Avsnitt
-
There has been a marked increase in enrolment in early childhood education globally, but access and approaches differ hugely around the world.What impact does quality early years education have on children’s future outcomes and why is ‘playing’ so pivotal in helping them prepare for school?
Professor Nirmala Rao researches ways of measuring the impacts of early childhood development and education particularly within the Asia-Pacific context, at the University of Hong Kong. She believes that it is essential to push research to the forefront to inform social policy relevant to children and their families.
Jessica Blom is the Deputy Director of The Centre for Early Childhood Development in South Africa - a national resource which provides training, support and advice in the field of early childhood development with the aim of improving the education and care of the country’s youngest citizens from disadvantaged communities.
Produced by Hannah Dean
(Image: (L) Jessica Blom, credit Barry Christianson. (R) Prof. Nirmala Rao, WAL-PHOTO courtesy of Faculty of Education, HKU.)
-
Traumatic events can leave an enduring psychological impact. Datshiane Navanayagam talks to two psychologists about how they help women heal from trauma.
Jane Abatoni Gatete heads the Rwanda Organization of Trauma Counsellors (ARCT- Ruhuka). She has over 25 years of expertise and practical experience in mental health support. As well as working as a psychiatrist in individual and group settings she has trained hundreds of others to support a nation recovering from the trauma of war and genocide.
Dr Adshead is one of Britain’s leading forensic psychiatrists with 30 years’ experience working in some of London's first trauma clinics and Broadmoor prison. She says that traumatic events, experiences that change your identity, can happen not only acutely and suddenly but take place slowly over time. While many people will recover naturally, some have long-term impacts that require treatment. Her latest book is called Unspeakable: Stories of Survival and Transformation After Trauma.
Produced by Jane Thurlow
(Image: (L) Gwen Adshead, credit Richard Ansett BBC. (R) Jane Abatoni Gatete, courtesy Jane Abatoni Gatete.)
-
Saknas det avsnitt?
-
Have you ever finished a book or television series and wished you could stay longer in that world? Fan fiction is a thriving art form, with millions of women writing and sharing their tributes to favourite stories, by taking famous characters and placing them in new situations. Datshiane Navanayagam meets women who take part and study this world. Dawn Walls-Thumma in the USA is a middle-grade teacher by day, and by night runs the Silmarillion Writers Guild, a community for fan fiction set in Tolkien's universe. This has led her to become a published Tolkien expert.Kristine Michelle Santos in the Philippines is an associate professor of Japanese and researches Boys Love, the biggest genre of fanfiction in Japan and South-East Asia, and now a multi-billion yen industry.
Producer: Hannah Sander
(Image: (L) Dawn Wells-Thumma, courtesy Holly Lillis. (R) Kristine Michelle Santos, credit Aaron Vicencio)
-
Epilepsy is a brain condition that causes repeated episodes of sudden, brief changes in the brain's electrical activity causing seizures or convulsions. It's thought 50-million people have the condition, which can't be cured. The right treatment can alleviate symptoms but diagnosis and treatment is limited in many countries.
Consultant neurologist Sofia Eriksson is from Sweden and works in the UK at University College London Hospital where she used to be the hospital’s clinical lead for epilepsy. She's president elect of the British Association of Neurologists. Sofia says it’s important more people talk openly about the condition to help stop people who have it feeling so isolated.
Betty Barbara Nsachilwa had her first seizure when she was 13 years old. It took 18 months to find the right medication that has kept her seizures under control since. She says she's been lucky to have the support of her family and colleagues but says many others in Zambia face discrimination and stigma. Betty Barbara co-founded the Epilepsy Association of Zambia in 2001 to increase awareness and education about the condition and support others living with epilepsy.
(Image: (L) Betty Barbara Nsachilwa, courtesy Betty Barbara Nsachilwa. (R) Sofia Eriksson, credit Hannah Lovell.)
-
Confronting the death of a loved one – or the end of our own life – can be frightening and overwhelming. And yet it is something that will happen to all of us. So how can we open up conversations about the way we want to die? Is it possible to avoid pain and suffering? And who are the people who will care for us in our final moments?
Datshiane Navanayagam talks to two women who work in palliative care.
Dr Tania Pastrana is from Colombia and is now based in Germany where she works for the International Association for Hospice & Palliative Care (IAHPC). And Dr Catherine Millington-Sanders is a general practitioner, and national lead in palliative care for the Royal College of GPs.
Producer: Hannah Sander
-
Datshiane Navanayagam talks to Whitley Fund for Nature winners from India and South Africa who are protecting endangered frogs and salamanders.
Dr Barkha Subba is leading the first grassroots protection for the Himalayan Salamander in Darjeeling. The scientific adviser at local NGO, Federation of Societies for Environmental Protection (FOSEP), Barkha is working to restore habitat, remove invasive species and screen for deadly diseases, as well as engage local people in awareness programmes promoting sustainable land use and eco-friendly tourism.
Environmentalist Jeanne Tarrant works on protecting frogs and their habitat in South Africa. Almost two-thirds of the country’s 135 frog species are found nowhere else. She uses frogs as flagships for habitat protection, contributing to the broader conservation of freshwater and grassland areas that serve as important watersheds and carbon sinks.
Produced by Jane Thurlow
(Image: (L) Jeanne Tarrant, credit SABC. (R) Barkha Subba, credit Whitley Fund for Nature.)
-
Online romance fraud and 'catfishing' – when someone pretends to be someone they’re not - is a problem across the globe. It causes financial and emotional devastation, yet many people refuse to take it seriously. Datshiane Navanayagam speaks to two women from the UK and Sweden who have spent years rebuilding their lives after being targeted by men they met on dating sites.
Pernilla Sjöholm is from Sweden. She was conned by the infamous Simon Leviev, the so-called "Tinder Swindler" and allegedly scammed out of the equivalent of $65,000. Pernilla is now an international speaker on AI, cybersecurity and fraud prevention. She also co-founded IDfier, working on digital identity verification, and is the author of Swindled Never After.
Anna Rowe is pushing for greater support for romance fraud victims after her own experience of being conned. In 2015 she fell in love with a man who she had met online. After 14 months she discovered that the man she was in a relationship with, ‘Antony Ray’ was using a fake identity and leading a double life which left Anna feeling emotionally and sexually violated. Anna is now dedicated to helping victims of all types of romance fraud and catfishing through her platforms LoveSaid and Catch the Catfish.
(Image: (L) Anna Rowe, credit Nina Rangoy. (R) Pernilla Sjöholm, credit Daniel Diamond.)
Produced by Jane Thurlow and Hannah Dean
-
Datshiane Navanayagam meets the women behind leading nurseries and flower farms in Germany and America. From a vase of cut roses to the perennials that brighten our gardens, these women cultivate beauty from bare earth.
Danielle Dall’Armi transformed a derelict lemon and avocado farm in California into a rose farm with an international reputation. A self-taught horticulturalist, she now has 25,000 rose plants and supplies high-end customers.
Anja Maubach runs the nursery founded by her great-grandfather, renowned botanist Georg Abends, specialising in perennials. She is also an expert on the great female horticulturalists of the past, such as Gertrude Jekyll and Vita Sackville-West.
Producer: Hannah Sander
(Image: (L) Anja Maubach, credit Daniel Welschenbach. (R) Danielle Dall'Armi, credit Victoria Pearson.)
-
Divorce and separation are often a time of upset and distress. Ella Al-Shamahi talks to women in Latvia and the UK whose work as mediators is about trying to find calm and co-operation in conflict.
Evija Kļave is a certified mediator and sociologist. She’s also an associate professor teaching mediation at masters level at Turiba University (a business school) and sits of the Commission of Certification and Attestation of Mediators which regulates mediators in Latvia as well as running her own private practice.
Romina Kamran is an accredited family and children mediator in the UK and member of the Family Mediation Council. She also heads the National Family Mediation training academy. Her own experience of divorce negotiations was tough, and she works to make decisions around separation ones that both parties can be comfortable with. She says mediation is not about being what one person might consider fair; it's about coming to a resolution that meets the needs of the whole family.
Produced by Jane Thurlow
(Image: (L) Evija Kļave, courtesy Turiba University. (R) Romina Kamran, credit Romina Kamran.)
-
Newspaper cartooning has a long history of using satire and humour to provide social commentary on the issues of the day – but how do female perspectives inform the approach, themes and tone of newspaper cartooning?
Andrea Arroyo is from Mexico City. Her work as a dancer took her to New York in the early eighties. In the US, an exhibition of her visual art was picked up to feature in the New York Times and spawned a career as a newspaper cartoonist. Her influence as a dancer can be seen in her rhythmic, fluid line work. Her artwork about the Me Too movement won a United Nations award for Political Cartooning.
Sarah Akinterinwa is from Kent in the UK. During the Covid-19 pandemic, she created a comic about a millennial couple called Oyin and Kojo, hoping to create better representation of Black British people in cartoons. After posting a daily drawing to social media, the cartoon editor of the New Yorker discovered her work and asked her to become a contributor. Sarah is also a cartoonist at The Guardian. Her strips tackle women’s issues, gender dynamics, friendships, relationships, health and politics.
Produced by Elena Angelides and Jane Thurlow
(Image: (L) Sarah Akinterinwa, credit Sarah Akinterinwa. (R) Andrea Arroyo, credit Felipe Galindo.)
-
Rice nourishes 3.5 billion people worldwide with women providing the majority of agricultural labour – especially in poorer countries. Datshiane Navanayagam talks to women from India and Tanzania about their work improving the resilience of rice to climate change, and about the lives of female rice farmers.
Ranjitha Puskur is a socio-economist in India leading gender and youth research at the International Rice Research Institute. She's working on innovations that would lead to more equitable outcomes for women in agriculture. She says there would be no food without women. And yet women farmers across the world still face disproportionate barriers in their work.
Dr Pauline Chivenge is a Zimbabwean agronomist working in Tanzania. Her research is focused on management of natural resources for improved crop productivity in Africa and South-East Asia: issues such as soil and water management, and how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Produced by Jane Thurlow
(Image: (L) Ranjitha Puskur. Credit CGIAR. (R) Pauline Chivenge. Credit IRRI)
-
As war flares across the Middle East, and conflicts rage in other parts of the world, it is often said that women and girls are the hardest hit by war. But what does that actually mean in practice? What are the key statistics that tell us how conflicts impact women? And what role are women playing in peace processes too?Datshiane Navanayagam speaks to two women who look at how war shapes women’s lives. Idil Absiye is a policy advisor on Women, Peace and Security at the United Nations, and is based in Kenya. Dr Laura Muñoz-Encinar is an archaeologist and forensic anthropologist at the Spanish National Research Council. Her main focus is the Spanish Civil War, a conflict from almost a century ago that offers many lessons for today. Producer: Hannah Sander
(Image: (L) Laura Muñoz-Encinar, credit Laura Muñoz-Encinar. (R) Idil Absiye, credit Idil Absiye.)
-
From “deepfakes” to “stealth filming”, women around the world are having their image stolen and shared online. Datshiane Navanayagam speaks to two women tackling this problem.
Uma Subramanian works for an Indian helpline called Meri Trustline, run by RATI Foundation, which offers help for women whose image has been used.
Kirana Ayuningtyas had her image digitally manipulated and shared online. She uses her social media profile, @k.for.kirana, to help other women in Indonesia.
Warning: this programme contains details that some listeners may find disturbing.
Producers: Rebecca Moore and Hannah Sander
(Image: (L) Uma Subramanian, credit Sanghamitra SV. (R) Kirana Ayuningtyas, credit Kirana Ayuningtyas.)
-
It's thought that around one in ten women of childbearing age have endometriosis, yet it often takes years of excessively painful periods and struggles to conceive before a diagnosis. And while there's no cure, surgery can help relieve symptoms. Datshiane Navanayagam talks to women from Hungary and South Africa working to improve treatment and diagnosis.
Adrienn Salamon lives with endometriosis. She waited many years for a diagnosis, and surgery enabled her to get IVF treatment. She started Női Egészségért Alapítvány, a women's health foundation in Hungary that supports women suffering from the disorder. She is also on the board of the World Endometriosis Society and says no woman should go through the same struggle with the condition that she experienced.
Dr Lusanda Shimange-Matsose is a gynaecologist, reproductive endocrine and infertility specialist in South Africa. She is director of Medfem Fertility Clinic in Johannesburg and is also a member of the Pan African Society of Endometriosis, offering support for women across the continent.
Produced by Jane Thurlow
(Image: (L) Adrienn Salamon, credit Johanna Krivocenko. (R) Lusanda Shimange-Matsose, courtesy Lusanda Shimange-Matsose.)
-
Datshiane Navanayagam speaks to two women who research what happens to our thoughts, feelings and behaviours when we speak many languages. To what extent do we have a “mother tongue” – and what happens if we stop using it?
Dr Aneta Pavlenko is a Ukrainian-American linguist who looks at the emotional impact of moving between languages.
Professor Núria Sebastián Gallés is a Spanish cognitive psychologist who studies bilingual toddlers and young babies.
Produced by Rebecca Moore and Hannah Sander
(Image: (L) Aneta Pavlenko, courtesy Aneta Pavlenko. (R) Núria Sebastián Gallés, courtesy Núria Sebastián Gallés.)
-
Ella Al-Shamahi talks to women in Switzerland and the UK about how job sharing can boost a career and bring many benefits to both work and home life.
Irenka Krone-Germann is Swiss and has written several books about job-sharing and part-time working. She co-founded the information platform, Go4jobsharing.ch and We Jobshare, an online platform which helps people find a job or topshare partner. Irenka has job partners, both female and male, in several different senior roles.
Charlotte Cherry and Alix Ainsley have been job sharing in the UK for 14 years. They've worked in senior HR roles for a number of different companies including General Electric, Lloyds Banking Group and currently work for Virgin. They've recently set up a consultancy, Daring Two. Charlotte says job sharing has enabled her and Alix to take on much more challenging and fulfilling positions, has accelerated their careers further than working solo part-time would have done, and at the same time to balance time with their families.
Produced by Jane Thurlow
(Image: (L) Charlotte Cherry, courtesy Charlotte Cherry. (R) Irenka Krone-Germann, credit Keren Bisaz.)
-
Ella Al-Shamahi talks to two women in Pakistan and America who use numbers to help others understand and take control of their pregnancies - by unpacking the data.
Emily Oster is a bestselling author and leading expert on pregnancy, championing a data-based approach and unpacking studies and advice for mothers. She is also Professor of Economics at Brown University in America.
Maryam Mustafa is a computer scientist based in Pakistan, which has one of the worst rates of maternal mortality in the world. She has built an AI app that can equip mothers-to-be with the information they need to stay safe.
Producer: Hannah Sander
(Image: (L) Dr Emily Oster, credit Aisha McAdams. (R) Dr Maryam Mustafa, credit Maryam Mustafa.)
-
Datshiane Navanayagam talks to two women in France and Canada about why single-sex living spaces appeal to older women.
Pat Dunn is 75 and started a Facebook group for senior women wanting to share a living space, after her husband died six years ago. There she found two housemates with whom she has lived ever since. Pat now runs a non-profit called SWLT (Senior Women Living Together) that helps other women in Ontario find similar setups. Her Facebook community has over two thousand members.
Hanne Nuutinen co-founded La Joie Homebase in France in 2024: co-living spaces for women who want to stay there for weeks or months at a time. Their ‘homebases’ cater to globally mobile women, typically aged 50–80. Many of the women are still professionally active, while others are pursuing hobbies or independent travel. Their residents come from France, the United States, Africa and the UK.
Produced by Jane Thurlow and Becca Johns
(Image: (L) Pat Dunn, courtesy Pat Dunn. (R) Hanne Nuutinen, courtesy Hanne Nuutinen.)
-
Datshiane Navanayagam talks to two women whose life changing illnesses led them to set up new businesses after they discovered high street clothes are uncomfortable and difficult to wear when you have restricted mobility or medical needs.
Victoria Jenkins is one of the UK's leading adaptive fashion experts. She worked as a freelance garment technologist for fashion labels like Victoria Beckham and Jack Wills before founding the award winning universally designed fashion brand Unhidden. Victoria nearly died from an undiagnosed ulcer in 2012 and spent long periods in hospital where she met many women struggling to find clothes would accommodate their medical conditions. When she realised how hard it was to buy attractive, comfortable and practical garments she decided to design her own.
Soumita Basu has an autoimmune disease called psoriatic arthritis which over time has restricted her mobility. As the condition progressed she got used to being constantly in pain but a period when she had to stay in bed proved the catalyst to setting up her clothing brand, Zyenika. The daily routine of being dressed was agonisingly painful – no matter that her mother, who was caring for her at the time, was as gentle as possible. They decided there had to be a better way and set out to design clothes that could be put on in a way that didn’t cause so much pain.
Produced by Jane Thurlow
(Image: (L) Soumita Basu, credit Diganta Gogoi. (R) Victoria Jenkins, credit Deb Burrows.)
-
Have you ever wondered if there were a scandal buried in your family history? Datshiane Navanayagam meets two female genealogists from the US and Ireland to discuss the desire many of us have to dig into our heritage.Michele Soulli is an American genealogist who made headlines around the world when she tracked down the real "Brenda" from rap superstar Tupac's hit song Brenda's Got A Baby, and reunited her with the child she had put up for adoption.Hilary McDonagh helps clients who want to trace their family histories or find missing heirs. In Ireland, where famine prompted girls to migrate overseas by themselves, Hilary has unearthed some incredible stories.Producer: Hannah Sander
(Image credit: Hilary McDonagh (L), Michele Soulli (R))
- Visa fler
