4.2 • 2.9K Ratings
🗓️ 7 August 2025
⏱️ 56 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Listener Week continues on Woman's Hour as we bring your stories, ideas and the issues you want to hear about to the air.
What happens when a woman earns more than her partner, or is the sole earner in a household? For some couples, it’s a practical arrangement that works well. For others, it can bring unexpected tensions, challenging traditional ideas about gender, identity and power. Listener Karla emailed the programme to say that she wanted to talk about what it means to be a female breadwinner. She joins Anita Rani along with Melissa Hogenboom, author of the book Breadwinners.
Lynne got in touch with the show to share her experience of being a stepmother and ask why people question the validity of her role and other her. Lynne explains that her bonds with her partner and her stepdaughter are incredibly strong, but expresses confusion and anxiety at how people react to her being a stepmum. Lynne talks to Anita and Professor Lisa Doodson, a chartered psychologist, author and stepmother herself, who has carried out research into this topic.
After our recent series about women and gaming, listener Jacqueline got in touch to say, 'I use games to 'check out' of life and to cope with an overwhelming amount of stuff that I need to manage. The games are an escape, but all those issues just come rushing back afterwards. I don't know where to turn for help.' Jacqueline joins Anita to share her experience, alongside consultant psychiatrist Professor Henrietta Bowden-Jones, founder and Director of the National Centre for Gaming Disorders.
Last weekend Laura Hollywood was crowned Europe’s Strongest Woman at the Official Strongman European Championship. We heard about her achievements from her friend Helen, who is a Woman’s Hour listener. As well as being a ‘strong-woman’, Laura is also a strength coach, supporting women through the perimenopause, helping them to embrace their strength, enhance their performance, and build their best self. Laura joins Anita to explain what it take to become a ‘strong woman’.
Mary-Havana Little is a traditional fibrous plasterer. She got in touch for Listener Week to suggest we talk about traditional crafts. Mary is one of the few women in the plastering world, working to create ornate decorative mouldings using techniques from hundreds of years ago. She joins Anita to speak about working in this male-dominated craft, and why she wants to inspire more women and girls into the industry.
Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Rebecca Myatt
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0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
0:05.1 | Hello, I'm Anita Rani and welcome to Women's Hour from BBC Radio 4. |
0:10.3 | Good morning. Welcome to the programme. It's a highlight in the Woman's Hour calendar listener week. |
0:16.7 | Every subject, every story covered this week has come from you. So far, we've heard some really |
0:22.4 | powerful accounts of the reality of women's lives and today is going to be no different. |
0:27.4 | We'll be discussing female breadwinners. Do you earn more than your partner? How does this |
0:32.8 | impact the dynamic of your relationship? How do you honestly feel about it? Have you found a way of making |
0:38.4 | it work? And the person who doesn't work, do they pick up the slack at home? Or as the female |
0:43.6 | breadwinner, do you find you're still doing all the domestic chores as well? Your thoughts on this, |
0:48.3 | please. Also, I'll be speaking to Europe's strongest woman. She's from Sheffield. Also a specialist decorative |
0:55.7 | plasterer. One of the few female plasters in the country that should be good inspiration for people |
1:00.7 | wanting to do something different. And also gaming addiction. How many hours do you spend |
1:05.5 | playing games online? And stepmothers. Are you one? I'll be speaking to listener Lynn, who emailed the program to |
1:13.3 | say, I met my partner almost 10 years ago, just two months after his wife died. She succumbed to |
1:19.7 | breast cancer and five years after five years, leaving him with his beautiful daughter, who was |
1:25.2 | almost six. I was 42 and had no children, but I'm |
1:28.8 | divorced. We fell in love and became a family almost immediately and my bond with our daughter |
1:33.7 | is so profound. I love her more than anything in the world. Despite this, I will always be the |
1:39.5 | stepmother and I'm always asked questions like, how do you get on with your partner's daughter, |
1:45.7 | as though she isn't mine too? |
1:51.7 | I'll be speaking to Lynn about her experience as well as a professor who's done research into stepmothers. |
1:58.4 | So if you have a question or would simply like to share your experience and your story, then get in touch in the usual way. |
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