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Woman's Hour

Shabana Mahmood profiled, Make-up free photos, World Cup female lead medic

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture

4.13K Ratings

🗓️ 17 July 2026

⏱️ 58 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

There is speculation today that the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will become Chancellor when the incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham announces his Cabinet on Monday. Whoever takes on the role will face quite the in-tray: high debt, low growth, welfare reform, defence spending, and the economic fallout from the US-Israel war with Iran, to name a few issues. So, if it's Shabana Mahmood, how might she fare and what do we know about her? Anita Rani speaks to Lucy Fisher, Whitehall Editor of the Financial Times and Host of the FT's Political Fix podcast.

Australian surf and fashion photographer Cait Miers says that on shoots women often criticise and apologise for their looks before a single photo is taken. She is now photographing 1,000 women globally, bare-faced, for a project she has called Laugh Lines. Anita is joined by Cait to talk about her mission to challenge beauty standards and also by Alexis Zahner, author of Real: Reconnecting to Yourself in a World of Likes and Lies, and one of the first women to be photographed for the project.

Dr Suzanne Huurman is the only woman to head a country's medical staff in the men's 2026 FIFA World Cup, meaning there is just one woman and 47 men in the lead role for the teams taking part this year. Anita talks to Suzanne about being a trailblazer, how she - as head of medical staff for Curacao's national men's side - got to become only the third-ever female team doctor in the 96-year history of the tournament and what she thinks could be done to increase female representation in football.

The Young British Artists, YBA movement of the 1990s is the inspiration for a new novel, Exhibition, by Alex Hyde. The protagonist, Rabble, an aspiring photographer, finds herself in the YBA scene after meeting an artist always referred to in the novel as “you”. Anita talks to Alex about how, through Rabble, her novel explores the inspiration and process of creating art - and the question of ownership, referencing real works.

Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Rebecca Myatt

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.

0:06.0

Did you know, but now you can watch some of your favourite BBC Sounds podcasts on IPlayer.

0:12.4

Check out the mystery items for yourself in Saw Your Life Out unpacked.

0:16.7

I wasn't expecting this.

0:18.1

See trending interviews from Fame Under Fire.

0:21.1

What are we telling everybody to do?

0:22.4

Watch this.

0:23.0

And watch Wayne Rooney and his guests on the Wayne Rooney show.

0:27.0

What did he make you do, wine?

0:28.1

Can't make me do anything.

0:30.2

Your BBC Sounds favourites.

0:32.4

Available as video podcasts to watch an eye player, listen on BBC Sounds.

0:38.5

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

0:43.4

Good morning and welcome to the programme.

0:45.2

I look forward to listening to that cacao programme too.

0:47.8

Here's a football stat for you.

0:49.9

48 teams competed in this year's World Cup.

0:53.1

There are 48 leads for the medical staff,

0:56.1

one for each of those teams, and one is a woman. Dr. Suzanne Herman will be telling us about

1:03.2

working as that sole female lead in the World Cup. Author Alex Hyde is here to tell us about her

1:10.4

new book set during the 90s young British

1:12.8

artist movement called Exhibition. It's about art, but it's also about class and women. And what's

...

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