Main content

Weekend Woman's Hour: Dame Siân Phillips, Highflying care-leavers, 'Trouser-less' trend

Actor Dame Siân Phillips reflects on her life and career aged 90.

Just 14% of care leavers go to university, compared to 47% of young people who didn’t grow up in care, according to a report by the think tank Civitas. The figures have barely changed over the past 10 years and at the current rate of progress, it will take 107 years to close the gap. Two care-experienced young women who did manage to smash the so-called care ceiling share their experiences with Krupa; Rebecca Munro, who graduated with a masters in business and is now an Education Liaison Officer at the University of St Andrews and Lucy Barnes, a barrister.

Up to half of women will have a UTI at some point in their life. Earlier this year the NHS launched a new awareness campaign which the filmmaker and author Kate Muir has criticised for not mentioning vaginal oestrogen as a treatment. Kate joins Krupa Padhy alongside Dr Olivia Hum, a GP who is on the Council of the British Menopause Society.

Actor Dame Siân Phillips’ life and career are explored in a new documentary, Siân Phillips at 90. She joins Krupa to talk about some of her acting roles, including playing Emmeline Pankhurst in a ´óÏó´«Ã½ drama in the 1970s, what it was like being married to Peter O’Toole, and what she’s doing now.

Terri Lyne Carrington, a multi-Grammy-winning drummer and jazz artist, saw a distinct lack of songs by female composers being learned by jazz musicians - and decided to fix it. As a ‘gender justice advocate’ she decided to create a project, the New Standards: 101 Lead Sheets By Women Composers, and an accompanying album which won a Grammy, to shine a light on female jazz composers. She joins Nuala McGovern to discuss the project and jazz and gender justice on our special programme about women digging for the truth.

Would you swap your trousers for a pair of statement knickers? Julia Hobbs from Vogue tells Krupa about the new trouser-less trend that's been sweeping the catwalks and social media, and the reactions she got when testing it out on the London Underground.

As a nation we eat more sprouts than any other country in Europe but it’s a vegetable that, like marmite, divides opinion. Anita Rani is joined by plant pathologist Dr Lauren Chappell and the brassica research expert Dr Rachel Wells to explain how sprouts are being engineered to taste sweeter and withstand climate change.

Presenter: Krupa Padhy
Producer: Hanna Ward
Studio Manager: Donald MacDonald

Available now

55 minutes

Broadcast

  • Sat 30 Dec 2023 16:00

Follow us on Instagram

Get all the pictures, videos, behind the scenes and more from Woman’s Hour

Podcast