Woman's Hour Folgen

This summer marks 40 years since Willy Russell’s landmark play Educating Rita was first performed. The funny and moving story of a 26 year-old Liverpudlian hairdresser studying for an Open University degree has barely been off stage since. Dame Julie Walters played the lead role in both the original theatrical production and the later film, for which she was Oscar-nominated. She joins Jane to talk about what playing the role has meant to her, and how much Rita/Susan’s experience chimed with her own. Jane also speaks to Willy Russell about Rita’s story, and why he believes it has resonated with so many women. They are joined by four real life Ritas – working-class women who returned to education in later life, Glynthea Modood, Sue Slater, Kate Wiseman, and the Open University’s Pro Vice Chancellor Liz Marr.

Louise Somerville thinks we need to talk more about nits. She feels that increasingly schools are inconsistent in how much they help parents deal with nits and that clear advice is lacking. We ask how best to deal with nits and head lice, and the stigma attached, and why it matters. With entomologist Richard Jones and Joanna Ibarra from Community Hygiene Concern.Daisy Leigh was 23 when she felt an unfamiliar kicking sensation and was shocked to discover she was 30 weeks pregnant. She had just two months to prepare, mentally and practically, for becoming a mother. Nine months on, she says her daughter is the best thing that's ever happened to her.Women and Paddling: kayaking, canoeing, paddle boarding, rafting; what are the attractions, what is involved, and how can paddle sports help physical and mental health? Cadi Lambert runs the #ShePaddles programme for British Canoeing, and Emma Kitchen has started training to be a coach to help people improve their paddle skills.Are women taken more seriously in the work place if they have an RP accent? Jane hears from listeners Karen Jenkins, Bethan John and Dr. Melanie Reynolds, and Professor Deviyani Sharma, Professor of Socio-linguistics at Queen Mary University of London.How do you cope when you lose all your belongings? Eve, Pat Plumbridge and Sue Hepworth discuss.How much do you miss singing in a choir? Carolyn Acton, Sandra Colston, MD Funky Choir MD and Liesbeth Tip, Clinical psychologist at the School of Health and Social Science at University of Edinburgh, discuss.Presenter: Jenni Murray Producer: Dianne McGregor

Presented by Jenni Murray.A 16 year-old young woman looking at universities came across the St Andrews Survivors page on Instagram with more than 100 stories of sexual assault. She only read a couple but consequently wiped St Andrews off her potential university list. Her mother, a Woman’s Hour listener, wrote to us to saying she felt universities are not doing enough to address this problem, and was concerned with the impact this could have on young women going to university. Jenni is joined by Sara Khan, NUS Vice President for Liberation and Equality for an update on a problem that has been raised many times in the last few years. How successful have universities been in addressing this?What singing can do for your mental health? We hear how much some listeners are missing being part of choirs, and also from those who have been finding alternative ways to sing as a group online and even outdoors. Jenni discusses the issues with listener Carolyn Acton, Sandra Colston, MD Funky Choir MD and Liesbeth Tip Clinical psychologist at the School of Health and Social Science at University of Edinburgh. Listener Jan Courtney describes her experience of retiring and finding it hard to adjust to her new life, and describes meeting “juicy crones” –other women of a certain age who are having adventures and doing extraordinary things. Listener, Eve, lost all of her belongings when she was a student. She would like to know how other people cope when it happens to them. She joins Jenni, along with Pat Plumbridge and Sue Hepworth, to discuss what was lost, how they came to terms with this, the items they miss and how the experience has shaped their attitude to possessions.Producer: Louise Corley Editor: Karen Dalziel