麻豆社

Last week Tory MP Anne McIntosh suggested that part-time women GPs were putting a tremendous burden on the NHS because 鈥渋t was effectively having to train two women to do the work of one鈥�. Those comments quickly created a storm of controversy which drew in among others the Health Minister Anna Soubry. Currently more women than men are in training to become GPs and over time women GPs will outnumber men, so what effect will that have on the NHS and its patients?聽 Jenni is joined by Dr Fiona Cornish, the President of the Medical Women鈥檚 Federation and Anna Soubry, a Minister at the Department of Health.

Debbie Harry is one of the most celebrated women in rock history, instantly recognisable for her striking beauty, tousled platinum blond hair and super cool look. She rose to fame with Blondie in the punk and new wave music scene of 1970鈥檚 New York 鈥� a distinctive and provocative front woman in a very male-orientated music world. In fact her image was so powerful the band even wore badges saying 鈥楤londie is a group!鈥� to remind she wasn鈥檛 a solo act. She and the band went on to huge international success, selling tens of millions of albums along the way, with hits like Heart Of Glass, Rapture, and Atomic. Today she鈥檚 still going strong and is here in the UK to play several live dates and with a raft of new material.聽So what鈥檚 it like to still cut such an iconic figure almost 40 years on? Debbie Harry joins Jenni聽to talk about the enduring appeal of her music and rock-chick aesthetic, being a strong female figure in the music industry both then and now, and what鈥檚 it like growing older in the public eye as a woman so idolised for her appearance.

Blondie are playing a series of live dates across the country starting in Nottingham on Friday, and ending in Kew Gardens in London on 9 July.

The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) launches the first 鈥楪ender Equality Index鈥� for the European Union. It鈥檚 providing a score for each Member State and an EU average on each of the following areas: work, money, knowledge, time, power and health.聽 How has the UK fared in the results? Should we start placing quotas to get more women in the boardrooms and parliament? Jenni discusses with issues with Anne Laure Humbert, Gender Expert, European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE); Marina Yannakoudakis, Conservative MEP for London and a member of Women鈥檚 Rights and Gender Equality Committee, and Mary Honeyball, Labour MEP for London and a member of Women鈥檚 Rights and Gender Equality Committee

In May 1961 new rules came into force in the United States banning segregation on interstate buses. It was a decisive victory for a courageous group of people known as the Freedom Riders. The Congress of Racial Equality sponsored 13 volunteers to ride the length of the country, deliberately flouting the custom of separating blacks and whites on buses, in restaurants, and in washrooms. But when they reached Ku Klux Klan territory in Alabama, one bus carrying Freedom Riders was firebombed, and several activists were badly beaten. Outraged, hundreds of students across the country picked up the gauntlet and rode buses and trains into Mississippi, where all of them were jailed. Jo Fidgen spoke to two women about why they got involved, at a reunion of Freedom Riders in Mississippi.

Set in 1464 against the backdrop of the Wars of the Roses, tells the story of the women caught up in the conflict for the throne.聽 Author and historian discuss Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret Beaufort and Anne Neville,聽some of the most ruthless players in history who manipulate the struggle for power.