Family Fertility Donors; Eliza Haywood; Beth Orton; Playing with Children
Brit Award-winning artist Beth Orton has been directing a week-long residency for emerging female musicians in Manchester. She joins Jenni Murray in the studio to perform live.
Mary Portas made headlines this week when she announced that they had turned to Mary's brother Lawrence to be a sperm donor for the child she has with her wife Melanie Rickey. What's the reality of asking a relative to become an egg or sperm donor and does that muddy the waters of parenting? Joining Jenni are sisters Eleanor and Alice, Eleanor has a 22 month old daughter who was conceived thanks to Alice donating her egg, and Laura Witjens, the Chief-Executive of the National Gamete Donation Trust and herself an egg donor.
'The Female Spectator' was written and edited by Eliza Haywood at the end of the 18th century. It's believed to be the first magazine by women, for women. An early proto-feminist, she was writing romances well before Jane Austen. The Female Spectator only lasted for 4 volumes, but it was extremely popular and marked the beginning of magazines written by women, for a female audience. Jenni will be talking to Dr Holly Luhning about Eliza Haywood's extraordinary life.
In its 18-year history the Mercury Prize has only been awarded to five women. Beth Orton has been nominated twice, but has not yet won. This week she has been leading a week-long all-women musical residency in Manchester, due to culminate in a live show on Friday night. She'll be joining Jenni in the studio with one of the musicians involved, Josephine Oniyama, to talk about women in music and the equality gap they still face and they'll both be performing a new song live.
Playing games with her daughter is dull, repetitive and even on occasion humiliating, so says journalist Esther Walker. But does refusing to play with a child make a bad parent? Jenni will be speaking to Esther and to an expert in child development and play, Dr Amanda Gummer.
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Family Fertility Donors
Mary Portas made headlines this week when she announced that she had turned to her brother Lawrence to be a sperm donor for the child she has with her wife Melanie Rickey. But there was a squeamishness in some quarters with some squirming at the idea of this. What’s the reality of asking a relative to become an egg or sperm donor and how does that muddy the waters of parenting? Jenni talks to sisters Eleanor and Alice, Eleanor has a 22-month-old daughter who was conceived thanks to Alice donating her eggs, and Laura Witjens, the Chief-Executive of the National Gamete Donation Trust and herself an egg donor.
The Female Spectator
Beth Orton
Playing With Children
Esther Walker says that playing with her children is boring. She doesn’t mind pushing Kitty who is four or Sam who is 20 months on the swings - she says it is meditative. She doesn’t even mind taking Sam on hour-long walks to the post office - it slows her down. But she says that Kitty’s games are repetitive, wacky and tedious. So what does it say about you as a parent if you don’t want to or don’t enjoy playing with your children? Jenni is joined by Esther Walker and by Dr Amanda Gummer, an expert in child development, play and parenting.
Credits
Role | Contributor |
---|---|
Presenter | Jenni Murray |
Interviewed Guest | Laura Witjens |
Interviewed Guest | Holly Luhning |
Interviewed Guest | Beth Orton |
Interviewed Guest | Josephine Oniyama |
Interviewed Guest | Esther Walker |
Interviewed Guest | Amanda Gummer |
Performer | Beth Orton |
Performer | Josephine Oniyama |
Broadcast
- Fri 20 Feb 2015 10:00Â鶹Éç Radio 4
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Woman's Hour
Women's voices and women's lives - topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire.