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Woman's Hour

Weekend Woman's Hour: Ellie Simmonds, No-fault divorce, Educating Afghan girls and SMS education

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture, Health & Fitness, Personal Journals

4.22.9K Ratings

🗓️ 8 April 2022

⏱️ 44 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We explore No Fault Divorce. The biggest reform of divorce law for 50 years comes into force- changing a law that dates back to Henry VIII. We hear from listener, Helen, currently going through a divorce. The Paralympic five time gold medallist Ellie Simmonds was born with achondroplasia, the most common type of dwarfism. A new drug currently being trialled in the NHS and now approved for use in the USA aims to help children with achondroplasia grow taller. In a new BBC documentary: A World without Dwarfism, Ellie raises the question if cutting edge medicine can stop disability in its tracks, should we use it? There are reports that women in Ukraine have been raped in front of their children, and Russian soldiers have filmed what they're doing. We discuss why rape in war happens, justice and trauma with Dr Jelke Boesten, Professor of Gender and Development at King's College London. It’s been over two weeks since the Taliban went back on their plans to allow girls in Afghanistan to return to school. Sara Wahedi, a tech entrepreneur explains her new idea of helping Afghan girls access education - through SMS on their phones. On Thursday, 100 individuals and their families wrote to the Health and Social Care Secretary, Sajid Javid, asking him to appoint Donna Ockenden to conduct an independent review of maternity services at Nottingham University Hospitals Trust. They are members of an online support group for those affected by unsafe maternity services and have shared harrowing accounts of their experiences. Sarah Hawkins talks about the death of their daughter, Harriet, on 17th April 2016 as a result of a mismanaged labour. Presented by Andrea Catherwood Producer: Surya Elango Editor: Louise Corley

Transcript

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0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.

0:04.8

Hello and welcome to Weekend Woman's Hour. I'm Andrea Catherwood.

0:08.7

This is the show where we offer you some of the best and must-hear interviews from across the week.

0:14.5

In today's programme, we explore no fault divorce.

0:18.1

The biggest reform of divorce law for 50 years comes into force,

0:22.2

changing a law that dates back to Henry VIII.

0:25.2

We meet one listener Helen, who called into our phone in programme on Wednesday.

0:30.4

You'll hear from Ellie Simmons, the Paralympic five-time gold medalist,

0:34.6

on her new BBC documentary, A World Without Dwarfism,

0:38.4

exploring the question that if cutting edge medicine can stop disability in its tracks,

0:43.7

should we embrace it?

0:45.4

In light of this week's news dominated by distressing pictures of dead bodies

0:49.4

in the streets of Butcher, not far from Kiev in Ukraine,

0:53.0

we discuss the use of rape and sexual assault as a weapon of war,

0:57.6

with Dr. Yelka Bostin, a Professor of Gender and Development from King's College London.

1:03.6

We also meet Sarah Wohidi, an Afghan tech entrepreneur,

1:06.8

and I live in America.

1:08.3

In 2020, she created an app which delivers real-time security power

1:12.6

and traffic alerts to Kabul.

1:14.6

Now, she's turning her attention to helping Afghan girls access education through their phones.

1:21.1

And finally, we hear from Sarah Hawkins, one of the 100 people who this week

1:26.2

wrote to the Health and Social Care Secretary, Sajja Javid,

...

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