Woman's Hour

Over the past few weeks we've been hearing women’s personal experiences about their relationships and why things went wrong. Today it's the turn of a woman we're calling " Sadie".Nurses are under-valued across the UK because of an old-fashioned view that caring for others is a ‘feminine characteristic’. That’s according to a new study, commissioned by the Royal College of Nursing. Jenni talks to Dr Anne Humbert one of the authors of the report and to Dame Donna Kinnair Chief Exec and General Secretary of the RCN about what needs to be done to change the public perception of the profession.The domestic abuse sector is facing a sustained funding crisis, with the Women's Aid Annual Audit showing that 64% of refuge referrals were declined last year. The number of refuge bed spaces in England is now 30% below the number recommended by the Council of Europe. Sarah Davidge the Research and Evaluation Manager from Women's Aid talks about what they think needs to be done to plug the funding gap.Getting the right information and support to raise a child with autism can be difficult for any parent. But if the child is from an ethnic background, research has shown that this can act as a 'double discrimination'. Why is this the case? We hear from Pam Aculey whose oldest son has autism and now has produced a series of children's picture books. And Venessa Bobb who has two children with the condition and now runs her own charity - A 2nd Voice - set up to help families like hers.Presenter Jenni Murray Producer Beverley PurcellGuest; Dr Anne Humbert Guest ; Dame Donna Kinnair Guest; Pam Aculey Guest; Venessa Bobb Guest; Sarah Davidge Reporter; Milly Chowles.

Last Friday, Gwyneth Paltrow launched her new TV series ‘Goop Lab’ on Netflix. It explores everything from reducing your biological age to having the best female orgasms and healing yourself with energy. But where’s the line between fact and fiction when it comes to wellness? What draws people in to trying the vast and bizarre range of creams and contraptions on offer? And what is it about our psychology that means it rarely matters whether the claims are backed up by science? Jane is joined by cognitive neuroscientist Prof Tali Sharot, consultant dermatologist Dr Anjali Mahto and self-confessed beauty product obsessive, Ree.In France there’s a debate going on about very young people having sexual relationships with older, more powerful men: something that used to be deemed acceptable in some intellectual circles. It’s because a woman called Vanessa Springora – a leading French publisher – makes allegations in a book which came out this month, that she was groomed when she was 14 by a much admired author who was 50. Anne-Elisabeth Moutet a French journalist, explains what’s happened, why it’s significant and how it's not acceptable anymore.Last week a written judgement was published in the family division of the High Court. Ms Justice Russell ruled in favour of a woman seeking a fresh hearing in the family courts. Her child custody case had originally been handled by a senior judge, Judge Tolson. In the course of his fact finding he ruled that the woman had not been raped by her former partner because she had “taken no physical steps” to stop him. The appeal judgement criticised him for his outdated ideas of what constitutes consent. It also recommended that family court judges who regularly deal with allegations of sexual assault and domestic violence should be required to undergo training to the same level as judges trying these charges in criminal courts. Jane discusses the significance of this judgement and what needs to happen next with Jenny Beck, Director of Beck Fitzgerald solicitors, a specialist family law firm and Louise Tickle, a journalist who specialises in social affairs and family law Jane talks to the award winning novelist and screen writer Emma Jane Unsworth about her new novel 'Adults' – about friendship, family, love and what it means to be an adult.Presenter - Jane Garvey Producer - Anna Lacey Guest - Tali Sharot Guest - Anjali Mahto Guest - Anne-Marie Lodge Guest - Jenny Beck Guest - Louise Tickle Guest - Emma Jane Unsworth Guest - Anne-Elizabeth Moutet

Seventy five years ago today Soviet troops liberated the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz Birkenau. January 27th is Holocaust Remembrance day. Edith Eger is a psychologist from Hungary. She was 16, an enthusiastic dancer and gymnast, when she was taken with her family to Auschwitz. She’s now 92. In 2018 she published a memoir about her experiences and how they shaped her life, it’s called “The Choice”. Tina Dahaley asked her what happened when they got to the camp in Poland: Aged fifty Marion Dunn joined a boxing gym. The fitness training proved incredibly hard but Marion soon became addicted to it and to learning how to punch with the best of them. She explains to Jane why she thinks boxing is such a wonderful activity.When you look back over your relationships do you see patterns? In the third in a series the story of a woman we are calling Katy who feels that her earliest experiences shaped what she looked for and needed from her partners.Zakiya Mckenzie, a writer from Bristol, talks to Jane about spending a year as Forestry England's writer in residence and her attempts to make the green movement more black.Presenter: Jane Garvey Interviewed guest: Edith Eger Interviewed guest: Marion Dunn Interviewed guest: Zakiya Mckenzie Reporter: Tina Dahaley Reporter: Millie Chowles Producer: Lucinda Montefiore

Gail Porter, once one of the UK’s most sought after female TV presenters, talks about her life in the documentary Being Gail Porter. From developing alopecia to suffering severe mental health problems and ending up homeless. As the Office for National Statistics releases new employment figures – we look at what sorts of jobs women are losing and what's being done to save them, with the Economist Vicky Pryce and the TUC’s Head of Economics Kate Bell.As well-known high street fashion brands start selling clothes under the ‘Modest Fashion’ banner we find out what "modest fashion" really means from Reina Lewis from the London College of Fashion and the model Amina Begum Ali.Would you sacrifice having children to save the planet? Jane takes your calls and examines the issue with Anna Hughes who's chosen to be child free for environmental reasons and Professor Sarah Harper Director of the Oxford Programme on Fertility Education and Environment.Plus the playwright Miriam Battye and the actor Rebekah Murrell talk about their new play at the Royal Court in London which explores the highs and lows of female friendship. And Lorna Cooper gives us her tips for feeding a family of four on a budget of just £20 a week.Presented by: Jane Garvey Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed Editor: Beverley Purcell

Lorna Cooper says she feeds her family of four on £20 a week. She's cut it down from £100. She offers her best tips for planning meals and stretching your grocery money.Churches, mosques and gurdwaras should be safe places for teenagers. Yet due to a loophole in the law adults in faith settings can have sexual relationships with 16 and 17 years old who are under their supervision. This would be illegal if it happened in a school. The MP Sarah Champion is leading a cross-party group of MPs looking into how teenagers can be better protected in faith settings and how this legal loophole can be closed. Why is the idea of connecting with past lovers so powerful? A new novel called Mix Tape by Jane Sanderson explores the power of music to bring soulmates back together. Radio 4 has a drama tomorrow which is about the famous novel, The Well of Loneliness. The drama is set in 1928 and is about the obscenity trial that led to the banning of the book. Written by Radclyffe Hall, the novel's about a love affair between two women. Shelley Silas is the writer of the Radio 4 drama and joins Jane to talk all about it.

A new scanning technique that can identify aggressive tumours could help to transform the treatment of breast cancer. Dr Ferdia Gallagher, an academic radiologist at Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge explains. Meanwhile, cervical cancer affects more than 3,000 women a year, but there is concern that progress has stalled in tackling the disease. Dr Julie Sharp is head of health and patient information at Cancer Research UK and she discusses what needs to happen. How much do your girlfriends mean to you? A new play at the Royal Court theatre explores the highs - and the lows - of female friendship. The playwright Miriam Battye and actor Rebekah Murrell join Jenni to discuss.In October 1726, newspapers began reporting a remarkable event: In the town of Godalming in Surrey, a woman named Mary Toft was giving birth to rabbits. Mary was examined by medics and the case drew the attention of the King, government and law courts. Historian Karen Harvey talks about her new book The Imposteress Rabbit Breeder.And, Clara Ponsati is a highly regarded economics professor at the University of St Andrews, but in 2017, she was the Catalan minister of Education when the independence referendum was held. The Spanish government declared the vote illegal and it wants Ponsati to return to Spain to face a charge of sedition. The BBC’s Niall Gallagher takes a look at who she is and what is likely to happen next.Presenter: Jenni Murray Producer: Ruth Watts

In 1999, Gail Porter was one of the UK’s most sought-after female TV presenters. Most famously, she helped sell over a million copies of FHM magazine after her naked image was projected onto the Houses of Parliament. In Being Gail Porter, a documentary for BBC Scotland, she explores her rise to celebrity and her fall into depression, anorexia, self-harming and homelessness. She talks to Jenni about why, after more than 20 years, she now feels able to face up to what she's been through and begin to make sense of it all.Milly Chowles has set out to try to understand why, when it comes to relationships, we often repeat what we've done in the past. In the second of her series about toxic relationships she talks to Jo who felt compelled to seek out conflict and drama. Despite a lifetime of correspondence, just 160 of Jane Austen’s letters survive to the present day. The vast majority were burned by her beloved sister Cassandra after her death. But what secrets was she trying to destroy? In her latest novel, Miss Austen, Gill Hornby imagines the complex relationship and lives of these two sisters and the events that motivated the editing and rewriting of Jane’s history.Presenter Jenni Murray Producer Beverley PurcellGuest; Gail Porter Guest; Gill Hornby Reporter; Milly Chowles

The Office for National Statistics release new unemployment figures today. We look behind the numbers and ask what sorts of jobs women are losing and what’s being done to save them. What do we know about the jobs that women are employed in? And have efforts to help women get into better paid sectors changed the gender pay gap? Do you know what “modest fashion” is? It’s about wearing less revealing clothes, and if you’ve a religious faith which emphasises modesty, it’s a style which allows you to do just that and look great. Well-known high-street shops and on-line brands (like M&S and ASOS) sell clothes under this banner, appealing to a more diverse range of customers. But is it really just a new way of describing how many of us prefer to dress, especially as we get older? Reina Lewis from London College of Fashion together with Amina Begum Ali who’s a model, discuss how it fits into the UK’s £32 billion fashion industry. When you look back over your relationships do you see patterns? Our reporter Milly Chowles does and she wants to understand why this might be. In a new series about toxic relationships she talks to four women who have broken free. Today, a woman we are calling Nina who was drawn to bad boys. Writer Kate Murphy claims that as a society we’ve forgotten how to listen. She joins Jane to talk about what stops us & to argue the case for better listening.Presenter: Jane Garvey Interviewed guest: Vicky Pryce Interviewed guest: Amina Begum Ali Interviewed guest: Reina Lewis Interviewed guest: Kate Murphy Reporter: Milly Chowles Producer: Lucinda Montefiore

The population of Earth has doubled since 1970 and is heading for 10 billion by 2050. That’s a lot of extra strain on the planet. Could having fewer kids be the answer? Jane Garvey wants to hear your thoughts! Would you consider having fewer kids for the greater good? Have you or someone you know decided to live a child-free life? Is Harry and Meghan’s choice to stop at two the ideal compromise? Are you someone who couldn’t ignore the urge for a third? Or is it over-consumption rather than over-population that’s the real issue? Call 03700 100 444 or email us via the Woman's Hour website. Lines open from 0830Presenter - Jane Garvey Producer - Anna Lacey Guest - Prof Sarah Harper Guest - Anna Hughes

Maggie Oliver, the former detective and whistleblower who exposed Greater Manchester Police’s poor handling of the sexual abuse of young girls in Rochdale, talks about the publication of the first part of an independent review into failures in the Investigation of the sexual grooming of children. She tells us why she thinks girls are continuing to be abused today.A mother tells us about her daughter being able to access around 30 cosmetic procedures despite being under the age of 18. Caroline Payne a plastic and reconstructive surgeon discusses how and why this might happen.We have music Alison Rayner Quintet.We discuss the term ‘Mixed Weight Dating, used to describe a couple with a noticeable difference in body size or shape, with Steph Yeboah a plus size and body positive lifestyle blogger and Ebony Douglas the CEO of her own marketing and PR agency.We hear from the heads of the UK’s only two women’s housing associations Zaiba Qureshi the Chief Executive of Housing for Women and Denise Fowler the Chief Executive of Women’s Pioneer Housing. How have women’s housing needs changed since the organisations were set up?Presented by: Jenni Murray Produced by: Rabeka Nurmahomed Editor: Lucinda Montefiore