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Woman's Hour: Jacqueline Wilson, Women and Journalism, Pensions Campaign and Alcohol Marketing

17/09/2020

Jacqueline Wilson, Women and Journalism, Pensions Campaign and Alcohol Marketing

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Jacqueline Wilson, Women and Journalism, Pensions Campaign and Alcohol Marketing

Author Jacqueline Wilson, lack of diversity in journalism and marketing alcohol to women.

Author Jacqueline Wilson, women's careers in journalism, the pension campaigners that lost their appeal and the glitter and colour pink being used to market alcohol to women.

Children’s author Jacqueline Wilson joins tells us about her new book Love Frankie about a teenager falling in love for the first time. Frankie lives with her two sisters and her recently divorced mum who is seriously ill with MS and is being bullied by a girl called Sally and her gang at school. But eventually the two girls strike up a friendship and as they spend more time together, Frankie starts to develop stronger feelings for Sally.  Jacqueline tells Jenni why, having written over a hundred books, this is the first she has written about same sex relationships following her decision to reveal that she herself was gay earlier this year.

A report by Women in Journalism shows that there is still a shocking lack of diversity among our media. The report revealed that no UK newspaper had a front page story by a Black reporter in the week studied, and out of 174 front page bylines, just two were written by BAME women. Out of a total of 723 radio reporter appearances, just 4 were by Black women and when non-white expert guests were asked to appear on radio and TV news, it was often to support coverage related to race. We discuss how this lack of diversity impacts the news that  is covered and also what this means for women's careers as journalists. 

Campaigners affected by the state pension age being changed from 60 to 66 for women have lost their appeal against a High Court ruling. Senior judges unanimously dismissed the appeal led by Julie Delve and Karen Glynn, backed by the campaign group BackTo60. They said despite having sympathy for the women involved, it was not a case of unlawful discrimination under EU and human rights laws and that the changes were a "long-overdue move towards gender equality". Around 3.8 million women have been affected by raising the state pension age and Unison, the UK's largest trade union, said doing so with "next to no notice" has had a calamitous effect on the retirement plans of a generation of women.  Jenni speaks to Joanne Welch the director of BackTo60 to find out what options are available to them now. 

Have you ever thought about the way that alcohol is marketed when it comes to women? Do you find it patronising or fun? A growing number of marketing companies and campaigns are using the colour pink, glitter and the slogan ‘female empowerment’ to sell alcoholic beverages. Does it work? Carol Emslie is a Professor of substance use and misuse at the School of Health and Life Sciences at Glasgow Caledonian University. Kate Baily is a podcast host and the co-author of Love Yourself Sober – a self-care guide to alcohol-free living for busy mothers and Dr Athanasia Daskalopoulou is a Lecturer in Marketing at the University of Liverpool Management School.

Producer: Clare Walker

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