Woman's Hour

Fawzia Koofi, a member of Afghanistan's peace negotiating team survived an assassination attempt on Friday. This come after the Afghan government announced a new council to safeguard women's rights and interests, amid fears peace talks with the Taliban could lead to the loss of hard-won gains. Mahjooba Nowrouzi from the BBC Afghan Service explains. In 1973, Julie Welch became the first woman to report on football for a British national newspaper. In her new book 'The Fleet Street Girls' she talks about her own battles for recognition, and the experiences of other female trailblazing journalists who also took on the male-dominated world of Fleet Street. Mary Stewart has been called one of the great British storytellers of the 20th century. The author who has sold over 5 million books is said to have invented the romantic suspense novel. Her 1954 best-seller Madame, Will You Talk? has been dramatised in two parts for Radio 4. We speak to the writers Jane Casey and Harriet Evans who are both fans of her work.Kat Francois is a performance poet and playwright. In coming to terms with her own infertility she came to the realisation that in all communities, but especially in black communities, infertility can be a taboo subject. She spoke to other women who shared similar experiences and weaved their stories along with her own into a performance piece.Presenter: Jane Garvey Producer: Dianne McGregor

On VJ Day we hear from Patricia and Jean Owtram who both served their country while their father was a prisoner of war in the Far East.We discuss the findings of the BBC Sport Elite British Sportswomen's survey 2020 published this week.Karen Maine tells us about her new film Yes God, Yes about 16 year old Alice growing up a Catholic and attending Catholic school in the early noughties in the American mid-west.Plus as President Alexander Lukashenko is re-elected in Belarus, we talk about the woman who challenged him.And with nightlife on pause during lockdown how have female DJs been adapting?Presenter Jenni Murray Producer Rabeka Nurmahomed Editor Beverley PurcellGUEST Susannah Townsend GUEST; Priyanaz Chatterji GUEST; Tammy Parlour GUEST; Veronika Tsepkalo GUEST; DJ Flight GUEST; Ngaio Anyia GUEST; Karen Maine

To mark VJ Day 75 we’ll be speaking to two sisters, Patricia and Jean Owtram whose father was a prisoner of war in the Far East. At the time both sisters were serving their country. They are the last two living sisters to have signed the official secrets act in WW2. Patricia received a Legion of Honour for her interception of enigma code for Bletchley park as a WREN tapping into German shipping radio while Jean was a code & cipher officer in Egypt and Italy supporting secret agents and partisans fighting the Nazis. Now aged 97 & 94 they have collaborated on a book, Codebreaking Sisters, Our Secret War. They acknowledge that the war changed their lives “instead of just marrying, I went to university and then journalism before being a BBC TV producer” remembers Pat. And Jean says: “Girls from our class were destined to live a very narrow existence, focused on husband and children. The war gave us broader horizons and bigger adventures. I believe we have both been more useful to the world because of it.” How can you choose a planet-friendly sandwich? And how bad is it for an apple to travel from the other side of the world to get to your fruit bowl? Professor Sarah Bridle is part astrophysicist, part food-enthusiast, who wanted to know the environmental cost of her lunch. Much of the data was complex – so she’s simplified it in her book Food and Climate Change: Without the Hot Air which includes the greenhouse gases created by growing, harvesting, transporting and cooking what we eat, as well as the food itself. She’d like to see labelling of air-freighted foods in supermarkets to give consumers a better understanding of the impact of our diet on the planet. Throughout the summer, Woman’s Hour is offering ‘How To’ guides for some of life’s biggest questions. Today, we explore the best way to handle conflict and tension – whether it’s at home, with friends and family, at work or in public. What’s the best way to get your point across without letting your emotions overwhelm you? Ama Afrifa-Tchie is the Head of Culture & Wellbeing at Mental Health First Aid England. Charly Lester is a dating expert and freelance journalist. Jessamy Hibberd is a chartered clinical psychologist.Presenter: Jenni Murray Producer: Lucinda Montefiore

With nightlife on pause during lockdown how have DJs been adapting? DJ Flight has been at the forefront of drum and bass for over two decades. Signed to Goldie’s label Metalheadz, she’s played all over the world and is founder of EQ50, a project aimed at improving gender equality in drum and bass. Ngaio Anyia is a singer and DJ from Bristol who runs Booty Bass, a collective who offer DJ lessons for women. Jenni talks to them about livestreams and how their work has changed with COVID-19. With clubs closed, is it time to make the industry more gender balanced… and will it actually happen?Students all over the country are protesting about how their work will be graded for GCSEs and A-Levels after exams were cancelled because of Covid. It’s even worse for home-educated young people. They’ll be getting no grades at all for all their efforts because grades are allocated by schools.Belarus had elections on Sunday. The man who’s been President for 26 years (since 1994), President Alexander Lukashenko, got in again. A woman called Svetlana Tikhanovskaya challenged him in the election. She’s a stay-at-home mum and she told a crowd recently that she’d much prefer to be frying cutlets than run for President. She’s now left Belarus for safety reasons, saying she doesn’t agree with the election result. During her election campaigning two women have been by her side. One of them is Veronika Tsepkalo who’s also left Belarus. BBC Moscow Correspondent, Sarah Rainsford joins Jenni to discuss.We’ve been talking to women about their scars and skin, how they feel about them and how the reactions of others has shaped their lives. Today, Aimee who lives with psoriasis. Presenter: Jenni Murray Producer: Kirsty StarkeyInterviewed Guest: Alison Sauer Interviewed Guest: Jo Merrett Interviewed Guest: Veronika Tsepkalo Interviewed Guest: Sarah Rainsford Reporter: Ena Miller Interviewed Guest: DJ Flight Interviewed Guest: Ngaio Anyia

Alexandra Wilson on her new book “In Black and White”. The story of breaking down barriers of race and class to become a barrister. She explains how losing a very close family friend to knife crime made her pursue a career in law and how she has overcome her family’s fears of becoming “part of the system”Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee for President in this year’s US elections has finally named his running mate as Kamala Harris. Senator for California, she was Biden’s former rival for the Democratic nomination and will be the first woman of colour to be nominated for national office by a major political party. Kelly Dittmar, Director of Research at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, and Kimberly Peeler-Allen, co-founder of Higher Heights, an organisation supporting Black women into elected office, discuss the impact and reaction to her appointment. Plus we hear all about latest female technology firms - also know as Femtechs. Offering everything from period tracking apps to cooling menopausal bracelets - can they help women have more control over their bodies and their health? And the female authors looking to reclaim their name.Presenter Jenni Murray Producer Beverley Purcell Photo Credit; Laurie Lewis.Guest Alexandra Wilson Guest Berenice Magistretti Guest Billie Quinlan Guest Kimberly Peeler-allen Guest Kelly Dittmar

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called for Britain and France to work together to stop migrant boats crossing the Channel to Dover. On Friday a record number of unaccompanied migrant children arrived in the UK. The 23 youths were taken into the care of Kent County Council, on top of the 70 who arrived in July. According to the latest Home Office Statistics 90% of young (under 18) unaccompanied refugees who come in to the UK every year are male. What happens to the ten percent who are female? We hear from Dinah Beckett from Migration Yorkshire and Sharon Pearson who’s fostered Elsa.Yes God, Yes is a new film about 16 year old Alice growing up a Catholic and attending Catholic school in the early noughties in Midwest America During a chat on AOL she discovers masturbation and is overwhelmed with guilt. Seeking redemption, she attends a religious retreat to try and suppress her urges. Karen Maine, is the director..Part of our series about women and scars: we meet Laura who is 27 – she’s a care worker from Caerphilly in South Wales and she is a burns survivor. In 1920, a hundred years ago, the American Congress passed the 19th Amendment which gave women in the United States the right to vote. There had been an active and vociferous suffragette movement, led by some well known names – Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B Anthony. The name of Lucy Stone is less familiar. She wanted votes for all, regardless of sex or race. Moira Hickey went to her birthplace, West Brookfield, Massachusetts in 2018 to join the celebration of the bicentenary of Lucy Stone’s birth. Presenter: Jenni Murray Reporter: Ena Miller Reporter: Moira Hickey Producer: Lucinda Montefiore

Presented by Jenni Murray.Every few days we hear of more jobs going. The Bank of England said at the end of last week that unemployment is likely to hit 2.5 million this year. That means the jobless total would almost double by Christmas. Tonight there’s a Channel 4 documentary series starting which focuses on a job centre in Leeds and the people who use it. Jenni is joined by Olivia, who is a single mother mum and unemployed, Jan Baxter, who works at the jobcentre in Leeds and Helen Barnard, Acting Director of Joseph Rowntree Foundation.In Daisy Johnson’s novel Sisters July and September have an uncannily close relationship and one is more powerful than the other. Their mother struggles to cope and when things come to a head after a nasty incident at school they flee to a house in Yorkshire which turns out not to be the refuge they needed. Jenni talks to Daisy Johnson about horror, adolescence and the relationship between the two.The BBC Elite British Sportswomen's Survey was sent to 1,068 women in 39 different sports and received 543 responses. The survey covers trolling; funding and impact of Coronavirus; Periods and the Pill; Racism; Sexism; Abortion and Family Planning; Mental Health. Jenni discusses the findings with Becky Grey, BBC Sports reporter, Susannah Townsend, Gold medal hockey player, Priyanaz Chatterji, Scottish cricketer for Scottish Women’s Team and Tammy Parlour, CEO of Women Sport’s Trust. Producer: Louise Corley Editor: Karen Dalziel

The multi award winning writer Zadie Smith on 'Intimations', a collection of personal essays about lockdown. Photo courtesy of Dominique Nabokov.The rise in families with children under 5 needing help from baby banks has risen significantly since the pandemic began. We hear from Lauren Elrick who has a fifteen month old daughter and uses Abernecessities in Aberdeenshire. Sophia Parker, chief executive of Little Village baby bank in London and Tracy Thorn, an NHS family nurse.A television tampon advert has been banned in Ireland for causing widespread offence. Alexandra Ryan, CEO of Goss Media, and the radio presenter and former doctor Ciara Kelly discuss. Victoria Cilliers’ story made headlines in 2015, when it emerged her husband had tried to kill her by tampering with her parachute. Against all odds, she survived. After two trials he was sentenced to 18 years on two counts of attempted murder. Now she's written a book called 'I Survived'.At the funeral service of John Hume, the Northern Irish politician and Nobel Prize winner, it was said that 'when the history of Ireland is written, if Pat Hume's name is not beside John's, it will be incomplete history'. Pat, his wife, had been at his side during the Troubles, during peace, and his years of living with dementia. Jenni hears from Eimear O'Callaghan, former BBC News Editor, and Monica McWilliams, Emeritus Professor at Ulster University.Teenage sisters, Ella and Amy Meek are the founders of Kids Against Plastic. This week they were speaking at online climate change forum, hosted by the all-electric Formula E race Team Envision Virgin Racing. They told us about their concerns about the rise in single plastic use, and how we can all be plastic clever.Presenter: Jane Garvey Producer: Dianne McGregor

Would you stand up for your mate if she was being discriminated against? Would you stick up for her, even if it caused you problems? Today we discuss how to be a good ally. Whether it’s racism, sexism or homophobia what’s the best way to speak up and support your friends? We're joined by Chloe Laws from Glamour Magazine, Richie Brave who presents Brave Conversations on BBC 1Xtra, and Danielle Dash who's a freelance writer.Victoria Cilliers’ story made headlines in 2015. We heard how her husband tried to kill her by tampering with her parachute. Against all odds, she survived. After two trials, and the world’s press scrutinising their relationship, he was sentenced to 18 years on two counts of attempted murder. Now she's written a book called 'I Survived'. We chat to two Black businesswomen about their successes and challenges. They share their advice about setting up your own business. They are Rose Adkins Hulse, Founder & CEO of ScreenHits TV and Shalom Lloyd, Founder & MD of Naturally Tribal.

Zadie Smith’s newest book, ‘Intimations’, was written during the early months of lockdown. It is a series of personal essays reflecting on the unprecedented situation of a worldwide pandemic, hoping to provoke readers to reflect on what has happened and what might come next. Maternity care is to be the first focus of an independent new panel set up by the Health and Social Care Committee to give ratings to pledges made by the government. Ros Bragg from Maternity Action talks about what she would expect to be looked at, and the Chair of the new panel, Dame Jane Dacre, Professor of Medical Edcation at University College London, explains how patients’ experience will form a part of this evaluation.In a new series we’re talking to women about their scars. They all talk about physical and emotional pain and the business of having to deal with other people’s reactions on a day to day basis and of coming to terms with the skin they are in. Today, Emily’s story. Xuefei Yang is one of the world’s leading classical guitarists. Born in China, she started playing guitar aged seven, less than a decade after the end of the cultural revolution at a time when guitars were not well known in the country. By aged 10 she had already given her first public appearance. She toured the world as a schoolgirl and has now performed in over 50 countries. Her latest album, Sketches of China, draws from over 2000 years of Chinese culture and music. Making it has been a long-held dream, requiring transposing traditional music for the guitar to increase the repertoire for her instrument. She talks to Jenni about the stories behind the album, the story of the kidnapped intellectual woman Wenji Cai during the Han Dynasty and why it’s important to her to celebrate Chinese culture now.