Weekend Woman's Hour: Windrush Women, Tracey Emin, Irene Tracey, Bridget Christie, Working Women in India, Glastonbury - a podcast by BBC Radio 4

from 2023-06-24T16:00

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On Thursday, the UK celebrated the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush which made the 5,000 mile journey from the Caribbean to England in 1948. The passengers were mainly made up of ex-servicemen along with over 200 bold, pioneering women. Veteran nurse and founder of the Windrush Cymru Elders, Roma Taylor, former nurse Allyson Williams and journalist Amina Taylor join Nuala to discuss their experiences of leaving home to help rebuild Britain after WWII.

As visitors walk through the doors of the newly reopened National Portrait Gallery in London, they will see 45 hand-drawn portraits of women by British artist Tracey Emin, that have been cast in bronze. They are said to represent every woman. Tracey speaks to Krupa Padhy about her creative process and what she hopes people will take away from the images.

Professor Irene Tracey is only the second ever female Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford. In the last few weeks she has had to deal with several angry protests in Oxford over the appearance of Kathleen Stock at the Oxford Union. She allowed the talk to go ahead, saying, ‘we have to defend free speech’. Professor Tracey joins Nuala to talk about the battle over free speech, as well as what it’s like being a woman in the world of academia.

Comedian Bridget Christie’s stand-up has been credited with putting the funny in feminism. You might know her from Taskmaster or Ghosts. Now she’s created and stars in a comedy drama called The Change, which starts this week on Channel 4. She plays Linda, a woman who turns 50, discovers she’s menopausal and abandons her family to go off and find herself in the Forest of Dean. Bridget joins Nuala in studio.

Nuala McGovern talks to Rosa Abraham & Rituparna Chakraborty about the fact that nearly half of the population in India is female, but the number of working women has fallen to record lows.

For the first time ever, Woman's Hour broadcast live from Glastonbury. Four time Grammy nominee and folk legend Allison Russell joined Anita live for a very special performance. Alongside being a singer and songwriter Allison is a poet, an activist and a multi-instrumentalist. Fresh from performing alongside the one and only Joni Mitchell earlier this month she is at Glastonbury, performing on The Acoustic Stage.

Presenter: Krupa Padhy
Producer: Hanna Ward
Studio Engineer: Bob Nettles

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