Crazy Cat Ladies, Female QCs and Rough sex as defence

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture

4.1 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 11 March 2020

⏱️ 44 minutes

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Summary

If you are man and own a cat, you are a man with a cat. If you are a woman with one, you are a crazy cat lady. Recently the term crazy cat lady has been reclaimed in a positive way on social media but many say it is a pejorative term used against women who break from tradition. Alice Maddicott is the author of Cat Women and writer Kat Brown has two cats, Ambridge and Genevieve and has written about the support they gave her during fertility treatment. Next week 114 new QCs will receive their silks at a ceremony in front of the Lord Chancellor at Westminster Hall. Of those 114 just 30 are women. So what’s holding women back? A children’s nurse on the edge of physical and mental collapse is at the centre of a new novel Rest And Be Thankful. The author, Emma Glass is a paediatric nurse herself so she knows all about hands red raw from washing and how to support grieving parents so why did she decide to write a novel using her experiences? Rough sex is sometimes used as a defence in court cases involving sexual violence. The government says it’s going to look at these rough sex laws as part of the Domestic Abuse Bill, which had its First Reading in the House of Commons last week. Parliament being prorogued and then the election in December delayed the progress of the Bill. To get the latest on the Bill is the MP and Mother of the House, Harriet Harman.

Presenter: Jenni Murray Interviewed guest: Alice Maddicott author of Cat Women Interviewed guest: Writer Kat Brown Interviewed guest: Sian Mirchandani QC from 4 New Square Interviewed guest: Rebecca Tuck from Old Square Chambers Interviewed guest: Author Emma Glass Interviewed guest: MP Harriet Harman Producer: Henrietta Harrison

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:04.6	My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:08.4	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable
0:14.3	experts and genuinely engaging voices. What you may not know is that the BBC
0:20.4	makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
0:24.6	poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.
0:29.7	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds.
0:36.0	BBC Sounds.
0:38.0	BBC Sounds, Music Radio Podcasts.
0:41.0	Hello Jenny Murray welcoming you to the Women's Our Podcast. podcasts. House the MP Harriet Harmon has long campaigned for a rough sex defence where a woman has
0:56.0	been killed to be made illegal. As the domestic abuse bill has its first reading in
1:01.2	the House, she reassured that her demands will be met.
1:05.6	Rest and be thankful is a novel by Emma Glass about the stress suffered by a pediatric nurse. why has she used her own experience on the wards to create
1:16.4	a fiction?
1:17.9	And a woman and her cat, why does it make her a crazy cat lady when a man with a cat is just a man with a cat?
1:27.0	Now next week a hundred and fourteen barristers will receive silk and become Queen's Council. Of the 114 who will appear at the
1:36.1	ceremony in front of the Lord Chancellor at Westminster Hall, only 30 will be women.
1:41.2	Across the profession where there are currently 1,834 QCs, only 298 of female,
1:49.6	that's a mere 16%.
1:52.9	What holds women back from making an application for what is effectively promotion?
1:58.7	Well Rebecca Tuck will be one of the women at the ceremony on Monday, Sean Meachandani, became a QC last year.
2:06.5	Sean, what do you see as the barriers to women becoming QC's?
	...

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