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Woman's Hour

Weekend Woman's Hour: Greenham Common, 'Girlboss' & the magic of Mirrors

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture

4.13K Ratings

🗓️ 4 September 2021

⏱️ 56 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Forty years ago a campaign group called Women for Life on Earth marched from Cardiff to the Greenham Common RAF Base in Berkshire to protest against the British government allowing US nuclear missiles on British Soil. We hear from two women Rebecca Mordan, co-author of Out of the Darkness Greenham Voices 1981-2000 and Sue Ray who were part of the original movement and are walking to Greenham Common again this week.

We hear from Fran Lebowitz the American writer, social commentator, humourist, very occasional actress and New York legend.

‘Girlboss’ is used as a term of empowerment. It’s meant to refer to a new generation of confident, take charge women who pursue their own entrepreneurial ambitions but does this concept relate only to white middle class privileged women and what does it mean to successful women of colour? To discuss this is Otegha Uwagba the author of We Need to Talk About Money and Asma Khan the founder of Dharjeeling Express.

Zizi Strallen is playing Mary Poppins in the latest stage adaptation in London’s West End. She performs ‘Practically Perfect’.

We hear from two parents about what it’s like to be told your child has special educational needs and that they are not developing normally. Parents Lauren Gibson and Claire Walker discuss.

Why are some mirrors more flattering than others? How often do you look in the mirror and are you able to judge your reflection fairly? We hear from the psychotherapist Susie Orbach and from mirror expert Dr Melissa Kao.

Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Rabeka Nurmahomed Editor: Louise Corley

Transcript

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0:00.0

Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.

0:04.6

My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.

0:08.4

As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable

0:14.3

experts and genuinely engaging voices. What you may not know is that the BBC

0:20.4

makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,

0:24.6

poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.

0:29.7

If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds.

0:36.0

Hello and welcome to Weekend Woman's Hour.

0:39.0

In a moment we'll hear from Fran Leibovitz, the American writer, social commentator, humorist, actress, and New York legend.

0:46.8

We'll also discuss what it's like as a parent

0:49.2

to be told your child has learning difficulties.

0:51.6

When they said it to me, even though I'd had concerns it still felt like a punch and my response was to kind of punch back and say no he's fine it's lockdown he's not seen any other children for nine months

1:04.3

wonderfully they said well you can gather evidence and we'll have a chat about it then I

1:08.2

did start to see the differences we'll delve into the mysterious and magical ways of the mirror and why some mirrors are more

1:14.9

flattering than others. And we'll hear about the motivation for a group of women who 40 years ago this week

1:21.2

marched from Cardiff to the Greenham Common R. A.F.

1:24.3

base in Newbury to protest against the British government allowing US nuclear

1:28.5

missiles on British soil.

1:30.1

I think it was an incredibly visceral fear. It's not dissimilar to the fear that the

1:34.8

youth very rightly have now of climate change that we should all have. It's not dissimilar to the fears

1:39.9

that many of us share about male violence locally,

1:43.0

globally.

...

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