History of Knitting, Labour Conference 2019, US Black Maternal Health Clinic

It is widely expected that continuing conflict over Brexit will result in an early general election. Research suggests that younger women who vote Labour are more likely to favour remaining in the EU, while many of the Labour Party’s older female voters and traditional voters are thought to have backed Leave in 2016. So, how will Labour Party appeal to all of its women supporters?

On Woman's Hour this week we’re hearing from people with dementia about how music helps them cope. The Alzheimer's society organises Singing for the Brain groups across the country. Henrietta Harrison went along to one of them in Hackney in North London and met two daughters who are caring for their mothers

Jennie Joseph is a UK trained midwife whose work has successfully reduced maternal and perinatal mortality in the most vulnerable groups of women in the US. Her community based maternity centre in Orlando, the JJ Way, offers free care to all women and has dramatically improved outcomes for mothers and their babies. And The Birthplace, a clinic founded around her model of care has become a renowned pregnancy care centre. So what might the UK learn from work now being done in the US where black women of all backgrounds have long faced a much higher risk of maternal death than white women?

When Esther Rutter received a gift of some unusual Shetland wool, she was unsure what to make with it, and so set out on a voyage of discovery through the knitting history and culture of the British Isles. On the way, she discovered the secret feminist history of knitting.

Presenter: Jane Garvey Interviewed guest: Anneliese Dodds Interviewed guest: Jennie Joseph Interviewed guest: Esther Rutter Reporter: Henrietta Harrison Producer: Lucinda Montefiore