ABBA Voyage, rape disclosure, Katie Hickman, cost of living, women of colour & racism in the workplace

Amongst all his other difficulties, Boris Johnson has promised to improve the outcome for rape victims, saying he will fix the system. It was a pledge made after the murder of Sarah Everard. Today, long awaited guidelines on evidence in trials have been published which campaigners say will do just the opposite. They'll deter women from coming forward because police and prosecutors will STILL be allowed to ask for personal records like medical and therapy notes and even school reports. We discussed this last month - when our reporter Melanie Abbott heard that draft guidelines prepared by the Crown Prosecution Service were being overturned. She joins us to tell us the latest.

Bravehearted is a new book that explores the extraordinary story of the women of the American ‘Wild West’ during the 19th century. Whether they were the hard-drinking hard-living poker players and prostitutes of the new boom towns, 'ordinary' wives and mothers walking two thousand miles across the prairies pulling their handcarts behind them, Chinese slave-brides working in laundries, or the Native American women displaced by the mass migration, all have one trait in common: extreme resilience and courage in the face of the unknown. We speak to author and historian, Katie Hickman about a period of history she believes has never been as well-documented by women as this.

The Living Wage Foundation has said that women are being disproportionately impacted by the cost of living crisis as they are more likely to be in low paid work. Today the government is set to announce support, the Financial Times’ Clear Barrett joins Jessica on the programme to discuss how this could help you.

One of the most successful pop groups in history is back! 40 years since their last concert, ABBA, are once again performing. Well almost… Agnetha, Freida, Benny and Björn spent 5 weeks performing their songs in motion capture suits so that their movements could be captured and turned into ABBA-TARS. The end result? A digital, 360-degree, immersive concert experience which feels like you’re watching ABBA, from the 1970s, perform in front of you. Producer Svana Gisla has kept the whole production on track for five years.

A recent landmark report revealed 75% of women of colour have experienced racism at work, 27% having suffered racial slurs and 61% report changing themselves to fit in. Produced by gender equality organisation, the Fawcett Society, and the race equality think tank, the Runnymede Trust, ‘Broken Ladders’ explores and documents the experiences of 2,000 women of colour in workplaces across the UK, showing the harmful and entrenched racism that women of colour endure at every stage of their career journey. Zaimal Azad, senior campaigns officer at the Fawcett Society joins Jessica Creighton.

Presenter: Jessica Creighton Producer: Kirsty Starkey

Interviewed Guest: Vera Baird Reporter: Melanie Abbott Interviewed Guest: Katie Hickman Interviewed Guest: Claer Barrett Interviewed Guest: Svana Gisla Photo Credit: Baillie Walsh Interviewed Guest: Zaimal Azad