Woman's Hour

The Duchess of Cambridge has spearheaded a campaign to persuade retailers to donate items to baby banks around the UK. New figures from the three big charities – Baby Basics, Little Village and AberNecessities have published figures which show the number of families with children under five who’ve needed their help has risen significantly since the coronavirus crisis began. How are they managing to cope? 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. For the first time in its 29-year history, female artists and female-fronted bands have outnumbered men on the shortlist for the Mercury Prize. Alongside Dua Lipa and Laura Marling, Georgia has been nominated for her second album ‘Seeking Thrills’. She joins Jenni to discuss her music, the transcendental power of the dancefloor, and being nominated for the Mercury Prize, 25 years after her father. This morning the funeral of John Hume, the Northern Irish politician and Nobel Prize winner will be held. He’s survived by his wife and professional partner, Pat. Who is the woman for whom the The John and Pat Hume Foundation for Peaceful Change and Reconciliation was formed? We hear from Eimear O'Callaghan, former BBC News Editor, and Monica McWilliams, Emeritus Professor at Ulster University. Luan Goldie has written a new novel called Homecoming. Set in London and Kenya over a period of twenty years, it is a story about love, family and friendship. Luan is a primary school teacher and her last book, Nightingale Point, was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2020 and she won the Costa Short Story Award in 2017.Presenter: Jenni Murray Producer: Dianne McGregor

Empowering schoolchildren to identify propaganda and distorted facts online

How can you help your children to identify fake news on the internet? With the explosion of different platforms it can be hard to keep tabs on what they are watching. Jane finds out from the editor of 'The Week Junior', Anna Bassi, and Juliane von Reppert-Bismarck, the founder of 'Lie Detectors', an award-winning news literacy project which empowers schoolchildren to identify propaganda and distorted facts online. Matt Hancock announced on 30 July that we should move towards more ‘zoom medicine’, but how does this impact women and women’s health issues? We speak to Dr Clare Gerada who advocates for a mixed approach - she believes patients should always be given the choice between a face to face or online appointmentOver the next two weeks we are 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 they speak of coming to terms with the skin they are in. Ena Miller went to meet 49 year old Jayne in Shropshire and heard her story. Journalist Emma John is also a classical trained musician who’d fallen out of love with her violin. A chance trip to the American south introduces her to bluegrass music. It feels like a homecoming. Emma gives up her job and undertakes a musical quest into the Appalachian mountains. The result a book: Wayfaring Stranger: A musical Journey in the American South. Emma talks to Jane about the breakthroughs and difficulties of her musical journeyPresenter: Jane Garvey Producer: Kirsty StarkeyInterviewed Guest: Dr Clare Gerada Interviewed Guest: Anna Bassi Interviewed Guest: Juliane von Reppert-Bismarck Interviewed Guest: Jayne Reporter: Ena Miller Interviewed Guest: Emma John

Listen to sisters Ella and Amy. They're behind Kids Against Plastic and talk to us about the world's reliance on plastic, especially single use plastic, and the way we just dump it. On Wednesday they're part of the online climate change forum called ‘Race Against Climate Change’.We go to Ireland to hear about a tampon TV ad which has caused a stir, so much so it's been taken off air. Some people have been offended by it due to its straightforward description of how you use them. Two Irish women defend the ad. They're Alexandra Ryan and Ciara Kelly.After Ireland we go to India to learn about a petition which urges the Indian Prime Minister to encourage men to do their fair share of housework. So far the petition has 70,000 signatures. And we go to the jazz and soul singer, Zara McFarlane who talks about her album Songs of An Unknown Tongue. She says that her latest single called Black Treasure is a "declaration, proclamation and celebration of black Britishness and womanhood."

We discuss the process of recovery after domestic abuse, the way that these relationships can stay with you but also how you can build a new life after. How do those who have survived abuse find their behaviour affected? What do they wish that their friends and family had understood? And how can friends and family can help? With Sue Penna, co-founder of Rockpool who deliver trauma-informed training programmes for those working with survivors of abuse, and Jennifer Gilmour, an author and advocate for women in abusive relationships, and founder of #AbuseTalk on twitter and the Abuse Talk podcast.The school summer holidays are underway across the UK – but this year they’re going to be a bit different. Thanks to coronavirus there’s a shortage of childcare and holiday clubs, helpful grandparents are mostly off-limits, parents are already exhausted from juggling home-working and home-school for four months, and teenagers are faced with another six weeks of restricted freedoms. So how are people planning to make it through to September? Joeli Brearley is the founder of Pregnant then Screwed, and Leann Cross is the director of Home Start Greenwich.Now that cycling may soon be on prescription and bikes are soaring in popularity due to the pandemic, how can women ensure they have a pain-free ride? Endurance cyclist and coach Jasmijn Muller talks about what she’s learned from years of serious pain, and specialist women’s cycling physio Bianca Broadbent gives her top troubleshooting tips for everything from saddles to lubricating cream, and not wearing pants.We explore what it’s like to be a black woman and work in the music industry. Jacqueline Springer is a music lecturer and journalist. Fleur East is an artist and songwriter who rose to fame after coming second on the X Factor in 2014. Lioness MC is a Grime rapper who has been making songs for over 10 years.In her book Sex Robots and Vegan Meat, journalist Jenny Kleeman explores seismic changes in four core areas of human experience: birth, food, sex and death. We hear about the implications of fully functioning artificial wombs and what sex robots mean for future relationships between men and women.In the next of our summer series of How to guides, we discuss how to end your relationship well. It seems lockdown has accelerated the process for some couples, with one UK-wide legal services firm reporting a 42% increase in enquiries about divorce between March and May. We offer you expert suggestions on managing the practical, emotional, legal and financial aspects of splitting up, with the least damage to you and others. Jenni is joined by family lawyer and mediator Rebekah Gershuny, FT Money digital editor Lucy Warwick-Ching, family therapist Joanne Hipplewith and founder of amicable Kate Daly.Presenter: Jenni Murray Producer: Rosie Stopher

How to End a Relationship, Alice Oseman, Mother and Baby Units in Prison.

New Department for Education figures out this morning revealed that 7,894 children were excluded from school in England during 2018/19. This is a slight decrease from the previous year, but otherwise the numbers have been increasing year on year since 2013. Although girls are less likely than boys to be formally excluded, a charity called Social Finance UK released research this month showing that girls are removed from school in such a way that they're often missed from official statistics - something the charity call 'the invisibly excluded'. But what effect does being expelled have on young people? And how are the ripples of exclusion felt by the teachers and parents of the children involved? Ultrarunner Beth Pascall has just completed one of the most gruelling Lake District fell challenges and set the fastest-known time for a woman: 65 miles in 14 hours 34 minutes - taking 50 minutes off the previous best. How did she go from her first cross-country run at six years old to a speciality distance of 100 miles? And how does she balance being a paediatrician with an inevitably demanding training regime? Jenni is also joined by Dr Nicola Rawlinson, a performance physiologist at Loughborough Sport who's researching female physiology and sports performance for her PhD. She discusses why women perform so well at ultra distances and how our bodies adapt to exercise.We discuss the process of recovery after domestic abuse, the way that these relationships can stay with you but also how you can build a new life after. How do those who have survived abuse find their behaviour affected? What do they wish that their friends and family had understood? And how can friends and family can help? With Sue Penna, co-founder of Rockpool who deliver trauma-informed training programmes for those working with survivors of abuse. Sue designed the Recovery Tool Kit programme, delivered to survivors of abuse across the UK, she’s also the author of The Recovery Tool Kit: A 12 week plan to support your journey from Domestic Abuse. And Jennifer Gilmour, an author and advocate for women in abusive relationships, and founder of #AbuseTalk on twitter (live every Wednesday) and the Abuse Talk podcast.

The Black Lives Matter movement has shone a light on a number of areas of society where discrimination and prejudice exists beneath the surface. Today we explore what it’s like to be a black woman and work in the music industry. Jacqueline Springer is a music lecturer and journalist. Fleur East is an artist and songwriter who rose to fame after coming second on the X Factor in 2014. Lioness MC is a Grime rapper who has been making songs for over 10 years.PMDD, Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder, an extreme form of premenstrual syndrome or PMS. affects up to one million women in the UK but is little known, and often misdiagnosed. The BBC has carried out its own research and heard the experiences of 4000 women across the UK. Nearly 3,000 said they’d had suicidal thoughts and around 1,500 self-harmed in the days before their period. To discuss diagnosis and treatment options we hear from Laura Murphy, Director of Education and Awareness for IAPMD (The International Association for Premenstrual Disorders) and Founder of Vicious Cycle : Making PMDD visible, and from Dr Paula Briggs, Consultant in Sexual and Reproductive Health at Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust.Presented by Jenni Murray Producer: Louise Corley Editor: Beverley Purcell

We often take it for granted that cycling can make you feel a bit saddle sore. But that expectation masks the fact that many women experience real pain when cycling - due to a combination of inappropriate saddles, ill-fitting bikes and a lack of understanding by medical experts of the damage that can be done to the vulva. Now that cycling may soon be on prescription and bikes are soaring in popularity due to the pandemic, how can women ensure they have a pain-free ride? Endurance cyclist and coach Jasmijn Muller talks about what she’s learned from years of serious pain, and specialist women’s cycling physio Bianca Broadbent gives her top troubleshooting tips for everything from saddles to lubricating cream, and not wearing pants. The Chartered Counselling Psychologist and former Great British Bake Off Finalist, Kimberley Wilson, joins Jane to discuss her time working in a women’s prison, her mission to improve brain health with simple lifestyle and nutritional tips, while still enjoying an occasional slice of cake.Writer and performer Jackie Clune joins Jane to talk about her new novel I’m Just a Teenage Punchbag, a comic tale of menopause, grief and a disillusionment with motherhood.

The school summer holidays are underway across the UK – but this year they’re going to be a bit different. Thanks to coronavirus there’s a shortage of childcare and holiday clubs, helpful grandparents are mostly off-limits, parents are already exhausted from juggling home-working and home-school for four months, and teenagers are faced with another six weeks of restricted freedoms. So how are people planning to make it through to September? In her book Sex Robots and Vegan Meat, journalist Jenny Kleeman explores seismic changes in four core areas of human experience: birth, food, sex and death. Jane will be talking to Jenny about the implications of fully functioning artificial wombs, what sex robots mean for future relationships between men and women, who the people are shaping the technological changes taking place and how soon these inventions will become an inevitable part of human life. Summerland is a new film set during WW2, featuring Alice a folklore investigator debunking myths using science to disprove the existence of magic. She lives a solitary life in a seaside cottage in Sussex but her way of life is turned upside when she has reluctantly to take in a young evacuee . Presenter: Jane Garvey Interviewed guest: Leann Cross Director, Home Start Greenwich Interviewed guest: Emma Thomas, CEO of Young Minds Interviewed guest: Jenny Kleeman Interviewed guest: Jessica Swale, film director Producer: Lucinda Montefiore