Woman's Hour

Children with special education needs and disabilities - known as SEND - in England will have their support reviewed as they move into secondary school, according to leaked government plans. Anita Rani speaks to Catriona Moore, policy manager from IPSEA, and SEND parent and campaigner Rachel Filmer.
It's 150 years since the death of George Sand, the pen name of Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin who, by the time she was thirty, was one of the most famous writers in the world. Born in 1804, her works became extremely popular in French and in translation, outselling Hugo and Balzac in Britain. She wrote more than 70 novels, countless plays, political essays, and an autobiography as well as launching a literary review, two local newspapers and two national republican political journals. She dressed as a man, smoked cigars, and had what was said at the time to be a promiscuous private life. Her biographer, Fiona Sampson tells her story to Anita.
Dr Punam Krishan is a Glasgow based NHS GP and the resident doctor on the BBC’s Morning Live programme. Back in 2024 she was a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing where she was the first dancer to perform a Bollywood routine. But six months ago, at the age of 42, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and has since gone through treatment. She has recently written about how being a doctor didn’t prepare her for the experience of being a patient. Dr Punam joins Anita to discuss.
We hear from the creators of a brand new opera exploring the Divine Feminine, its relevance in the modern world and the enduring archetype of the Goddess across different cultures. Soprano Emma Tring from the BBC Singers, composer Shiva Feshareki and award-winning poet Karen McCarthy Woolf join Anita to discuss their empowering, futuristic opera, which has been commissioned by Radio 3 to celebrate International Women’s Day next month.
Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Corinna Jones

The woman tipped to be the next head of the UK Civil Service has faced multiple bullying complaints according to reports this morning. The Times newspaper says "there is more than a whiff of misogyny" in the briefings against her. Nuala McGovern hears more about the debate over the possible appointment of Dame Antonia Romeo with Kitty Donaldson, the Chief Political Commentator for the i Newspaper, and Caroline Slocock. Caroline was the first female private secretary to a British Prime Minister when she served alongside Margaret Thatcher.
Belle Burden is a former corporate lawyer, a pro bono immigration lawyer, a Harvard graduate and a mother of three, born into American high society. When she got married in 1999, her wedding was announced in the New York Times. Two decades later she broke with convention and published her candid essay on the marriage’s sudden rupture, in the long-running New York Times Modern Love series. Now her book Strangers: A Memoir of a Marriage has become a New York Times bestseller. Belle Burden joins Nuala live from New York to discuss ghosting, grieving and getting on with life on her own terms.
Tomorrow, the Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper will speak about the plight of women and girls in Sudan at the United Nations Security Council. Stories from the war-torn country are harrowing. Sudan’s conflict began in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces or RSF. More than 150,000 people have died in the conflict across the country, and about 12 million have fled their homes in what the UN has called the world's largest humanitarian crisis. Nuala is joined BBC’s Africa Correspondent, Barbara Plett Usher.
Two years ago, Dr Henrietta Hughes, England’s first Patient Safety Commissioner, published a report laying out a plan for compensation for women harmed by pelvic mesh implants. The Hughes report set a deadline for the government, which has just passed without action. Dr Hughes tell Nuala what action she wants to see from the government, and Kath Sansom, the founder of the Sling The Mesh campaign group, tells us how women’s lives have been affected.
Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Helen Fitzhenry

More than 141,000 children are in kinship care in England and Wales. According to new research from the charity Kinship, 40% of kinship carers are forced to claim benefits or increase their benefits when they step in to take on the care of a child from a family member. To explain why some kinship carers want the same parental rights as others in a parental role, like an adoptive parent, Clare McDonnell is joined by the CEO of Kinship, Lucy Peake and carer Nash, who took on the permanent care of her sister’s children after her sister died.
Broadcaster, model and activist Ashley James says she’s always been underestimated and often written off as a ‘bimbo’. But now she’s reclaiming the word as the title of her new book, which explores many of the judgmental labels used to describe women and their life choices. From 'bossy' to 'mumsy' to 'silly girl', Ashley joined Clare to unpack the impact such words can have on women and girls and why she hopes opening up about her own experiences will inspire others to stop shrinking and shake them off.
Team GB snowboarder Mia Brookes gave an amazing performance coming fourth in the women's snowboard big air final at the Winter Olympics in Italy. The 19-year-old had been hoping to become Great Britain's first gold medallist on snow. She went for a backside 1620 trick - featuring four-and-a-half rotations - and landed before she over-rotated and her heel edge caught in the snow. Mia's mum, Vicky Brookes, joined presenter Nuala McGovern on the line from her campervan in Livigno close to the Olympic venue.
Deborah Douglas has written a memoir about her experience as a victim turned campaigner in one of the biggest scandals in British medical history. Her story sits at the centre of the case of disgraced breast surgeon Ian Paterson, jailed in 2017 for performing harmful and unnecessary operations on women who believed they were being treated for cancer. An inquiry in 2020 found both NHS and private hospitals missed repeated chances to stop him. Deborah joined Clare to discuss The Cost of Trust.
A new exhibition at the Charles Dickens museum celebrates the women who influenced the great Victorian novelist's female characters, social commentary and campaigning to improve the lives of vulnerable women. But how does this sit alongside the other, darker narrative, that Dickens himself was a misogynist who mistreated his own wife? To sort the fact from the fiction, the exhibition curator Kirsty Parsons & the historian Professor Jenny Hartley joined Nuala to discuss.
Presenter: Clare McDonnell
Producer: Annette Wells

In December 2024, Dominque Pelicot and 46 other men were found guilty of the aggravated rape of his wife Gisèle. Another two were found guilty of attempted rape and a further two were found guilty of sexual assault. Dominque had drugged Gisèle with medication without her knowledge, raped her and invited other men to rape her, filming as they did so. At least another 20 men who took part in these rapes could not be identified. Waving her right to anonymity, Gisèle Pelicot declared that shame has to change sides. Despite her becoming a household name, not only in her native France but around the world, very little was known about Gisèle herself.
Today sees the publication of her much-anticipated memoir, A Hymn to Life. Nuala McGovern is joined by writer and journalist Judith Perrignon, who co-wrote the memoir with Gisèle, and Professor Manon Garcia, who watched the trial in Avignon and analysed its resonance in her book Living with Men, Reflections on the Pelicot Trial.
The award-winning internationally renowned Welsh harpist and composer Catrin Finch first came to prominence in her early 20s as the official Royal Harpist to King Charles, the-then Prince of Wales. She achieved chart success with her No. 1 recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations and has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras. Catrin, who began playing the harp at just six years old, has a new album, Notes to Self, a series of reflective and deeply personal new tracks she has composed for Katy, her 13-year-old-self. She tells Nuala about her first album of solo compositions in a decade.
One of the children talking about their everyday achievements in our new podcast, SEND in the Spotlight, which features young people with special educational needs, is Henry. He's autistic, and school is not always easy. Things got even tougher when his grandma died. That's when Henry decided to raise money for the hospice which looked after her. We hear his story in his own words.
With the Winter Olympics in full swing in Italy, how are sports like ice hockey faring here in the UK? And what are women doing on the ice rink? Joining Nuala are Ellie Wakeling and Abbie Sylvester, who both play alongside male players with the Romford Buccaneers.
Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Andrea Kidd

It’s more than a decade since Nadiya Hussain became a household name after winning the Great British Bake Off. Since then, she’s fronted her own cookery shows, written more than a dozen cookbooks and a series of children’s books. Her latest collection of recipes is called Quick Comforts, and Nadiya joins presenter Clare McDonnell to talk about finding comfort in food, her career so far and lots more.
A series of stories in The Guardian this week are spotlighting the role that domestic abuse plays in suicides - they say the number of women's suicides that are being are linked to domestic abuse is being severely underreported in police statistics. Figures from the National Police Chiefs Council's Domestic Homicide Project have shown for the last two years that there were more victims of domestic abuse who took their own lives in England and Wales than were killed by their partner. Research by a suicide prevention programme in Kent led by Tim Woodhouse is suggesting the figures could be much higher. We hear from Tim and Dr Hannana Siddiqui, Director of Policy, Campaigns and Research at Southall Black Sisters.
Actor Kate Fleetwood talks about her latest role as the angry, vindictive Witch in Stephen Sondheim’s fairy tale musical Into the Woods. She’ll be singing live and telling Clare about playing the villain, the challenges of this demanding singing role and why Shakespeare holds an important part of her life.
Megan Boxall is running the coastline of Britain, hoping to complete 200 marathons in 200 days. She joins us live from the Scottish Highlands - the latest stage of her challenge - to update us on her progress so far and the people she has met along the way.
Presenter: Clare McDonnell
Producer: Kirsty Starkey