Woman's Hour

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Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.

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Woman's Hour: Alison Steadman, Mary McAleese, The Woman's Hour Power List 2020, Chutney.

Alison Steadman, Mary McAleese, The Woman's Hour Power List 2020, Chutney.

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Alison Steadman, Mary McAleese, The Woman's Hour Power List 2020, Chutney.

The programme that offers a female perspective on the world

Award winning actor Alison Steadman; Twice Prime Minister of Ireland, Mary McAleese; and two of our Power List judges Emma Howard Boyd and Flo Headlam on their green careers.

The award-winning actor Alison Steadman joins Jenni to discuss her latest projects. ’23 Walks’ is a film telling a love story in later life, and ‘Life’ is a new BBC1 drama set in Manchester, and follows the stories of the residents of a large house divided into four flats.   It explores love, loss, birth, death, the ordinary, the extraordinary and everything in between.

Mary McAleese was President of Ireland twice.  When she finished her second term, she turned her sights on the global Catholic Church, and having the credibility of a doctorate in Canon Law behind her, she spoke out against what she saw as the misogyny within it. She did it despite having a deep personal faith that goes back to her childhood. Mary was born in Belfast in the 1950s; witnessed the Troubles as they started and how they went onto to wreak havoc and pain on both sides. She became a barrister even though it wasn’t expected of a woman: especially a woman from a working class background. She’s brought out her autobiography - Here’s The Story.  

The 2020 Woman’s Hour Power List is all about ‘Our Planet’ - and the search is on for 30 women based in the UK who are making a significant positive contribution to the environment. This could be through working in conservation or running a local anti-plastic campaign – but there are also less obvious sectors in which women are making a huge difference. Emma Howard Boyd, the chair of the Environment Agency, and Flo Headlam, a horticulturalist and garden designer talk to Jenni about their less conventional journeys into green careers – and highlight the lesser known areas where women are driving change.

With Autumn setting in, it’s chutney and pickle season and a great opportunity to use up your remaining fruit and veg. Food historian Lizzie Collingham explains the history behind these tasty relishes. 

Presented by Jenni Murray
Producer: Louise Corley
Editor:  Karen Dalziel

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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Woman's Hour

Alison Steadman, Mary McAleese, The Woman's Hour Power List 2020, Chutney.

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