The Conversation

From “deepfakes” to “stealth filming”, women around the world are having their image stolen and shared online. Datshiane Navanayagam speaks to two women tackling this problem.Uma Subramanian works for an Indian helpline called Meri Trustline, run by RATI Foundation, which offers help for women whose image has been used. Kirana Ayuningtyas had her image digitally manipulated and shared online. She uses her social media profile, @k.for.kirana, to help other women in Indonesia.Warning: this programme contains details that some listeners may find disturbing.Producers: Rebecca Moore and Hannah Sander(Image: (L) Uma Subramanian, credit Sanghamitra SV. (R) Kirana Ayuningtyas, credit Kirana Ayuningtyas.)

It's thought that around one in ten women of childbearing age have endometriosis, yet it often takes years of excessively painful periods and struggles to conceive before a diagnosis. And while there's no cure, surgery can help relieve symptoms. Datshiane Navanayagam talks to women from Hungary and South Africa working to improve treatment and diagnosis.Adrienn Salamon lives with endometriosis. She waited many years for a diagnosis, and surgery enabled her to get IVF treatment. She started Női Egészségért Alapítvány, a women's health foundation in Hungary that supports women suffering from the disorder. She is also on the board of the World Endometriosis Society and says no woman should go through the same struggle with the condition that she experienced.Dr Lusanda Shimange-Matsose is a gynaecologist, reproductive endocrine and infertility specialist in South Africa. She is director of Medfem Fertility Clinic in Johannesburg and is also a member of the Pan African Society of Endometriosis, offering support fo

Datshiane Navanayagam speaks to two women who research what happens to our thoughts, feelings and behaviours when we speak many languages. To what extent do we have a “mother tongue” – and what happens if we stop using it?Dr Aneta Pavlenko is a Ukrainian-American linguist who looks at the emotional impact of moving between languages. Professor Núria Sebastián Gallés is a Spanish cognitive psychologist who studies bilingual toddlers and young babies. Produced by Rebecca Moore and Hannah Sander(Image: (L) Aneta Pavlenko, courtesy Aneta Pavlenko. (R) Núria Sebastián Gallés, courtesy Núria Sebastián Gallés.)

Ella Al-Shamahi talks to women in Switzerland and the UK about how job sharing can boost a career and bring many benefits to both work and home life.Irenka Krone-Germann is Swiss and has written several books about job-sharing and part-time working. She co-founded the information platform, Go4jobsharing.ch and We Jobshare, an online platform which helps people find a job or topshare partner. Irenka has job partners, both female and male, in several different senior roles.Charlotte Cherry and Alix Ainsley have been job sharing in the UK for 14 years. They've worked in senior HR roles for a number of different companies including General Electric, Lloyds Banking Group and currently work for Virgin. They've recently set up a consultancy, Daring Two. Charlotte says job sharing has enabled her and Alix to take on much more challenging and fulfilling positions, has accelerated their careers further than working solo part-time would have done, and at the same time to balance time with their families.Produced by Jane

Ella Al-Shamahi talks to two women in Pakistan and America who use numbers to help others understand and take control of their pregnancies - by unpacking the data.Emily Oster is a bestselling author and leading expert on pregnancy, championing a data-based approach and unpacking studies and advice for mothers. She is also Professor of Economics at Brown University in America.Maryam Mustafa is a computer scientist based in Pakistan, which has one of the worst rates of maternal mortality in the world. She has built an AI app that can equip mothers-to-be with the information they need to stay safe.Producer: Hannah Sander(Image: (L) Dr Emily Oster, credit Aisha McAdams. (R) Dr Maryam Mustafa, credit Maryam Mustafa.)

Datshiane Navanayagam talks to two women in France and Canada about why single-sex living spaces appeal to older women.Pat Dunn is 75 and started a Facebook group for senior women wanting to share a living space, after her husband died six years ago. There she found two housemates with whom she has lived ever since. Pat now runs a non-profit called SWLT (Senior Women Living Together) that helps other women in Ontario find similar setups. Her Facebook community has over two thousand members. Hanne Nuutinen co-founded La Joie Homebase in France in 2024: co-living spaces for women who want to stay there for weeks or months at a time. Their ‘homebases’ cater to globally mobile women, typically aged 50–80. Many of the women are still professionally active, while others are pursuing hobbies or independent travel. Their residents come from France, the United States, Africa and the UK.Produced by Jane Thurlow and Becca Johns(Image: (L) Pat Dunn, courtesy Pat Dunn. (R) Hanne Nuutinen, courtesy Hanne Nuutinen.)

Datshiane Navanayagam talks to two women whose life changing illnesses led them to set up new businesses after they discovered high street clothes are uncomfortable and difficult to wear when you have restricted mobility or medical needs.Victoria Jenkins is one of the UK's leading adaptive fashion experts. She worked as a freelance garment technologist for fashion labels like Victoria Beckham and Jack Wills before founding the award winning universally designed fashion brand Unhidden. Victoria nearly died from an undiagnosed ulcer in 2012 and spent long periods in hospital where she met many women struggling to find clothes would accommodate their medical conditions. When she realised how hard it was to buy attractive, comfortable and practical garments she decided to design her own.Soumita Basu has an autoimmune disease called psoriatic arthritis which over time has restricted her mobility. As the condition progressed she got used to being constantly in pain but a period when she had to stay in bed proved th

Have you ever wondered if there were a scandal buried in your family history? Datshiane Navanayagam meets two female genealogists from the US and Ireland to discuss the desire many of us have to dig into our heritage. Michele Soulli is an American genealogist who made headlines around the world when she tracked down the real "Brenda" from rap superstar Tupac's hit song Brenda's Got A Baby, and reunited her with the child she had put up for adoption. Hilary McDonagh helps clients who want to trace their family histories or find missing heirs. In Ireland, where famine prompted girls to migrate overseas by themselves, Hilary has unearthed some incredible stories. Producer: Hannah Sander(Image credit: Hilary McDonagh (L), Michele Soulli (R))

Datshiane Navanayagam brings together two women from the US and Australia to discuss the art of writing a political biography and whether women in politics are placed under more scrutiny than men.Helene Cooper is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and New York Times correspondent who fled Liberia with her family following the military coup of 1980. Her biography Madame President documents the life and political career of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf – the first democratically elected female head of state in Africa who served as president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018.Dr Lekkie Hopkins is a feminist academic who lead the women’s studies programme at Edith Cowan University in Perth for 25 years. Utilising her skills as an archivist and oral historian, she pieced together the story of May Holman - a pioneering Australian politician who became the first female Labour politician to be elected to the Western Australian Parliament in 1925. Produced by Hannah Dean(Image: (L) Lekkie Hopkins, credit Robert van Koesveld. (R) H

Datshiane Navanayagam talks to two women who changed paths to design and manufacture their own shoes in their own countries. A former environmental engineer in India and former interior designer from Egypt explain how they found their passion.Anita Soundar was a chemical engineer before deciding to follow her need for self-expression and footwear design. While working at her father’s small factory in Chenai she studied footwear design from Italy to the Netherlands to China, learning about design to pattern making, hand crafting to mass production. In 2023 she won a global footwear award for natural material vegan footwear and an International Design Award in 2025. Her quirky designs for her company The Disobedience are made from natural materials like cotton, tomato and banana skins, have featured in high-fashion magazines like Elle India.Reem Hamed is Egyptian. She trained as an architect and set up an interior design company before turning to shoe design and manufacture. Her shoes are handcrafted and embroi

How do video and board games get from idea to reality? Ella Al-Shamahi talks to two women who invent, tweak and perfect the games that so many of us love to play.Sigurlína Ingvarsdóttir from Iceland has produced some of the world’s biggest video game titles, including FIFA and Star Wars: Battlefront. She now invests in start-up gaming companies as a venture capitalist.Natalie Podd invented the board game Confident while canoeing up the Amazon, and quit her corporate job in the UK as an actuary in order to work on it and other ideas. She and her husband sell their board games around the world.Produced by Hannah Sander(Image: (L) Natalie Podd. (R) Sigurlína Ingvarsdóttir.)

Two women with art galleries in Switzerland, London, Nigeria and the US talk about discovering and promoting new artists, building relationships with art collectors and the importance of supporting women in the art world.Maria Varnava is Greek Cypriot and grew up in Lagos. She founded Tiwani Contemporary which has galleries in Lagos and London. It champions artists from Africa and its diaspora to raise their profile to collectors and institutions based both in and beyond the continent. Maria’s friend and mentor, the Nigerian curator Bisi Silva, proposed the name Tiwani, which loosely translates as ‘ours’ or ‘it belongs to us’ from the Yoruba language. The name was chosen to show the gallery’s intentions to strive for inclusivity.Kendra Jayne Patrick, from the US founded her gallery of the same name in Bern, Switzerland in 2022 and works in New York too. She likes to show things that are strange or new and that excite her both visually and intellectually. It’s focused on the 21st century avant-garde, speciali

Skeleton is one of the oldest winter sports in existence. Ella Al-Shamahi talks to two Olympic medallists whose careers have seen them sliding down an icy track – face first – at speeds of up to 140 kilometres an hour.Lizzy Yarnold won gold medals for skeleton at successive Winter Olympics. She joined the Great Britain national squad in 2010, winning Olympic gold in 2014 and 2018, and is the most successful British Winter Olympian and skeleton athlete of all time from any nation.Kimberley Bos is a World Champion skeleton racer from the Netherlands and will be competing at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. She originally competed internationally in bobsleigh, before switching to skeleton for the 2013–14 European Cup season – being the only skeleton athlete representing her country for years. She won a bronze medal at the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2021 – the first Olympic medal winner for her country in a sliding sport. Kimberley went on to win the World Championships in Lake Placid in March 2025.Produced by

In the season of giving, Datshiane Navanayagam talks to philanthropists from France and Nigeria about using their wealth to help others thrive. Historically philanthropic giving has been dominated by men, but as women’s global wealth grows so does their capacity for donating money to charitable causes and enterprise. The Conversation talks to a French heiress who felt compelled to give away her money following the death of her son in a helicopter crash and a former corporate banker from Nigeria who’s galvanising businesswomen from the African diaspora to invest in the futures of women on the continent.Albina du Boisrouvay was born into extreme wealth as granddaughter of a Bolivian tin magnate and daughter of a French aristocrat. She went on to pursue an alternative career as a film director and when her 24 year old son François-Xavier Bagnoud died, Albina sold three-quarters of her assets and founded FXB Foundation in his name. Its mission is to fight poverty, AIDs and support orphans and vulnerable children.

Having a severe allergy doesn’t just affect physical health - it’s often the social isolation and mental toll of dealing with a somewhat ‘invisible condition’ that people with allergies also have to contend with.Datshiane Navanayagam speaks to two women from the US and Spain who’re advocating for more awareness and visibility around the real-life impacts.Sarah Ackerman is from the US. Her sensitivity to certain nuts and other foods puts her at risk of anaphylaxis, a rapid-onset reaction that can be fatal if not treated immediately. She now supports other young people living with food allergies and caregivers through her work as a public speaker and through with her blog, ‘Girl Behind the Hive’. She believes that it’s important to show young people and their parents that it is possible to live fulfilling lives whilst also managing life-threatening food allergies and shares her experiences of everything from dating to travel. Irantzu Muerza Santos from Spain has severe, life-threatening allergic asthma which s

Jamaica to the Philippines, Cuba to Vietnam – countries around the world are dealing with aftermath of heavy storms and flooding; with hundreds dead and billions in damage. The role of meteorologists warning of extreme weather is increasingly valuable. Ella Al-Shamahi talks to two women tracking hurricanes and cyclones about the importance of their work.Kathy Ann Caesar is chief meteorologist at the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology in Barbados. As well as lecturing and teaching the next generation of weather watchers Kathy also advises regional institutions and emergency services on the advent of extreme weather events.Holly Hamilton is Director of Meteorology at Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority. The island only got its own weather forecasting service in 2022, they previously used just weather forecasting from the Bahamas. Holly is building the team to bring a more accurate picture of the weather they expect for the local community as well as the airports authority. Produced by Jan

What's it like navigating the world as a disabled parent? Datshiane Navanayagam speaks to two women from the US and Italy about the reality of parenting with a disability and about why it’s important to reconsider some of the common misconceptions that exist within society around the kind of life that disabled mothers can provide for their children. Jessica Slice is an American disabled author, speaker and essayist who now lives in Toronto with her husband and two children. She was diagnosed with an autonomic nervous system disorder in her twenties after a strenuous hike while on holiday in Greece. The condition changed her life forever – requiring her to use a wheelchair and sometimes experiencing chronic pain - but it also made her consider having children, seriously for the very first time. Her book, Unfit Parent: A Disabled Mother Challenges An Inaccessible World chronicles some of the obstacles that disabled parents face, and examines the societal beliefs that underpin those barriers.Laura Coccia from I

Across continents and generations, the art of weaving has connected humans for thousands of years. But it’s dying out. Ella Al-Shamahi speaks to two women from The Netherlands and Turkey about their passion for preserving the traditional craft.Turkish social entrepreneur Damla Saydam founded Qirqit Studio to help preserve the endangered tradition of handwoven Turkish rugs. She was inspired by her family’s weaving heritage and memories of helping her aunt weave as a child. Damla collaborates with village women, many of whom have been weaving for decades and otherwise would have stopped, to ensure they receive fair wages and recognition for their craft.Erna Janine from The Netherlands runs Freeweaver Studio in London, driven by her love of sustainable fashion and enthusiasm to share the joy of weaving with others. Both her grandmothers inspired her love of the craft: one was a shepherd who processed her own wool and the other was one of the last women in Holland to wear traditional costume.Produced by Emily Nay

After the discovery of a new gene therapy for Huntington's, a devastating brain disease, Datshiane Navanayagam talks to one of the women in the UK who worked on it and a biologist from India who's made recent discoveries that could improve treatment for TB, which still kills over a million people globally each year.Anne Rosser is Professor of Clinical Neuroscience at Cardiff University, combining both academic and clinical work specialising in patients with Huntington’s Disease. Huntington’s is an inherited condition caused by a faulty gene which stops the brain working properly, affecting mobility, learning, thinking and emotions. Anne also directs the Brain Repair Group in Cardiff.Paridhi Sukheja is lead biologist for Tuberculosis drug discovery at Calibr-Skaggs Institute at Scripps Research in the US – a nonprofit research institute looking at drug discovery and treatments for diseases. TB is one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases and, while widely treatable, it still kills 1.2 million people a y

Artistic swimmers are known for making perfect synchronicity look effortless. Datshiane Navanaygam talks to athletes from Spain and Slovakia to reveal why the sport is far tougher than it appears. Silvia Solymosyová from Slovakia was the first artistic swimmer to reach 1 million followers on social media after videos of her dancing underwater went viral . She is a multiple World Championships finalist and double European Championships medallist in the sport. Silvia used to compete in the mixed duet with her brother and was inspired by her mother, who was also a professional artistic swimmer. Emma Garcia is a Spanish artistic swimmer who currently Vice Chairs the Athlete Committee for European Aquatic. Part of her role involves supporting the mental health of European artistic swimmers and increasing the number of boys and men competing. She is the winner of over 30 medals for the sport.Produced by Emily Naylor