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Woman's Hour: Iran hijab bill, BMX champion, CIISA, Doon Mackichan, Maternity in Sierra Leone

Iran hijab bill, BMX champion, CIISA, Doon Mackichan, Maternity in Sierra Leone

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Iran hijab bill, BMX champion, CIISA, Doon Mackichan, Maternity in Sierra Leone

Women in Iran face jail for dressing 'inappropriately' under new Hijab and Chastity Bill.

Iran's Hijab and Chastity Bill, BMX world champion Sarah-Jane Nichols, Creative Industry Independent Standards Authority, My Lady Parts by Doon Mackichan, Midwife Isata Dumbuya

Iran’s parliament has approved the Hijab and Chastity Bill, under which women will face up to 10 years in prison if they defy the country’s mandatory hijab rules. This comes a year after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini who was detained by Iran's morality police for allegedly violating rules requiring women to cover their hair. Emma Barnett speaks to Samaneh Savadi, an Iranian feminist activist who specialises in international law.

A new independent standards body, the Creative Industry Independent Standards Authority, is being set up in the UK so that concerns over behaviour can be raised and investigated confidentially. Emma talks to its CEO, Jen Smith.

Sarah-Jane Nichols, former BMX racing world champion, talks to Emma about qualifying for the world championships 36 years after she first retired from the sport.

Since the 1980s, the comedian and actor Doon Mackichan has been a TV regular, starring in programmes like Two Doors Down, Smack the Pony and Brass Eye. She has also played plenty of roles on stage. Doon talks to Emma about her recollections of those parts and dissects how today’s culture still expects women to adhere to stereotypes, some of which she refuses to act out, as described  in her memoir, My Lady Parts.

Isata Dumbuya is a midwife who is striving to reduce maternal mortality rates in Sierra Leone, a country where 717 in 100,000 women die in childbirth every year. She  has dedicated her career to helping mothers-to-be and joins Emma to talk about the new maternal centre she is setting up.


Presenter: Emma Barnett
Producer: Rebecca Myatt
Studio manager: Steve Greenwood

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