As a self confessed “silver spooner” who enjoyed a privileged upbringing Polly Toynbee talks to Nuala McGovern about her committed left wing "rabble rouser" ancestors and her own life long battle with the injustices of the British class system. In our series about narcissistic mothers we've heard a lot from daughters. Yesterday, a listener we are calling Bethany told her story. Her relationship with her daughter had been strained for a long time. In January she received a book in the post about how to spot and deal with a narcissistic mother, some passages were highlighted , and a letter. Today she picks up the story and explained how she felt as she opened the book and read the passages pointed out by her daughter. How does it feel to be labelled a narcissist and how can you move forward from there? Last month we looked at the experience of caring with authors Emily Kenway and Lynne Tillman. So many of you got in touch including academic Dinah Roe, a Reader in nineteeth-century literature, who with poet Sarah Hesketh, managing editor of Modern Poetry In Translation, have been running a series of free online workshops, inspired by Christina Rossetti's writing, designed specifically for people with caring responsibilities. Dinah and Sarah join Nuala in the studio. Presenter: Nuala McGovern Producer: Lisa Jenkinson Studio Manager: Duncan Hannant

Four-time Grammy award nominated singer Candi Staton has moved between several musical genres during of the course of her celebrated career – from soul, R&B, gospel and disco. However, dance music has always been her main groove with iconic tracks such as the multi-platinum 'You Got the Love' and her classic anthem 'Young Hearts Run Free'. It has recently been remixed by UK producer Benji La Vida and has had more than 2.4 million streams on Spotify alone, and there are 60,000 TikTok reels of people doing a dance challenge to the song. Candi is in the UK to play the Kite Festival of Ideas and Music in Oxfordshire this Saturday. She joins Nuala to discuss her life and music. Ghana's health system is struggling due to their nurses being recruited by high-income countries, according to the head of the International Council of Nurses. So what is it that makes Ghanaian Nurses want to come and work in the UK? Angela is a nurse from Ghana who also works with the Ghanaian Diaspora Nursing Alliance – she joins Nuala to discuss. Eight primary schools in a town in Ireland have come together and decided together to ban smartphones, Nuala speaks to Principle Rachel Harper, the leader of the initiative and Parent and PTA member Laura Bourne, to find out why and how it's been received. In our series about narcissistic mothers we have heard from the daughters so far. Today, a listener we are calling Bethany tells her side of the story. Her relationship with her daughter had been strained for a long time. In January she received a book in the post about how to spot and deal with a narcissistic mother, some passages were highlighted, and a letter. Since then she has not seen her daughter or her grandchildren. How does it feel to be labelled a narcissist and how can you move forward from there? In 2016, at the age of 27, Emma Cline became very famous indeed when her first novel The Girls was published. Set in the summer of 69 in California 14 year old Evie is caught up in a Manson Family-like cult and the violence that follows. In her new novel ‘The Guest’ Alex is a young woman whose life could go either way. She exploits the men around her as they exploit her but what does she want and where will she end up? Presented by Nuala McGovern Producer: Louise Corley Editor: Karen Dalziel

The Sunday Times' Christina Lamb on the women involved in the war effort in Ukraine. We look at the trend of brides having their long hair cut into bobs before re-emerging with new hair at their wedding. Kyrelle Burton of Devon Wedding Hair, did her first mid-wedding chop for a bride last year. Molly Duane is the senior lawyer for the US-based Center for Reproductive Rights who are challenging Texas state law on abortion on behalf of more than a dozen women. The case is regarded as important because it is being seen as a nationwide model for abortion rights advocates to challenge new abortion laws that have rolled out since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade a year ago this month. Molly discusses the case with Nuala. No single person can take credit for the huge boom in women’s football but if any one can it’s the woman who placed second on the Woman’s Hour Power List, Baroness Sue Campbell. The Director of Women’s Football at the FA joins Nuala to discuss the Lionesses legacy, the upcoming World Cup and the future of the Women’s Super League. In 2020 Baroness Cumberlege authored a report into two drugs and a medical device that caused women or their babies harm. The device in question was vaginal mesh, and the report described how using mesh in surgery for prolapse and incontinence had resulted in serious adverse outcomes for women across the UK. One of the recommendations from that report is about to get underway, to measure the impact of surgery on women’s lives. Anita is joined by Georgina Jones, Professor of Health Psychology at Leeds Beckett University to find out more, and by Hannah Devlin, science correspondent for the Guardian. Presenter: Nuala McGovern Producer: Emma Pearce

A woman who was stalked by her husband and then placed into witness protection with a new identity to escape him, says she feels like she's the one being punished. She's complained to the police about the way her case was handled after being told she failed an assessment and was no longer being supported by them in her new life. She spoke to our reporter Melanie Abbott, and says she felt completely cut adrift. We hear her story of how she had to uproot her two children and start a new life with a new job in a new town, while her husband is free to live wherever he likes. Academic Rachael Wheatley from the university of Derby tells Anita how she is training police to be better at dealing with stalkers and how victims need better support. A new report by the Trade Union Congress has highlighted a gender pension gap between what men and women are living on in retirement. The estimate it’s currently running at 40.5%, which is more than double the current gender pay gap. Nuala talks to Nikki Pound from the TUC and financial expert Sarah Pennells Consumer finance specialist at Royal London - pensions insurance provider about the issues facing women and possible solutions. You can’t read a tabloid newspaper without some form of cheating scandal filling the headlines. But what makes someone lie to the person they love? Nuala asks Natalie Lue, a boundaries and relationships coach about the big and little lies we tell in relationships. Writer and Podcaster Jackie Adedeji speaks to Nuala about her new Channel 4 documentary UNTOLD: My Big Boobs, a look into the impacts of having big boobs and the rise in breast reduction surgery. Sarah Ditum also joins to discuss the cultural trends of breasts through the years. Dr Edna Adan Ismail is known as the ‘Woman of Firsts’. She’s Somaliland’s first trained midwife, first female Minister of Foreign Affairs, and former First Lady. And now she has added another first to her title. She is this year’s winner of the Templeton Prize - making her the first black African woman to receive the honour. She has been awarded the £1.1 million prize for her contribution to women’s health. In 2002 she sold everything she owned to build The Edna Adan Hospital and University which has played a crucial role in cutting maternal mortality rates in Somaliland. She still lives and works within the hospital. Edna Adan Ismail explains what life is like for women in Somaliland, and what will she spend the prize money on. Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Hanna Ward

Two female journalists in Iran are on trial for covering the death of 22 year old Mahsa Amini, the Kurdish-Iranian woman who died in custody last year sparking protests across the country and months of unrest and shocked the world. Mahsa was arrested and charged with not covering her hair properly and then reportedly so severely beaten she fell into a coma. Niloofar Homedi and Elaheh Mohammadi were among the first to report on her death; a photo taken by Niloofar for the Shargh daily newspaper showing Amini’s parents hugging each other in a Tehran hospital where their daughter was lying in a coma drew international attention. While Mohammadi, traveled to report on Mahsa Amini’s funeral. Faranak Amidi, BBC Near East Women Affairs Correspondent discusses. Now Sex and the City fans have been celebrating some exciting, and rather unexpected, news - Variety magazine reports that Kim Cattrall will be reprising her role as Samantha Jones in the spin-off And Just Like That. She was noticeably absent from the first season, and it's reported that she will only be appearing in one scene in the show's finale. There has been much speculation about how it came to happen as she has reportedly had a strained relationship with fellow cast-mate Sarah Jessica Parker, who also acts as an Executive Producer on the show. Journalist and Sex and the City fan, Olivia Petter joins Anita. One consequence of the overturning of Roe V Wade, which has made accessing an abortion more difficult in some US states, is that there’s been a rise in the number of men seeking vasectomies. An estimated 20,000 extra men chose to undergo the surgery between July and December last year. Anita Rani talks to Dr. Stanton Honig the director of the Yale Medicine Male Reproductive Health & Sexual Medicine Program. A new study by the Universities of Glasgow and Cardiff has found that male characters in video games speak twice as much as female characters, and when female characters do speak, they’re more likely to apologise, hesitate or be polite. We discuss the findings and the reasons behind the gendered dialogue with a lead author of the study, Dr Stephanie Rennick, and games writer and narrative designer Samantha Webb. African midwife Edna Adan Ismail is known as the ‘Woman of Firsts’. She’s Somaliland’s first trained midwife, first female Minister of Foreign Affairs, and former First Lady. And now she has added another first to her title. She is this year’s winner of the Templeton Prize - making her the first black African woman to receive the honour. She has been awarded the £1.1 million prize for her contribution to women’s health. In 2002 she sold everything she owned to build The Edna Adan Hospital and University which has played a crucial role in cutting maternal mortality rates in Somaliland. She still lives and works within the hospital. Edna Adan Ismail explains what life is like for women in Somaliland, and what will she spend the prize money on.  Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Kirsty Starkey