Woman's Hour

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Woman's Hour: Alison White, Corona Diaries, Midlife Crisis

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Alison White, Corona Diaries, Susanne Schmidt

Alison White, Corona Diaries, Midlife Crisis

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Alison White, Corona Diaries, Midlife Crisis

The programme that offers a female perspective on the world

All week our drama has been about a woman bringing up her son who has cerebral palsy and learning disabilities. Today we hear from the real people behind the story: Alison White and Louis, who's an adult now.  And afterwards we hear from Mencap about life during lockdown for adults with learning disabilities and their carers.   

We continue our Corona Diaries. Today we have Kate Tudge who breeds pigs in Herefordshire.  

We go to America to speak to Alix Kates Shulman, author of "Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen" who's making face masks. 

"A midlife crisis" is often used to describe middle-aged men being indulgent or irresponsible. But before it became a cliché, the term was a feminist concept.  In 1976, a journalist called Gail Sheehy used it to refer to both men and women who might be reassessing their life and their choices and looking for a change. Susanne Schmidt, a history lecturer at Freie University in Berlin has written a book about Sheehy and her ideas. It's called Midlife Crisis: The Feminist Origins of a Chauvinist Cliché.

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