The Conversation

A surrogate mother and a mother who used a surrogate - Kim Chakanetsa explores the ethics and emotions of carrying a child for someone else, with two women from the United States and the Democratic Republic of Congo.Krystal Wallace is from Texas and already had two children of her own when she saw a TV programme about surrogacy and thought it could be for her. After a rocky start, she has now been a gestational surrogate for three different childless couples. She hates the term 'womb for rent', preferring to call it 'extreme babysitting'. Krystal says seeing the parents' faces when they meet their child is the most amazing feeling for her, and she doesn't feel any sense of loss when they take the baby home. Jeanne Kapongo is from DRC and now lives in South Africa. She and her husband dreamed of having a big family but it took them ten years to fall pregnant with their first child. She says that she would not have felt complete without a second child, but after four more miscarriages they decided to opt for surrogacy. Jeanne says she was lucky to find a surrogate mother she connected with straight away, although it was a nerve-wracking process, as in South Africa the surrogate has the right to terminate the pregnancy for any reason.Image: (L) Krystal Wallace and (R) Jeanne Kapongo Credit: Krystal Wallace and Marie Claire

Finding out your father is a serial killer, and living with the consequences. Kim Chakanetsa brings together two women from the US and Australia who share this unusual experience, and asks why they both decided to speak publicly about it. Jenn Carson is a teacher in California and the daughter of Michael 'Bear' Carson, who committed three murders in the US between 1981 and 1983, alongside his second wife Suzan. Jenn was told about her father's crimes when she was nine years old, and says the discovery led to long-term nightmares and depression. She has only seen her father once since then, and recently campaigned - alongside his victims' families - for his parole to be refused. Elisha Rose is an Australian lawyer who discovered by watching the news when she was 13 that her father Lindsey had murdered five people. Elisha used to visit her father in prison until she realised that he was never going to take real responsibility for his crimes. She says that while she will never obtain closure from him, having this experience has been a driver to make her own life meaningful and purposeful, and to do good in the world.(L) Image: Elisha Rose. Credit: Australian Story. (R) Image and credit: Jenn Carson

Two librarians running vastly different libraries in South Africa and the United States share their passion for books and their secrets for inspiring children to read.Carla Hayden runs the biggest library in the world, the Library of Congress. As the first woman and first African American to take on the role she made history when she was nominated by former President Barack Obama. Carla now oversees the library's extensive collection of books, manuscripts and historical artefacts, which include an original Gutenberg bible and the first ever map of America. One of the library's main functions is to assist US Congress in the research it needs in order to pass bills. Prior to her appointment she spent most of her career working in public libraries, most recently in Baltimore, Maryland.Edith Fezeka Khuzwayo is the managing librarian at the Murray Park Library in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. It's a tiny library, no bigger than a kitchen, and it serves a deprived community, where 90% of women cannot read. That has a huge impact on the local children, so Edith has come up with innovative ideas to encourage both kids and parents to use the library. Edith knows all too well what it means to be illiterate: she herself grew up in a rural area on the Eastern Cape, in a household without books, but her sheer love of reading her school notes meant she was always top of the class.(Photo: Edith Khuzwayo (L) and Carla Hayden (R). Credit: Shawn Miller.

What exactly is the role of the first lady? It's an unofficial position, that comes with enormous expectations, and some obvious pitfalls. Kim Chakanetsa speaks to the First Lady of Namibia, Monica Geingos, and the former First Lady of Iceland, Jonina Leosdottir.Monica Geingos is a lawyer and businesswoman who married Hage Geingob in 2015, shortly before he became President of Namibia. Monica has continued with many of her previous responsibilities, but she seeks to complement her husband's work by supporting socioeconomic projects in the country. She looks forward to the day when there are more female heads of state and spouses are no longer judged on what they wear or who they're married to.Jonina Leosdottir is an Icelandic novelist and playwright, whose long-time partner, Johanna Sigurdardottir, became Prime Minister of Iceland in 2009. Jonina therefore became the world's first gay First Lady, and she had to make many personal sacrifices as her partner steered the country through economic crisis. Jonina carried on with her writing career, but says she hardly saw Johanna for five years. Now, however, she's (mostly) happy to have her back.(L) Monica Geingos (credit: Paul Morigi/Getty Images) (R) Jonina Leosdottir (credit: Elsa Bjorg Magnusdottir)

What happens when women try to hammer out a peace deal? How does it differ from the way men do it? According to the United Nations, fewer than 3% of signatories to peace agreements are women. We meet two women who hope to change that. They made history in Northern Ireland and in Colombia by bringing the gender issue to the forefront of the peace process.Monica McWilliams is a Northern Irish peace negotiator who played a key role in the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, which brought an end to the Troubles. Monica co-founded the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition in order to get female representatives at the negotiating table. She was subsequently involved in the implementation of the agreement as head of the country's Human Rights Commission. She now advises women around the world on how to negotiate peace deals in countries such as Syria and Myanmar.Hilde Salvesen was part of Norwegian team which facilitated the recent peace negotiations in Colombia between the government and Farc rebels - the first of its kind to include a gender subcommittee to address the needs of women in the peace process. Hilde developed her strong understanding of Latin America when she travelled there as a student, and witnessed conflict first-hand in Guatemala and El Salvador. She currently works at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, part of the University of Oslo.(L) Image and credit: Monica McWilliams (R) Image: Hilde Salvesen. Credit: uio

Opening a bank account and praying in peace - just two things blind women cannot take for granted in Ethiopia and India. Kim Chakanetsa has a revealing conversation with two women who are taking on these challenges and more.Yetnebersh Nigussie recently won the Right Livelihood Prize - widely referred to as the 'Alternative Nobel Prize' - for her work promoting disabled people's rights in her country. Yetnebersh is a lawyer born and raised in rural Ethiopia who lost her eye sight at the age of five. She says growing up blind had its challenges but in the end it was a kind of liberation - she was not considered suitable for early marriage due to her disability, and her mother insisted that she was educated instead. Poonam Vaidya lives in Bangalore and lost her sight seven years ago when she was 21. After the initial shock, she says she tried not to ask, 'why me?' and slowly took hold of her independence again. She went on to further studies, and is now a content writer and blogger. She loves to travel, and is particularly interested in making transport more accessible for blind people. Poonam recently spent a year at the Colorado Center for the Blind in the US where she completed various challenges including travelling to four cities in one day. (l) Yetnebersh Nigussie (credit: Studio Casagrande) (r) Poonam Vaidya (credit: Raj Lalwani)

A Syrian architect who watched her city destroyed around her talks to an Irish architect who helped create community spaces in a migrant camp. They emphasize the importance of authenticity, simplicity and boundaries when it comes to designing buildings and public spaces.Marwa al-Sabouni runs an architectural practice together with her husband in the Syrian city of Homs. She has watched her city be torn apart by war, and believes communities are directly shaped by the environment they inhabit. She has now turned her mind to the question of how architecture might play a role in reversing the damage and rebuilding her country. She has written a memoir about her experiences called 'The Battle for Home'.Grainne Hassett is a senior lecturer at the School of Architecture, University of Limerick. She also runs her own architecture practice. In August 2015 she travelled to the migrant camp in Calais, known as 'The Jungle', where she ended up building several temporary community buildings with the help of volunteers. Although the buildings were demolished, she has taken the lessons she learnt from the camp into her wider work.Image: Marwa al-Sabouni and Grainne Hassett (R) with Kim Chakanetsa (L) Credit: BBC

The joy of coming together through song - Kim Chakanetsa talks to two women who have created choirs that go beyond simply making music. Mika Danny started the Rana Choir in 2008, with a clear mission to unite Arab and Jewish women in song. Mika lives in Jaffa in Israel and says that while women from Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities find it almost impossible to discuss what they call 'the situation' there, they have been able to come together 'as a family' through singing a repertoire that reflects all their different cultural backgrounds. Esmeralda Conde Ruiz says her life is "Music, music all day long". Originally from Spain via Germany, she now leads many different amateur and professional choirs in London, and says she always wants to push people to do things they didn't know they were capable of - whether they are a small community choir from Borough Market or a 500-strong amateur group of singers performing at the Tate Modern art gallery.Photo: (L) Mika Danny (credit: Noa Ben Shalom) and (R) Esmeralda Conde Ruiz (credit: MIO)

Pushing the limits in the name of science: Two women who have lived and worked in some of the most extreme conditions on earth talk to Kim Chakanetsa about the challenges of cold and dry conditions, the bonds they form on base, and what draws them back to these remote places.Carolyn Graves is a Canadian meteorologist currently working for the British Antarctic Survey. In 2016 she travelled to the Halley Research Station in Antarctica. She was planning to spend a whole year there, carrying out meteorological observations and monitoring all the technical equipment. But after just six months the entire team were forced to abandon base, over fears of a growing crack in the ice shelf.Violette Impellizzeri is an Italian astronomer who currently works at the ALMA observatory in Chile's Atacama Desert. She travels to base camp, which is 3,000m above sea level, about once every six weeks. The conditions are extreme - dry and remote - but the clear skies are ideal for the telescope, which provides unique research opportunities for scientists around the world.L-Image and credit: Violette Impellizeri at the ALMA observatory, Atacama Desert, Chile. Credit: Cristian Pontoni. R-Image: Carolyn Graves launching a balloon at the Halley Research Station in Antarctica. Credit: Kevin Hallam.

Top female casting directors in the UK and India chat to Kim Chakanetsa about fighting for the actors they want in a film, their proudest casting moments, and the painful job of telling someone they didn't get the part.Nina Gold is the woman behind the casting of the HBO series Game of Thrones and the new Star Wars films. She has also cast Oscar-winning movies such as The King's Speech and The Theory of Everything as well as countless TV drama series in the UK and US. She says she loves to unearth and push forward new young talent. Her work has been recognised by BAFTA with a special award in 2016. Nandini Shrikent is one of India's top casting directors. Based at the heart of Bollywood in Mumbai, she cast the lead actor for the multi-award winning film Life of Pi, as well as numerous home-grown movies including Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. She says casting the smaller parts is actually the real test of skill - finding the perfect actor for a walk-on role can be tougher than casting a big romantic lead.(L) Nina Gold (credit: Teri Pengilley) and (R) Nandini Shrikent (credit: Nandini Shrikent)