Weekend Woman's Hour: Melinda French Gates, Rebecca Solnit, 'Carents', Actor Tracey Ullman

Melinda French Gates is on a crusade to boost research into women's health. She co-founded the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000 which has, to date, donated over $100 billion to charitable projects. Since her divorce from Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, she has left their joint enterprise and set up her own, Pivotal Ventures, which has one purpose: to put power into the hands of women. She joined Anita Rani in the Woman's Hour studio.

Gloria Allred is one of the best known women’s rights lawyers in the US. She tells Nuala McGovern what has happened to victims' voices amongst the continuous revelations in the press from the Epstein Files. We then hear from bestselling author and leading feminist thinker Rebecca Solnit, who says the released documents are reminders of a culture that decades of feminism have started to dismantle.

The conservationist and primatologist Dame Jane Goodall died this week aged 91. According to the Jane Goodall Institute, she died of natural causes in California where she was staying as part of a speaking tour in the US. There have been tributes from around the world. Wildlife biologist, National Geographic Explorer and President of the Wildlife Trust, Liz Bonnin, joins Anita Rani to remember this ground-breaking conservationist who revolutionised the study of great apes. Jillian Miller who is the director of the Gorilla Organisation, which works to save gorillas from extinction also pays tribute.

Many of us will remember the multi-award winning Tracey Ullman from her TV shows, A Kick up the Eighties, Three of a Kind, as well as The Tracey Ullman Show, which was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic. Tracey joins Nuala McGovern to discuss her latest role in the film, Steve, in which she plays the deputy head in a last chance reform school for troubled teenage boys.

A ‘carent ’is an adult child who is caring for one or both of their ageing parents, in-laws or elderly relatives. Many ‘carents’ will be balancing work and family alongside. Dr Jackie Gray, a retired GP and founder of The Carents Room, joins Nuala McGovern to discuss, along with Kendra and Rachel who provide care for their parents.

Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Simon Richardson