Woman's Hour8 Joulu 2025

Freebirthing, Author Sarah Mughal Rana, Syria: One year on

Have you heard of Freebirthing? It’s giving birth without any medical help or intervention. A new podcast by The Guardian has investigated an American organisation – the Free Birth Society or FBS – a multimillion-dollar business which professionals claim promotes some dangerous views. Nuala McGovern is joined by Sirin Kale who undertook the investigation along with her colleague Lucy Osbourne. Dr Claire Feeley, midwife and senior lecturer at Kings College London who has done research into freebirthing, discusses the free birth picture here in the UK.

Today marks a year since the fall of the Assad regime in Syria. For more than half a century the Assad family ruled Syria with an iron fist and when it came to an end after 13 years of war, many women hoped for a new era. So what's the situation for women in the country 12 months on? We hear from Lina Sinjab, the BBC's Middle East correspondent, who is Syrian and currently in Aleppo.

As part of Radio 4’s annual Christmas Appeal, we hear from NHS Clinical psychologist Sarah Phillips and former Rowan Alba supported-accommodation resident Elvira about how a revolutionary in-house psychologist team is helping homeless women in supported housing in Edinburgh and why they think this model should be rolled out across the UK.

Sarah Mughal Rana is a #BookTok personality and the co-host of On the Write Track podcast. Her debut novel - Dawn of the Firebird -has just been published. It’s an epic, action-packed fantasy story, embracing rich Islamic culture. Sarah joins Nuala to discuss the main protagonist, the discarded daughter of an emperor, who is described as: Daughter, Assassin, Traitor, Saviour.

Presenter: Nuala McGovern Producer: Kirsty Starkey

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Jaksot(2000)

The Lost Children of Tuam, Ashley James on incontinence, Kemistry

Monica Dolan is starring in a new film, The Lost Children of Tuam, co-produced by Liam Neeson. In it, she plays the extraordinary amateur historian, Catherine Corless, whose relentless pursuit of the ...

5 Loka 56min

Weekend Woman's Hour: School uniforms in porn, The Farmer's Wife, 'Empty nesters'

A group of school children have set up a petition calling on the government to ban the use of school uniforms in porn. They say they want to abolish the sexualisation of children through the inappropr...

3 Loka 56min

Protests in Delhi, Retatrutide, The Farmer's Wife, Baby Loss

Multiple protests have been taking place in Delhi over the past week. Hundreds of women have come together in India's capital to protest against a series of sexual assaults - most recently the alleg...

2 Loka 57min

Cornell University rape investigation, Tributes to Esther Rantzen, Sunbeds

New York state prosecutors say they will reopen a criminal inquiry into the alleged rape of a woman at Cornell University in 2024. The woman, referred to in court documents as Jane Doe, alleges in her...

1 Loka 57min

The Women's Art Collection at 40; school uniforms in porn; the history of widowhood

The Prime Minister Andy Burnham has announced an end to the triple lock for the state pension from 2030, and it’s thought that women could be most affected by the proposed changes. Kylie Pentalow is ...

30 Syys 57min

'Empty nesters', Electronic tagging, Actor Lara Ricote

Many parents will have just experienced the departure of their children from the family home as they head for university, turning once-bustling households into so-called 'empty nests'. It can leave th...

29 Syys 58min

Accessing medical records, South Africa killings, Working post retirement

Ten NHS staff have been removed from duty or suspended after accessing the medical records of three-year-old Noah Woods, without authorisation. A major search for Noah was carried out in the village...

28 Syys 57min

Weekend Woman's Hour: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Domestic abuse survivor Lucy Godley and mum Sharon, Skye from Morcheeba

Hollywood star Catherine Zeta-Jones joined Nuala McGovern to talk about her new action thriller series, Kill Jackie and taking on one of her most formidable roles yet, not least because she's finally ...

26 Syys 27min