Disability and maternity care, Ads in mobile games, Nursery costs, Playwright Julia Grogan

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture, Health & Fitness, Personal Journals

4.2 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 20 March 2025

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Disabled women in the UK face significant barriers in maternity care, with new research highlighting higher risks of stillbirth, lack of support, and negative attitudes of staff. Labour MP Marie Tidball is camplaigning for change. She joins Kylie Pentelow to describe her own experience, along with Professor Hannah Kuper, one of the researchers behind the report, who details her findings.

The Advertising Standards Authority has recently banned a number of ads in mobile games which objectify women, use pornographic tropes, and feature non-consensual sexual scenarios. It's not what you expect to see popping up when playing your favourite mobile game. Kylie hears more from Jessica Tye, Regulatory Projects Manager at the ASA, who led the investigation.

Nursery costs have fallen for the first time in 15 years - according to the children's charity Coram. This comes as the Government is continuing to roll out its funded childcare scheme, which will provide all eligible working parents of pre-school children with 30 hours of childcare per week from September 2025. But while some parents have seen a reduction in fees, many with children or grandchildren will be aware of the challenging costs of childcare. Are costs really falling? Can you get a nursery place? Kylie discusses the picture with BBC Education Correspondent Vanessa Clarke, Neil Leitch, Chief Executive of the Early Years Alliance, and nursery owner, Claire Kenyon.

Julia Grogan's debut play Playfight was the breakout hit of last year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It earned five-star reviews, sell-out audiences – and even praise from Phoebe Waller Bridge, who called it ‘a blinding sucker-punch of a play’. The very funny and very frank play about three young women navigating sex, porn and friendship is now touring the UK, and Julia joins Kylie to discuss.

Presented by Kylie Pentelow Producer: Louise Corley

Transcript

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0:00.0	He tells her that she will be sent to France as a secret agent, and if she's caught, she's going to be shot.
0:09.3	I'm Helen Obalam Carter, and this is history's secret heroes, where I shine a light on extraordinary stories from World War II.
0:17.6	What they wanted was someone to get themselves arrested and sent to Auschwitz.
0:22.0	Tales of deception, an incredible acts of resistance and courage. She was a born soldier.
0:27.4	She's a freedom fighter in its widest sense. The brand new series of history's secret heroes.
0:32.8	Listen first on BBC Sounds. Hello, this is Kylie Pentelow and you're listening to The Woman's Hour podcast.
0:40.0	Hello and welcome to the program coming up in the next hour.
0:43.9	The barriers to maternity care for women with disabilities.
0:48.2	We hear from one woman who also happens to be a Labour MP
0:51.3	who says disabled women should be able to go through pregnancy
0:55.5	with dignity and that the NHS was unprepared for a body like hers. Also, you may have heard
1:02.6	in the news today that childcare costs in England have fallen for the first time in 15 years.
1:08.5	But behind that headline, the picture isn't quite so simple. Some nurseries and child
1:14.0	minders say they may have to drop out of the scheme as government funding struggles to meet
1:19.3	rising costs. So what does that actually mean for parents who need that subsidised care to make ends
1:26.3	meet? Let us know your thoughts. Plus, today is the
1:29.8	spring equinox. How are you feeling? Has the sun coming out cheered you up? This year, as you
1:35.9	may have just heard, in the news there, it's the World Happiness Report and it was released today.
1:42.5	One thing it looked at is how the belief in the kindness
1:45.7	of others is closely tied to happiness. So we'd like to hear your stories of the kindness of
1:52.5	strangers. What has someone else done that has brightened your day? You can text the program. The number
1:59.2	is 84844 on social media. We're at BBC Women's Hour. You can text the program. The number is 84844 on social media. We're at BBC
	...

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