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A report out today from thewarns that women’s unemployment has hit new heights since the initial recession in 2010 ended. It has found that the majority of more than a million new jobs have gone to men; and that the areas that the government has targeted for growth – like technology and engineering - are those that traditionally have a low proportion of women. The Fawcett Society claims that if things continue in the same way we could see women’s unemployment reach a 50 year high in the next four years, while women who are in work can expect lower wages and a wider pay gap.Ìý

Is it possible to be a feminist and a sex worker?Ìý Do the laws on prostitution need to be reformed?Ìý Andrea Matolcsii is a programme officer for Equality Now, an organisation working to end violence and discrimination against women and girls, which supports the ‘end demand’ model used in Iceland, Sweden and Norway.Ìý It lifts the criminal sanctions on people in prostitution but criminalises the buying of sex.Ìý Molly is a sex worker who believes we should be adopting the New Zealand model which decriminalises prostitution and gives greater legal rights to those working in the industry.Ìý They join us to debate the politics of sex work and what should be done to protect and support women.

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Does getting older release the inner rebel in you, and allow you to be more free with fashion?ÌýÌý How much are older women who want to wear fun and stylish clothes catered for by the fashion industry? Ari Seth Cohen, a 31 year old photographer from New York City has been blogging about women over sixty, who he reckons are the most stylish. , theatre critic, Katherine Whitehorn, journalist, andÌý Amber Jane Butchart, lecturer at the London College of Fashion discuss sartorially confident older women.

Mary Mallon was once described as ‘the most dangerous woman in America’. At the beginning of the 20th century she was a poor Irish immigrant but eventually she became a talented cook and worked for some of the wealthiest families in New York. By 1907 however she was known as because, as a healthy carrier of the disease, she left a trail of illness and even death behind her wherever she worked. has now written a fictionalised account of Mary Mallon’s life and she talks to Jenni Murray about a woman who was quarantined for 26 years on North Brother Island just off Manhattan.

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The number of women giving birth past forty has gone up significantly in recent years. In 2000 there were fifteen thousand – and in 2011 there were twenty nine thousand.Ìý Last month we received an email from a listener who is has just turned forty and, with a new partner, is wondering about the pros and cons of starting a family.ÌýÌý Jenni spoke to Naomi Gryn who described her joy at becoming a mother for the first time at the age of 51.Ìý But what about later on in life, the hormonal combination of menopause and puberty under one roof, or approaching retirement while dealing with teenagers?Ìý Jenni is joined by Parenting Expert, Sue Atkins, and by Yvonne Roberts, Chief leader writer at the Observer and mother of two.

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