Christmas after divorce; Frances Fyfield; Women in Afganistan

Christmas is traditionally a time when families get together and celebrate but what should you do if you are divorced or separated and a big family day isn’t possible? What’s best for the children? How can you negotiate with your ex? How do you plan your day if you are away from your children? Jane is joined by Christina Blacklaws, Director of Family Law at the Co-operative Legal Services and writer and broadcaster Sali Hughes whose children will be spending Christmas with their father.

New research by the think tank the IPPR says while life may be getting better for some women in society, opportunities for working class women have not improved. The IPPR argue that debates around choice and opportunity are far too abstract, and not nearly radical enough. Dalia Ben-Galim from the IPPR and Dr Catherine Hakim join Jane in the studio. 

Frances Fyfield trained as a lawyer before swapping careers to become a full time writer in her 30s. She started by writing romantic short stories for women’s magazines but soon found that the seamier side of law began to take over the plotlines of her novels. She has published over 20 books and several of them have won the prestigious Dagger Awards from the Crime Writers’ Association. Frances joins Jane to discuss her new novel, Gold Digger. 

Cases of violence against women in Afghanistan are still rising and police investigations and prosecutions remain limited - that’s the verdict from a new UN report out on 11th December 2012. The report called ‘Still a Long Way to Go: Implementation of the Law on Elimination of Violence against Women in Afghanistan’ says Afghan women are still failing to get proper access to justice. The UN’s Director of Human Rights for Afghanistan, Georgette Gagnon, tells Jane what is going wrong and what needs to be done.