Woman's Hour Folgen

Bronwen Lewis is a Welsh singer songwriter whose style sits between Country, Pop, Folk and Blues. She starred in the BAFTA Award Winning and Golden Globe nominated film ‘Pride’ where she sang the theme song ‘Bread and Roses' and brought Tom Jones to tears during her time on BBC’s The Voice in 2013. Proudly bilingual, this year her TikTok following grew as she went viral for her Welsh language covers of famous Pop songs and singing the Welsh National anthem in the lead up to the Wales v Denmark Euros game. She joins Anita to discuss her passion to promote the Welsh language and the inspiration behind her new music. Three female football fans – hashtag ‘The Three Hijabis - set up a petition calling for racists to be banned for life from all football matches in England. This was in response to the shocking levels of racism that was directed towards Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka on social media after their missed penalties resulted in England losing to Italy in the Euro 2020 final. Within 48 hours Shaista Aziz, Amna Abdullatif and Huda Jawad had more than a million signatories and on Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced that he would ensure the football banning regime was changed and that people guilty of online racist abuse towards players would be banned from football matches. And yesterday it was announced that people have been arrested after the English footballers were racially abused online. Like many others our reporter Ena Miller took up a new hobby over lockdown - skating. As a form of socially distanced, COVID -compliant exercise it's boomed over the last 18 months and manufacturers of skates are struggling with demand. Ena is still learning and for us she put on her beautiful new roller skates and gingerly joined the legions of women who skate in car parks, on the streets and in halls all over the country. Pregnant women are facing a “perfect storm” of risks according to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and the Royal College of Midwives (RCM). They’re concerned that the combination of restrictions easing from next week, an increasing prevalence of COVID-19 in the community and hesitancy to get vaccinated will lead to a further increase in infections among pregnant women. We talk to Asma Khalil Professor of Obstetrics at St George’s Hospital, University of London. She is also the Obstetric lead for the national maternity and perinatal audit with the RCOG. Presented by Anita Rani Producer: Louise Corley Editor: Karen Dalziel

After more than a year of many of us working from home during the pandemic, there's been a lot of talk about the lack of requirement to put on a bra. Just this week actor Gillian Anderson announced that her relationship with bras is over. Joanna Wakefield-Scurr, Professor in Biomechanics at University of Portsmouth talks to Emma about the pros and cons of not wearing a bra. Social media influencers who document their lifestyles receive daily online abuse which increases when they promote products and make money. Instagram influencer Em Sheldon spoke to MPs on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee yesterday about the trolling she receives which she claimed comes predominantly from adult women. Em joins Emma to discuss what should or could be done. It’s been confirmed that from next Monday 19 July all COVID requirements, including mandatory face masks and social distancing, will be lifted in England. But for more than one million of the most vulnerable people, shielding will continue. How are women across the country planning to cope? And what difference – if any – will so-called Freedom Day bring? Lucy Catchpole is a disability writer and has two young children. Mary Slattery is a disability advocate and artist. Sarah Clarke has two teenage children with disabilities. Why would you want to tell all about the ending of a painful marriage that happened 30 years ago? Emma speaks to Anne Theroux about her marriage to the writer Paul Theroux. She's written The Year of the End A Memoir of Marriage, Truth and Fiction.

Deborah James is a the host of the BBC's You, Me And The Big C podcast, a campaigner, writer and mother of two. As @bowelbabe she blogs about living with stage 4 bowel cancer since Christmas 2016. After trialling experimental drugs she was told she had ‘no sign of active disease’, not once but twice. She joins Emma to discuss her recent experience of liver failure followed by sepsis, how she attended Wimbledon only 12 hours after leaving hospital, her mission to protect cancer care, and why she is rewriting her next book, How to Live When You Could Be Dead.Yesterday the Government's challenge to a Parole Board decision to release Colin Pitchfork was rejected - paving the way for the double child killer to be freed in the next few weeks. Pitchfork has served 33 years in prison after being jailed for raping and murdering 15-year-olds Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth in the 1980s. A judge-led independent review rejected a bid by ministers to halt his release. Philip Musson, the uncle of Dawn Ashworth tells Emma how disappointed the family are by the decision. David Wilson Emeritus Professor of criminology at Birmingham City University and former prison governor, is concerned that Pitchfork has “gamed” the rehabilitation system. Belinda Winder, a Professor of Forensic Psychology at Nottingham Trent University, whose primary field is sexual offending explains how carefully parole boards come to their decisions and the importance of reintegration into the community. Have you ever been in love with an object? Yes, that's right. Not a person: a thing, or maybe a building? There's a new French film out called Jumbo, and it's about a young woman who falls in love with a fairground attraction. Zoe Wittock is the director.A number of high profile gruesome cases of women dying after their partners claimed “rough sex gone wrong” as a defence led to a change in the law earlier this year. The Domestic Abuse Act states that even if consensual, the infliction of serious harm, or worse will lead to prosecution. The veteran labour MP Harriet Harman was instrumental in getting the law changed but she says it’s not always working in practice and she joins Emma Barnett to explain why she’s calling for the Director of Prosecutions Max Hill to review two cases of particular concern.