Woman's Hour Folgen

Nightclubs are shut, dancing at weddings is not allowed and gigs and festivals are still uncertain. If you want to dance you have to do it at home. Woman's Hour shares your DIY dancing stories and gets tips from Guilty Pleasures DJ, Sean Rowley and Strictly dancer, Amy Dowden. Laurel Hubbard is going to be the first transgender athlete to compete at the Olympics which starts next month. It's controversial, and she'll make history. She'll be part of the New Zealand women's weightlifting team at Tokyo. Laurel came out as transgender in 2013 - and qualifies for the Olympics on the basis that her testosterone levels have been kept below a certain level for at least a year. But how does a reduction in testosterone affect other aspects of the body - such as haemoglobin levels, muscle mass and strength - that could influence competitive performance? And what research is needed to help inform the balance between inclusivity and meaningful competition in sport? Joanna Harper, a PhD researcher at Loughborough University talks about her latest study.Imagine having your home destroyed, losing your livelihood, and then being intimidated by those now on the land. That’s what hundreds of women in Western Uganda say has happened to them; they were violently evicted from their homes to make way for a sugar plantation. In an investigation for Woman's Hour, they've told us they are now left with no option but to live in extremely poor conditions in a makeshift camp, where they face physical and sexual abuse from the plantation workers. To make things worse, many of their husbands have abandoned them while they find employment elsewhere. The UK provides overseas aid for these woman as they fight for compensation for their lost land. But, that UK funding is due to end soon, even though after five years a legal dispute over the land is still unresolved. Two novels - one published tomorrow and one just out in paperback explore the human impact of environmental disaster through the lives of girls and women. They both ask - what is really important to us? What lasts when everything we think we need is stripped away? Kate Sawyer, author of 'The Stranding', her first novel, and Diane Cook, whose book 'The New Wilderness' was shortlisted for The Booker Prize last year, discuss their work.Presenter: Emma Barnett Producer: Kirsty StarkeyInterviewed Guest: Joanna Harper Interviewed Guest: Sean Rowley Interviewed Guest: Amy Dowden Interviewed Guest: Sostine Namanya Interviewed Guest: Kate Sawyer Interviewed Guest: Diane Cook

Wednesday will be the first ever World Female Ranger Day, celebrating the work of female rangers around the world who do an important but ultimately dangerous job protecting wildlife from poachers. The emphasis this year is on the work of female rangers in Africa where there are approximately 3,500 female rangers in teams in 18 countries all over the continent working to protect endangered wildlife. One of those women is Collet Ngobeni of the all-female team The Black Mambas in South Africa. Emma also speaks to Holly Budge, the founder of the charity How Many Elephants.Miscarriage is a unique type of grief - occurring in one in four pregnancies - and yet it still often goes unacknowledged. Women usually wait 12 weeks before announcing a pregnancy so if they experience miscarriage early on it can be an extremely distressing and lonely experience. For women who do choose to share the news and then discover they have miscarried, it means having to inform family and friends who may find it difficult to know the right thing to say. National Director Ruth Bender Atik talks about a new series of cards launched by The Miscarriage Association to specifically acknowledge the sadness of miscarriage and give people an opportunity to acknowledge it in a sensitive way. She is joined by Gemma Rundell who designed empathy cards that she wished were available after she had three miscarriages.Under-18s who want nude pictures or videos of themselves removed from the internet can now report the images through an online tool - being billed as a world first. The new service comes from the Internet Watch Foundation and Childline and aims to help children who have been groomed, or whose partners have posted photos of them online without their consent. In recent years, the Foundation says it has noticed more and more of these types of images that have been created by children themselves. In the first three months of this year, 38,000 self-generated images were reported. Emma speaks to Susie Hargreaves, the head of the Internet Watch Foundation.Boric acid is a white powder that can do everything from getting stains out of clothes and stopping your fridge smelling, to killing ants and cockroaches. But if you look for boric acid on social media, there's another use - as a vaginal pessary to supposedly treat thrush-like infections and bacterial vaginosis. Bacterial vaginosis is common, isn't considered a sexually transmitted infection, and isn't typically serious. But Dr Jen Gunter, a Canadian-American gynaecologist and author of the Vagina Bible says she's seen an increase in the use of boric acid vaginal pessaries among her patients over the past few years, paralleling what she calls an ‘explosion’ of new over the counter boric acid products and heavy marketing from celebrities, influencers, naturopaths, and functional medicine providers.Ana Diamond spent 200 days in prison in solitary confinement at the age of 19, after travelling from home in the UK to visit her grandmother in Iran. She was held in a tiny windowless cell in Evin prison, Tehran, in the same block as the Iranian British charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. The guards interrogated and taunted her saying the only place she would ever graduate from was Evin prison. But this weekend she has been celebrating having scored a first from Kings College and receiving a scholarship to study for a postgraduate degree at Oxford University. Emma talks to Ana about moving forward after such a traumatic and life changing experience.

The Chief Inspector of Schools Amanda Spielman, talks to Emma Barnett about the problem of sexual abuse in schools and colleges and reflects on what needs to be done to bring about change. Divya Chadha Manek who has just been awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List tells us about her work with the Vaccine Taskforce, and Dr Jen Gunter, an American gynaecologist, obstetrician and author of 'The Vagina Bible' explains how Boric Acid Pessaries are being used to treat bacterial vaginosis . Do men need to actively become allies to the women they work with to stop sexism and discrimination? Would challenging behaviours that disadvantage female colleagues - from interrupting women in meetings to making assumptions about the career opportunities they want - make a difference? Emma talks to Hira Ali, a leadership trainer and author of a new book called 'Her Allies' and to Gary Ford who has co-written 'The Accidental Sexist', a handbook for men on workplace diversity.Presenter: Emma Barnett Producer: Lisa Jenkinson Studio Manager: Tim Heffer