Woman's Hour

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BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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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: Waspi women, Dr Jen Gunter, The Liverbirds, Child poverty

Waspi women, Dr Jen Gunter, The Liverbirds, Child poverty

BBC Radio 4 - Woman's Hour, Waspi women, Dr Jen Gunter, The Liverbirds, Child poverty

Women hit by state pension age rise are owed compensation, according to the ombudsman.

A long-awaited report on how women born in the 1950s were affected by increases to their retirement age - the so-called WASPI women, which stands for women against state pension inequality - has been published today. It recommends compensation and says the Department for Work and Pensions failed to adequately inform the women affected. Emma Barnett hears from Steve Webb, former pensions minister from 2010 to 2015, when changes to pension ages were accelerated, and to Frances Neil, a WASPI coordinator in Essex.

Dr Jen Gunter is a gynaecologist and author based in California, with a huge global following, known for calling out products marketed to women which claim to address their neglected health issues but have no evidence base and could be harmful. In her latest book, simply called Blood, she tackles the menstrual cycle and myths ancient and modern associated with it. Jen joins Emma in studio.

John Lennon told them that ‘girls don’t play guitar’, but these four girls from 1960s Liverpool were determined to prove him wrong. Mary, Sylvia, Valerie and Pamela formed Britain's first female rock'n'roll band The Liverbirds, and went on to tour stadiums across Europe, record two hit albums and play with the Kinks, Rolling Stones and Chuck Berry – all in the space of five years. Emma talks to the two surviving members of the band about their incredible story.

Figures out today show that 4.3 million children in the UK are living in poverty. Emma speaks to Sara Ogilvie, Policy Director at Child Poverty Action Group and to Jo, a lone parent living in Greater Manchester with a 14-year-old son and on a low income.

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Waspi women, Dr Jen Gunter, The Liverbirds, Child poverty

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