Women, alcohol and lockdown, The Equal Pay Act at 50, Public toilets, Giving birth in lockdown
Woman's Hour
BBC
4.1 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 30 May 2020
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
An editorial in the British Medical Journal reported that one in five harmful and dependent drinkers got the help they needed, and now the proportion will be lower. How do you cope with an alcohol problem under lockdown? We hear the experience of a listener, the journalist Catherine Renton who has been sober for over 3 years, and from Julia Sinclair, professor of Addiction Psychiatry, University of Southampton and consultant in alcohol addiction. She’s also chair of the Royal College of Psychiatry’s addiction faculty.
It is fifty years since the Equal Pay Act became law. However, it’s proved tricky over the years for women to find out what their male comparators were earning. It’s also proved tricky for women without financial and legal support to use the law. However, cases have been brought over the years and as the law has been strengthened. Frances O’Grady, General Secretary of the TUC and Jane Hannon, Employment partner at the law firm DLA Piper discuss.
The writer Michele Roberts discusses her memoir Negative Capability - written after the rejection of a novel by her publisher caused hurt and depression.
Lizzie tells her story of giving birth during lockdown. We also hear from the obstetrician Dr Kenga Sivarajah.
Council cuts have meant that there are 50% fewer public toilets than a decade ago. Coronavirus has caused even more closures – albeit temporarily. But where does that leave people who need urgent access to the loo? Jo Umbers from the Bladder and Bowel community explains how this issue is affecting women of all ages. Raymond Martin, from the British Toilet Association, discusses the economic and health importance of public toilets in a post-Covid world.
Jackie Kay, the National Poet for Scotland, discusses her new online poetry and music festival Makar to Makar, which is streaming via the National Theatre of Scotland's YouTube channel. We also hear poetry from Gerda Stevenson and music from Claire Brown, who are both performing in the festival.
Presenter: Jane Garvey Producer: Dianne McGregor
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Choosing what to watch night after night the flicking through the endless |
| 0:06.8 | searching is a nightmare we want to help you on our brand new podcast off the |
| 0:11.8 | telly we share what we've been watching |
| 0:14.0 | Fladiated. |
| 0:16.0 | Load to games, loads of fun, loads of screaming. |
| 0:19.0 | Lovely. Off the telly with me Joanna Paige. |
| 0:21.0 | And me, Natalie Cassidy, so your evenings can be a little less |
| 0:25.0 | searching and a lot more auction listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:30.0 | BBC Sounds music radio, radio podcasts. |
| 0:34.7 | Hello, very good afternoon. |
| 0:35.9 | This week we talk about pregnancy and giving birth in lockdown, |
| 0:40.2 | and also what life is like with a newborn. You won't be able to forget the story of |
| 0:44.4 | Lizzy so you'll hear more from her a little later in the program. We'll talk |
| 0:48.2 | too about coping with an alcohol problem during the coronavirus lockdown and will feature the writer |
| 0:54.2 | Michelle Roberts on dealing with rejection. I lost all memory of previous success or |
| 1:01.0 | respect or the affection of readers. |
| 1:05.0 | That was the dreadful thing about it. |
| 1:06.2 | That just all vanished and there was nothing but feeling like a smashed empty eggshell. |
| 1:12.2 | You can also hear Jackie Kaye Scotland's Maca or |
| 1:15.0 | national poet talking about her weekly online festival of poetry and music and |
| 1:20.1 | are you staying in because so many public toilets are shot? More about that issue on weekend |
| 1:26.3 | women's hour as well. First, it was 50 years to the day yesterday since the Equal Pay Act became law. That legislation came about after the strike by |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

