Women who are acting as religious leaders in two Muslim communities in Europe. As women doing this is highly unusual, and is not accepted by most Muslim scholars and believers, Kim Chakanetsa asks them how they have been received and why it's so important to them.Sherin Khankan set up the feminist Mariam Mosque in Copenhagen in 2016. She calls herself a 'female imam' and she hopes to revolutionise thinking about the role of women in Islam, and offer an alternative to the traditional patriarchal structures within the religion. Though her mosque is controversial and not recognised by many within mainstream Islam, she says she has only received threats from the Danish far-right and not from fellow Muslims. Halima Krausen became Germany's first 'female imam' in 2013. She took over the running of the Hamburg Islamic Centre having stood in for a male imam on an informal basis for many years. She is currently focussing on her academic career at the Academy of World Religions at the University of Hamburg. She says more than anything else the role of imam is about being a counsellor.Left: Halima Krausen (credit: Jenny Schaefer) Right: Sherin Khankan (credit: Manyar Parwani)

Fighting fires and stereotypes at the same time - Kim Chakanetsa speaks to two senior fire women in India and the UK. Dany Cotton joined the London Fire Brigade at 18, just a few years after it opened up to women. She has worked her way up to be the force's first ever female Commissioner, and is now spearheading a campaign for the general public to stop using the term 'fireman' because it's sexist. Dany still regularly attends fires with her force, including at Grenfell Tower, where more than 70 people died in June 2017. She says it's the worst incident she has ever experienced in 30 years of firefighting, and she has never felt such an overwhelming sense of responsibility.Meenakshi Vijayakumar is the Deputy Director of North Western Region at the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Service. She was one of the first ever female divisional fire officers in India, joining in 2003. Meenakshi has been called out to over 300 fires in her career, as well as frequent floods and the devastating 2006 tsunami in the coastal city of Chennai. All the way she has battled a widely held belief among her own colleagues that women should not be firefighters, and says she has had to work twice as hard as a man. In 2013 she was awarded the President's Fire Service Medal for Gallantry for rescuing two people from underneath a collapsed building.(L) Meenakshi Vijayakumar. Credit: Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Service (R) Dany Cotton. Credit: London Fire Brigade

At the 2018 Women of the World Festival in London, Kim Chakanetsa brings together two extraordinary women who have been instrumental in the fight against racism and police brutality.In 2013, three women came together to form an active response to systemic racism in the US. They'd just learned that the man who shot dead an unarmed black teenager called Trayvon Martin had been acquitted for the killing. They said simply: Black Lives Matter. One of them was Patrisse Khan-Cullors. Patrisse grew up in Los Angeles and became an activist at an early age, having witnessed how her own family members had been treated at the hands of police. In January 2018, she published her memoir, When They Call You a Terrorist.Baroness Doreen Lawrence has campaigned for police reform ever since the murder of her son Stephen in London in 1993. He was stabbed to death at a bus stop in an unprovoked racist attack. Doreen's tireless fight for justice finally resulted in two of his killers being convicted, and in a public inquiry. This resulted in the landmark Macpherson Report, which identified institutional racism in the police service, and led to widespread police reform. Doreen Lawrence has become an important public figure in the UK and was made a life peer in the House of Lords in 2013. Image: Doreen Lawrence and Patrisse Khan-Cullors at the WOW Festival in London Credit: BBC

Marching with fellow women for a cause - Krupa Padhy meets two women who have tackled violence against women head-on, by organising eye-catching and sometimes controversial street protests.Finn Mackay is one of the UK's most influential feminist activists. She founded the London Feminist Network in 2004, the same year that she revived the Reclaim the Night marches, after seeing shocking statistics on violence against women. The marches are women-only, something Finn believes is important, but she says men are welcome to make the tea and take a back-room role. She is currently a Senior Lecturer at the University of the West of England, Bristol.Angie Ng is a Chinese-Canadian feminist activist who founded SlutWalk Hong Kong to protest against sexual violence and victim blaming. She recognises that many view the term 'slut' as degrading, but she wants to problematise the word, rather than reclaim it. Angie says that in Hong Kong there was a pervasive view that sexual violence and street harassment was largely a western, 'foreign' problem, but she wanted to show that it happened in their culture too. Angie is currently writing a book based on her research into women and the sex trade.(L) Image: Finn Mackay. Credit: Reclaim the Night (R) Image and credit: Angie Ng

Is there a secret formula for finding love and marriage? Two modern-day matchmakers working within the Jewish community and the Hindu community share their unique insights into dating and relationships.Aleeza Ben Shalom is a Jewish-American matchmaker based in Philadelphia, USA, who describes herself as a love coach for marriage-minded singles. Her approach is not necessarily to find someone a match herself, but to give them the tools they might need to find a potential partner, mainly through a series of coaching sessions. She works within the Jewish community, and enjoys matching older singles through her business Marriage Minded Mentor.Geeta Khanna is an Indian matchmaker based in Delhi who tries to bridge the divide between the expectations of traditional parents and the modern desires of her clients. While many Indians are now using dating apps like Tinder and Shaadi, Geeta thinks there is still room for her personal services. Her agency Cocktail Matches serves an affluent Hindu community. She says she works with people of all ages, but in India it can be hard to find a match if you've been divorced.(L) Aleeza Ben Shalom (credit: Yehudis Goldfarb) (R) Geeta Khanna (credit: Vijay Kumar Gupta)

Two women who shape the look of a film, from sets to props to locations - and have huge influence on our screens. But despite their success, this is still a field dominated by men.Hannah Beachler has translated the African fantasy world of Wakanda onto the big screen in the much-anticipated new superhero movie, Black Panther. She is also the creative force behind the look of the Oscar-winning film Moonlight, and she has won awards for her work on Beyonce's visual album Lemonade. Hannah says sexism on set was so rife when she started out that she de-feminised her appearance, to avoid unwanted attention. Now she's in charge of her department however, she simply doesn't stand for any bad behaviour from anyone.Sarah Greenwood has been nominated for two Academy Awards in 2018 for her work on the box office smash hits The Darkest Hour and Beauty and the Beast. Sarah is considered one of the UK's top production designers and she specialises in films set in the past, including Pride and Prejudice and Atonement. Having been Oscar nominated six times in her career, she says she now has the luxury of being able to make choices, and only work with people she admires.Image: (L) Sarah Greenwood. Credit: Greg Doherty/Getty Images Image: (R) Hannah Beachler. Credit: Chris Britt

Two swimming stars look back on their extraordinary careers and talk frankly about sexism in the sport, how they overcame major challenges to keep competing and how they dealt with their period ahead of a race.Natalie Coughlin is among the greatest female swimmers in history, with 12 Olympic medals to her name. However when she was a teenager, and already a rising star in the pool, she suffered a severe shoulder injury which put her off competitive swimming altogether. It was only at university when she met her first female coach, Teri McKeever, that she once again felt inspired to go for gold. Natalie went onto become the only US woman to earn six medals at one Olympics. And at 35 years old she still hasn't officially retired.Natalie du Toit is a Paralympic champion from South Africa who refused to be defined by the scooter accident that left her an amputee at the age of 17. Before the accident she had been dreaming of competing in the Olympics and was tipped for success. Three months after she lost her left leg at the knee, she was back in the pool, determined to see what she could achieve. Not only has she now won 13 Paralympic golds but she also competed at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. She retired from the sport in 2012.(L) Natalie Coughlin (credit: Aaron Okayama) (R) Natalie du Toit (credit: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Can women stop their intimate photos being published online without their consent? Kim Chakanetsa brings together two women fighting back against so-called 'revenge' porn Nyika Allen is President and CEO of the New Mexico Technology Council. In 2015, Nyika's ex-boyfriend began posting compromising photographs of her on Twitter. As they were viewed by complete strangers she was overwhelmed by shock and humiliation, but decided that she would not let him win. As well as getting the images taken down, and taking her ex to court, she successfully lobbied her state's politicians. With her help, New Mexico is now one of a growing number of US states to pass a law against revenge - or non-consensual - pornography. Talent Jumo supports survivors of revenge porn in Zimbabwe, through her organisation Katswe Sistahood. She says the trauma of the experience is often made worse by the reaction of family who can reject their daughters for bringing shame on them. She believes society stigmatises women for this whereas men are celebrated for their virility. And bullying by ex-partners is grounded in the assumption that they won't speak out. She is helping women do just that, as well as helping to draft much-needed laws that can punish this new crime.Image: (L) Talent Jumo. Credit: DCNGO. Courtesy of The Global Fund Image: (R) Nyika Allen. Credit: Joel Bond

Cutting off men's ties, throwing sequined stilettos and storming City Hall - carnival may at first appear to be a frivolous occasion, but Joanna Impey speaks to two women who say that feminist and even revolutionary ideas are at the root of carnival traditions, and are still highly relevant today.Staci Rosenberg is the founder of one of the few all-female Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans. When she moved to the city as a student, she discovered that the social clubs which organise the parades were mostly male, moneyed and invitation-only. So she set up the 'Krewe of Muses' - which now has over 1,000 members and has had to close its waiting list due to high demand.Monika Hoerig is the spokeswoman for the City of Bonn in Germany. But once a year, she joins a group of women to 'overthrow' her boss, the Mayor, and take control of City Hall. This symbolic takeover can be traced back to the 1820s, when a group of washerwomen got together to ditch their work and complain about their menfolk. The event marks the start of the carnival season in the area.Image: (L) Washer Princess. ©: Andreas Rentz/Getty Images Image: (R) Muses shoe. ©: Ryan Hodgson-Rigsbee

Are women treated unfairly on social media, and is the situation worse for women of colour? Krupa Padhy meets two social activists who unexpectedly found themselves at the centre of a digital storm, and asks what happened next. Munroe Bergdorf is a British model, DJ and social activist who came to public attention in 2017 when she was employed as the first transgender model in a L'Oreal cosmetics campaign. She was dropped by the company after a social media post in which she said all white people were guilty of racial violence, prompting a swift backlash. She says her words were taken out of context but she stands by them. Munroe received rape and death threats for weeks, but she fought back, has secured a new beauty contract and is now a public speaker on race issues. Yassmin Abdel-Magied is a Sudanese-Australian engineer, writer and activist who was named Queensland Young Australian of the Year 2015. However just two years later she found herself facing a barrage of criticism after posting a seven word status online that was seen by many as disrespectful to fallen soldiers on Anzac Day. Although she apologised immediately, she says that didn't stop her becoming the most publicly hated Muslim in Australia, and the months of abuse only calmed down when she left the country for good.(L) Munroe Bergdorf. Credit: Elvind Hansen (R) Yassmin Abdel-Magied. Credit: Lucy Alcorn