulating quarters honouring the writer, poet, performer and activist Maya Angelou. She is the first black woman to ever feature on a US coin. But four other women have also been commemorated by the American Women Quarters Program So why have they been chosen and what is the history of women appearing on coins? Ema Sikic is World Coins Specialist for Baldwins. Prime Minister, Boris Johnson is under pressure to state whether he broke his own Covid rules at PMQs with some of his own MPs venting their frustration to their consituents, the media and online. The Prime Minister has so far declined to say whether he attended a drinks party at Downing Street during lockdown in May 2020. But the journalist Claire Cohen has written about the wave of fury felt by some women about the fact that Sarah Everard was lured into a car by former Metropolitan police officer Wayne Couzens on the pretext that she had broken lockdown rules. A new app to protect women that has the backing of the Home Office has been criticised, Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a journalist who says it wouldn't have stopped her attacker. The BBC’s latest hard-hitting true crime drama, Four Lives, recounts how police failings led families to fight for justice after the so-called 'Grindr killer' Stephen Port murdered four young men. Emma is joined by Sarah Sak, the mother of the serial killer’s first known victim Anthony Walgate and who is played by Sheridan Smith in the three-part series.Skin issues in adolescence can shape lives. Dr Tess McPherson is the current president of the British Society of Paediatric and Adolescent Dermatology (BSPAD) and an NHS dermatologist working in Oxford. She has developed a specialist service for adolescents to support their skin and the psychological impact of their conditions, which has been running for 10 years. Maia Grey is an acne positivity blogger who is now 27 but has lived with acne since her early teens.

Who is Sue Gray, the civil servant tasked with investigating the Downing Street parties and has she been put in an impossible position? Caroline Slocock former private secretary to Margaret Thatcher and John Major and political journalist Jane Merrick discuss. Rhian Graham along with three other defendants were cleared of criminal damage by Bristol Crown Court after toppling the statue of the 17th century slave trader Edward Colston. Rhian joins Emma. Nearly 5000 messages have been left on a free phone number set up to allow people to give messages of thanks for NHS staff. Hopeline19 was founded by psychotherapist Claire Goodwin-Fee. She argues that NHS workers are not receiving enough mental health support. Hopeline19 grew out of Frontline19, a service offering mental health support to NHS workers that Claire established in March 2020. We all know how complicated relationships can be – especially when it comes to our parents. What is the best way to cope when we find ourselves stuck in the middle of our parents’ relationship? How can we learn to step back from being the family relationship therapist? We hear about two women’s experiences – listener Shely and life coach Diana Higgins. The pandemic put the brakes on everyone’s lives. For freelance journalist Lucy Holden, it has been a time for reflection. At the age of 30 she was forced to move back home with her parents and take stock of a wild decade lived in the fast-lane - a mechanism to avoid the pain and trauma of her past. She joins Emma to talk about her upcoming memoir: Lucid: A memoir of an extreme decade in an extreme generation. Presenter: Emma Barnett Producer: Lucinda Montefiore

Three years ago, BBC radio broadcaster Helena Merriman received a shock diagnosis related to hearing loss after giving birth to her son. This prompted her to explore how people handle life-changing news about their health in a new radio series called Room 5 that airs on Radio 4 this week. Helena joins Emma to discuss the power of resilience.One of the first female bus drivers in the UK says she is fighting to keep her job after a new bus design left her unable to reach the pedals. Emma speaks to Tracey Scholes from Manchester who says that because of her height - five feet - she can no longer drive the new buses safely. The bus company involved say other staff of a similar height to Tracey are able to drive the vehicles safely. New figures from the Office of National Statistics show that an estimated 1.3 million people in the UK have "long Covid" – defined as symptoms lasting more than four weeks. We know that women are more likely to be affected by long Covid, and that it can also occur in children. Dr Nisreen Alwan is Associate Professor in Public Health at the University of Southampton.In Sudan, thousands of people have again taken to the streets of the capital, Khartoum, to protest against military rule, following the resignation of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. Reports from medics on the ground say more than 50 people have lost their lives since a military coup took place in October last year. For several years, there has been continued unrest in the country, and headlines around the world have shown women at the forefront of the revolution and pro-democracy movement - but is that the full story? And how are things for women there now? Raga Makawi, a Sudanese democracy activist and editor at African Arguments and Will Ross, the BBC's Africa Editor join Emma.Almost 300 years after the Witchcraft Acts were repealed, a bill has been bought forward in the Scottish parliament to pardon those convicted. This comes after a two-year campaign to clear the names of nearly 4,000 people accused of witchcraft, of whom well over half were executed. Zoe Venditozzi co-founded the campaign and co-hosts the Witches of Scotland podcast. Marion Gibson is Professor of Renaissance and Magical Literatures at the University of Essex and author of Witchcraft: the basics.

We explore why so many of us want to put our lives on the page. Can writing stand in for therapy? What are the ethical and moral considerations of such sharing. Julia Samuel is a psychotherapist and the author of Grief Works.Dr Lin Berwick MBE has cerebral palsy quadriplegia and became totally blind at the age of 15. She also has partial hearing loss and is a permanent wheelchair user. Now in her seventies, she has been a fierce advocate and ambassador for people with disabilities and their carers, and has written a new book On A Count of Three all about what it's like having a carer - and what she thinks carers should know.Military mums rally in protest at the decision to award former Prime Minister Tony Blair a knighthood. Hazel Hunt, whose son Richard died in Afghanistan, is considering sending back the Elizabeth Cross that her family had received as a mark of protest.Many of us will be thinking about making a change for the better now that we're in a new year. Poorna Bell, author and journalist, gives us some inspiration and talks about getting stronger, both emotionally and physically. Poorna took it literally and started weight lifting after illness and bereavement.'Collector culture' - the swapping, collating and posting of nude images of women without their consent - is on the rise. To understand why Anita is joined by Professor of Law at Durham University, Clare McGlynn and Zara Ward, senior practitioner at the Revenge Porn Helpline.Southall Black Sisters was founded in 1979 to address the needs of Asian, African-Caribbean and minority women and to empower them to escape violence. Pragna Patel was one of the founders of Southall Black Sisters and Wednesday was her last day as Director. We talk to Pragna about her 30 years in activism.

British Army officer and physiotherapist Preet Chandi has made history as the first woman of colour to complete a solo expedition in Antarctica. 'Polar Preet' trekked 700 miles in 40 days, facing temperatures of -50C, poor visibility and fatigue along the way. She used skis, and dragged a 90kg pulk (a sled) for between 10-12 hours a day. Preet catches up with us from the Union Glacier camp in Antarctica.'Collector culture' - the swapping, collating and posting of nude images of women without their consent - is on the rise. But unlike revenge porn, it is not a crime. Now survivors are demanding a change in the law. To understand why Anita is joined by Professor of Law at Durham University, Clare McGlynn and Zara Ward, senior practitioner at the Revenge Porn Helpline.Cecil Sharp is known as the godfather of English folk music. In a bid to preserve the English folk song at the turn of the twentieth century, when many in the musical world didn't believe England had a musical tradition of its own, he collected and memorialised thousands of traditional English folk songs from rural communities in England. However, less is known about the people he collected these songs from. FOLK is a new play at Hampstead Theatre in London written by Nell Leyshon, the British dramatist and novelist born in Glastonbury, Somerset. She tells us the true story of Louie Hooper and Lucy White, two half-sisters from Somerset who Cecil Sharp collected hundreds of songs from.A UK tech company is pitching to provide security for women out alone at night who fear for their safety. Drone Defence is hoping to secure government funding to deliver AI drones fitted with spotlights and a thermal camera which would be summoned on an app by an individual who are concerned a predator may be near by. Could this be a solution to a recent survey which showed one in five women fear going out at night alone or does it present a serious privacy risk without tackling the underlying issue of violence against women? We talk to Richard Gill the founder of Drone Defence and to Silkie Carlo the Director of Big Brother Watch.Born in Bristol and raised in Lagos, Nikki May is Nigerian-British. At 20, she dropped out of medical school, moved to London, and began a successful career in advertising. Now aged 56, her debut novel Wahala has just been released and is already being made into a six part drama series for the BBC. It is the story of three thirty-something friends living in London - Ronke, Simi and Boo. Their bond is tested and their lives start to unravel when glamorous high flying Isabel explodes into their friendship group.Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Kirsty StarkeyInterviewed Guest: Preet Chandi Interviewed Guest: Professor Clare McGlynn Interviewed Guest: Zara Ward Interviewed Guest: Nell Leyshon Interviewed Guest: Richard Gill Interviewed Guest: Silkie Carlo Interviewed Guest: Nikki May

Jamie-Lee O’Donnell is best known for playing the wise cracking Michelle in Channel 4’s Derry Girls, the comedy series about a group of teenagers growing up in 1990's Northern Ireland. Jamie-Lee has swapped the school uniform for a prison uniform for new drama Screw on Channel 4, about working in a men’s prison.This time last year shocking footage coming from Washington DC, as supporters of Donald Trump stormed the Capitol building, captured the world's attention. Two women, who were part of that riot, were among the people who died. The event in America is now simply known as January the Sixth. Helen Lewis, writer for the Atlantic Magazine joins Emma to discuss the the significance of the event a year on.The Pope has come under fire by some and been supported by others for comments during his weekly general audience at the Vatican in which he lamented that some married couples opt to remain childless and instead transfer their love to cats, dogs and other animals. We get your views and those of Cathy Adams, a maternal ambivalence blogger.Dr Lin Berwick MBE has cerebral palsy quadriplegia and became totally blind at the age of 15. She also has partial hearing loss and is a permanent wheelchair user. She wasn't expected to live past her teens and has needed care 24/7 all her life. Now in her seventies, she has been a fierce advocate and ambassador for people with disabilities and their carers, and has written a new book On A Count of Three all about what it's like having a carer - and what she thinks carers should know. Today sees the unveiling of the 1921 census records. Details of the census are always kept secret for 100 years, apart from broad statistics. This census for the first time includes details of divorce and also where people worked. Melanie Abbott reports and Emma speaks to Dr Michala Hulme, a social historian and genealogist from the University of Birmingham.

How widely is the Scottish Government consulting on its plans to allow people to legally change sex without a medical diagnosis? Emma Barnett speaks to Lisa Mackenzie from MurrayBlackburnMackenzie, an Edinburgh-based policy analysis collective who say the SNP is breaking a manifesto promise, by only meeting with groups representing trans rights since last May’s Holyrood election. Military mums rally in protest at the decision to award former Prime Minister Tony Blair a knighthood. Hazel Hunt, whose son Richard died in Afghanistan, is considering sending back the Elizabeth Cross that her family had received as a mark of protest. Southall Black Sisters was founded in 1979 to address the needs of Asian, African-Caribbean and minority women and to empower them to escape violence. Pragna Patel was one of the founders of Southall Black Sisters and today is her last day as Director. We talk to her about the chages she’s witnessed and the role she’s held for over 30 years.It's ten years since the popular fiction writer Maeve Binchy died and forty years since her first best seller Light a Penny Candle was published. What has been her legacy for the generation of Irish women writers that followed and what is the role of editors in creating best-sellers? We talk to Rosie de Courcy Senior Editor at Head of Zeus publishers and Maeve's long-time editor, and Irish author and journalist Megan Nolan.Taking photos or video recordings of breastfeeding mothers in public without their consent is to be made a crime in England and Wales, punishable by up to two years in prison. We catch up with the woman who started the campaign Julia Cooper.Presenter: Emma Barnett Producer: Lisa Jenkinson Studio Manager: Donald McDonald