Singer-songwriter Joy Crookes, Maternity discrimination, Data-driven parenting, Hot Girl Summer

Joy Crookes was nominated for Rising star at the BRIT awards 2020. Born and raised in Elephant and Castle, London, the daughter of a Bengali mother and an Irish father, she grew up listening to an eclectic mix of genres – everything from Nick Cave, to King Tubby, Kendrick Lamar and Gregory Isaac. She came to the public’s attention at the age of 15 when she uploaded a cover of "Hit the Road Jack" on YouTube, and later performed "Mother, May I Sleep With Danger?", on the global music platform, COLORS. She has now released "Feet Don't Fail Me Now" as the lead single from her upcoming debut album, Skin.

We look at the issue of maternal discrimination with Dr Katie Lidster a scientist who has just won £23,000 damages against her employer – a government backed body. She won the case against UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) after an 18-month battle following the arrival of her second child, Daisy, who was born in 2019 ten weeks prematurely. She was offered a role with diminished responsibilities, four days a week, and later told that her old job no longer existed. We talk to Dr Lidster and to Employment lawyer Claire Dawson who specialises in discrimination cases.

The economist Emily Oster is best known here for her books that look at the evidence behind parenting myths. Much of the advice for pregnant women is contradictory and so her books looked at the data behind issues like drinking in pregnancy and risks associated with induction dates. Now she is back with a new book Family Firm which is focussed on primary school years.

‘Hot Girl Summer’ is a term coined by American rapper and music sensation Megan Thee Stallion. You might have seen the phrase across social media, on Instagram captions, Tik Tok hashtags, Facebook statuses, even on clothing, as it's become part of the day-to-day vocabulary for millennial and Gen-Z women across the globe. Megan defined ‘Hot Girl Summer’ as “To be you, just having fun. Turning up, driving the boat and not giving a damn about what nobody’s saying.” But why, two summers later, are people still using the phrase? And what does Hot Girl Summer actually mean? Anita Rani speaks to Shei Mamona, a journalist and the Beauty and Features Assistant at Glamour and Scotty Unfamous, an erotic romance author, blogger and self-described Sexfluencer.