Weekend Woman's Hour: 75th Birthday, Mina Smallman, Celibacy, Professor Anita Hill
Woman's Hour
BBC
4.1 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 9 October 2021
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Baroness Brenda Hale is a former judge who served as the first female president of the Supreme Court. She has written a book, Spider Woman, that spans her life and work.
We hear from Professor Anita Hill who thirty years ago faced an all-male, all-white Senate Judiciary Committee—led by the then, Senator Joe Biden—to testify that her boss, Supreme Court Justice nominee Clarence Thomas, had sexually harassed her. It was a landmark moment for these issues and inspired countless women to come forward with their stories, to file complaints, and even to run for office; creating an unintentional trail blazer.
Abi Sampa describes herself as a "weird warbling electric Veena player". She trained as a dentist and then appeared on The Voice in 2013, where she wowed the judges with her unique style of as a fusion of western pop and Indian classical music.
Over the last few years, the figures around celibacy have generally been on the rise - particular amongst young women. What’s to be gained from making this life choice? Anita speaks to sex therapist Danielle Bennett, and two women who have experience with celibacy. Laura Kennedy is in her 30’s and was celibate for six years. Shirley Yanez is in her 60's and became celibate as part of a conscious change in lifestyle.
Mina Smallman, the mother of Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry, the sisters who were murdered in a North London park last year, speaks to us about her grief and women's safety.
Joan Diana Gayford nee Wilson joined the BBC as a talks producer shortly after the Second World War. Not long after a new programme hit the airwaves. 75 years later, you can hear Emma talking to Diana Gayford who was working on Woman’s Hour when it first came to air at 2pm on 7th October 1946.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds Music Radio Podcasts |
| 0:04.9 | Hello and welcome to Weekend Woman's Hour, where we've handily pulled together some |
| 0:09.3 | of the standout moments from the week just gone, so you can go to work and say, oh, did |
| 0:14.0 | you hear that really interesting interview on Woman's Hour about celibacy? |
| 0:18.0 | Yep, today we're talking celibacy. No sex please, we're celibates. We hear from two |
| 0:23.3 | women who made the choice to stop having sex, both for very different reasons. Plus, we |
| 0:28.8 | meet Diana Gafford, 104 years old. An ex-radio producer who worked on the very first |
| 0:35.6 | Woman's Hour way back in 1946. Some of the top people in the BBC weren't all that keen |
| 0:43.7 | on women, I didn't think, but some of the others, ones above me, were very helpful and supportive, |
| 0:54.6 | indeed. And I think listeners were very pleased to have us. |
| 1:02.0 | And I think they're still very pleased. And Anita Hill, the American professor whose claims |
| 1:06.3 | of sexual harassment against Supreme Court Justice nominee Clarence Thomas, sparked new |
| 1:11.0 | conversations on women's rights across the United States. But first, in case you missed |
| 1:16.2 | it, Woman's Hour turned 75 on Thursday, and doesn't she look good for it. And to mark |
| 1:21.5 | the occasion, we commissioned a poll to find out how women feel about equality in 2021, |
| 1:27.2 | and what your biggest concerns are. There'll be more on that across the upcoming week, |
| 1:31.7 | so keep an eye out. But to start the programme today, who better to hear from than the first |
| 1:36.1 | woman to be made president of the UK Supreme Court, Baroness Brenda Hale, a role she stepped |
| 1:41.9 | down from last year. In a week, whether it's been so much focus on protection and safety, |
| 1:47.4 | Emma started by asking Lady Hale whether she thinks the law is working for women. |
| 1:52.9 | Well, I think the law is a huge improvement now on what it was when I started out in the law, |
| 1:59.2 | which is a very long time ago now. Things have changed a lot. And most of the laws that we have, |
... |
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