A bomb whose creation would tip the scales of global power.

A nuclear physicist who sought to redress the balance.

The bomb, a podcast from the BBC World Service.

These are two 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 vs. Wade, which removes the constitutional right to abortion in America.

In 1956, Tunisia became the first country in the Muslim world to legalize civil divorce and abortion.

President Borg Eber also gave women the vote and widened access to education.

In 2019, Nidala Bunrad spoke to Saeeda El-Gayard, 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.

Well, once divorced as the privilege of the man, the woman can now win her case in the courts of law.

According to the statute books, the Tunisian woman is as emancipated as her European counterpart.

The Equal Rights Law was the biggest ever-gain for Tunisia women.

President Borg Eber said he was not just the operator of Tunisia, but a operator of Tunisian women as well.

Habib Borg Eber had led a 30-year fight for independence from France and become Tunisia's first president in 1956.

Borg Eber's socialist vision for the country meant a bigger role for women.

And just a few months into his presidency, he announced the personal status code,

a wide-ranging set of laws to achieve equality between men and women.

I knew President Borg Eber during the struggle against colonialism.

We worked closely together because I was a journalist and one of the founders of the Tunisian women's union.

...