Woman's Hour Folgen

New research highlights how many women leave the bar mid-career. So why is it so difficult for women to progress in a career as a barrister? We hear from a barrister currently on maternity leave and another who has returned to the profession after having children.After our programmes on feeding your baby, you told us how hard it is to find help if you’re, for whatever reason, trying to stop breastfeeding. Whether its dealing with a baby or child who doesn’t want to stop, staying full of milk when you need to go back to work, or dealing with the emotional and hormonal fall out. You wrote to us about all of these things. So what should women be aware of when they stop breast feeding? And what can they do to help themselves and their babies? We speak to International Board Certified Lactation Consultant Clare Meynell and Clare Byam-Cook, author of 'What to expect when you're breast-feeding, and what if you can't?' Historian Suzannah Lipscomb uncovers the lives, behaviours and attitudes to love, marriage and sex of ordinary 16th and 17th century French women. Based on the evidence of over a thousand cases brought before the moral courts of the Protestant church of Languedoc. She joins Jenni to discuss her new book ‘The Voices of Nimes - Women, Sex & Marriage in Reformation Languedoc.We remember the author Andrea Levy We hear the fifth story of our family secrets series.Presenter: Jenni Murray Producer: Helen Fitzhenry Interviewed guest: Arlene Small Interviewed guest: Sarah Langford Interviewed guest: Suzannah Lipscomb Interviewed guest: Clare Meynell Interviewed guest: Clare Byam-Cook

Netball is played in schools across the UK, but as a professional sport has had little recognition. When the England Netball team took home Gold at the Commonwealth Games last year, that changed. Head Coach Tracey Neville joins us to discuss the impact that moment had, and what she loves so much about the game.In the UK, there are 800,000 disabled children under the age of 16 - nearly all of them live at home and are supported by their families. But what happens when their behaviour becomes so challenging you struggle to look after them? We look at the difficult decision to consider whether residential care might be the answer not only for them but for you and the rest of the family. We hear from Sharon King, mother of three older children all of whom are on the autism spectrum, and Amanda Batten Chief Executive Contact a charity for families of disabled children.Breast ironing is a way to stop teenagers’ breasts from growing. It’s painful and sometimes involves large, hot stones pushing down on the breasts. Hammers or spatulas are also used, and so are elastic belts or binders. Usually mothers do it, calling it tradition and saying that it stops their daughters being sexually attractive or sexually active. It happens in several African countries but cases have been recorded in the UK too, although it’s impossible to know the true scale. This week the UK Government has called it child abuse and says it will be dealt with in law. Laura Mucha has spent her life trying to understand romantic relationships and has now brought interviews with strangers together with research studies in her new book. She discusses her findings and how they’ve helped her own approach to love.Presenter: Jenni Murray Producer: Kirsty StarkeyInterviewed Guest: Amanda Barren Interviewed Guest: Sharon King Interviewed Guest: Tracey Neville Interviewed Guest: Milly Kerr Interviewed Guest: Laura Mucha

How important is it to celebrate your female friendships? It's Galentine’s Day! The day before Valentine’s Day, it was first mentioned in an episode of the American sitcom Parks and Recreation nearly 10 years ago. It's now a part of card and present marketing. From identical pyjamas, to matching jewellery, to apps which help women to make friends; the concept of ‘gal pals’ or a ‘female tribe’ has become hugely commercialised. Does is matter? Claire Cohen is the Women’s Editor at the Daily Telegraph. Rachel Pashley has over 20 years of experience in global marketing and advertising, specialising in female insight. They both join Jenni to discuss.Female friendships taking centre stage. We look at three current theatre productions examining women’s relationships with actor Tanya Loretta Dee who's performing in Boots, the writer of Soft Animals, Holly Robinson and actor/producer Josie Dale Jones whose play Dressed is soon to open in London. They discuss the importance of the support and nurturing these bonds provide.How important are friends at work? It is a good idea to be best friends with a colleague? And what happens when promotions, redundancies and annoying office habits get in the way? We talk to Kate Leaver, journalist and author of The Friendship Cure: A Manifesto for Reconnecting in the Modern World, and to business psychologist Adina Tarry.What impact does having children have on friendships groups? Is it possible to carry on as before once babies are added to the mix? Do you have friends who have children but you don’t? Has your relationship with your friends changed? We're joined by blogger Candice Brathwaite and journalist Momtaz Begum Hossain.Presented by Jenni Murray Produced by Jane Thurlow