Female-friendly Mosque; Justine Greening; the New Female Viagra

Michelle Obama was in London recently to promote the US President’s ‘Let Girls Learn’ initiative. We look at what the UK Government is doing to support the education of girls around the world – and why. Jane talks to Justine Greening, Secretary of State for International Development.

Do women vote differently to men? At this year’s General Election all of the political parties were engaged in a competition for women’s votes. But what do we now know about how women voted in May and what impact the efforts to target their votes actually had? The research isn’t complete yet, but it looks like there may have been some changes. What is happening? Jane talks to Dr Rosie Campbell, Reader in Politics at Birkbeck, University of London.

As plans are being made for the first female run mosque in the UK, along with a women’s ‘centre of excellence’ to promote Islamic education. The Muslim Women’s Council in Bradford have come up with the proposal as they say Muslim women have been marginalised by UK Mosques, which are male dominated and don’t serve women’s needs. To describe the plans, their benefits, and the challenges they face, Jane is joined by Bana Gora, the Chief Executive of the organisation.

Save the Children already have a State of the World’s Mothers Report (now in its 16th year), Unicef have had a children’s version since 2000, and the UN produce a State of the World’s Population report too. But today a State of the World’s Fathers Report is published for the first time. So why has it taken so long for the role of fatherhood to be recognised in the global fight for gender equality and an end to violence against women and children?

Are we any closer to finding a medical treatment for female loss of sexual drive? Earlier this month, an expert panel of the USA’s Food and Drug Administration voted in favour of approval of a drug called Flibanserin which is designed to boost women’s desire for sex. If it’s approved, it will be the first ever FDA recognised treatment for female sexual dysfunction. So how does this drug, often called the ‘female viagra’ work, how effective is it, what are the risks, and why has it caused such a stir? We speak to  Dr Cynthia Graham "Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Sexual Health Research, University of Southampton" and Suzi Godson, Times health and sex columnist. We also hear from Dr Sheryl Kingsberg, Chief of Behavioural Medicine at University Hospital Case Medical Centre  in Cleveland.