Woman's Hour

Tracey Emin was one of the leading figures of the Young British Artists movement of the 1990s. Hers is a uniquely provocative, confessional style which confronts issues such as trauma of abortion, rape, alcoholism and sexual history. Her famous artworks include: Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963–1995 and she came to greater prominence in 1999 with a Turner Prize nomination for her famous piece My Bed. One of her most powerful works is a hand-crafted quilt called Psycho Slut, with texts that recall her childhood abuse and personal trauma. She has recently undergone radical surgery for bladder cancer. Tracey joins Emma to discuss her latest exhibition - The Loneliness of the Soul – for which she has selected masterpieces by Edvard Munch to show alongside her most recent paintings.Last weekend the first nightclub event in the UK for over a year took place in Liverpool - with no social distancing or face coverings required. This was part of a trial to provide key scientific data on how clubbing events could safely reopen as part of the government's roadmap, which aims for all restrictions lifted by June 21. But could this be a fresh start and a chance to re-imagine how nightlife could be reopened in a way that makes women feel safer? Although clubs can be places where women have a lot of fun and let their hair down, we also know they can be intimidating spaces. Bryony Beynon is the Managing Director of the Good Night Out Campaign, Alice Fuller is the manager and co-ordinator of Corsica studios at Elephant and Castle in London and Jess Flaherty is a reporter for the Liverpool Echo who actually went clubbing last weekend. How can you better communicate with your child, whatever their age, to help ensure they have good future mental health? The broadcaster and author of 'There’s no such thing as Naughty’ Kate Silverton, and Dr Sheila Redfern from the Anna Freud Centre discuss.

Fertility rates around the world are declining. It's partly through choice, as couples decide to have smaller families. But it's also the case that sperm levels among men in Western countries have halved in the past 40 years. . So what's going on? Shanna Swan, a Professor of Environmental Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York thinks we should be paying much more attention to the chemicals in our environment that come from everyday products - as her research is showing consistent effects on sperm counts, sperm quality and overall male fertility. She joins Emma to talk the chemicals we should be aware of, the effect they're having, and what we can do about it. World leaders have been warned that unless they act with extreme urgency, the pandemic will overwhelm health services in many nations in South America, Asia, and Africa over the next few weeks. It's argued that failure to achieve so-called global 'vaccine equity' will hit women hardest, because they dominate the informal sectors that have been worst affected by the pandemic and it's women who do most of the increased unpaid care in the home that Covid brings. There are also real concerns that if girls globally continue to miss out on education, gender equality goals could be set back years. Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown is leading a campaign to persuade the world's richest nations to commit to funding global Covid vaccination, testing and treatments. He joins Emma.From today, mothers' names and occupations will finally be featured alongside fathers' details on marriage certificates in England and Wales, thanks to years of campaigning both inside and outside of parliament. But let's not forget the woman who made it happen. Ailsa Burkimsher Sadler started the campaign for change back in 2013. Caroline Norton was a woman at the centre of one of the most highly publicised court cases in 19th century Britain. Her determination to fight for custody of her children and the rights to her own income and property had far-reaching ramifications, with the first ever pieces of feminist legislation arising as a direct result of her campaigning, the Infant Custody Act of 1839. She has been celebrated with a heritage blue plaque being placed on her London home. Lady Antonia Fraser unveiled the plaque, and has written a biography of Caroline Norton called ‘The Case of the Married Woman.’

Have you always wanted to get on a bike, but something is holding you back? This is the programme for you, presented by Melanie Abbott. If you're completely new to cycling, there's no doubt it's intimidating on the roads. It's definitely worth sharpening up your road sense and many local councils now offer bike training courses. In East London, Bikeworks run cycling for wellbeing sessions for women returning to their bikes, after a long break. Melanie goes out with a group who've been cycling together now for a few weeks.Cycling is still, predominantly a male, middle class sport. Getting more women involved isn't easy, especially for women of colour. British Cycling, which covers everything from elite sport to grass roots, has set up its first ever diversity programme. and will be publishing its strategy in the coming months. Aneela McKenna is co chair of their diversity and inclusion advisory group. She joins Melanie along with Iffat Tejani, founder of Evolve, a cycling club for Muslim women and Victoria Hazael from the charity Cycling UK, who is a trustee of the Women of Colour in Cycling Collective.Many disabled women find accessing sport particularly difficult and cycling can seem completely off limits and/or too expensive. But there are inclusive cycle groups all over the country offering weekly sessions on a huge range of adapted bikes. Others arrange rentals and ‘try before you buy’. Our Disability Affairs reporter Carolyn Atkinson goes to Herne Hill Velodrome in South London where a charity called Wheels for Wellbeing runs sessions for disabled cyclists.Tracy Moseley has won countless mountain biking trophies, including the World Cup downhill in 2006. She officially retired six years ago, and had her little boy Toby three years ago. Like many keen cyclists who have children, life has changed a lot since then. Melanie gets her tips on teaching children to ride, and her views on racing with e-bikes.Even if you are not entering races you may still be keen to "Strava your ride". It's one of the apps you can use to record your speeds and compare them with others. It's traditionally used by men, competing for the 'king of the mountain' crown, to be the fastest up a hill. But last year the company says there was a surge in the number of women using it and it seems they are just as keen to get a queen of the mountain accolade. Cyclist Sally Owens agreed to record her ride for us, up a tough hill near her home in Nottingham.

Today if you are a woman you are likely to live into your eighties. But what to do with those extra couple of decades? Dawn French is best known for her comedy and acting and is now an author long listed for the Women’s Prize. She talks about reinvention and still being relevant at any age.Kate Wilson talks about her court case against the Metropolitan Police and the National Police Chiefs Council. She's taking the legal action because she fell in love with a man who wasn't who he said he was. He was an undercover policeman whose job was to infiltrate environmental protest groups. Women's Football is seeing a huge growth in interest and exposure but there's some concern that the commentary of women's matches is too soft on mistakes and ends up sounding patronising. Ben Bloom, Telegraph sports columnist and commentator and Jacqui Oatley commentator and founding member of Women in Football discuss whether commentary should become more critical as the success of the game develops.Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe has been sentenced to another year in an Iranian prison and has been banned from travelling abroad. Her husband, Richard Ratcliffe talks about how Nazanin felt after hearing about the sentence and what it means for their family.Betty Webb MBE is 98 years old. During WW2 she worked at Bletchely Park and briefly at the Pentagon. She talks about promoting and remembering her war time experiences.How does the order in which we are born into our families affect us and our whole lives? The writer Lynn Berger discusses why people choose to have a second child and what does it mean to be one.Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Paula McFarlane Editor: Lucinda Montefiore

Anita Rani talks to Boss Morris the all-female Morris dancing team based in Gloucester who'll be marking May Day by leading a livestreamed dance. We hear from Bletchley Park veteran Betty Webb and discuss the issue of female football commentary and whether it needs to should become more critical as the success of the game develops. Around 15 British families remain detained in North East Syria.   A new report released today by the NGO Reprieve suggests that the majority of British women there are victims of trafficking, based on evidence that these women were all subjected to sexual and other forms of exploitation, and were either transported to Syria as children; coerced into travelling to Syria; or kept and moved within Syria against their will. Andrew Mitchell MP and Maya Foa from Reprieve discuss the report.Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Lisa Jenkinson Studio Engineers: John Boland and Bob Nettles.

Arlene Foster, First Minister of Northern Ireland and leader of the DUP, has stood down. She was the first woman and the youngest person to hold both jobs. In her resignation announcement she said that her election as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party broke a glass ceiling, and she also spoke about the trolling she's received. We discuss what her legacy will be. Kate Wilson has been giving evidence at The Royal Courts of Justice because she's suing The Metropolitan Police and the National Police Chiefs Council. She's taking legal action because she fell in love with a man who wasn't who he said he was. He was an undercover policeman who called himself Mark Stone. He was really Mark Kennedy whose job was to infiltrate environmental protest groups. Kate will have to wait until later in the year to get a result but she explains why she's taken the action.We talk to Kelly Critcher, who's a palliative care nurse. She works at the first hospital in the UK to declare a critical incident of Covid 19. She's written a book called A Matter of Life and Death: courage, compassion and the fight against the corona virus on the front-line.And do you share the bath water? TV property developer, Sarah Beeny, does. She gets in the bath after her husband and four sons. Sarah tells us why.

Emma Barnett talks to Dawn French about her fourth novel "Because of You" which has been longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction and we'll find out later today if it's made the shortlist. She'll also be talking about the post-menopausal years when women often say they feel invisible, afraid of change, unemployable or just plain 'past it'. If you're an Archers listener you'll be familiar with Alice's story of having a baby as an alcoholic and the stigma and struggle she faces. Our reporter Milly Chowles had a baby last year. She’s in long -term recovery from addiction and feels she was given lots of chances to change. Her fear is that women now aren’t getting those opportunities and the impact on them, their children and society is devastating. In 2011 there were 65,520 children in care in England and at the end of March 2020 that figure was more than 80,000. Addiction is often a factor. Today, we hear a Dad's story. It's nearly 30 years since the start of the Bosnia-Hercevgovina war, a conflict that saw the worst atrocities in Europe since World War II. About 100,000 were killed and over 2 million were displaced between 1992 and 1995.Watching the coverage on the news, thousands of miles away in Fochabars in North East Scotland was Clare Findlay and her husband Andrew who ended up taking in 21 Bosnian children and four mothers into their home. Her story features in a new series ‘Saved by A Stranger which tells the story of people caught up in some of the biggest events in history. And Caroline Slocock the Director of Civil Exchange and the first woman Private Secretary at No 10 serving Margaret Thatcher talks about the current "curtaingate" row at Westminster.Presenter: Emma Barnett Producer: Lisa Jenkinson Studio Engineer: Donald MacDonald.

We now know that Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe has been sentenced to another year in an Iranian prison, plus she's banned from travelling abroad. This time she's charged with spreading propaganda. Her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, has not seen his wife since her initial imprisonment in 2016 and is living in London with their six year old daughter Gabriella. He maintains that his wife was imprisoned as leverage for a debt owed by the UK over its failure to deliver tanks to Iran in the seventies that had been paid for. Meanwhile, it's been announced that Iran will sit on a UN committee on women's rights, yet it has a poor track record when it comes to rights for women. Rana Rahimpour is from the BBC's Persian Service. Built in 1927 The Barbizon hotel was home for the ‘modern woman’ seeking a career in the arts. It offered young women a safe and respectable place to stay while they launched their careers and looked for a husband. Students from the Katharine Gibbs Secretarial School lived on two floors of the Barbizon while they learned typing and shorthand. Powers’ models and guest editors for Mademoiselle magazine also stayed there. Many went on to writing careers, including Joan Didion, Sylvia Plath, Gael Greene, and Meg Wolitzer. In her novel “The Bell Jar,” Plath fictionalized the Barbizon as the Amazon, including details from her fateful last night at the hotel, when she threw every article of clothing she had brought to the city. Its 688 tiny pink feminine boudoirs also housed actresses including Grace Kelly and Liza Minelli and Phylicia Rashad. Some residents became known as “the women” – those who checked in and never checked out. Emma talks to Paulina Bren, writer and historian and Professor at Vassar College in New York, and author of The Barbizon- The New York Hotel That Set Women Free.It’s reported that during sex only 20% of women orgasm from penetration alone. Results from a nationally representative study of 4,000 adult women in the United States, and published in the science journal Plos One, identified Angling, Rocking, Shallowing and Pairing – four previously unnamed techniques women use to make vaginal penetration more pleasurable. To discuss these terms and other ways women can achieve orgasm, Emma is joined by Dr. Devon Hensel Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Indiana, and Tracey Cox, sex and relationships expert and author.

New research out today from the charity Breast Cancer Now, indicates that training breast care nurses to deliver Cognitive Behavioural Therapy - or CBT - can be effective in alleviating the distressing menopausal symptoms that some women experience as a result of breast cancer treatment. Emma discusses with Delyth Morgan, Chief Executive of Breast Cancer Now and Natalie, who had breast cancer aged 37, and suffered frequent and debilitating hot flushes and night sweats while undergoing chemotherapy.A new three-part BBC Two documentary series ‘Makeup: A Glamorous History’ explores changing British beauty trends, from the Georgian era, Victorian era through to the Roaring 20s where the look of the flappers reflected the new freedoms of the era. The presenter of the series is make up artist Lisa Eldridge.Why do people choose to have a second child and what does it mean to be one? Writer Lynn Berger in her book Second Thoughts: On Having and Being a Second Child, explores the many beliefs and assumptions surrounding position in the family and particularly second children.Presenter: Emma Barnett Producer: Lucinda Montefiore

We hear from former Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard who is working to help children from developing countries get a quality education. Josephine Kamara and Selina Nkoile are Youth Leaders for Global Partnership for Education and are campaigning to keep girls in education. Pauline Black, lead singer of ska band The Selecter talks about her upbringing and the 2 Tone anti-racism message of the late 70s.Professor Basky Thilaganathan from St George’s Hospital talks about the rarely seen and often complex work being carried out inside the womb to save the lives of unborn babies. We also hear from Susie who developed Twin to Twin transfusion syndrome while pregnant with triplets.Christine Grosart is a key volunteer for the group Ghost Fishing UK. She is also an expert diver and environmental champion. She talks about the beauty of the seas and the damage humans have caused.Plus broadcaster Emily Dean on the trend for ‘pandemic puppies’ and the unique relationship that women have with their dogs.Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Paula McFarlane Editor: Beverley Purcell