The Conversation

Kim Chakanetsa talks to two Beirut-based creatives who made it their mission to tell women’s stories. Joana Hadjithomas is a Lebanese artist and director. Her work has been exposed at the Victoria and Albert museum in London and at the Guggenheim in New York. Her latest movie, Memory Box, inspired by her own experience of being a teenager in Lebanon during the civil war, was the country’s entry to the 2023 Oscars. Madonna Adib is a Syrian writer and director whose work revolves around LGBTQ+ rights, identity and migration. Her latest documentary, Let My Body Speak, explores the experiences her body stores: her childhood in Damascus, witnessing the Syrian revolution, and falling in love with a woman. Produced by Alice Gioia. Sound recording by Antonio Nakhoul.(Image: (L) Madonna Adib, credit Elsy Hajjar. (R) Joana Hadjithomas.)

In August 2020, a devastating explosion destroyed the port of Beirut. More than 200 people lost their lives and thousands of small and medium women-owned businesses were destroyed. Kim Chakanetsa meets two entrepreneurs who are now working to rebuild their city and keep the economy going. In 2018, Joelle Azar quit her job in banking and, with the help of her three sisters, opened Le Panier du Coin, a food store in the centre of Beirut, where they sell produce made by local female farmers and artisans. On the day of the explosion, she was on her way to work when a balcony fell on her car. It took months for Joelle to get back on her feet, and even though her sisters have now left the country, she is determined to stay, keep the shop open and help her community heal. Nour Tannir is a 28-year-old architect and entrepreneur. In 2019, Nour joined her sister-in-law, jewellery designer Yasmine Dabbous, at EspaceFann, a social enterprise offering women affordable workshops and professional courses in textile, design and traditional crafts. Their workshops were seriously damaged by the blast, but Nour thinks that all the adversities they faced made them stronger. Nour also owns her own brand of contemporary designs for religious rituals, 786 Faithful Solutions.In the aftermath of the explosion Joelle and Nour were helped by local NGOs, including Stand For Women. Produced by Alice Gioia. Sound recording by Antonio Nakhoul.(Image: (L) Nour Tannir. (R) Joelle Azar.)

The sleep economy is booming – from hi-tech sleep trackers to apps and cooling mattresses – and its worth is estimated at hundreds of billions of US dollars every year. So why do some of us still have trouble dropping off? Part of the explanation may lie in our sex, as some studies suggest that women are 40 per cent more likely to experience sleep disruption than men. And throughout a woman’s life, puberty, pregnancy, menopause and caring responsibilities may all have an effect on the amount of good quality sleep available to women. Kim Chakanetsa is joined by psychologist Dr Christine Blume from the Centre for Chronobiology at the University of Basel in Switzerland. Since April 2022 she has been involved in a four-year project to study the effects of natural daylight and exercise on our circadian rhythms. Dr Anita Shelgikar is clinical professor of neurology and programme director for the Sleep Medicine Fellowship at the University of Michigan in the United States. She researches a condition called obstructive sleep apnea, where a person's airway narrows during sleep and can cause them to wake repeatedly. This can affect pregnant women in particular. Produced by Fiona Clampin(Image: (L) Dr Christine Blume, courtesy of Michael Brauer. (R) Dr Anita Shelgikar, courtesy of University of Michigan Health.)

Beatriz de la Pava talks to two women on the frontline of disaster preparation about how communities can become more resilient to natural hazards, respond quickly to them, and recover afterwards.Mami Mizutori is the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, and head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. Before that she served for twenty-seven years in the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Homolata Borah has worked towards reducing disaster risk for some of the most vulnerable communities living in the world’s largest inhabited river island of Majuli in the state of Assam in India.Produced by Jane Thurlow

Artists from Ukraine and the UK tell Kim Chakanetsa about how they capture someone’s personality on canvas.Laura Quinn Harris is a UK artist specialising in oil portraits of people and animals. Her work has been displayed in exhibitions including the prestigious BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery in London, and the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition. Her sitters have included the actor Sir Ian McKellen, film producer Armando Iannucci and soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. Laura first gained a degree in Mathematics before studying Scientific & Natural History Illustration and produces highly detailed portraits which can take up to several months to complete.Ukrainian artist Tania Rivilis moved to Germany from Moscow in 2012 in her twenties and started painting after her husband gave her oil paints and brushes as a gift to help cope with the upheaval. In 2022 Tania received the William Lock Prize at the Royal Portrait Society for the most timeless portrait, her works have been displayed on billboards in Times Square in New York and she’s exhibited her works at Christie´s in London.Produced by Jane Thurlow(Image: (L) Tanya Rivilis, courtesy of Tanya Rivilis. (R) Laura Quinn Harris , courtesy of Laura Quinn Harris.)

Kim Chakanetsa talks to two women about the joys and challenges of parenting a disabled child.Gopika Kapoor is a writer, neurodiversity consultant and parent advocate. Her son Vir was diagnosed with autism at 3 years old. Gopika told her story in a book: Beyond the Blue: Love, Life and Autism. She lives and works in Mumbai.Julie Jones is an accessible and inclusive travel writing specialist from Sydney in Australia. She’s a mum of two and she cares for her disabled adult son, Braeden, who lives with cerebral palsy. She writes a blog, Have Wheelchair Will Travel, and co-founded a magazine called Travel Without Limits.Produced by Hetal Bapodra and Alice Gioia(Image: (L) Julie Jones and her son Braeden, credit courtesy of Julie Jones. (R) Gopika Kapoor, credit courtesy of Gopika Kapoor.)

Kim Chakanetsa meets two writers who, in their work, explore the themes of love, identity, belonging and inter-generational trauma. Min Jin Lee is a South Korean American author who wrote two novels, Free food for Millionaires and Pachinko, a multi-generational saga following the story of a Korean family in Japan. Pachinko was a New York Times bestseller and was nominated for the National Book Award for Fiction, and it’s recently been turned into a TV series. Min is currently working on her third novel, American Hagwon. Elif Shafak is a Turkish British writer. She has written 19 books, most of them novels, which have been translated into 55 languages. She is a Booker prize finalist, and her most recent novel - The Island of Missing Trees - tells the forbidden love story between a Greek Cypriot man and a Turkish Cypriot woman.Produced by Alice Gioia(Image: (L) Elif Shafak, credit BBC. (R) Min Jin Lee, credit Getty Images)

Tennis has a level of equality that women in other many other sports must envy, with equal prize money and media coverage at many top tournaments. Much of this is down to the work of the Women's Tennis Association, founded in 1973 by Billie Jean King and other players to unite all of women's professional tennis in one tour. To mark the 50th anniversary, Kim Chakanetsa talks to WTA president, Micky Lawler and top player, Johanna Konta about how the game is changing on the court and off it: the great steps made towards equality, and the challenges and the progress still to be made.Former British No1 Johanna Konta won three WTA Tour titles. She also played for Great Britain in the Davis Cup and Olympics and was semi-finalist at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and Roland Garros. Born in Australia she moved to train in Spain at 14 and her parents settled in the UK. She’s one of only five British women to gain a world top-ten ranking in the open era – reaching No 4 in the world in June 2017. She retired from professional tennis in December 2021, before getting married and starting a family.Micky Lawler was born in Holland, and while her father’s job took the family to live in Argentina, Bolivia and Kenya sport played an important part of her life growing up. A multi-linguist, she was teaching English and planning to be an interpreter when she got her first job in tennis. A highly successful sports agent before moving to the WTA, she’s helped build tournaments in countries around the world as a way of increasing opportunities for players.Produced by Jane Thurlow(Image: (L) Johanna Konta, credit Made Nagi/EPA. (R) Micky Lawler, credit Radka Leitmeritz.)

Kim Chakanetsa talks to two women who’ve chosen a life not on the ocean wave, but under it. Chief Petty Officer Sara Ryman is currently serving on board a submarine in the Swedish Navy as a sonar officer. She operates the kind of equipment that’s essential to a submarine’s ability to track other vessels underwater, while remaining undetected.Lieutenant Commander Rochelle Egan leads a team of engineers and technicians who maintain the Royal Canadian Navy’s Atlantic submarine fleet in tip top condition. She joined the submarine service in 2015, where she became the first female Combat Systems Engineering Officer to serve on Canada’s Victoria Class submarines.Produced by Fiona Clampin. (Image: (L) Lieutenant Commander Rochelle Egan, credit Sailor First Class Bryan Underwood/Royal Canadian Navy (R) Chief Petty Officer Sara Ryman, credit Försvarsmakten/Swedish Armed Forces.)

Artificial intelligence is changing the way we live and work. Should we accept it, or push back? Kim Chakanetsa meets two women pioneers in the field of AI and ethics. Aleksandra Przegalińska is a philosopher and data scientist. She’s the vice-rector and the head of the Human-Machine Interaction Research Center at Kozminski University in Poland and a Senior Research Associate on AI, Robots, and the Future of Work at Harvard University in the USA. Mia Shah-Dand is the founder of Women in AI Ethics, a non-profit aiming to increase female representation in the field of artificial intelligence. She is also the CEO of Lighthouse3, a consulting firm based in California that helps large organisations deploy new technologies responsibly.Produced by Alice Gioia(Image: (L) Aleksandra Przegalińska, credit courtesy of Aleksandra Przegalińska. (R) Mia Shah-Dand, credit courtesy of Mia Shah-Dand.)