Mexican conductor Alondra de la Parra has been described as a 'rock star' of the classical world. At a concert as a child her father asked her what a conductor does - "nothing" she replied. So he enlightened her and explained that the conductor does "everything". This ignited a curiosity, which soon led to an unstoppable passion and in her early 20s Alondra set up the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas to showcase Latin music. She is now also a guest conductor with some of the greatest orchestras in the world.Simone Young is an award-winning conductor who is now the artistic director of the Hamburg State Opera and music director of the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra. She does not come from a musical family, but says that growing up in Australia, where people who challenge the status quo are championed, helped to push her along her chosen career path. Simone is now based in Germany, which is steeped in classical music history, but has guest-conducted with some of the world's leading orchestras and is famous for conducting Wagner.(Photo: Conductors Alondra de la Parra (left) and Simone Young. Credits: Alondra de la Parra by Leonardo Manzo. Simone Young by Berthold Fabricius)

When Houriya Kazim became the United Arab Emirates' first ever woman surgeon in the late 1990s she chose to specialise in breast surgery. Accusations of immodesty and even pornography followed as Houriya's educational pamphlets fell foul of the authorities' restrictions on language and images of women's bodies. Despite making progress in encouraging women to check their breasts for signs of cancer she has seen tumours so advanced that they have burst out of the skin. She describes how when that happens, "they smell and it's right under your nose." Maria Siemionow has led the surgical teams on the only two face transplant operations to have been performed in the USA, in December 2008 and in September 2014. Born and raised in Poland, Maria says her parents - both economists - inspired her ambition to "be in charge" and a childhood doing handicrafts prepared her for the 'embroidery' of microsurgery (operating under a microscope). She is professor of orthopaedic surgery in the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine.(Photo: Surgeons Houriya Kazim (left) and Dr Maria Siemionow. Credit: Roberta Dupuis-Devlin/UIC Photo Services)

When celebrity chef Farah Quinn first appeared on screens in Indonesia, people were not quite sure what to make of her. Viewers were used to male chefs, so making her mark was not easy. Critics quibbled about her talents saying they lay in her looks rather than her culinary achievements, but Farah says this is unfair and she has worked hard to get to where she is, starting at the bottom and running her own restaurant.Russian chef Marianna Orlinkova can relate to working in a tough, male-dominated industry. She says there are not many female chefs in Moscow - the kitchen culture is too tough. Marianna is a 'brand chef' and creates menus for a restaurant in the city, as well as being an award-winning food writer and deputy editor of Russia's Gastronom magazine. (Photo: Farah Quinn (credit: Rio Photography) and Marianna Orlinkova)

Two women in the field of psychiatry discuss the demands and satisfaction that comes from working in Uganda and Pakistan, where there is still a stigma around mental health and mental health professionals.Dr Margaret Mungherera was the first African woman to be elected president of the World Medical Association, a role she held from 2013 until quite recently. Dr Mungherera was one of only six psychiatrists in Uganda when she started out at the country's largest mental health hospital where she says patients were often neglected by both the government and their own families. She helped to change the fortunes of this institution and attitudes towards mental health in Uganda.Dr Unaiza Niaz is also trying to change opinions and beliefs about her profession in Pakistan. "When I decided on psychiatry they thought I'd gone bonkers" she says of her friends and family. Dr Naiz is the former chair of the women's mental health section of the World Psychiatric Association and the founder and president of Pakistan's Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. Her work has focused on trauma in Pakistani society caused by terrorism, the effects of the conflict over the border in Afghanistan and of natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes.

Amatalalim Alsoswa was Yemen's first female minister before becoming the country's first woman Ambassador. Her mission to the Netherlands began serenely in 2000 but, she tells us, she had to deal with a dramatic change of attitudes towards Yemen after the September 11 attacks the following year. Amat's recipe for success is a mixture of outspokenness and openness - a combination which helped her cope with a fatwa issued against her when she was seen on television without a headscarf (it had slipped onto her shoulders). This daughter of a religious judge says she owes her determination to her father and mother, who never worked herself, but encouraged Amat all the way to the top. Pirjo Suomela-Chowdhury is the new Finnish Ambassador to three West African countries. "Nigeria was top of my list... I can't think of a more interesting place" she says. Ebola, the economy and the security situation dominate her concerns in the region but she welcomes the challenge alongside the opportunity to promote Finland's interests there. This is Pirjo's first posting at ambassador level but as a career diplomat she knows that one advantage of being a woman in a male-dominated field is that you are remembered, and the higher up the ladder you go, the more free you are to be yourself, even in the world of diplomacy.

Ericka Huggins attended the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963 and decided then to devote herself to social action. She was 19 when she became a leader in the Los Angeles chapter of the Black Panther Party in the late 1960s. In its own words the Party wanted "the power to determine the destiny of the Black and oppressed communities." As well as the political struggle Ericka had to cope with becoming a widow and the lone parent of a 3-week-old baby when her husband, also a Black Panther Party leader, was killed. Her own imprisonment led her to the practice of meditation which is still very much part of her life. Now profressor Ericka Huggins teaches sociology at Merritt and Laney Community Colleges in Oakland California. Nomboniso Gasa's experiences of Apartheid gave her a political consciousness from early childhood and at the age of 14 she was arrested and detained for the first of many times. As a result of living in a segregated society she says "the notion of being non-human stayed with me for a long time". She joined the ANC's underground structure in the 1980s and her work was mainly as a runner between the homelands and the ANC guerrilla fighters, including crossing into Lesotho, disguised as a boy in search of her father. Now based in Johannesburg, Nomboniso is a researcher and analyst on Gender, Politics and Cultural Issues and talks about coping with the aftermath of the violent episodes in her life through dance, gardening and yoga.(Photo: Activists Ericka Huggins (left) and Nomboniso Gasa. Ericka Huggins Photo Credit: Peggy Moore)

As the chair of one of South Africa's largest agencies, Ogilvy and Mather, Nunu Ntshingila is among the highest ranking women in world advertising. Born in Soweto in the 1960s, she learned her trade under Apartheid, when both the working environment and the marketplace were racially divided. Later she had the job of marketing the 'new South Africa' as a tourist destination and has since overseen campaigns for some of the world's biggest brands. Nunu says she moved "from the struggle between black and white to the gender struggle" and talks about her limited ability to change the way black women are portrayed in advertising. Vasudha Narayanan is the executive creative director at the Lowe Lintas agency in India. Based in Mumbai she says advertising is not an easy job - especially for women - as the unconventional working hours and frequent parties can raise eyebrows in conservative society. Vasudha says she is conscious about the influence her adverts have on society. She says "It's men who need to change their attitudes - we try and encourage men to behave better"(Photo: Advertising executives Nunu Ntshingila (left) and Vasudha Narayanan)

What is the universe made of? Is there life on Mars? And how do you get more women interested in science? These are the big questions which preoccupy today's guests. Minal Rohit is a systems engineer with the Indian Space Research Organisation, currently working on India's Mars mission, and Dr Tara Shears is a particle physicist who works for the European organisation for nuclear research, known as CERN. They discuss what it's like to be involved in ground-breaking experiments and how a desire to understand the universe drew them to science in the first place.Picture: Minal Rohit and Dr Tara Shears

Dr Ngozi Kennedy works as a health specialist for UNICEF which is one of the organisations supporting the Government's response to Ebola in Sierra Leone. From her home city of Freetown she talks about its impact on women, children and adolescents and how just as her workload increased, her children have to be at home, bored and frustrated, as a result of the school closures. Sierra Leone-born Fredanna M'Cormack-McGough is professor of Public Health at Coastal Carolina University. She was in Sierra Leone conducting research on the health system when the first Ebola case was recorded in May. On her return to America after three months, she had to allay the fears of her own community about whether she was harbouring the virus - in effect she became a case study for the course she teaches.Kim Chakanetsa hosts a conversation between both women involved in the fight against Ebola in West Africa. From a US and Sierra Leonean perspective, these public health experts compare their experiences in dealing with the spread of the virus and discuss how it has impacted their personal lives in surprising ways. (Picture: Dr Fredanna M'Cormack-McGough (left) and Dr Ngozi Kennedy)

A triathlon is a three-part sport that requires competitors to swim, cycle and run. This week we speak to two triathletes who are at opposite ends of their careers. Paula Newby-Fraser seemed unbeatable in the 1980s and 1990s, and was nicknamed the 'Queen of Kona', home to the ultra-triathlon the Ironman, and Shirin Gerami is the first female triathlete to represent Iran in a world championship. Paula shares her advice and experience with Shirin. Paula Newby-Fraser grew up in South Africa doing sport from the age of five. Paula reveals that the triathlon start-line seemed to be the only place that was not segregated by race or gender and she also explains why she had to give up her South African citizenship to compete internationally. Shirin Gerami is relatively new to the triathlon scene, but has made an impact. She battled through red-tape with the Iranian authorities to get permission to compete under her country's flag, and won. Shirin's event kit was a major issue as it had to comply with the rules in Iran that women must be covered. She came up with a suitable design, which has inspired other aspiring female triathletes. (Photo: Shirin Gerami and Paula Newby-Fraser)