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BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

The Fifth Floor

Factual: Life Stories

Global stories from the BBC’s 40 Language Services, with Faranak Amidi

Faranak Amidi presents global stories from the Fifth Floor, home to the BBC’s 40 Language Services.

Faranak Amidi presents global stories from the Fifth Floor, home to the BBC’s 40 Language Services

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The Fifth Floor: The Women Who Make the News

Documentaries

Wall displaying 107 figures with names of women killed by men in Italy in 2012

27/11/2015 GMT

The Women Who Make the News

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, The Women Who Make the News

Inspiring, challenging and surprising: experiences of women journalists around the world

One woman's Egyptian Revolution; women in the news; what language reveals about gender differences; and inspirational women in music, books and culture.

The 100 Women Season on the Fifth Floor presented by Aliya Nazki.

Feminism in Egypt
Where did feminism begin? Followers of Herodotus might argue that it was in Egypt. In his travels some two-and-a-half thousand years ago, he wrote that women in Egypt traded in the markets while the men stayed at home weaving. How have times changed? Egyptian journalist Marwa Mamoon from BBC Arabic tells us how social media has transformed women's lives, and describes her own online revolution.

Women in the news
If an alien was monitoring the earth's media, what kind of impression would it form of the lives of the women? Do the headlines reflect reality, or do they paint a distorted picture? Award-winning Nigerian writer Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani lets her mind run riot to create a satirical imagining of a perception of life for women in Africa. 

To discuss the rights and wrongs of the media's representations of women, we bring together Pakistani journalist Saba Imtiaz, deputy editor of the Africa hub Josephine Hazeley and from Yemen, Mai Noman.

Women and Language
Soured milk, pickles, leftovers, just some of the words used to describe women around the world. How can we tear up those dictionaries and start again?

My Diva
If you had to pick a diva, the finest songstress in the world, where would you begin? We take the microphone to Valeria Perasso from Argentina, Irena Taranyuk from Ukraine and Audrey Brown from South Africa to hear about the soulful and political voices of women in music.

My inspiration
Who are the women who have inspired some of the BBC's language service producers?  Uzbek producer Rayhan Demetrie chooses documentary film-maker Umida Akhmedova.  BBC Senegal producer Laeila Adjovi chooses Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.  And Aliya Nazki chooses her own favourite, the campaigner Parveen Ahanger from Indian administered Kashmir.

Photo: Wall illustrating 107 women killed by men in 2012, Italy
Credit: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images

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