I'm Rory Stewart and I grew up wanting to be a hero and I'm still fascinated by the ideas of heroism.

In my new series, I'm taking in the long sweep of history from Achilles to Zelensky and asking, what is a hero?

Simply doing your job, being a decent human being.

A true hero is someone who just kind of shines by

their own light and that light is to be recognized by others. The long history of heroism with me,

Rory Stewart. Listen on BBC Sounds. A bomb whose creation would tit the scales of global power.

A nuclear physicist who sought to redress the balance.

The Bomb, a podcast from the BBC World Service, Season 2, available now.

Hello and thank you for downloading the BBC Witness History podcast from the World Service.

This week we're going to bring you stories about women's reproductive rights around the world.

This follows the US Supreme Court's ruling on Roe v. Wade, which removes the constitutional right to abortion in America.

In 1956, Tunisia became the first country in the Muslim world to legalise

civil divorce and abortion. President Borgiba also gave women the vote and widened access to education.

In 2019, Nidal al-Bunrad spoke to Saida El-Gayad, a founding member of the Tunisian Women's Union.

On paper, at least, the Tunisian woman of today is as free as the wind.

She has the vote, she has the right to compete in any sphere of business with the men.

Where once divorce was the privilege of the man, the woman can now win her case in the courts of law.

According to the statute books, the Chinese woman is as emancipated as her European

counterpart.

The equal rights law was the biggest ever gain for Tunisian women.

President Borgiba said he was not just the liberator of Tunisia, but a liberator of Tunisian women as well.

Habib Bourguiba had led a 30-year fight for independence from France and become Tunisia's first

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