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Should employers pay for women to freeze their eggs?

Should employers pay for women to freeze their eggs? The blogger who struck a chord with her first-person account of living in poverty. Plus the follow-up to Five Children and It.

Technology giants Facebook and Apple are to help female employees in the US to pay for the cost of freezing their eggs. Should employers pay for such treatment? Does this level the playing field for women or is it a step too far?

Linda Tirado's blog on "why I make terrible decisions, or, poverty thoughts", struck a chord. Her take on junk food, smoking and having children with multiple partners was shared online more than seven million times. She talks to Jane about how she felt when it went viral and about her new book on being poor in a wealthy world.

The Human Trafficking Foundation charity estimates 20,000 people are working in slavery in the UK, and says that number is rising. What's being done to tackle the problem.

Plus children's author Kate Saunders has written a sequel to E Nesbit's '5 Children and It', taking the children and the Psammead through World War 1 and into adulthood. So, what was the inspiration behind the idea ?

And Rachel, currently revived at the Finborough Theatre in London, is the first play by an African American woman to be produced professionally in 1916. Ola Ince, the director explains the significance. of its writer Angelina Weld Grimké who was a poet, dramatist, journalist, teacher, essayist, radical feminist and lesbian icon.
Presented by Jane Garvey
Producer Beverley Purcell.

Available now

58 minutes

Chapters

  • Freezing Eggs

    Should employers pay for women to freeze their eggs?

    Duration: 08:57

  • Slave Wives

    The Human Trafficking Foundation estimates 20,000 people are working in slavery in the UK

    Duration: 10:26

  • Angelina Weld Grimké

    Ola Ince discusses this poet, journalist, teacher, radical feminist and lesbian icon

    Duration: 06:04

  • "5 Children and It" Sequel

    Childrens author Kate Saunders discusses the idea behind the sequel to E Nesbit's book

    Duration: 08:15

  • Linda Tirado

    She talks about her viral blog and about her new book on being poor in a wealthy world

    Duration: 06:42

Slave Wives

charity estimates 20,000 people are working in slavery in the UK, and they say that number is rising.  Among them are thousands of young women who arrive in the UK as brides, but they find that real life becomes a trap of drudgery and violence at the hands of their husbands, and even his family. Authorities are sometimes confused, or reluctant, as to how to help. Jane is joined by international family lawyer Cris McCurley and Soraya Azam from the Awaaz Honour Crimes Project, a charity that helps women escape, to discuss what’s being done to tackle the problem.

Should employers pay for women to freeze their eggs?

Two technology giants, Facebook and Apple, are to help female employees in the US to pay for the cost of freezing their eggs. The news has provoked fierce debate. Does this level the playing field for women who want to delay motherhood until their career is further advanced? Or is it a step too far by employers who are effectively making a problem out of women having children?  Professor Geeta Nargund, medical director at Create Fertility IVF Clinics and Daisy Sands, head of policy at the campaigning group the Fawcett Society, debate the issues.

Kate Saunders

The children’s author Kate Saunders has written a sequel to E Nesbit’s ‘5 Children and It’, taking the children and the Psammead through World War One and into adulthood.  She joins Jane to discuss why she wanted to revive these much loved characters, written over a hundred years ago, and how her own personal loss has inspired the book.

Linda Tirado

Why do poor people do things that seem so self-destructive? When Linda Tirado saw this question on an online forum she thought she’d have a stab at answering it. She was living in Utah with her husband and two small girls, working two jobs and going to college. Her answer, under the heading “Why I make terrible decisions, or, poverty thoughts”, struck a chord. Linda’s take on junk food, smoking and having children with multiple partners was shared online more than seven million times. Linda talks to Jane about that article, the response she faced when it went viral and her new book, about being poor in a wealthy world.

Angelina Weld Grimké

Rachel, currently revived at the Finborough Theatre in London, was the first play by an African American woman to be produced professionally in 1916. The playwright Angelina Weld Grimké was a poet, dramatist, journalist, teacher, essayist, radical feminist and lesbian icon. Ola Ince, the director of Rachel, joins Jane to discuss her significance.

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Jane Garvey
Producer Beverley Purcell
Interviewed Guest Linda Tirado
Interviewed Guest Geeta Nargund
Interviewed Guest Daisy Sands
Interviewed Guest Soraya Azam
Interviewed Guest Cris McCurley
Interviewed Guest Kate Saunders
Interviewed Guest Olga Ince

Broadcast

  • Thu 16 Oct 2014 10:00

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