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: Emily Watson, Earthquake, The Lesbian Project, Big Mama Thornton, Cost of childcare

Emily Watson, Earthquake, The Lesbian Project, Big Mama Thornton, Cost of childcare

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Emily Watson, Earthquake, The Lesbian Project, Big Mama Thornton, Cost of childcare

Emily Watson on her new film, God’s Creatures, about a mother-son relationship.

Actor Emily Watson on her new film, God’s Creatures, and its theme, how far a mother will go to protect her son.

Emily Watson is starring in a new film ‘God’s Creatures,’ set in a remote Irish fishing village. She plays a mother torn between protecting her son and her own sense of right and wrong. When she provides an alibi for him, the lie rips apart their family and local community. Emily joins Woman’s Hour to talk about her character, women in the oyster farming industry and her career up to now. 

Krupa Padhy talks to academic Kathleen Stock about The Lesbian Project,  a new organisation she is launching today alongside journalist Julie Bindel and the tennis star Martina Navratilova to combat “lesbian erasure” in the UK today. They say they’ve been subsumed into what they describe as “the expanding LGBTQ+ rainbow” which means they’ve lost their autonomous identity with distinct interests and needs. 

Willie Mae Thornton, better known as Big Mama Thornton, wrote the song ‘Ball and Chain’ which won Elvis Presley great acclaim. She is one of the architects of rock n roll that has been wiped from the performance canon. The poet, writer and performer Pamela Sneed joins Krupa to discuss the life and legacy of Big Mama Thornton.

One month after a powerful earthquake devastated parts of Turkey and Syria, officials put the number of deaths in Turkey alone at almost 50 thousand, and in Syria, more than 6,000 people are known to have lost their lives.  Hundreds of thousands of people still need adequate shelter and sanitation but it’s women and girls in Turkey who are disproportionately feeling the aftershocks, and stories of abuse are beginning to emerge.  Krupa talks to Elif Shafak, a novelist and political scientist about the situation.

The cost of childcare in England, Scotland and Wales has risen over the last year by 5.6%.  On top of that, less than one in five local authorities in England have enough childcare provision for disabled children.  Megan Jarvie, Head of Coram Family and Childcare talks to Krupa about Coram's Family and Childcare report out today, which is calling on the government to review and reform their childcare spending. 

Presenter: Krupa Padhy
Studio Manager: Michael Millham

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Emily Watson, Earthquake, The Lesbian Project, Big Mama Thornton, Cost of childcare

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