Woman's Hour

Listener Week on Woman's Hour is where we bring your stories, ideas and the issues you want to hear about to air.
How much of the detail about your marriage or long-term relationship do you share with your best friends? One listener says her husband is unwilling to discuss any of their issues, or go to therapy, but that she feels she can’t talk to friends honestly about their relationship either. To discuss, Kylie Pentelow is joined by psychotherapist Julia Samuel and Natasha Lunn, author of Conversations on Love, a bestselling book.
Are library closures misogynistic? Woman’s Hour listener Kirsten thinks so. She believes that libraries help women in a whole range of ways - from providing employment to toddler groups - and so closing them disproportionately affects them. She'll join Isobel Hunter, Chief Executive of Libraries Connected, to discuss.
Over 70,000 babies each year require specialist care on a neonatal unit (NICU). Parents of these babies feel the impact on their mental health from time spent in NICU is overlooked. With one in seven babies spending time in NICU, listeners Lorna Tallowin and Lottie King contacted the programme to highlight the long-term impact on the families affected.
Judith got in touch to share the benefits of intergenerational friendships and the difference they can make to our lives. Judith and Iona are best friends. She’s 76 and Iona is 22. They join Kylie to discuss.
Presenter: Kylie Pentelow
Producer: Kirsty Starkey

Last month, two reports into maternity services in England were published. Donna Ockenden’s review of maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and Baroness Valerie Amos’s investigation into maternity and neonatal services in England. These reports raised important issues about maternity services in England, but what impact have they had on the morale of those working in this area - particularly midwives? Nuala McGovern was joined by author and midwife Leah Hazard, Claire, a midwife practising in Wales, and Safia Saad, a student midwife and founder of Fund Future Midwives UK.
Prenups are popular amongst the rich and famous, but research suggests that prenuptial agreements are on the rise for younger couples in the UK. Nuala spoke to Claer Barrett, Consumer Editor at the Financial Times, and Woman’s Hour listener Bethan, who has a prenup with her husband, to discuss why more couples are drawing up legal contracts with their partners before they tie the knot.
New analysis on mummies of Egyptian princesses shows they were warriors not just pampered queens with the signs pointing to them being highly skilled archers. They even carried wounds consistent with those made by daggers at close combat. It's an intriguing finding but perhaps an even bigger question is why discoveries like this still have the power to surprise us. We delve into how much of history is shaped not just by the evidence itself but by the assumptions we bring to it. Historian, broadcaster and author Bettany Hughes, whose new children's book explores the lives of people in Ancient Egypt, joined Kylie Pentelow along with Professor of History Olivette Otele.
Presenter: Kylie Pentelow
Producer: Annette Wells

There's been a lot of opposition to FIFA's plans to sell stakes in its competitions to private investors. UEFA, the governing body of football in Europe, have said they would boycott Fifa events if the plans go ahead. The Asian Football Confederation and Concacaf, which governs football in North and Central America, have also opposed the plans. BBC sports correspondent Patrick Gearey explains how this might affect women's football.
A new study is investigating why autistic women are less likely to attend cervical screening. Many report pain, anxiety, sensory sensitivities and feeling dismissed during smear tests. Willow Holloway, who is autistic, joins Kylie Pentelow to describe her experience. Researcher Dr Aimee Grant, explains the barriers autistic women face, and why alternatives, like at-home HPV testing, could help improve access to life-saving screening.
Do you remember your first kiss? Or perhaps your worst kiss? And what was your last kiss - a smacker, a snog, a pash - or rather a quick peck on the cheek? Maybe just an air kiss? Or perhaps you would rather keep your lips to yourself - and wish others would too. Professor Katie Barclay, a historian of emotions based at Macquarie University in Sydney, has taken a deep dive into a thousand years’ worth of kisses for her new book The Kiss: A History of Passion & Power. She joins Kylie to explain why our ancestors had a kiss for almost every occasion but kissing is now in decline.
In the 1990s the work of the young British playwright Sarah Kane caused controversy with its groundbreaking, unflinching portrayal of violence on stage. Almost 30 years after it was first performed, a revival of Kane’s play Cleansed has opened at The Almeida, directed by the theatre’s outgoing, Olivier award-winning Associate Director, Rebecca Frecknall. Now accompanied by content warnings, a self-care guide and a decompression space, how might today’s audiences approach this confrontational work - and how does it feel to perform it? Kylie discusses with the director Rebecca Frecknall and actor Pearl Chanda, who plays Grace in this production.
The UK’s only all-women chess team has been crowned champions of the second division of the national league, winning them a historic promotion to the top tier. It is the first time an all-female team has reached the top division in the 33 years of the UK’s national league and a big achievement by the She Plays To Win Lionesses, but because of league rules they may have to lose their all-women status, and include a man in the team to be allowed to play in Division 1. Kylie discusses the issue with Anusha Subramanian and Alisha Vyas - two members of the winning team.
Presented by Kylie Pentelow
Producer: Louise Corley

Last week, the government announced a 20% cut in business rates for pubs, clubs and music venues from April. These spaces are increasingly used for coffee mornings, parent and toddler groups, book clubs etc. - the new church hall for many - and they've become a really important "third space" for communities especially for groups that support women. The government has said it wants to protect these venues that are the beating heart of many communities. But is this announcement enough to save an industry that has taken a big economic battering in recent years? Joining Kylie Pentelow, Beverley Whitrick, Chief Executive of the Music Venues Trust, sociologist Dr Lisa McKenzie and 22-year-old pub landlady Elsa Mckenna, who's trying to make exactly this model work.
Actor Vicky Krieps is known best to UK audiences for acclaimed performances in films including Corsage and the Academy Award winning film Phantom Thread. She has also appeared in many European films including Hanna, Two Lives, and The Chambermaid Lynn. Vicky joins Kylie Pentelow to discuss her latest film, Love Me Tender, a moving and powerful drama about a mother forced to fight for her relationship with her son after choosing to live openly as a gay woman. The film, directed by Anna Cazenave Cambet and based on Constance Debré's novel, is out in UK cinemas early next month.
Campaigners who work with women to encourage them to report crime are concerned that the Early Release Scheme proposed by the government could put them off engaging with the justice system altogether.  Andy Burnham has since announced a pause and a review of the scheme, which would have seen around 700 prisoners released from September. Today we hear from a campaigner, herself a survivor of sexual abuse, who fears the policy and the current uncertainty. 'Sam' (not her real name) reported and helped secure the conviction of the man who violently attacked and raped her 23 years ago. A month ago, before the scheme was paused, she received a letter from the Ministry of Justice warning that her attacker would be released early. She joins us alongside Harriet Wistrich, Director of the Centre for Women's Justice.
New analysis on mummies of Egyptian princesses shows they were warriors not just pampered queens with the signs pointing to them being highly skilled archers. They even carried wounds consistent with those made by daggers at close combat. It's an intriguing finding but perhaps an even bigger question is why discoveries like this still have the power to surprise us. We delve into how much of history is shaped not just by the evidence itself but by the assumptions we bring to it. Historian, broadcaster and author Bettany Hughes, whose new children's book explores the lives of people in Ancient Egypt, joins Kylie along with Professor of History Olivette Otele.
Presenter: Kylie Pentelow
Producer: Simon Richardson

A BBC investigation has uncovered allegations of sexual assault against the Hollywood star and musician Jared Leto. Four women who've spoken to the BBC were all teenagers at the time of the alleged offences, between 2002 and 2014. Nuala McGovern speaks to one of them about her experience and asks director Alice McShane about the process of making her film, Jared Leto: Hollywood’s Dark Secret. Some of the details of this story are graphic and the subject matter is distressing.
Bestselling author Scarlett Thomas has entered the world of ultra marathons and crypto-crime in her latest novel The Runner. She joins us to discuss writing a male protagonist and turning her hand to standup comedy.
Prenups are popular amongst the rich and famous, but research suggests that prenuptial agreements are on the rise for younger couples in the UK. Nuala speaks to Claer Barrett, Consumer Editor at the Financial Times, and Woman’s Hour listener Bethan, who has a prenup with her husband, to discuss why more couples are drawing up legal contracts with their partners before they tie the knot.
Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Helen Fitzhenry