Woman's Hour

New research out this week suggests that 1 in 45 people who get COVID-19 will continue to be unwell after three months, even if their initial infection was mild. And, under the age of 50, it does seem that women are more likely to develop Long Covid than men. People with Long Covid report on-going symptoms including fatigue, headache, shortness of breath, problems concentrating - ‘brain fog’ - and heart palpitations, which leave them unable to work, look after their families or even get off the sofa. Support groups and campaigns to get recognition and treatment for this new and debilitating illness have sprung up – most of them led by women. Their efforts are now beginning to bear fruit, with among other things a network of Long Covid clinics recently announced for some parts of the UK. What more needs to be done? Jane is joined by a panel of experts and campaigners to hear from some of you about how Long Covid has changed your lives since March, and to discuss the latest developments. She speaks to - Dr Nisreen Alwan, Associate Professor in Public Health, University of Southampton;Ondine Sherwood LongCovidSOS campaign co-founder; Dr Elizabeth Kendrick, GP & Medical Director of Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust who have been running a virtual Long Covid clinic since August and listeners – Emily, Gillian, Niluka and Morag.Presented by Jane Garvey. Producers: Sarah Crawley and Louise Corley Editor: Beverley Purcell

Sister Bliss is a DJ, songwriter and one of Britain’s most iconic and long lasting female electronic artists. She is perhaps best-known as a member of the British electronic band Faithless. She joins Katya to talk about her thirty year career, going from the underground club scene to sell-out arena shows. Female deaths due to cocaine have risen by 26.5% in 2019, according to the ONS. Why is the number of women dying from cocaine use increasing so rapidly? The UK economy has taken a real hit during the pandemic with figures suggesting women with small business start ups in areas like beauty, leisure and hospitality being worst affected. But the crisis also seems to have spurred on many others to take the plunge and go out on their own. And Dr Polly Russell the lead curator of a major new exhibition Unfinished Business: The Fight for Women’s Rights’ which opens at the British Library tells us how the work of contemporary feminist activists in the UK has its roots in the long and complex history of women’s rights. Presenter Katya Adler Producer Beverley PurcellGUEST; Ian Hamilton GUEST; Maxine Luckhurst GUEST; Molly Masters GUEST; Emma Jones GUEST; Dr Polly Russell

The number of women sleeping rough has risen over the last decade and as the economic impact of Covid 19 takes hold, social policy advisers fear the situation could worsen. Female rough sleepers with their complex profile have it worse on the street, and in wider homelessness terms the number of lone women and women with children has soared in temporary accommodation. Katya Adler talks to Dame Louise Casey who, as “Homelesssness Tsar”, championed the “Everyone In” policy which got rough sleepers off the street and into temporary accommodation during the height of the pandemic and Petra Salva, the head of the Rough Sleepers Unit at the charity St. Mungos. A new film version of The Secret Garden is released on Friday. Written by Frances Hodgson Burnett, the book was first published in 1911 and is seen as a classic of English children’s literature. But the story of the author behind the book is far less well known and utterly fascinating. Katya Adler is joined by Ann Thwaite, whose biography of Frances Hodgson Burnett, Beyond the Secret Garden, first came out in 1974 but has been reissued this year, and Lucy Mangan, author of Bookworm, who has loved the novel since she was a little girl. The World Trade Organisation will shortly have a new leader and for the first time in its history it’s going to be a woman. There are two remaining candidates. They are Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala from Nigeria, and Yoo Myung-hee from South Korea. To discuss the candidates, Katya is joined by Allie Renison, Head of Trade and EU Policy at Institute of Directors.On Friday a major new exhibition opens at the British Library. ‘Unfinished Business: The Fight for Women’s Rights’ shows how the work of contemporary feminist activists in the UK has its roots in the long and complex history of women’s rights. Lead curator, Dr Polly Russell joins Katya Adler to discuss the multi-faceted exhibit where you can see everything from personal diaries, banners and protest fashion to subversive literature, film, music and art, women’s voices, stories and experiences. Presented by Katya Adler Producer: Louise Corley Editor: Beverley Purcell

Jane Garvey talks to Sisters Leo & Aelread from The Poor Clares of Arundel who've just released an album of traditional plainchant with added beats. What can we learn from them about living life in these times? It's a couple of weeks now til the Presidential elections in the States and to discuss what it will mean for women we talk to Melissa Milewski, a lecturer in American History at the University of Sussex and Dr Michell Chresfield Lecturer in United States History, at the University of Birmingham. Has Mumsnet the popular website for parents which has spawned thousands of discussion threads become too politicised? Sarah Pedersen, Professor of Communication and Media at Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, talks about her new book on the subject and what makes a good job-share work? Presenter: Jane Garvey Producer: Lisa Jenkinson Studio Manager: Tim Heffer Photograph: Chris O'Donovan

Victoria Wood, the Lancashire born comedian, writer, actor, stand up and singer found fame with shows such as Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV, Wood & Walters and Dinner Ladies. She died in 2016 having never written her own story. With access to letters, and interviews with friends and family Jasper Rees has written ‘Let’s Do it’ – The Authorized Biography of Victoria Wood. Mairead Campbell works at BBC Radio 1 and turned 30 last year. She made a documentary for BBC Radio Ulster about the fact that friends and family suddenly started asking when she’s going to settle down and how that made her feel. Recently fertility clinics across the UK claimed they have seen a surge in inquiries about egg freezing. Professor of Reproductive Biology, Mary Herbert, joins Jane to discuss what may have prompted that rise. How do you raise a kind and empathetic child with a social conscience? We speak to Uju Asika, author of Bringing Up Race: How to Raise a Kind Child in a Prejudiced World; and Miranda McKearney, founder of the Empathy Lab, a not-for-profit dedicated to teaching children empathy through fiction. Presenter: Jane Garvey Producer: Lucinda Montefiore

We have music from the former supermodel Carla Bruni who tells us about her new album.We hear from the Conservative MP Laura Trott who is trying to get a law passed to stop under 18s accessing filler treatments and other cosmetic procedures. We also hear from Ashton Collins from the organisation Save Face who have had reports of injuries caused by botched cosmetic procedures. A journalist who writes about paramilitaries, has made a formal complaint to the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland because investigations into threats made to her and her baby have come to nothing. She tells us why she believes her gender means she receives more threats than her male colleagues.We discuss why three-quarters of women living with HIV in the UK are of Black, Asian or minority ethnic background. We hear from Dr Rageshri Dhairyawan, a consultant in Sexual Health and HIV Medicine and two women living with HIV: Mina Kakaiya who's a mental health and mindfulness trainer of South Asian heritage, and Bakita Kasadha who's a British-Ugandan poet, activist and researcher. They discuss the stigma around the illness.Onjali Rauf tells us about her new children’s book, The Night Bus Hero, which is told from the point of view of a bully. And with so many of us working from home, and who knows when it will end, how's it going for you? We hear from clinical psychologist Linda Blair, and Chloe Davies, Head of PR & Partnerships at MyGWork.Presenter: Jane Garvey Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed Editor: Siobhann Tighe

Dolly Alderton joins Jane to talk about her first novel Ghosts. Her protagonist Nina Dean is dealing with a lot. She’s trying to make it as a food writer and finally has a flat of her own. Her dad is slipping away from her into dementia and her Mum is set on re-inventing herself. Friends are changing and disappearing into coupledom and parenting so when Max shows up via a dating app he seems like a dream come true. In fact, Nina’s problems are only just beginning. A rape survivor we are calling Katie contacted Woman’s Hour to tell her story. After a horrific ordeal at the end of last year, a few weeks ago her former partner was convicted of rape and sexual assault and was give a lengthy prison sentence. Katie feels that she has had justice and that she was well treated by the police and in court. But, as she explains to Jane, she is left with questions and an uncomfortable feeling that other victims of rape might not have had the same treatment or outcome. At a time when the rate of convictions for rape have fallen to an all-time low, Gillian Jones, QC and Head of Chambers at Red Lion in London, responds. When many of us suddenly switched to home working back in March, we might have thought we would be back in the office by now, but 30% of us are still working from home, and there is no timetable yet for returning to offices. So how’s it going, sharing work space with other adults, children or indeed no-one at all? What have we learned about the do’s and don’ts over the last 7 months? Jane speaks to clinical psychologist Linda Blair, and Chloe Davies, Head of PR & Partnerships at MyGWork, who originally told us about her experiences of juggling her work and two young sons back in May.

A striking new female figure can be seen in Kings’ Place in London, and online from this week. Medusa is a tall, headless woman whose body turns into snakes made of chainmail. For her creator, Manchester-based artist Susie MacMurray, the sculpture is a metaphor for women’s power. She and a team of female art students used 300 kilos of copper wire to create Medusa, as part of a new exhibition of her work, Murmur, which opens on 21 October. A free preview tour is also being livestreamed on YouTube and Instagram this Thursday 15 October at 6pm, just search for Pangolin London. Lip fillers and other cosmetic procedures are increasingly popular and there’s even been what the industry is calling a “zoom boom” over the last few months with people wanting to change their appearance after spending hours looking at themselves on their computers. But it’s not just adults turning to fillers, it’s also teenagers who’re often targeted on social media by advertisers and are in part influenced by the celebrities they see on TV shows. What you may not realise however is that it’s completely legal for under 18s to get fillers and it’s an area that is at present completely unregulated. Anyone can administer fillers and there are even reports of people buying fillers online and injecting themselves after watching a how-to session on Youtube. Jane Garvey talks to Laura Trott MP who is trying to get a law passed to stop under 18s accessing filler treatments and Ashton Collins from Save Face. What’s it like to get a diagnosis of ADHD as a woman in middle age? We often associate the condition with much younger people, usually boys, partly because ADHD in girls presents itself in a much quieter way. But Emma Mahony’s ADHD was formally diagnosed when she was 52. She’s written a book called Better Late Than Never, which explores how her diagnosis makes sense of her life and the decisions she’s made.Do women forgive differently from men? Jane speaks to Sandra Barefoot who works in prisons with the Forgiveness Project. She is running creative writing workshops in November with Cecilia Knapp, Young People’s Laureate for London and Anne Marie Cockburn whose daughter died of an ecstasy overdose. Can writing help people find strategies for forgiveness? Presenter: Jane Garvey Producer: Clare WalkerWebsite image of Medusa courtesy of Ben Blackall

Carla Bruni's new album is described as "a wholehearted embracing of her true self." She talks to Sangita about the inspiration behind it and life under lockdown. The impact of Covid-19 on working class women. Plus the choices of set texts offered by the major exam boards for GCSE English literature. Djamila Boothman, an English and Assistant headteacher at a school in North London and children’s author Onjali Rauf discuss why we need more books written by authors of different backgrounds and ethnicities And Onjali Rauf will also be talking about her new book The Night Bus Hero which is told from the point of view of a bully. Presenter: Sangita Myska Producer: Beverley Purcell Guest: Carla Bruni Guest: Dr Mary-Ann Stephenson Guest: Onjali Rauf Guest: Djamila Boothman

As the new three tier Covid lock down system comes into force in England we talk to some of the businesses which’re now facing stricter restrictions. Hannah Butler who runs the Victoria Hotel in the centre of Nottingham – a city which is now in the high risk tier - and also to Tanya Harrison who runs a hair salon in Liverpool which is now in the highest risk tier. And as the Northern Ireland executive meets today to agree what new measures are needed to curb the steep rise in covid cases there, Tina McKenzie from the Federation of Small Businesses will assess the economic impact of any new restrictions.In her book Overdue: Birth, Burnout and a Blueprint for a Better NHS, Amity Reed describes what led her to becoming a midwife, in particular her desire to properly support and care for women throughout pregnancy, birth and postnatally. The reality of working in over-stretched and underfunded NHS maternity service soon shattered her illusions. The former midwife joins Jane to talk about her experiences as a midwife. A journalist who writes about paramilitaries, has made a formal complaint to the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland because investigations into threats she’s received have come to nothing. A year ago Patricia Devlin, who’s a crime journalist for the Sunday World, was posted a message on Facebook saying “Don’t go near your granny’s … Trisha. You will watch your new born get raped COMBAT 18!” It’s not the first threat she’s had but it’s the first time her baby’s been threatened.Lisa Beaumont has just been awarded Health Play Specialist of the Year from The Starlight Children’s Foundation, for her work at Leeds Children’s hospital. She joins Jane to discuss the help she provides to seriously sick children, and the impact coronavirus is having on the service she can provide. Presenter: Jane Garvey Producer: Dianne McGregor