Woman's Hour

We discuss the life of Mary Ward the 17th century Catholic nun who actively championed education for girls - and even spent time in prison for her cause. Now, almost four hundred years after her death, Mary Ward's legacy lives on via a network of almost 200 Mary Ward schools worldwide – including St Mary's School in Cambridge. She is considered the first sister of feminism and a pioneer of female missionary work. Sister Jane Livesey and Charlotte Avery headmistress at St Mary’s school for girls tell us about her life and legacy.

We hear from Jo Richards from British Wheelchair Basketball about the start of the British Wheelchair Basketball Women's Premier League which begins on Saturday live on the BBC. The league is the first of its kind worldwide, and the UK's first women's professional Para-sport league.

What do you remember about ‘ladette culture’? It was a term first coined in 1994 to describe young women who behaved boisterously, assertively and loved a drink. Some considered it a feminist movement – allowing girls to act ‘just like men’. Comedian Shappi Khorsandi – who grew up in the 90’s – explores ladette culture in her new comedy stand up tour. Professor Angela Smith teaches Language and Culture at the University of Sunderland. Shappi and Angela both join Anita to discuss the significance of this time, and how our attitudes have changed.

On 17th November 2019, Grey Atticus Fox was born, nine weeks early to author Georgina Lucas and her partner Mike. Weighing just three and a half pounds, he was taken to the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit and put on a ventilator. But less than two weeks later, a devastating prognosis left Georgina and Mike with an agonising decision of whether to withdraw Grey's life support. Georgina writes movingly about this experience and its aftermath in her memoir If Not For You.

Woman to Woman is the all-star group founded back in 2018 and features musical artists Beverley Craven, Julia Fordham and Judie Tzuke. Now the trio are back with a new album, new tour and a new collaborator- singer-songwriter Rumer. Anita will speak to member Julia Fordham about their reunion, working with Rumer and their latest singles.

Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed

Writer, comic, theatrical impresario, TV host and weekend chainsaw wielder Sandi Toksvig joins Clare McDonnell to talk about Friends of Dorothy, her first adult novel in 12 years. When Stevie and Amber move into their new home, they are surprised to find that the old woman they bought it from, a cantankerous and outrageous 79-year-old called Dorothy, is still living there.

Today marks two years since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in Iran. She’d been arrested by the country’s morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly and died in police custody. Her death sparked nationwide protests and the birth of the Women, Life, Freedom movement. BBC Verify journalist Reha Kansara talks to Clare about her new reporting on the women who continue to speak out and the horrific consequences they are still suffering.

The Breast Cancer Now Generations Study was set up in 2004 to help understand the causes of breast cancer. This 40-year landmark study – which this month reaches its halfway point – is following over 110,000 women to understand why breast cancer develops. Woman’s Hour has been following the project from the start, checking in every decade. Clare is joined by co-leader of the study Professor Amy Berrington and participant Amanda Jones.

The trailblazing ballerina, Michaela Mabinty DePrince, has died at the age of 29. A war orphan from Sierra Leone, she was brought to the US by her adopted family and made her way to the Dance Theatre of Harlem, the Dutch National Ballet, and even performed alongside Beyoncé. We hear an archive interview with Michaela when she spoke to Woman’s Hour about her life and career in 2015.

Carrie Hope Fletcher is an author, singer, West End star – and now a new mum. She’s about to start a brand new tour around the UK, called Love Letters, which will feature musical theatre favourites and love letters from the audience. She joins Clare to talk about the tour, what it’s like being a musical theatre mum, and why she's chosen not to put photos of her child online.

Presenter: Clare McDonnell Producer: Maryam Maruf Editor: Olivia Bolton Studio Manager: Duncan Hannant

Former Police Officer David Carrick will be sentenced this morning. BBC correspondent Helena Wilkinson joins Nuala. Shamima Begum left the UK in 2015. Now, for the first time, we have a better idea of what she might have been doing in the four years between then and her re-appearance in a camp in Syria in 2019. We know that she has married an IS fighter, had three children and lost three children in the last eight years – but what else happened? Nuala McGovern is joined by the BBC’s Josh Baker, host of the podcast I’m Not A Monster: The Shamima Begum Story and Dr Gina Vale, a lecturer of Criminology at the University of Southampton who specialises in terrorism. Danielle Deadwyler's extraordinary portrayal of the civil rights activist Mamie Till-Mobley in Chinonye Chukwu’s Till (2022) has earned her a BAFTA nomination for Best Leading Actress. The film tells the true story of Mamie’s pursuit of justice after her 14-year-old son, Emmett Till, was tortured and lynched in 1955. Danielle joins Nuala McGovern to discuss grief, Mamie’s legacy, and the ongoing fight for civil rights. As low-slung trousers come back into fashion and high-waists are all the rage we ask how fashion, age and generation determine where our trousers sit and how we feel about it. Hannah Rogers Assistant Fashion Editor for The Times joins Nuala. In 1993, aged twenty, Carmel Mc Mahon left Ireland for New York, carrying $500, two suitcases and a ton of emotional baggage. It took years, and a bitter struggle with alcohol addiction, to unpick the intricate traumas of her past and present. Carmel has now written a book, In Ordinary Time: Fragments of a Family History.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern Producer: Lucinda Montefiore

‘Unfortunately, she was a Nymphomaniac’ – that’s the title of a new book written to debunk the misogynist myths of Imperial Rome and to put the record straight about the lives and fates of Roman women. Its author, the journalist Joan Smith, joins Clare McDonnell to give us a fresh perspective on the ancient world.

Many people will have visited or been visited by their adult children over the holidays. Being a parent to adult children, as well as being the adult child, can be complicated. What are the pitfalls? How can we ensure that relationship stays strong? Clare is joined by psychotherapist Dr Julia Samuel and actor and author Helen Lederer to discuss.

Nearly half the world's population had major elections in 2024, but it was also a year that saw the slowest rate of growth in female representation for 20 years. The BBC has crunched the numbers from 46 countries and found that in nearly two-thirds of them the number of women elected fell. BBC Population Correspondent Stephanie Hegarty explains the findings.

New Dolly Parton musical Here You Come Again is packed with the biggest and most rhinestoned hits from the country legend, and is currently playing at the Riverside Studios in London before it heads on tour across the UK next month. Actress Tricia Paoluccio joins Clare to discuss what it’s like becoming Dolly in the show – and gives a special live performance in the studio.

Presenter: Clare McDonnell Producer: Lottie Garton

Lorraine Kelly CBE has been described as the queen of morning television. She joined TV-am as their Scottish correspondent in 1984 and, save for a brief maternity leave 30 years ago, has barely left the schedules since - for the last 14 as host of ITV’s Lorraine. Now after a lifetime of wanting to, she has written her first novel, The Island Swimmer, a story of family secrets, island communities and overcoming fear. Lorraine joins Anita Rani to discuss her novel, her life and her 40-year career.

The deaths of three women in one week, all allegedly murdered by their husbands, has caused outrage in Somalia and sparked days of protests over the country’s femicide rates. Police have named the suspects in all three killings, which took place in the first week of February, as the dead women’s husbands. Two of the victims were pregnant. The BBC's Fardowsa Hanshi, a video journalist with the Somali Service explains what's going on.

Kali Reis is the breakout star of True Detective: Night Country. As the series nears its finale on Sky Atlantic on Monday, Kali joins Anita in the Woman’s Hour studio to talk about going from a career in boxing to acting with Jodie Foster. She is also an indigenous rights activist, who has Native American and African heritage, and was the first indigenous woman fighter to become a World Champion.

Last month, Woman's Hour discussed a shocking report which warned of endemic misogyny and discrimination in the music industry. MPs from the Women and Equalities Committee found that sexual harassment and abuse is common. That report has resonated with many – and not just in the music industry. Award-winning broadcaster Gemma Cairney has written a piece in The Guardian about her experience, saying she’d battled racism and misogyny in creative industries for years. Gemma tells us about the reaction to her piece. Professor of Media, Culture and Communications at Brunel University Sarita Malik will explain why Gemma’s experience is so widespread in broadcasting.

Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Kirsty Starkey Studio Manager: Neva Missirian