Original version

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern 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

BBC World Service

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

The Fifth Floor: Saudi Women: Small Steps Towards Change

Documentaries

Saudi women allowed to vote in elections for the first time ever, in December 2015

23/12/2016 GMT

Saudi Women: Small Steps Towards Change

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, Saudi Women: Small Steps Towards Change

How much have Saudi women's lives changed since they first voted a year ago?

Saudi women after the vote; highs and lows of the 2016 news agenda; Afghan fashion controversy; China's Titanic replica. With David Amanor.

A year after Saudi women participated and voted in municipal elections for the first time, BBC Arabic's Hanan Razek has been back to see what's changed in the kingdom. She also tracked down the 'Niqabi Comedian' to find out why this mystery woman is making so many people laugh.

Odd insults
There's been a lot of heavy news in 2016, but on the Fifth Floor we like to spread a bit of happiness, and when one of our morsels of merriment was picked as a "laugh out loud moment of 2016", it seemed the right moment to share it again.  So in a year where political insults took a rather undiplomatic turn, we asked colleagues for more creative and nuanced insults from their home countries.

Highlights and happiness
2016 has been an eventful year on the news agenda.  We ask Famil Ismailov of BBC Russian, Fernando Duarte of BBC Brasil, Victoria Uwonkunda of BBC Africa and Hanan Razek of BBC Arabic for their stand out moments, and the good news stories that sometimes get left behind.

Jihadi daughters' fashion
Why has a fashion magazine article about three stylish Afghan women caused such a stir in Afghanistan?  It turns out two of them come from prominent jihadi families, and photographs of them without their heads covered have broken a social taboo.  Mariam Aman of BBC Persian has been looking at the reactions - positive as well as negative.

Why the Chinese love "Titanic" 
A full size replica of the Titanic is being built in the landlocked Chinese province of Sichuan, complete with bars and ballrooms. The Chinese obsession with the Titanic relates more to the film than the ship, and after its 1998 release there it became a pop culture phenomenon. Yashan Zhao of BBC Chinese  is a fan, and explains why the film had such massive appeal. 

(Image: Woman casting her ballot in last December's elections, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Credit: AFP/Getty Images.)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Fifth Floor

Saudi Women: Small Steps Towards Change

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

About BBC World Service