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BBC Radio 4

Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire. The Woman's Hour Guide to Life collection is here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/guidetolife

Woman's Hour

The Irish boxer Katie Taylor sold out Croke Park in Dublin on Saturday night. More than eighty thousand people turned out to see Katie perform one last spectacular time before she retires. Katie is considered by many as Ireland's greatest athlete and one of the greatest female boxers of all time. Nuala McGovern discusses Katie's career with Ireland's first female world boxing champion Deidre Gogarty - now a coach - and an inspiration to Katie as a child, and the sports writer, broadcaster, and boxing pundit Steve Bunce.

Baroness Margaret Hodge's memoir is called Battleaxe - reclaiming a label once used against her by critics. The Labour life peer looks back on her 50 years as an elected representative; and her life from being born in Alexandria to Jewish parents, to arriving in post war Britain stateless, becoming the first Children's Minister and the first woman to chair the Public Accounts Committee, to arguing with Jeremy Corbyn over antisemitism. Now aged 81 and a member of the House of Lords, Baroness Hodge argues that politics can still be a force for good.

Woman’s Hour has a new series about the impact of having an absent father. The phrase 'daddy issues' is often used as a soundbite, but the reality behind it can be deeply complex. What can it mean when a father is missing from a daughter's life? We asked you for your stories. Julie wanted to tell us about the secret she had to keep for many years. She met her dad only a handful of times. He became a mystery that has absorbed her for as long as she can remember. She speaks to reporter Jo Morris.

Presented by Nuala McGovern
Producer: Louise Corley

Boxer Katie Taylor, Baroness Margaret Hodge, The impact of having an absent father.

05/09/2026

Tomorrow the Sussex Maternity Review will launch in Brighton to examine more than 1,000 cases spanning over a decade. The independent review's chair, the former midwife Donna Ockenden, will meet with families who have been affected by poor maternity care in the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust. Bereaved mothers, Hannah Robotham and Katie Fowler join presenter Clare McDonnell to share their stories, along with BBC Social Affairs Correspondent Michael Buchanan.

Journalist Tansy Hoskins has spent more than a decade investigating the fashion industry, from garment factories to global supply chains. In her new book Charity Shop World she looks into where unwanted clothes end up, volunteering in a charity shop to reveal the hidden stories behind people's donations. Tansy joins us to discuss over-consumption, textile waste, and the hidden workforce - mainly women - who are dealing with the consequences of fashion industry excess.

We hear about the life and work of American feminist icon and journalist Gloria Steinem, who passed away in New York City this week. Feminists Beatrix Campbell and Sarah Ditum reflect on her long-lasting global legacy, from her beginnings as a freelance writer to her life-long battle for women’s rights.

The new Women's Super League (WSL) season kicks-off tonight as London City Lionesses play Manchester United. So what exactly can we expect to see this season and what do we need to know? Clare speaks to Helen Hardy, the founder of Foudy's, which she says is the first and only dedicated women’s football retailer in the world. She appeared on our Woman's Hour Power List back in 2023 for her work amplifying the sport.

Presenter: Clare McDonnell
Producer: Rebecca Myatt

Sussex Maternity Review, Hidden world of charity shops, Remembering Gloria Steinem

Whilst the vast majority of nurseries provide safe and caring environments, there have been a number of highly distressing cases in recent years where children have been abused or come to harm. From 1st September this year, strengthened welfare and safeguarding requirements have come into effect for early years providers in England, with the changes designed to help keep babies and young children safe. Joining Clare McDonnell to discuss are BBC investigative reporter Hayley Hassall, Jonathan Broadbery from the National Day Nurseries Association and Zoe Raven, Chief Executive of the Acorn Early Years Foundation.

On Radio 4's Norman Day, we ask what it was like to live through one of the most dramatic turning points in British history and its aftermath. Historian Dr Emily A Winkler, author of Pocket Bayeux Tapestry, and author Claire Fuge whose novel The Siren's Daughter tells the extraordinary story of real-life Welsh princess Nest ferch Rhys, tell Clare what was like to be a woman in Norman Britain.

Dr Louise Willcott is an NHS doctor and lifelong car enthusiast who recently launched a business, the Women’s Auto Academy, running women-only workshops teaching basic car maintenance. We talk to her and motoring journalist Maria McCarthy about the many benefits of women better understanding how our cars work.

Women are being squeezed out of the film industry as they progress beyond their first films -that's according to the director of the BFI London Film Festival, Kristy Matheson. Women have directed just two of its 21 high-profile gala films this year. So what can be done to help female directors go beyond being 'one hit wonders'?

Presenter: Clare McDonnell
Producer: Corinna Jones

Nursery safety, Women in Norman times, Motor mechanics, Women in Film

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the body that represents NHS paediatricians, has warned of a sharp rise in the number of children aged 6 to 17 turning up at A&E units in England in a state of mental health crisis. The RCPCH's Officer for Health Services, Dr Ronny Cheung, a consultant paediatrician based in London, joins Nuala McGovern to discuss the issue. He is joined by Kate Silverton, child therapist and parenting author.

Siobhan Daniels joined Woman's Hour a couple of years ago as part of Listener Week to talk about her alternative lifestyle, getting rid of her possessions and living nomadically while travelling the country in a motorhome. Now she's back with a new book, Retire and Refire, which chronicles her 4,000-mile solo RV adventure from Canada to Alaska along the Alaska Highway.

The number of babies born in Scotland last year was the lowest on record. Records began in 1855. Esther Roughsedge, Head of Demographic Statistics at National Records of Scotland, explains more.

A menopause specialist has said that she is aware of women posing as men to buy testosterone from online pharmacies because of difficulties obtaining NHS prescriptions in Wales. Jenny Rees, BBC Wales Health Correspondent, joins Nuala to discuss the issue.

This summer, Woman's Hour has been hearing from some of the academics who have been working with Radio 4 on their research. Professor Nandini Das, Professor of Early Modern Literature and Culture at the University of Oxford, highlights the artist Levina Teerlinc from her new book, This Little World: A New History of Tudor and Stuart England.

Divorced. Beheaded. Died. Divorced. Beheaded. Survived. Words familiar to most of us, and perhaps what you learned at school. But what do we really know, in depth, about Henry VIII's wives? There's a campaign to ensure that children learn more about the queens than those six words. Tracy Borman, Chief Historian at Historic Royal Palaces, explains more about their project.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern 
Producer: Dianne McGregor

Child mental health, Siobhan Daniels & RV travels, Testosterone,

The award-winning singer-songwriter and actress Natalie Imbruglia first hit our screens in the early 1990s, playing the role of Beth Brennan in the Australian soap Neighbours. Her 1997 debut single Torn quickly became a worldwide hit, and she’s sold more than 10 million albums. Her latest album, Algorithm, is out later this week. Natalie joins Nuala McGovern to discuss some of its themes – relationship breakups, perfectionism and perimenopause, and what it feels like to be championed by the new generation of pop stars.

A new definition of heart attacks could help transform the way women are diagnosed and treated. Experts in the field say women have been 'deprioritised' for decades, but this new global guidance has a new focus on the types of heart attacks experienced by women, and the criteria used to detect them. Professor Nick Mills, British Heart Foundation Professor of Cardiology at the University of Edinburgh, joins Nuala to explain along with Allison Lawson, who had a heart attack two years ago.

Between 1949 and 1976, an estimated 250,000 mothers in the UK had their new-born children taken from them through a system involving the state, social workers and religious organisations. A landmark BBC documentary, available now on iPlayer, Stolen Babies, tells the story of those women and the children who were taken from them. In July, the outgoing Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer issued a formal apology. Judy Baker, who features in the documentary talks about her own experience of giving up a baby.

Bestselling author Adele Parks joins us to talk about her new book Eyes On You which follows the story of Amy who, at fifteen, witnessed her father brutally murder his mistress. She tells Nuala why she wanted to explore the effect of such a crime on the perpetrator's family, and how she has tried to make each of her 26 books better than the last.

Natalie Imbruglia, Adele Parks, Forced adoption, Heart attacks

After a summer when hot weather has drawn many of us towards the water, we explore its pull as a place of freedom, adventure and friendship, as well as the risks it can pose.

Writer and wild swimmer Brigid Lowe tells us how swimming in Scotland’s lochs gave her a sense of freedom, a journey she charts in her new memoir, Shiver: The Lessons of the Lochs. Musician Tricia Duffy explains how rivers and the sea flow through her songwriting, including her recent EP, River Stories.

Seren Jones, co-founder of the Black Swimming Association, joins us to discuss who feels able to enjoy the water, why some communities face greater barriers to swimming and how we can all enjoy open water more safely.

We also meet some of the women whose working lives depend on water. Ivana-Maria Carrioni-Burnett, a former Royal Navy officer who now works as a sea pilot on the Thames, describes climbing aboard huge vessels and taking control of their navigation. Plus Sara Barsley and Hayley Garrod from the Canal and River Trust reveal the work that goes into keeping Britain’s waterways flowing.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Simon Richardson

Women and Water

Women who have missed a cervical screening appointment in England are to be offered HPV self-testing kits by the NHS. Over the next year, nearly four million women will receive invites on the NHS App or via text message, email or letter to order a free kit to use at home. The aim is to encourage more women to complete their potentially lifesaving screening to detect HPV, which can increase the risk of cervical cancer. Dr Sue Mann, National Clinical Director for Women's Health in England and a consultant in Sexual and Reproductive Health, joined Nuala McGovern.

For more than a decade, armed gangs in northern Nigeria have repeatedly targeted schools, kidnapping children for ransom and forcing some educational establishments to close. BBC journalist Yemisi Adegoke has recently returned from the state of Zamfara, where ongoing insecurity has left many girls unable to attend school, threatening their futures. She talks to Anita about her experience.

After the death of both her parents, best-selling novelist Louise Doughty made a startling discovery whilst clearing out the family home. Inside a black suitcase, she stumbled upon a treasure trove of letters that revealed the origins of her parents' love affair. She joined Nuala to discuss her first memoir On This Spot Fell One Tear of Love described as a portrait of grief and loss and family – and a love story.

Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Annette Wells

Weekend Woman's Hour: HPV home-testing kits, Nigeria schoolgirl kidnappings, author Louise Doughty

Hormone replacement therapy may reduce the risk of dementia, a new study has found. Researchers tracked more than 180,000 postmenopausal women and their analysis suggests that those who had used HRT appeared to be less likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, and the greatest reduction was seen in women who had undergone surgical menopause. 
Anita Rani talks to Anne-Marie Minihane, Professor of Nutrigenetics at Norwich medical school at the University of East Anglia and lead author of the study, asking her whether any conclusions can be drawn from these findings. 

Five time Tony Award-winning musical Kimberly Akimbo has its European premiere this evening at the Hampstead Theatre in North London. Jeanine Tesori wrote the music for the production and joins Anita to explain why she wanted to set the original play to music and song.

The latest of our series where our academic researchers in residence talk about something that’s caught their eye this summer. Beth Malory is Associate Professor of English Linguistics and Health Communication at University College London. She’s been troubled by a phrase we’ve discussed a few times on Woman’s Hour: medical misogyny.

As the ongoing cost of living crisis keeps food bills soaring, Amy Sheppard has made it her mission to show people interesting, budget-friendly ways to cook with what they’ve got. What started as a personal challenge to feed her own family has grown into several Sunday Times bestselling cookbooks and a community of more than a million followers on Instagram. Amy joins Anita.

Cosplay, short for 'costume play', involves elaborate design with fans crafting outfits and dressing up as characters from the world of video games, comic books and films. Live from one of the world's biggest gaming conventions, Anita speaks to Rosie, aka valentinemoon, who is one of the leading cosplayers and a judge on an all-female panel for the competition, and the BBC's Laura Cress, who is attending this year.

Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Corinna Jones

HRT and dementia, Cookbook author Amy Sheppard, Cosplay

People who were sexually abused as children and later seek help for mental health problems are being failed by the NHS, according to The Royal College of Psychiatrists. The RCOP has issued a public apology, saying decades of mismanagement and misdiagnosis have left many survivors without the support they need. Anita Rani is joined by Caroline Thompson, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, and Dr Jo Stubley, a consultant psychiatrist and clinical lead of the Tavistock Trauma Service, who are co-authors of the RCOP's position statement. 

Today in towns and cities across the country, parents are being encouraged to go on strike to raise awareness about, what the strike's organisers say are the rising costs of raising children and the impossible demands this puts on parents. Anna Whitehouse, the founder of Flex Appeal, and George Gabriel, who co-founded The Dad Shift, discuss the flexible working and parental leave policies that they are calling for with The Parent Strike and how the Government is responding. 

For more than a decade, armed gangs in northern Nigeria have repeatedly targeted schools, kidnapping children for ransom and forcing some educational establishments to close. BBC journalist Yemisi Adegoke has recently returned from the state of Zamfara, where ongoing insecurity has left many girls unable to attend school, threatening their futures.

Bella Mackie's third novel, Claws Out!, is published this week. It's a witty crime caper about an ageing ‘gold-digger,’ who is rumoured to have murdered three husbands and has a new suitor in sight. Bella - whose debut How to Kill Your Family is currently being turned into a Netflix series starring Anya Taylor-Joy - tells Anita why she loves exploring the British class system in her books and why she’s determined to use her platform to talk openly about mental health.

Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Rebecca Myatt

Parent Strike, Bella Mackie, non-recent child sexual abuse

In a special extended 90 minute programme, Nuala McGovern hosts the Woman's Hour Election Debate. Senior women from the main political parties of Great Britain outline their priorities for women and answer your questions. Taking part are: Scottish National Party spokesperson for Consular Affairs and International Engagement Hannah Bardell; Reform UK candidate Maria Bowtell; Green Party spokesperson for Housing and Communities Ellie Chowns; Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats Daisy Cooper; Conservative Minister of State for Disabled People, Health and Work Mims Davies; Labour's Shadow Minister for Industry and Decarbonisation Sarah Jones and Plaid Cymru’s Westminster Leader Liz Saville Roberts.

Woman's Hour Election Debate

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