Woman's Hour

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Woman's Hour: Edna Adan Ismail, winner of Templeton Prize, Online games, Vasectomy increase in US, Iranian female journos on trial

Edna Adan Ismail, winner of Templeton Prize, Online games, Vasectomy increase in US, Iranian female journos on trial

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Edna Adan Ismail, winner of Templeton Prize, Online games, Vasectomy increase in US, Iranian female journos on trial

Edna Adan Ismail - winner of this year's Templeton Prize.

‘Woman of Firsts’. Edna Adan Ismail, Somaliland’s first trained midwife, first female Minister of Foreign Affairs, and former First Lady.

Two female journalists in Iran are on trial for covering the death of 22 year old Mahsa Amini, the Kurdish-Iranian woman who died in custody last year sparking protests across the country and months of unrest and shocked the world. Mahsa was arrested and charged with not covering her hair properly and then reportedly so severely beaten she fell into a coma. Niloofar Homedi and Elaheh Mohammadi were among the first to report on her death; a photo taken by Niloofar for the Shargh daily newspaper showing Amini’s parents hugging each other in a Tehran hospital where their daughter was lying in a coma drew international attention. While Mohammadi, traveled to report on Mahsa Amini’s funeral. Faranak Amidi, BBC Near East Women Affairs Correspondent discusses.

Now Sex and the City fans have been celebrating some exciting, and rather unexpected, news - Variety magazine reports that Kim Cattrall will be reprising her role as Samantha Jones in the spin-off And Just Like That. She was noticeably absent from the first season, and it's reported that she will only be appearing in one scene in the show's finale. There has been much speculation about how it came to happen as she has reportedly had a strained relationship with fellow cast-mate Sarah Jessica Parker, who also acts as an Executive Producer on the show. Journalist and Sex and the City fan, Olivia Petter joins Anita.

One consequence of the overturning of Roe V Wade, which has made accessing an abortion more difficult in some US states, is that there’s been a rise in the number of men seeking vasectomies.  An estimated 20,000 extra men chose to undergo the surgery between July and December last year. Anita Rani talks to Dr. Stanton Honig the director of the Yale Medicine Male Reproductive Health & Sexual Medicine Program.

A new study by the Universities of Glasgow and Cardiff has found that male characters in video games speak twice as much as female characters, and when female characters do speak, they’re more likely to apologise, hesitate or be polite. We discuss the findings and the reasons behind the gendered dialogue with a lead author of the study, Dr Stephanie Rennick, and games writer and narrative designer Samantha Webb. 

African midwife Edna Adan Ismail is known as the ‘Woman of Firsts’. She’s Somaliland’s first trained midwife, first female Minister of Foreign Affairs, and former First Lady. And now she has added another first to her title. She is this year’s winner of the Templeton Prize - making her the first black African woman to receive the honour. She has been awarded the £1.1 million prize for her contribution to women’s health. In 2002 she sold everything she owned to build The Edna Adan Hospital and University which has played a crucial role in cutting maternal mortality rates in Somaliland. She still lives and works within the hospital. Edna Adan Ismail  explains what life is like for women in Somaliland, and what will she spend the prize money on. 

Presenter: Anita Rani
Producer: Kirsty Starkey

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