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Shahidha Bari

Abigail Hollick

Woman's Hour: Mary Seacole, High heels, Cricket, Midlife blues, Sheffield

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30/06/2016

Mary Seacole, High heels, Cricket, Midlife blues, Sheffield

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Mary Seacole, High heels, Cricket, Midlife blues, Sheffield

Looking at Crimean War heroine Mary Seacole, and a government inquiry into office dress.

This edition looks at a statue to honour Crimean War nurse Mary Seacole, a government inquiry into office dress, encouraging girls into sport, and surviving middle-age dread.

After 12 years of campaigning by the Mary Seacole Memorial Statue Appeal, the Crimean War heroine's statue will be unveiled outside St Thomas' Hospital, London. Professor Elizabeth N Anionwu, Vice chair of the appeal talks to Jenni about the life and work of this pioneering nurse, who as a woman of mixed race overcame a double prejudice.

The first recorded match of women's cricket was reported in The Reading Mercury in 1745 as 'between eleven maids of Bramley and eleven maids of Hambledon, all dressed in white'. Things are changing, though the game still has a long way to go before it will be recognised in equal terms alongside the men's. Reporter Henrietta Harrison went to a training session run by The Redbridge East London Cricket Project which helps young women access the sport. 

The government has launched an inquiry into office dress. This follows a petition signed by nearly 150,000 people protesting the decision to send receptionist Nicola Thorp home from work for refusing to wear stiletto heels. So what are our rights when it comes to office dress? Jenni speaks to employment lawyer Yvonne Gallagher, Financial Times journalist and former trader Lucy Kellaway, and philosopher Shahidha Bari. 

In our series Women in One reporter Abigail Hollick travels the UK speaking to women in the street. In Sheffield she met a woman selling her pyrographic art inside the winter garden at the 'Out of this world' festival a celebration of sci-fi, magic and horror.

Miranda Sawyer author of 'Out of Time,' and Rose Rouse, co-founder of online magazine 'Advantages of Age' discuss why women need to take a mid-life crisis seriously as well as embrace the pleasures that the second half of life can offer. 

Presenter: Jenni Murray.

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