The Conversation

Raising four or six babies at once - what's it like? Kim Chakanetsa brings together two women in very different situations who are experiencing motherhood in its most concentrated form.In April 2012, Lauren Perkins gave birth to sextuplets in Texas, following fertility treatment. Her six children - Andrew, Benjamin, Caroline, Leah, Allison and Levi - are now seven years old. Lauren says the first year was a blur of feeding and laundry and now the family exist in a kind of controlled chaos. Her biggest challenge is balancing the needs of their daughter, Leah, who has severe disabilities, with those of the rest of the family.Inga Mafenuka is a single mum to baby quadruplets, who were born in Cape Town, South Africa in July 2018. Inga was 22 when she became pregnant naturally, and she gave birth to the two boys, Bubele and Buchule and two girls, Bunono and Bungcwele. To support the family, Inga has taken on a part-time job in retail, and is also continuing her IT studies, which were broken off by the pregnancy, but they are struggling for space in their two-bedroom house in the township.Sadly, following the broadcast of this programme, Inga Mafenuka’s baby son, Bubele, died on August 1st 2019.Produced by Jo Impey for the BBC World ServiceL: Lauren Perkins (credit: Lisa Holloway) R: Inga Mafenuka (credit: Armand Hough African News Agency)

Zero tolerance for street harassment. Two activists in France and India tell Kim Chakanetsa why they won't accept wolf whistles, groping or violent attacks on women in public spaces.Marie Laguerre is a French student who was cat-called and then assaulted outside a café in Paris in July 2018. The moment was captured on a video which went viral, getting nine million views. The man responsible was sent to prison for violence, but not for harassment. Marie has now become a figurehead for activism on this issue, and has started a website where women can anonymously report their stories of harassment and abuse.Elsa D'Silva is an Indian activist who founded SafeCity, an app and a movement to identify, map and combat sexual violence on the streets. Spurred on by the gang rape of Jyoti Singh Pandey in Delhi in 2012, Elsa decided it was time for women to take matters into their own hands. Her project has now expanded to Nepal, Kenya and Cameroon, and has had concrete results - toilets and streetlights have been fixed, police have upped patrols and men have been shamed into stopping staring.Image: (L) Photo and credit: Elsa D'Silva (R) Marie Laguerre Credit: Lily Martin, CBC

The way we talk about gender is evolving, but what impact do words have? Kim Chakanetsa meets two women at the forefront of the study of language and asks them whether the language we speak can impact on the way we think.Lera Boroditsky is a cognitive scientist, who moved from her native Belarus to the USA at the age of 12. She has long been fascinated by how the mind works and studies how language shapes the way we think. She argues that words can impact our thinking about gender. Lera is currently Associate Professor at the University of California, San Diego. Sophie Bailly is Professor of Language Sciences at the University of Lorraine in Nancy, France, a country where debates about language have long been polarised. Earlier this year, the Académie Française, the guardian of the French language, gave the go-ahead for female versions of certain job titles to be used, which represented an important step for French feminists.Produced by Jo Impey for the BBC World Service.(l) Sophie Bailly (credit: David Mayer) and (r) Lera Boroditsky (credit: Lera Boroditsky)

Microlending is touted as a way to lift women out of poverty - with stories of small loans transforming lives in developing countries. But is that the reality? Kim Chakanetsa speaks to two women who lead microfinance organisations in India and the US. Julie Hanna is an Egyptian-born entrepreneur and chair of the board of Kiva, a US-based non-profit organisation that allows people to lend money via the internet to people on low incomes in over 90 countries. Julie herself came to the US as a child refugee, fleeing civil wars in Jordan and in Lebanon, where her family were living. She says it shaped her as a person. In 2015, President Obama named her Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship.Vijayalakshmi Das is the CEO of Friends of Women's World Banking, India, which is based in Ahmedabad. The organisation looks to not only provide women in India with microloans but also, through a group structure, provide support, knowledge and education for women in poverty so that they're able to use their new access to finance in a positive way.Image: L - Image and credit: Julie Hanna R - Image and credit: Viji Das

What's it like to be a woman in the airline industry? Flying has undergone great changes in the past few decades, but Kim Chakanetsa asks how far perceptions of female cabin crew have really changed?Heather Poole has worked for a major US airline for 20 years. She's also the author of the bestselling book, 'Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama and Crazy Passengers at 30,000 Feet.' Through social media and blogging she has exposed what's really going on in the minds of cabin crew.Gretchen Ryan started working for South African Airways in 1983 and has just published a book about her experiences called 'Secrets of a Stewardess: Flying the World in the 1980s.' She describes a mad decade of travel during a time when flying was a luxury and to be an air hostess was seen by many as a glamourous life.Presenter: Kim Chakanetsa.L: Heather Poole (credit: Almeida) R: Gretchen Ryan (credit: Callyn Jones)

Women around the world are still dying unnecessarily in childbirth, and suffering 'violence' in the delivery room. What can be done to empower pregnant women? Kim Chakanetsa talks to two female obstetricians who are fighting to improve birth experiences and safety for women in Brazil and the US.Dr Maria Helena Bastos is a Brazilian obstetrician who says that women in Brazil give birth in a very medicalised and highly scrutinised way, with some even forced to have Caesarean sections against their will. She is campaigning for women to be able to take control back of their bodies and their births.Dr Joia Crear-Perry is the Founder and President of the National Birth Equity Collaborative, set up to address the racial disparity in maternal and infant mortality in the US. Black mothers die in childbirth at 3 to 4 times the rate of white mothers. As a black mother and an obstetrician, Joia wants to end what she calls 'race-based medicine'.Image: L - Dr Joia Crear-Perry Credit: Comcast Newsmakers R - Image & credit: Dr Maria Helena Bastos

Two women breaking the mould in maths and computer science talk to Yassmin Abdel-Magied about the significance of their achievements and the wealth of opportunity for women in technology.Emma Haruka Iwao is a Japanese computer scientist who recently smashed the pi record, by calculating the number to a new world record length of 31 trillion digits. The pursuit of longer versions of pi is a long-standing pastime among mathematicians. Emma has been fascinated by the number since she had been a child. She currently works for Google in Japan and in the US.Anne-Marie Imafidon broke records at a young age. At the age of 11, she was the youngest girl ever to pass A-level computing in the UK, and she was just 20 when she received her MA degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Oxford. Now she has become a renowned champion for women in the STEM sectors. In 2013 she co-founded Stemettes, a social initiative dedicated to inspiring young women to get into science, technology, engineering and maths.L: Emma Haruka Iwao (Credit: Google) R: Anne-Marie Imafidon (Credit: Stemettes)

What happens when women head up workers' unions? Joanna Impey brings together two powerful women in charge of the rights of millions of workers in the UK and Kenya. They talk about how they're trying to tackle the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace and how they're trying to make unions more relevant to younger women.Born to a family of union organisers in Oxford, Frances O'Grady is the first female General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress. With nearly six million members, the TUC is the largest democratic member organisation in the UK. She is also a single mother who says she is committed to the interests of the working women who make up over half of the TUC’s membership.Rose Omamo is the General Secretary of the Amalgamated Union of Kenya Metal Workers. She trained as a mechanic and worked as an assembler but as one of only two women working with 300 men she realised the only way to defend her rights was to stand as a shop steward. Known as 'Mama Union,' the members of her organisation are still 90% male.Image: L - Frances O'Grady Credit: Jess Hurd R - Rose Omamo Credit: Victor Mogoa

176 million women around the world have endometriosis, a condition which causes crippling pain. So why does it still go undiagnosed for years after women first develop symptoms? Two women from Lebanon and Barbados who speak out about living with 'endo' join Kim Chakanetsa.Carine El Boustani is an endometriosis fighter and advocate. She has struggled with the pain from endometriosis for over 10 years, but had her symptoms dismissed by multiple doctors. Since getting a diagnosis, Carine has undergone six surgeries and several treatments. She decided to start raising awareness to help end the stigma surrounding the condition in the Middle East, and has also led the Ottawa EndoMarch. She is currently writing a book about her experiences, and plans to start her own 'endo' support organisation in Lebanon.Julia Mandeville was diagnosed with severe endometriosis at 24, but had known something was wrong from her first period at the age of 10. She says discussion of menstrual health is too often considered taboo in the Caribbean, but women and girls should feel empowered to speak out. She co-founded the Barbados Association of Endometriosis and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome in 2016, which published a book called Invisible not Imaginary, and is focusing on letting teenage girls know their pain is valid. L Carine El Boustani (credit: Kamara Morozuk) R Julia Mandeville (credit: Akinwole Jordan)

How to subvert the negative stereotypes about older women? Kim Chakanetsa brings together two women - both in their late 70s - to discuss how to grow older with purpose, passion, and a certain playfulness.Chilean author Isabel Allende is one of the most acclaimed writers in the world. Her novels, which draw on her own eventful life, tell stories of love, exile and loss, and have sold more than 70 million copies and have been translated from Spanish into 42 languages. Now aged 76, she has spoken openly about how to live passionately at any age.Also aged 76, Lynne Segal is a British-based feminist academic who has grappled with the paradoxes, struggles and advantages of ageing in her book, 'Out of Time: The Pleasures and Perils of Ageing'. Originally from Australia, Lynne is also a seasoned feminist and social activist and is Professor of Psychology and Gender Studies at Birkbeck College, London.Produced by Jo Impey for BBC World Service.Image: (L) Lynne Segal (credit Andy Hall/Getty Images) (R) Isabel Allende (credit Lori Barra)

What happens when you share your family life online with millions of other mothers? And what responsibilities does it come with? An Indian blogger and British vlogger who both focus on motherhood discuss with Krupa Padhy. Louise Pentland is a parenting vlogger who was recently named as Britain's top 'mumfluencer' by Mother & Baby magazine. Her YouTube channel has more than 2.4 million subscribers who watch her sharing her life with her two daughters Darcy, eight, and Pearl, one. She says no-one tells new mothers how lonely it can be, and while not shying away from the worst bits, her main aim is to bring positivity to her audience. Louise is also a successful fiction writer and her new novel is called Wilde About the Girl. Shweta Ganesh Kumar is the founder of the blog The Times of Amma – amma being the term for mother in several South Asian languages. It has been listed amongst the top ten Indian mom blogs to follow on multiple parenting sites, as has Shweta's Instagram account. Shweta started blogging to connect with other mothers, particularly ex-pat ones like herself. Her message is simple - it's OK to not be perfect. Shweta is a writer too, and her books include The Beginner’s Guide to the Indian Mom Blogging Universe.Image: L: Louise Pentland credit Nicky Johnston R: Shweta Ganesh Kumar credit Sagar Rajgopal

What does your body hair say about you? Can the decision to remove it be a sign of patriarchal oppression? Yassmin Abdel-Magied meets two women who decided to go against social norms and stop shaving and waxing their legs, underarms and pubic area. They discuss what's at stake for women in different parts of the world when it comes to body hair, and the unexpected reactions they got from their own family when they decided to let it grow.Busra Erkara is a Turkish writer who works for Year Zero, a bilingual magazine based in Istanbul. She was initiated into waxing by her mother and grandmother at the age of 13, but began to question why women remove body hair when she encountered feminist narratives about hair removal in Sweden and in the US. She’s written openly about her own conflicted approach to body hair as a Middle Eastern woman. Busra will soon take on the role of Director of Content at Odunpazari Modern Museum in Eskisehir, due to open in the summer of 2019.Emer O’Toole is an Irish writer and theatre scholar who has written extensively about body hair after her own decision to stop removing it as a feminist statement some eight years ago. She says it was hard to deal with the shame and embarrassment of being ‘hairy’ and even harder to deal with her mother's disapproval, but now she’s proud of what it says about her. Emer is Associate Professor of Irish performance studies at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, and author of the book Girls Will Be Girls: Dressing Up, Playing Parts and Daring to Act Differently.Image: L: Busra Erkara Credit: Naima Green R: Emer O'Toole Credit: Next Gen

Women are still the ones expected to be on top of household organisation, so does that make tidying up a feminist issue? With the 'decluttering' trend going global, Yassmin Abdel-Magied discusses with two women from Kenya and Belgium, who help people to organise their stuff professionally. Annelies Mentink became a professional organiser in 2016, following burnout from a stressful job in the banking industry and post-natal depression. 'I discovered that helping people to sort stuff was a real job and I love doing it.' She has since published a bestselling book in Flemish, Cleaning Up Makes You Happy! and started her own training academy for budding declutterers.As the youngest of 13 children, Faith Kaimba always had to be extremely organised with her own stuff. So it was a natural leap for her to go into the growing decluttering business in Kenya. She now trades as Faith the Organizer, and says because the modern African woman is expected to do it all, they need someone like her to help them reduce the household chaos.L: Faith Kaimba (credit: Dennis Kibaara) R: Annelies Mentink (credit: Wilfried Verreck Fotografie)

Breaking the silence on sexual assault. Two women tell Kim Chakanetsa how they worked through the trauma of sexual violence, and then decided to speak out to help others. Brisa De Angulo supports young survivors of sexual abuse in Bolivia, through her charity A Breeze of Hope. At the age of 15, she herself was raped by a member of her extended family, but when she tried to report the crime to the authorities she was ostracised and belittled. At just 17, Brisa decided to set up an organisation which provides medical, social and legal services to fellow young rape victims, so they didn't have to go through the ordeal she did.Winnie M Li is an author, activist and founder of the Clear Lines Festival. Winnie was working as a film producer in the UK before her career was disrupted, at the age of 29, when she was raped by a stranger. This prompted a long period of recovery, followed by a change in career. Winnie decided to focus on addressing the issue of sexual assault through the media, the arts and academia. Her debut novel, Dark Chapter, which was based on her experience of sexual violence, won The Guardian’s Not The Booker Prize 2017.L Winnie M Li (credit: Grace Gelder) R Brisa De Angulo (credit: Parker Palmer)

How to break the 'celluloid ceiling' in the movie industry, a term used to describe the under-representation of women in Hollywood? The numbers are particularly shocking when it comes to film soundtracks. In 2018, 94% of the music in Hollywood's highest grossing films was composed by men, according to the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University. Nelufar Hedayat asks two successful female composers why the numbers are so low and what can be done to close the gap?Hildur Guðnadóttir is an Icelandic composer, cellist and singer who is at the forefront of experimental pop music. She has composed a number of film scores, including Sicario: Day of the Soldado and the 2019 Joker film, starring Joaquin Phoenix, both of which have been described as 'macho' big budget features. She says she got in through the back door, because of the particular experimental style she has developed, and was surprised by the response she got when she arrived in Hollywood.Lolita Ritmanis is an Emmy Award-winning American composer, who is best known for the memorable themes she’s created for iconic superheroes, including for the animated series, Justice League. Lolita is the co-founder of the Alliance for Women Film Composers, which aims to increase the visibility of female composers in the film industry.Image: (l) Lolita Ritmanis. Credit: Thomas Mikusz (r)Hildur Guðnadóttir. Credit: Antje Taiga Jandrig

Discovering how your family was caught up in major historical events...two women from India and Singapore tell Kim Chakanetsa why they started digging into family secrets, how these stories were lost or deliberately forgotten, and the role that gender played.Aanchal Malhotra's grandparents fled what is now Pakistan in the chaos of Partition in 1947. Until she began to research her book Remnants of Partition: 21 Objects from a Continent Divided, she never knew their traumatic migration stories. They had buried them deep. Aanchal managed to persuade her grandmothers to reveal their secrets using the few objects they managed to bring with them. Aanchal is an artist and oral historian.Sim Chi Yin's grandfather was caught up in two different conflicts, the Malayan Emergency and then the Chinese Civil War. He was executed by nationalists in China in 1949. When Chi Yin discovered this history, taboo in her family for decades, it became the starting point for her photographic project One Day We'll Understand. She has since gone on to gather oral histories from the remaining leftist rebels of the Malayan conflict. Chi Yin is a photographic artist and nominee member of Magnum Photos.L Sim Chi Yin (credit: Keyyes.com/Joel Low) R Aanchal Malhotra (credit: Aashna Malhotra)

Nigeria is a country where women take leading roles in business, media and the arts yet for many, feminism is a filthy word. The country recently went to the polls and out of a list of 73 presidential candidates just eight of them were women. One of them, Eunice Atuejide sparked a fierce debate when she announced, “I am not a feminist”. She went on to say, “And who is a feminist? So what is Nigerian feminism? This is a country that has a history of legendary women, from the warrior Queen Amina of Zazzau to the 1929 ‘Women’s War’ where thousands of women came out in protest against British tax collections. Yet according to a recent UNICEF report, one in four girls in the country have experienced sexual violence, while 23% of women between the ages of 18 and 24 have experienced physical or sexual violence in the home. The Conversation has come to Lagos to meet a panel of successful and outspoken women, each leaders in their field, to challenge pre-conceptions and break some myths about what it means to be a woman in Nigeria. They discuss the highs and lows of their experiences with an audience of some of the sharpest young minds of the future, students from the University of Lagos.Fatima Zahra Umar is a lawyer, writer and gender activist behind the popular blog #DivorceDiaries. Ijeoma Umebinyuo is described as one of the top ten contemporary poets from Sub-Saharan Africa. Ijeoma says "I am always sharpening the blade of my pen". Bisola Aiyeola is a Nollywood actress, singer and Reality TV star. Oluwaseun Osowobi is the founder and Executive Director of 'The Stand to End Rape Initiative'. She is also 2019's Commonwealth Young Person of the Year for her role in fighting gender based violence.There is also a special ‘anonymous’ guest appearance by storyteller, blogger and cultural commentator ‘Diary of a Naija Girl’.Presented by Kim Chakanetsa and produced by Andrea Kennedy.Image (L-R): Fatima Zahra Umar (Credit: Ami Mansur), Oluwaseun Ayodeji Osowobi (Credit: Oluwaseun Ayodeji Osowobi), Ijeoma Umebinyuo (Credit: Ijeoma Umebinyuo), Bisola Aiyeola (Credit: TMPL)

Empowering women with self-defence skills is the aim of our two guests, who have both adapted traditional martial arts to create classes for women. They tell Celia Hatton about the transformation they see in their students when they first realise their own strength, and the power of self defence to change lives. They also discuss the potential danger of putting the onus on women to deal with violence, rather than tackling the problem of the perpetrators.Catalina Carmona Balvin runs The School of Self Defence for Women in Bogotá, Colombia, a country which has high levels of street harassment and domestic violence. Catalina teaches a form of Hapkido, a Korean martial art characterized by its emphasis on deflecting an opponent’s attacks instead of on forceful blocking, but she makes sure her classes provide a fun, safe environment, more inspired by salsa dancing than by hard-core, macho moves.Susie Kahlich runs an organisation in Berlin called Pretty Deadly, which teaches self-defence courses tailored for women. Originally from the US, Susie turned to martial arts after she became a victim of violent crime in Los Angeles nearly 20 years go. Susie invites her students to wear whatever clothes they would usually wear, from long skirts to headscarves, in order to make the moves easily adaptable to everyday scenarios.L: Catalina Carmona Balvin (credit: Andrés Epifanio Becerra García) R: Susie Kahlich (credit: Sahand Zamani)

Protecting lions in Kenya and grizzly bears in the US - two women tell Kim Chakanetsa about their experiences and achievements in the male-dominated field of wildlife conservation.When Shivani Bhalla realised that lions - her country's national symbol - were in trouble, she established a project in northern Kenya to protect them. She works with the whole community to prevent lion deaths. This includes the traditional Samburu women, who are leading their own conservation efforts under the title of Mama Simba, which means Mother of Lions.Louisa Willcox has spent the last three decades battling to protect the grizzly bear population in the US. In 2018 she helped get the bears back onto the endangered species list, meaning that planned trophy hunts on state lands had to be cancelled. There are around 700 grizzlies left in the Greater Yellowstone area, and Louisa says the females count the most, because they hold the key to recovery.L-Background image: Lion Credit: Ewaso Lions L-Image: Shivani Bhalla Credit: Nina Fascione R-Image: Louisa Willcox Credit: Louisa Willcox R-Background image: Grizzly bear Credit: Richard Spratley

Ireland voted in two ground-breaking referendums in the last five years. The same sex marriage referendum and Irish abortion referendum have changed the lives of many women in the country forever. And the campaigns continue. The Irish people are expected to go the ballot again to vote on removing a clause from the Irish Constitution that effectively says a woman’s place is in the home. The Conversation has gone to Dublin Castle to meet a panel of successful and outspoken influencers, each a trailblazer in their field and responsible for pushing the boundaries of what women are allowed to have and achieve. They discuss life after the referendums, and what’s next in the fight for equality in Ireland in front of a lively audience. Ailbhe Smyth is a veteran feminist activist who led the Repeal the 8th Campaign and founded ‘Marriage Equality’ to fight for the rights of same sex couples to marryStefanie Preissner is a best-selling author, screenwriter and playwright and the creator of Ireland’s hit TV series ‘Can’t Cope Won’t Cope’Nicci Daly is an Irish Hockey star, Motorsport engineer and founder of ‘Formula Females’, a campaign to promote women in motor racingDil Wickremasinghe is a ground-breaking broadcaster in mainstream Irish media who publically called out sexism in the workplace in 2017Presented by Kim Chakanetsa and produced by Sarah Kendal and Andrea KennedyImage (L-R): Ailbhe Smyth (Credit: Paul McCarthy/GCN), Nicci Daly (Credit: Morgan Treacy/Inpho), Stefanie Preissner (Credit: Emily Quinn) and Dil Wickremasinghe (Credit: Dena Shearer)

Two female scientists won Nobel Prizes in 2018, which was unprecedented in a single year. They join Kim Chakanetsa to discuss the whirlwind that followed their wins, their ground-breaking research, and how they believe more women can be recognised for their work.At a glittering ceremony in Stockholm in December 2018, Canadian Donna Strickland became the first woman for 55 years to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. One of the world’s leading laser physicists, based at the University of Waterloo, she was recognised for her co-invention of Chirped Pulse Amplification, a technique that has since been used as part of laser eye surgery and in the creation of smartphone screens. Donna is honoured to become one of just three women to ever win this award, but says she can't speak for all women.At the same ceremony, Frances Arnold became the fifth woman, and the first American woman, to win the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. From her lab at Caltech, Frances pioneered the directed evolution of enzymes, which has led to a wide range of more cleanly and cheaply made products, from laundry detergents to biofuels and medicines. She says that change for women in science cannot come fast enough, and she hopes that these two wins are 'the beginning of a steady stream' of recognition for female scientists.L-Image: Donna Strickland Credit: University of Waterloo R-Image: Frances Arnold Credit: Caltech

How do women handle high stakes hostage crises and complex conflicts? Kim Chakanetsa brings together two women who have successfully worked with some of the most dangerous men in the world in order to diffuse a kidnap situation or to try to rehabilitate them back into the community. Sue Williams is a British hostage negotiator who, over a career spanning almost three decades, has overseen the successful resolution of hundreds of hostage crises. During her time with the UK's Metropolitan Police, she was in charge of both the Kidnap and the Hostage Crisis Negotiation Units. She now works independently, mainly for NGOs and charities operating in dangerous parts of the world. Fatima Akilu is a Nigerian psychologist whose work centres on the fall-out from the brutal Boko Haram insurgency in the country’s North East. Since 2009, the militant Islamist group has inflicted a relentless stream of suicide bombings, beheadings and kidnappings in the region. As Director of the Neem Foundation, Fatima works with victims as well as perpetrators in an effort to reintegrate them into the community.L: Dr Fatima Akilu (credit: Dr Fatima Akilu) R: Sue Williams (credit: BBC)

How do you tackle cyber bullying? Do feminists hate men? And what has #MeToo done for Pakistan? These are just some of the questions tackled by the all-female panel brought together for this special edition of The Conversation, recorded in front of an audience of Karachi University Students from the Institute of Business Administration.Pakistan is placed second to last in the latest Global Gender Gap Index, beaten only by war-ravaged Yemen, and yet it has also voted in a female Prime Minister, had female generals within the armed forces and a strong feminist movement ever since its birth in 1947. Many of the issues women face here are the same as those faced by women across the world but the stakes can be very high. How a woman behaves in public can, in extreme cases, be a matter of life or death.On the panel are:Faiza Saleem – pioneering comedian and founder of the first female stand-up group in the countryHajra Khan – The first Pakistani, male or female, to have been signed by a foreign football club and captain of the women’s national football teamMahira Khan – Pakistan’s biggest female film star the award winning actressNighat Dad - set-up Pakistan’s first cyber bullying helpline and lawyer involved in Pakistan’s first #MeToo casePresented by Kim Chakanetsa and produced by Andrea KennedyImage: Faiza Saleem, Mahira Khan, Hajra Khan and Nighat Dad (L-R) Credit: Faiza Saleem, Huma Akram, Shakeel Bin Afzal and Nighat Dad (L-R)

What is it really like to go undercover as a woman? Our two guests set out to better understand the sex trafficking trade, and to gain deeper insight into life in North Korea. Suki Kim and Mimi Chakarova talk to Kim Chakanetsa about how they did it, and the challenges they faced.Suki Kim is an investigative journalist and novelist who was born and raised in South Korea. Her bestselling 2014 book, 'Without You, There Is No Us', describes the six months she spent undercover in Pyongyang, teaching the sons of North Korea’s elite at a private university, in the final days of Kim Jong-il’s reign. She says that when the book came out she was surprised by the reaction of her fellow journalists, who chose to focus on what they saw as her 'deception and lies' rather than the unique insights she had gathered on this highly secretive society.Bulgarian-American photographer and filmmaker Mimi Chakarova posed as a sex worker to investigate how women are trafficked in Europe and the Middle East for her 2011 documentary, 'The Price of Sex'. She says going undercover was terrifying, but it was the only way as a woman she could access brothels and sex clubs. Her brief forays covertly filming in those places gave her some idea of what life was like for the women who had been sold into that world. Mimi's most recent project, Still I Rise, celebrates people who persevere in spite of their struggles.Image: L - Mimi Chakarova Credit: Stefania Rousselle R - Suki Kim Credit: Ed Kashi VII

What difference does it make when women run universities? There are many higher education leaders who champion the idea of diversity, but few of them truly embody it, so the view from the top is still largely pale and male. Kim Chakanetsa talks to two women who are shaking things up in their institutions in the United States and Ecuador.Ana Mari Cauce is the first woman, the first Latina and the first openly gay president of the University of Washington in Seattle, US. She says it’s important to remember that universities began as monastic institutions built with men in mind, and she often finds that they still struggle to adapt to the presence of women.Cecilia Paredes Verduga is the first female Rector of the highest-ranking public university in Ecuador, ESPOL (Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral). With a background in the male-dominated field of engineering and in a country with a culture of machismo, Cecilia feels it's important to be herself in the role and to say things as they are.L Cecilia Paredes Verduga (credit: Jose Javier Roldos) R Ana Mari Cauce (credit: University of Washington)

What’s it like to grow up away from your family? Two women who spent part of their childhoods in care tell Kim Chakanetsa how they look back on that time, and how the experience has shaped them as adults.As a child, Rukhiya Budden experienced terrible neglect and abuse growing up in an orphanage in Kenya. Today she campaigns for orphanages to be abolished worldwide, as she believes such institutions can never provide the level of care that children really need.Following her mother’s death, Hayley Kemp was left at a children's home by her father, who had told her they were going to the dentist’s; she was eight years old. She remembers her year in the home as the happiest time in her childhood. She says that growing up in care has drawn her to work with refugees, as she finds it easy to empathise with their sense of displacement.(L) Image and credit: Hayley Kemp (R) Rukhiya Budden (credit: Hope and Homes for Children)

What is making women angry, and can that rage be channelled for good? Kim Chakanetsa speaks to feminist writers from South Africa and the US. US writer and media critic Soraya Chemaly says women across the world have a right to be angry. Their rights are undermined, they're routinely underpaid and belittled. But from an early age girls are also taught to suppress their anger and calm themselves down when fired up. She says women need to learn to embrace rage as a tool for positive change. Soraya recently published a book called Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women’s Anger.Dela Gwala is a South African activist and writer, who found feminism in the aftermath of being sexually assaulted. Her white-hot rage at the victim-blaming she faced fuelled her campaigning. It was only when that anger ran out a couple of years later that she says she realised she needed to confront and deal with her other emotions. Dela recently contributed to an anthology called Feminism Is: South Africans Speak Their Truth.L - Dela Gwala (credit: Dela Gwala) R - Soraya Chemaly (credit: Karen Sayre)

Taking event planning to another level, from supplying bespoke flip flops to conjuring unforgettable scents and flying a plane filled with flowers into the desert, two luxury party planners working in Ibiza and Kuwait reveal the secrets of their trade. Their work demands a keen eye for detail and an endless ability to manage vast budgets and the sometimes outlandish expectations of the rich and famous, all while keeping a cool head. Serena Cook is the founder of Deliciously Sorted, a firm that organises birthday bashes, corporate events and bohemian weddings for the rich and famous in Ibiza. Her A-List clients include George Clooney, Katy Perry and Johnny Depp.When Bibi Hayat first started her event planning business she was the only woman doing so in Kuwait City. Through her company Bibi Hayat Events and Design, she has established herself as the person to dial if you are looking to create a memorable bespoke event. Produced by Sarah Kendal for BBC World ServiceBibi Hayat (l) Credit: Bayan Al-Sadiq Serena Cook (r) Credit: Mar Photography

Is being an agent to female soccer players different from representing men? Kim Chakanetsa speaks with two female football agents from the UK and France who have male and female clients. They handle everything from tough salary negotiations and sponsorship deals to the all-important image management.Jennifer Mendelewitsch was the only woman out of 400 agents in France when she qualified 15 years ago. She has built a reputation as a fearsome negotiator and describes herself as part-mother part-friend to her clients, especially the young male players. She says her biggest challenge is getting them to understand the potential repercussions of over-sharing on social media for their future careers.Georgie Hodge is a former player turned agent to the UK's emerging female football stars. She says while the salaries women players can command are still nothing like the men's, major sponsors are finally waking up to their value as brand ambassadors. Because the women's game is still building, Georgie says her players want to positively represent the whole sport, not just worry about their own careers.(Image: (L) Jennifer Mendelewitsch and (R) Georgie Hodge)

A floor-length gown, a strong pose and hundreds of flashing cameras: Kim Chakanetsa brings together the women behind the glamour, making actors and models look good on the red carpet, on stage and even on the street. They are stylists working for some of the most photographed women in Bollywood and Hollywood. How does fashion shape these celebrities' careers, and how do they handle the scrutiny and criticism their clients can receive?Tanya Ghavri is one of Bollywood's busiest stylists. With a decade of experience in the business, Tanya has styled India’s A-list including the actors Kareena Kapoor, Frieda Pinto and Katrina Kaif. Tanya says traditionally Indian designs tend to gain more traction on social media, but Western styles and brands are all over the high street. Some of Tanya's celebrity clients have faced a backlash for wearing more revealing outfits. Emma Watson, Chrissy Teigen and Chanel Iman are among the stars Anita Patrickson has dressed. She grew up on a farm in South Africa and is now an established stylist based in Los Angeles. She began her career working for Condé Nast, and now styles editorial and advertising campaigns as well as the red carpet. She says while her work is focused on making her client look fabulous and feel comfortable, it is also about developing a strategic relationship with a brand.L: Tanya Ghavri (credit: Neha Chandrakant) R: Anita Patrickson (credit: JSquared)

Gaining freedom and strength from your everyday environment. The sport of parkour involves moving around urban obstacles as quickly as possible. Athletes run up walls, scale fences, and jump between roofs. Two female parkour enthusiasts tell Kim Chakanetsa what this sport gives them in areas where women can feel unsafe in the streets.Reem El-Taweel is a parkour athlete from Egypt, living in Dubai. She says when she was living in Egypt it was tough to train because of the street harassment she faced. When she first started she was the only girl, but now more girls are getting into it. She moved to Dubai to follow her dreams and become an assistant parkour coach. She says as a hijabi athlete she is also breaking a stereotype. Silke Sollfrank is a professional parkour athlete from Munich. Her gymnastic background allowed her to quickly develop her own playful style of movement, which has attracted a lot of attention in the parkour scene. She has more than 20k followers on Instagram and landed a spot on Netflix's intense obstacle course series Ultimate Beastmaster, where she was the last female finalist. Silke is the only female athlete in her parkour team.Left: Reem El-Taweel (credit: Katy Vickers) Right: Silke Sollfrank (credit: Matthias Voß)

As a conflict photographer you need bravery, passion and an ability to bear witness to unimaginable horror. Kim Chakanetsa brings together two women who are exceptional photojournalists and asks do female photographers look at conflict differently? The American photographer Lynsey Addario is one of very few women on the frontline, documenting major wars and humanitarian crises around the world. During her career she has been kidnapped twice, but despite the toll on her personal life, she remains committed to revealing the cost of war. Though she says she has received criticism for working while pregnant, being a woman has given her unique access to the lives of women in war zones. Her work has garnered her numerous awards and she was part of the New York Times team that won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in 2009. Her most recent book is called Of Love and War and is her first published collection of photographs. Poulomi Basu is an Indian documentary photographer who has been described as a visual activist for her fearless examination of systemic injustices. Her lens focuses on stories that often go ignored or underreported, particularly those of women in isolated communities and conflict zones. She says it is important to bring the perspectives of women of colour to photojournalism. Her images have appeared in a wide range of publications and she has received a number of photography awards, including a Magnum Foundation Award and a National Geographic Grant. Image: Poulomi Basu by Flora Thomas (L) Lynsey Addario by Nichole Sobecki (R)

Why is classical music still so male and pale, and what can be done about it? Kim Chakanetsa talks to two leading female musicians who are working to challenge the status quo and open up orchestras to more women and people of colour.Of Nigerian-Irish parentage, Chi-chi Nwanoku realised that 30 years into an illustrious career as a double-bassist she was still one of vanishingly few non-white faces on the classical music stage. So in 2015 she started Chineke!, Europe’s first majority-black and minority ethnic orchestra. Her project is already bearing fruit, with one of her members Sheku Kanneh-Mason, playing solo at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.Mei-Ann Chen is a conductor from Taiwan, and Musical Director at the Chicago Sinfonietta - a professional orchestra founded in the 1980s to showcase the talent of African American and Latino musicians. As well as insisting on diversity in her orchestra and the music they play, Mei-Ann is passionate about opening up the overwhelmingly male-dominated world of conducting to more women, and says she would never have succeeded without a female mentor. You heard extracts from:Dances in the Canebrakes by Florence Price, performed by the Chicago Sinfonietta conducted by Mei-Ann Chen, which will be included on a new CD released in March 2019 on Cedille Records.The second movement of Dvorak's Ninth Symphony in E Minor "From the New World" performed by the Chineke! Orchestra, conducted by Kevin John Edusei. Available on Hyperion Records.(L) Image and credit: Mei-Ann Chen (R) Image: Chi-chi Nwanoku (credit: Eric Richmond)

Nelufar Hedayat unites two women with disabilities from Toronto and Mumbai, who are challenging misconceptions about their sexuality and what they’re capable of achieving. Maayan Ziv is a fashion photographer and entrepreneur from Toronto, Canada. She uses a wheelchair and became frustrated with the lack of information about accessibility of venues in her city. Having discovered early on that technology can alter the day to day life of disabled people all over the globe, she decided to develop an app. It is called AccessNow and uses crowd-sourcing technology to create an accessible map of a city. It's now operational in 35 countries around the world. Nidhi Goyal is an activist and comedian from Mumbai. At the age of 14 she began to lose her sight, which she maintains allowed her to ‘see more clearly’ the barriers that disabled people face. She is India’s first female disabled stand-up comedian, using humour to challenge the way people think about dating with disability and sexuality. She founded the non-profit Rising Flame which advocates for women with disabilities, and delivers disability and inclusion training to companies across India. Produced by Katie Pennick for BBC World Service.Image: (L) Nidhi Goyal Credit: Sahil Kotwani (R) Maayan Ziv

Take your baby into prison or leave them behind? Kim Chakanetsa speaks to two women from Kenya and the US faced with that reality when their lives were up-ended by their wrongful imprisonment. They talk about how they found a purpose while serving time, and have since gone on to support others.Sunny Jacobs was sentenced to death for her role in an alleged double murder in the US in 1976. Separated from her two children, she served five years in solitary confinement - and was only finally released on appeal in 1992, after 17 years behind bars. Sunny met and married another man who had served time on death row. They have set up a sanctuary at their home in Ireland, for others who have been wrongfully incarcerated.Teresa Njoroge served time in Kenya for a financial crime she didn't commit. When her sentence began, she chose to take her three-month old baby into prison with her. Sharing a cell with 50 to 60 other inmates, she was shocked by the plight of the women she met and the revolving door of crime and poverty. After her release - and exoneration - she set up Clean Start Kenya, an organisation that empowers female inmates to better prepare for reintegration into society.Left: Sunny Jacobs (credit: Alexander Duyck) Right: Teresa Njoroge (credit: Titus Kimutai)

Gowns, glittery bikinis and a lot of hair spray: thousands of women around the world wear them on stage every year, hoping to win a beauty pageant. Many say these pageants are demeaning and outdated but others argue that beauty pageants can be life changing experiences that help contestants to go on to academic and professional success. Kim Chakanetsa brings together two beauty queens to find out what's in it for women? Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers is an Anguillan-British barrister and former athlete who is the first black woman to represent Great Britain at a Miss Universe pageant. She says that since winning her title this year many women of colour have reached out to congratulate her for representing black female beauty. She says that she entered pageantry for self-development and hopes that future competitions will change their requirements to allow single mothers to compete. Jamie Herrell is a Filipino-American business entrepreneur who won Miss Earth for the Philippines in 2014. Initially she thought pageants were degrading for women but entered to earn some extra money when her father became unwell. She says there are many different sides to pageantry and many different reasons why women compete. Since winning she has launched an eco flip-flop business to help tourism in the Philippines.Producer: Sarah KendalImage: (L) Jamie Herrell Credit: Euguene Herrera (R) Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers Credit: Kev Wise

The most extreme hate crime against women is femicide, the act of killing a person because they are a woman. But there is a growing movement of women who are taking a stand against this crime and demanding that their community takes it seriously. Nelufar Hedayat talks to two activists from countries where the death toll for women through violence is high: Mexico and Pakistan.Khalida Brohi grew up in Pakistan and saw her family being torn apart when her cousin Khadija was strangled to death with their uncle suspected of having killed her. This spurred Khalida on to fight against so-called honour killings. She says the problem with so-called honour killings is that people merge religion with tradition and are ignorant of what the Quran actually says about respecting women. She decided to work with tribal leaders to change attitudes. Through her organisation Sughar, Khalida gives women practical skills, empowering them economically and giving them confidence. She has written a book about her experiences called I Should Have Honour. Andrea Narno Hijar is a graphic artist and activist in Mexico, where the UN estimated in 2016 that 7 women a day are being murdered. Using her skills as a graphic artist, Andrea is trying to draw attention to this, even though she says it's something most Mexicans don't want to talk about. She says as a woman living in Mexico she faces harassment and violence everyday. She designs posters and puts them up around Mexico City to raise awareness about femicide and to challenge machismo in her culture.Image and credit: (L) Andrea Narno Hijar and (R) Khalida Brohi

Campaigning for gay rights in Uganda and Sri Lanka - Kim Chakanetsa speaks to two women activists in countries where homosexual acts are punishable with a prison sentence.Kasha Nabagesera has been described as 'the face of Uganda's LGBT movement'. Since her twenties Kasha has fought for the rights of her fellow lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, which has brought her into conflict with the authorities. She says she faces daily harassment and serious threats, and doesn't walk the streets alone for fear of attack, but it's worth it. Kasha now runs Kuchu Times, a multi-media platform for the sexual health and rights of queer Africans.In Sri Lanka, consensual sex between women was only criminalised in 1995. Rosanna Flamer-Caldera is an activist who returned to Sri Lanka after living in San Francisco and founded an organisation called Equal Ground, which educates and lobbies on behalf of LBGT+ people. She says as a lesbian she has to be hyper-vigilant at all times, and can't really have a personal life. Rosanna wants to achieve decriminalisation of homosexuality in her country by 2020. Image: (L) Rosanna Flamer-Caldera (R) Kasha Jaqueline Nabagesera Credit: Christine Dierenbach

Is women's sport still not taken as seriously as men's? What needs to happen to achieve the same pay, prize money and media coverage as their male counterparts? Presenter Kim Chakanetsa talks to two women about how they have fought to get equality with men in their chosen sport. Kathryn Bertine was a professional cyclist in the US for five years. She was shocked to discover that the average earnings of a professional female cyclist are well below the poverty line. She was so outraged that she lobbied successfully for a women's version of the Tour de France. But Kathryn believes that this new race is 'tokenism' because it lasts for only one day. Kathryn has gone on to co-found Homestretch Foundation, a charity to support female cyclists financially as they train for events and compete. Hajra Khan is the Captain of the Pakistan women's national football team but says they are given less priority than the men. When she first got into football she says sportswomen were looked down on in her country. Although attitudes are slowly changing she says that there is still a huge wage gap and her club has had to train on local cricket grounds. Hajra is organising a match in Pakistan with female players from around the world to raise awareness and to get better opportunities for female footballers.Produced by Sarah KendalImage: (L) Hajra Khan. Credit: Huma Akram (R) Kathryn Bertine. Credit: courtesy of Cylance Pro Cycling.

Traditionally made by men and often criticised for sexism and colourism, Kim Chakanetsa asks two top female directors if the portrayal - and the power - of women in music videos is now changing.Kemi Adetiba is the only high-profile female video director on Nigeria's thriving music scene, working with artists such as Tiwa Savage, Wizkid and Falz. Now branching out into feature films, she still directs videos on request. She says she wants young girls to know that she is competing in a male-dominated field, and succeeding.Kinga Burza is an Australian director who made the video for Katy Perry's controversial debut single I Kissed a Girl a decade ago, and has worked with a slew of successful young female artists since, including Lana del Rey, Aurora and Dua Lipa. She says more women are now getting into the business but she was in a tiny minority when she started out.Producer: Sarah Crawley(L) Image: Kemi Adetiba. Credit: J. Countess/WireImage/Getty Images (R) Image & credit: Kinga Burza

One year ago a #MeToo tweet by Hollywood actor Alyssa Milano encouraged an outpouring of women using the hashtag to talk about experiences of sexual harassment or assault. What followed were allegations against high profile figures in entertainment, the media and politics with many of the accused denying any wrongdoing. Kim Chakanetsa brings together two women who have made public allegations of sexual abuse in countries where that's highly unusual, to find out if the ripples of #MeToo are being felt beyond Hollywood and the West? Tatia Samkharadze is a Georgian TV journalist and actor who successfully sued her former boss, Shalva Ramishvili, for discrimination after her claim of sexual harassment in January 2018. It was viewed as a landmark case because there is currently no law against sexual harassment in Georgia. Shalva was ordered to pay her nearly 800 US dollars in moral damages, though he denied the claim and is appealing the ruling. Since Tatia made her allegations, she says people have told her that his behaviour wasn't a problem or that it was her fault, and she has been bullied online. She says because she spoke out she has been unable to find work as a journalist. She believes Me Too was a blessing for her and her case. She now campaigns for women's rights. Shiori Ito is a Japanese freelance journalist. In April 2015, she alleged that she had been raped by Noriyuki Yamaguchi, a high-profile Japanese journalist, at a Tokyo Hotel. He strongly denies the allegations and after a lengthy investigation, prosecutors dropped the case against him, citing insufficient evidence. In May 2017, Shiori took the unusual move of going public with her claims to try to change how Japan treats allegations of sexual assault, legally and socially. Shiori says after she went public she received many threats and even had to leave her home in a disguise. She says the Me Too movement is slowly helping to shift attitudes towards sexual abuse in Japan. L: Shiori Ito (credit: Hanna Aqvilin) R: Tatia Samkharadze (credit: Ekaterine Kadagishvili)Produced by Sarah Kendal

Does the beauty industry fuel insecurity and undermine a woman's choice to look how she wants? Kim Chakanetsa brings together two beauty entrepreneurs from Singapore and the UK who say they have lifted women up. Sharmadean Reid is a British Jamaican entrepreneur who founded WAH Nails, which she believes changed the beauty landscape with its millennial voice, feminist attitude and innovative salon space. Sharmadean went on to create FutureGirlCorp, workshops aimed at young businesswomen, and has now launched Beauty Stack. She says the beauty industry is perceived as women’s work and is therefore undervalued.Pauline Ng is a Singaporean entrepreneur who founded a skincare spa business in 2009 with her mum. Porcelain has grown into an award-winning beauty chain with four spas, a staff of 60, and a line of popular skincare products. Pauline says that in Singapore there are a lot of opportunities for women in the beauty industry, even if the big multinational beauty companies are still mainly run by men.(L) Image and credit: Pauline Ng (R) Image and credit: Sharmadean ReidProducer: Sarah Crawley

How do you improve women's access to good healthcare? Two female doctors talk to Kim Chakanetsa about the issues they face in two starkly different places - Somalia and the United States.Paula Johnson is an American cardiologist who has dedicated her whole career to thinking about health from a woman's perspective, focussing on the different ways men and women respond to diseases. When Paula learnt that medical research and trials traditionally were only tested on men, she decided she had to fight for the inclusion of women. Paula believes the lack of testing on women, combined with sex differences, can lead to women not receiving effective diagnosis and treatment. Paula thinks that we should be focusing on women's health and well-being as central to women's equality. Deqo Mohamed is a Somali doctor who helps run a 400-bed hospital in a refugee camp west of Mogadishu. It was her mother, the pioneering doctor Hawa Abdi, who opened a small clinic in the 1980s, which became a shelter for thousands of displaced people, the majority of them women and children. Today Deqo oversees a hospital, primary school and women’s education centre. She says she prioritises women's health because her female patients are often singly caring for their whole family. Deqo believes her gender helps her to connect with her female patients and negotiate with warlords. L: Dr Deqo Mohamed (credit: Vital Voices Global Partnership) R: Dr Paula Johnson (credit: Wellesley College)

What is it like to put yourself in danger fighting for your rights as a woman? Kim Chakanetsa unites two women from Iran and Saudi Arabia, who decided to defy their governments' discriminatory laws - and suffered huge personal sacrifices as a result.In Iran women must cover their hair in public, according to the dress rule enforced after the Revolution in 1979. Masih Alinejad says she began to defy this compulsory wearing of the hijab as a teenager and continued to question it from within Iran until it became too dangerous for her to stay. In 2014, Masih posted a picture of herself uncovered online and the My Stealthy Freedom movement began, encouraging ordinary Iranian women to share photos of themselves without the headscarf. Now living in the US, Masih says she suffers abuse, death threats and hasn't seen her parents for nine years, but the truly brave ones are the women in Iran who risk arrest defying this discriminatory law. Masih's book is The Wind in My Hair - My Fight for Freedom in Modern Iran.Manal al-Sharif's rebellion began when she got behind the wheel of a car in Saudi Arabia in 2011. Whilst there was no formal ban, it was not legal for women to drive at that time. Manal was driving her own car but was arrested and imprisoned. After her release she continued the campaign she had co-founded #Women2Drive, which led to the loss of her job and eventually leaving the country. On June 24th 2018, the ban on women driving in Saudi was lifted. However women's rights activists continue to be arrested and Manal, who now lives in Australia, says she no longer feels safe to go back. This means she cannot see her elder son who is not allowed to leave the country to visit her. Manal's memoir is Daring to Drive - The Young Saudi Woman Who Stood up to a Kingdom of Men.Image: (L) Manal al-Sharif. Credit: Manal al-Sharif (R) Masih Alinejad. Credit: Kambiz Foroohar

Two female plumbers on what puts women off from entering the industry, the messy reality of the job and the joy of solving problems with your hands.Judaline Cassidy has worked on the pipes of some of New York City's most iconic buildings in a career that has spanned two decades. She grew up in Trinidad & Tobago and came to plumbing because she didn't have enough money to go to law school. But she fell in love with the profession and has become a passionate advocate for women in trades. Judaline is also the founder of Tools & Tiaras, an organisation which runs workshops and summer camps to encourage young girls to take up careers in the construction industry.Hattie Hasan has been a plumber for more than 25 years. When she decided to train as a plumber, she was the only female student in her entire college. Later, she couldn't find a job - no one would take her on - so she set up on her own company in the North of England. She also started a network of female plumbers in the UK that has since become a franchise business, trading under the name Stopcocks. She says she still regularly comes across stories of sexist behaviour, which put a lot of women off from entering the industry, but she hopes that things are changing.Produced by Joanna Impey for BBC World Service.(Image: (L) Judaline Cassidy. Credit: Jena Cumbo; (R) Hattie Hasan. Credit: Nicola Tree)

Just 12 women have won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine since it was founded in 1901. Kim Chakanetsa brings together two of these female Nobel Laureates - both extraordinary scientists from Norway and France.Professor May-Britt Moser won the prize in 2014 for the discovery of a type of cell in the brains of rats, which helps them locate their position in space. She won the prize jointly with her former husband Edvard, with whom she had collaborated since they were students. Now divorced, they still run a world-renowned neuroscience lab - the Kavli Institute - together in the far north of Norway, where they are pursuing research that could further our understanding and treatment of Alzheimer's in humans.Professor Françoise Barré-Sinoussi was a researcher at the Institut Pasteur in Paris in the early 1980s when a new and terrifying disease emerged - AIDS. She and her colleague very quickly identified the HIV retrovirus as the cause, and set about finding a treatment. In 2008 she was recognised by the Nobel committee for this achievement, and she says this has opened doors for her work that otherwise would have remained closed - enabling her to better advocate on behalf of the vulnerable people most affected by HIV-AIDS.Image: (L) Francoise Barré-Sinoussi. Credit: Institut Pasteur (R) May-Britt Moser. Credit: TiTT Melhuus

The lost role of women in the development of the computer industry is brought into focus by an internet pioneer and a computer historian.Radia Perlman is an American computer programmer often described as the 'Mother of the Internet' for her invention of the spanning-tree protocol, an algorithm which allowed early networks to cope with large amounts of data. She describes it as a 'simple hack' and it is still in use today.Tilly Blyth is Head of Collections and Principal Curator at the Science Museum. She specialises in the history of computing and is particularly interested in the lost role women played within that history. She has curated an exhibition on Ada Lovelace, a 19th century trailblazer of science.Image: (L) Tilly Blyth and (R) Radia Perlman Credit: (L) Science Museum Group Collection and (R) Andrew Tanenbaum

Two award-winning African writers sit down with Kim Chakanetsa to talk race, gender and getting published in your early 20s.Nigerian author Chibundu Onuzo started writing her first book aged 17, became the youngest woman ever to sign to her publishing house at 19, and released her first novel, The Spider King’s Daughter, at the age of 21. Chibundu is based in London and her second book is called Welcome to Lagos. Panashe Chigumadzi is a Zimbabwean-born novelist and essayist. Raised in South Africa, she is the author of a novel Sweet Medicine and These Bones Will Rise Again in which she examines Zimbabwean history through the lives of her grandmothers.(L) Panashe Chigumadzi (credit: Jodi Bieber) (R ) Chibundu Onuzo (credit: Blayke Images)

Is it possible to end child marriage in a generation? Kim Chakanetsa brings together two women working to make it a thing of the past in Malawi and in the United States.Memory Banda's sister was just 11 when she was forced to marry the man who'd made her pregnant. Determined not to have the same fate, Memory persuaded local leaders in Malawi to change their minds about this cultural practise and then - still a teenager - she successfully campaigned for the government to raise the marriage age to 18 across the country in 2015. Memory says that she faced a big backlash but she felt she had to speak out when she saw how traumatic the practice was for girls in her community. Trevicia Williams came out of school one day and was told by her mother that she was going to be married. Trevicia was 14. Her prospective husband - whom she hardly knew - was 26. It took her three years to escape the marriage. Trevicia says education was her key to surviving the experience. Now a doctor of psychology, she empowers individuals and families to build strong healthy relationships and prevent social issues like child marriage. Trevicia's testimony was key to her state of Texas changing the law to outlaw marriage under the age of 18, in 2017.(L) Dr Trevicia Williams (credit: Trevicia Williams) (R ) Memory Banda (credit: Bensam)

Can hats be liberating for women? Nelufar Hedayat brings together a hatmaker to the British Queen and a turban designer to Beyoncé. Rachel Trevor-Morgan is a London based milliner who has been making hats for the Queen for over a decade. As well as royalty she also sells to top fashion retailers, and thinks it's a shame that we don’t wear hats as much as we used to. Rachel is not trying to push the boundaries of fashion with her hats - she says her mission is to make her clients look classically feminine and glamorous. Donia Allegue Walbaum is a French luxury fashion designer whose turbans have been commissioned by Beyoncé, including for the video for her latest single. She's aiming to reinvent this age-old headpiece in a modern way, and says it's the ultimate accessory. Many of her clients also wear them to cover their heads for religious reasons, or even in the case of illness.Image: Turban designer Donia Allegue Walbaum and milliner Rachel Trevor-Morgan donning their designs (L) Donia Allegue Walbaum. Credit: Laurent Mauger (R) Rachel Trevor-Morgan. Credit: Catherine Harbour