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Woman's Hour: Jennifer Hudson on Aretha Franklin; Julie Bindel; Social Care; and Soviet Women in WWII.

Jennifer Hudson on Aretha Franklin; Julie Bindel; Social Care; and Soviet Women in WWII.

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Jennifer Hudson on Aretha Franklin; Julie Bindel; Social Care; and Soviet Women in WWII.

Julie Bindel, Social Care, Jennifer Hudson on Aretha Franklin and Soviet Women in WWII.

Jennifer Hudson on playing Aretha Franklin, Camilla Cavendish on social care reform, Julie Bindel on modern feminism and we hear about the Russian women who fought in WWII.

RESPECT, is the new Aretha Franklin biopic which will be released this Friday. Aretha Franklin handpicked the Oscar Award winning actress and singer Jennifer Hudson to play her in the film. Jennifer talks to us about her relationship with Aretha, their parallel life stories, their grounding in gospel music and the guiding force of the women in their lives. 

The government has announced plans to reform the way social care is funded in England. National Insurance contributions from your wage packet will increase. But it also means that some older people who need to go into a nursing home won't have to sell their own home.  Boris Johnson said the tax increase would raise £36 billion for frontline services in the next three years and be the "biggest catch-up programme in the NHS' history". But he also accepted it broke a manifesto pledge. Camilla Cavendish, former Director of Policy for Prime Minister David Cameron, joins Emma. Last year she was asked by Downing Street to write a report on the future of health and social care reform.

Julie Bindel has been a radical feminist for over four decades, joining the women’s movement as a working class lesbian teenager from the North East.  She has campaigned and written many books about male violence, pornography, and the global sex trade.  She is also co-founder of the law reform group Justice for Women, helping women who have been prosecuted for assaulting or killing violent male partners, including Sally Challen who with their support won her appeal against her murder conviction in 2019. Julie is no stranger to controversy.  Her beliefs that there is a clash between women’s rights and trans rights, and that sex work is not work, have led to her being un-invited from speaking at several universities, and to frequent protests at events where she does speak. For her new book Feminism for Women: The Real Route to Liberation, Julie interviewed 50 young women, she says in an attempt to build a bridge between them and the so-called Second Wave feminists of her generation, which she thinks is urgently needed to tackle a misogynist backlash.

Elizabeth Lishmund is the creator of a new upcoming film - 'Fighting Girlfriend' - which tells the true story of Mariya Oktyabrsykaya - a Tank Commander in the Red Army during World War 2. 900,000 Russian women fought on the front line for the Soviet Union. Why do we know so little about women's active roles during WW2? And do stereotypes around Russian women make an impact? Elizabeth and journalist Viv Groskop join us to discuss.

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Jennifer Hudson on Aretha Franklin; Julie Bindel; Social Care; and Soviet Women in WWII.

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