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Woman's Hour

Public Toilets, Cheerleading, Women and Conscription

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture

4.13K Ratings

🗓️ 20 April 2026

⏱️ 111 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

New analysis from the Royal Society for Public Health shows a 14% reduction in the number of public toilets across England since 2016. The report warns that the lack of facilities is contributing to an increase in public urination, creating unhygienic conditions. But is the impact felt equally - or are women disproportionately affected? Nuala McGovern is joined by Gail Ramster, Senior Research Associate at the Royal College of Art who carries out inclusive design research around public toilets and co-author of a book 'Designing Inclusive Public Toilets: Wee the People'

Last week former Major General Tim Cross said UK youngsters on benefits should undertake military service. As anxiety about global conflict increases, what might military conscription look like for UK women? RAF veteran and reservist Amy Hill and Victoria Basham, Professor of International Relations at Cardiff University join Nuala to discuss.

Using cheerleading to appeal to girls and young women to stay engaged with sport is one of several recommendations in a new report from MPs aimed at getting people to move more. After a more than year-long inquiry the Culture, Media and Sport Committee discovered a patchy picture of how well community and school sport is meeting the needs of people in England. So is offering cheerleading the way forward? Sarah Bellew, Head of Communications at Women in Sport and Millie Fannin, who runs Swindon Lightening Cheerleading club discuss.

Four years after Russia’s full‑scale invasion of Ukraine, the human cost of the war continues to mount. A new documentary looks back to the months before the invasion, following a group of young female journalists reporting independently as press freedom in Russia were under threat. It captures the danger they faced - and the friendship and humour that sustained them. Director of My Undesirable Friends Part 1: Last Air in Moscow Julia Loktev, and journalist Anna Nemzer, who features throughout the documentary, join Nuala.

In 2018, Rebecca Dale made history when she became the first female composer to sign to the prominent British classical music label, Decca Classics, and the first woman to sign to Decca publishing. Her debut album was programmed around her piece Requiem for my Mother and reached no. 1 in the specialist classical charts. Rebecca has been commissioned to compose by major organisations including the BBC and 20th Century Fox, in addition to having written for choirs and orchestras for studio albums. Rebecca’s latest album - Studies in Disappearing [Music for Screen] - is released on 15 May.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern Producer: Emma Pearce

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.

0:06.1

Can I just say?

0:07.6

You're about to listen to a BBC podcast.

0:10.0

It's such a wonderful listen.

0:11.7

So nice.

0:12.5

There are loads more like it on BBC Sounds.

0:14.8

Different paces, different heights, the roof is buckling.

0:17.9

Where you can also listen to live sports commentary.

0:20.2

It's right foot goes for goal.

0:22.6

And then enjoy even more podcasts full of analysis and reaction to the big stories.

0:27.7

The stat that is astonishing is they ended with the lowest amount of possession.

0:31.2

And she's had to live with that.

0:32.8

So if you love sport, a passion, it's almost like a religion.

0:35.8

Listen on BBC Sounds.

0:37.8

Sort of expecting that every week now.

0:40.7

Hello, I'm Nula McGovern and welcome to Woman's Hour from BBC Radio 4.

0:45.4

Just to say that for rights reasons, the music in the original radio broadcast has been removed for this podcast.

0:51.9

Hello and welcome to the program.

1:00.2

Now, you might have an image of cheerleading from the film Bring It On, or maybe the TV show, cheer.

1:06.7

But is perception based on reality or more on a US-based high school story?

1:15.2

Well, here's what the chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee ought to say about the sport in a new report game on that was released this morning.

1:25.4

Cheerleading is a prime example of an activity that can engage young people, particularly teenage girls, who might have previously thought sport was for others.

...

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