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As the World Service marks its 80th anniversary, we ask six octogenarians how the world has changed for women in the last eight decades. In no single arena has the world altered so much and in such myriad ways.

In some parts of the globe, the position of women is unrecognisable compared to 80 years ago, in others, women lead lives virtually unchanged since the days of their grandmothers.

Dr Alice Rivlin is an economist who has seen every boom and bust since World War II. Now aged 81 she is one of President Obama's advisors on debt. It's her job to come up with solutions to America's financial crisis.

She was a child during the Great Depression and as a young woman she worked on The Marshall, helping rebuild Europe after the war.

She speaks to Jenni Murray about the challenges of being female and wanting to be an economist – rejected from some universities, and even forbidden from taking out library books because she was female.