Woman's Hour

Launching the theme of our 80th birthday year: "Use Your Voice", we celebrate live from the Glasgow Women's Library in Scotland, the sole accredited museum of women’s history in the UK.
Nuala McGovern is joined by guests: Women's Health Champion for Scotland Dr Anna Glasier, social media influencer and campaigner Fats Timbo, professor of private law Jane Mair and poet and writer and former Makar, Jackie Kay.
We hear from some of the Woman's Hour archive including suffragette Mary Richardson from 1957, a woman on breast cancer from 1969, a woman called Candida talking about coming out in the mid 1980s, Margaret Thatcher talking about childcare in 1990, Tracey Emin's reflections on her abortion from 2011 and Rose McGowan talking in 2018 about reigniting the #metoo movement.
Our guests reflect on archive from Nancy Astor on being the first female MP in the House of Commons, on a woman talking about the progression of family planning and reactions to the conviction of Sarah Everard's murderer.
To mark our 80th birthday we commissioned a poll to ask a nationally representative sample of 2,000 women how they feel about using their voices for themselves – how able do they feel to ask for what they want? Where in life do they feel most able to speak out, and what is most likely to stop them? Nuala talks to Anita Rani who is in the studio in London to find out more.
Hollie McNish is the author of five collections of poetry. She was the first poet to record at Abbey Road Studios, in London, and won the 'Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry'. To celebrate our 80th birthday we asked Hollie to write us a birthday poem, and she performs it live on the programme.
Then we hear from our listeners - we recently asked you if something you'd heard on the programme over the years had inspired you to use your voice. We hear from listeners Rachel, Barbara, Veronica and Angela.
Presenter: Nuala McGovern
Producer: Corinna Jones

Hundreds of schools in France have closed after clashes between police and student protestors. Chloe Quesnel is a high school teacher in Nice in France. She's been watching her students take to the streets to protest over classroom conditions, lack of resources and the number of teaching staff. Chloe and Paris-based journalist Lisa Louis tell Kylie about the student protest of the last week, and what can be expected from today.
The Party is a five-part ITV series based on the acclaimed novel by Elizabeth Day and adapted by award-winning writer and actor Sarah Solemani. At the centre are two men, Ben, a wealthy politician, and Martin, a political journalist, whose life has been shaped by their relationship. While the men drive the central plot of class obsession and co-dependency, the female characters serve as the moral anchors, truth-tellers, and catalysts for the story's climax. Elizabeth Day and Sarah Solemani join Kylie to discuss this tale of class, sex, shame, power, betrayal and secrets.
A File on Four investigation has found that one in every 118 children in England who are under 1 years old, are subject to care proceedings - that’s a rise of over 60% in the last two decades. Experts believe that with intensive support many of the 3,000 children who are adopted each year could be cared for or remain in contact with their birth parents. BBC special correspondent Judith Moritz discusses what she's discovered, and Kylie speaks to Prof Karen Broadhurst, co-director of the Centre for Child and Family Justice Research.
Artist and poet Cecilia Vicuña is regarded as one of the most important Latin American artists living today - she is often described as an eco-feminist drawing connections between the exploitation of nature and the marginalisation of women. She'll be talking about her new solo exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery in East London.
Presenter: Kylie Pentalow
Producer: Cerys Maidment

Monica Dolan is starring in a new film, The Lost Children of Tuam, co-produced by Liam Neeson. In it, she plays the extraordinary amateur historian, Catherine Corless, whose relentless pursuit of the truth helped to bring the story of hundreds of babies from an Irish mother and baby home being disposed of in a disused sewage tank to the world in 2014. She joins Nuala McGovern along with journalist Alison O’Reilly to discuss this powerful tale of community activism and how it led to an ongoing mass exhumation.
Kemistry is what Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative party leader, is calling her personal brand of conservatism. Almost two years into her tenureship, she has set out her core principles in a 95-page essay. And at their conference in Birmingham yesterday, Badenoch also pledged to scrap the £100,000 earning limit for parents to claim 30 hours a week of free childcare, if her party is elected. Kitty Donaldson, Chief Political commentator at the i Paper gives her thoughts.
Broadcaster Ashley James has gone public about the lasting effects of birth complications – including incontinence – and why she believes we need to speak more openly about it. To discuss, Ashley joins Nuala alongside NHS GP Dr Ellie Cannon, who specialises in women’s health.
As the weather turns a little more chilly this week, you may be thinking about swapping cereal for something more warming, like porridge. Gina Saarberg has won the coveted Golden Spurtle at the World Porridge Making Championship, which took place in Carrbridge in the Highlands on Saturday. She tells Nuala her tips for a delicious bowl.
Stage and screen actor Jane Asher, and Laura Main - best known for Call the Midwife - play The Queen and her dresser in By Royal Appointment, Daisy Goodwin’s play about the quiet power behind the monarch’s public image. It reveals how the Queen expressed what she couldn’t say — through colour, coats and the occasional hat — and how her dresser rose from lipstick advice to real influence. The play is currently on a UK tour – this week they’ll be at the Theatre Royal in Nottingham.

A group of school children have set up a petition calling on the government to ban the use of school uniforms in porn. They say they want to abolish the sexualisation of children through the inappropriate use of school uniform. Kylie Pentelow is joined by two of the campaigners Aylin and Mae, both 15. Kylie also hears from Professor Clare McGlynn, Professor of Law at Durham University and author of Exposed: The problem of Extreme Porn.
Helen Rebanks believes the unsung heroes of rural life are often the wives whose behind-the-scenes efforts keep both the family and the business afloat. Descended from generations of Cumbrian farmers, she still lives in the Lake District. Her bestselling 2023 book, The Farmer's Wife, has inspired a play by the same name, running at the Theatre By The Lake in Keswick until 10 October. Helen joins Anita Rani along with playwright Hannah Khalil to discuss the often-overlooked role of farmers wives.
A social media-driven resurgence in the popularity of sunbeds is said to be fuelling a rise in cases of skin cancer, particularly among young people, according to some experts. Melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, is now one of the most common cancers in people aged 15 to 34, according to Cancer Research UK. Meanwhile research by the Teenage Cancer Trust found around 48% of 18 to 34-year-olds in the UK use sunbeds – the highest proportion of any age group. Observer journalist Marine Saint has been looking into this, along with Rosie Vare from the Teenage Cancer Trust.
The Women’s Art Collection at Murray Edwards College in Cambridge is marking 40 years since its inception in 1986, with a new exhibition inspired by its very first artwork and two new acquisitions. Joining Kylie to discuss putting women in the frame are Harriet Loffler, Director of the Women’s Art Collection, the artist Professor Dame Sonia Boyce and the art historian and author of The Story of Art Without Men, Katy Hessel.
Many parents will have just experienced the departure of their children from the family home as they head for university, turning once-bustling households into so-called 'empty nests'. It can leave those left behind feeling unsettled and cut adrift. Denise Turner, Professor of Social Work at the University of Hertfordshire, is researching the impact this life transition has on parents. They are joined by parenting author and journalist Lorraine Candy to discuss her findings.
Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Dianne McGregor

Multiple protests have been taking place in Delhi over the past week. Hundreds of women have come together in India's capital to protest against a series of sexual assaults - most recently the alleged gang-rape of a 17-year-old near Delhi university's campus. Anita speaks to the BBC's South Asia correspondent Azadeh Moshiri.
The manufacturers of a new weight loss drug are warning women to beware of dangerous fakes being offered. The new medication is called Retatrutide. Although you can find it for sale on websites, it's not approved and is still in clinical trials. Dr Emily Pegg the UK medical director of the drug company Eli Lilley, the makers of Retatrutide and Dr Alison Cave, the chief safety officer of the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Authority join Anita Rani to discuss the issues.
A photography exhibition starts at the Vagina Museum in London next week called Just Because We Smile, Doesn’t Mean We’re Over It. The images are of more than 100 people who have experienced miscarriage, baby loss or infertility. It is the passion project of Bex Gunn, who along with Laura Buckingham runs The Worst Girl Gang Ever Foundation. Bex and Laura join Anita to explain why they founded their charity and the community that are reflected in these photos.
The fourth part of our listener series 'When My Body Surprised Me'. Saba describes the impact weight training for the first time in her 60s has had on her life.
Helen Rebanks believes the unsung heroes of rural life are often the wives whose behind-the-scenes efforts keep both the family and the business afloat. Descended from generations of Cumbrian farmers, she still lives in the Lake District. Her bestselling 2023 book, The Farmer's Wife, has inspired a play by the same name, running at the Theatre By The Lake in Keswick until 10 October. Helen joins Anita along with playwright Hannah Khalil to discuss the often-overlooked role of farmers wives.
Presented by: Anita Rani.
Producer: Louise Corley