Woman's Hour - 03/03/2010

With Jenni Murray. Singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding has been described as 'the new sweetheart of British pop'. She's topped the BBC Sound of 2010 poll, following in the footsteps of Adele and Florence and the Machine, and has just won the Critics' Choice Award at the BRIT Awards. With her debut album Lights released this week, she joins Jenni to talk about her 'folktronica' style of music and her rapid rise into the spotlight, and performs live. The UK has one of the highest divorce rates in the world, with nearly half of all marriages ending this way. It's now so common that our attitudes to it seem to be changing. On Sunday a divorce fair takes place in London, billed as an event to help people bounce back from relationship break-ups and life crises. Elsewhere, businesses have sprung up selling divorce cakes, cards and badges. Journalist Kathryn Flett and author Amy Poon join Jenni to discuss the concept of the commercialisation of divorce. Why do some people want to celebrate divorce, with an opportunity to buy divorce cards and gifts? How appropriate is it to make money out of what has traditionally been seen as a pretty miserable experience? Childbirth still carries risks, but have we become too scared of it? This Sunday, mothers and midwives will be marching on Whitehall for the right to choose a birth with minimal intervention. So why is a natural process so often treated as a medical problem? Does fear of litigation mean we are more risk averse than ever? And whose risk is it is anyway? Jenni talks to consultant obstetrician Pat O'Brien and independent midwife Annie Francis. In 2007 Kat Banyard was named by The Observer as one of the 'New Feminists', a batch of young women in their 20s and 30s who were reclaiming and rebranding feminism for the 21st century. Now Banyard, who is a former campaigner with the Fawcett Society, is publishing her first book, The Equality Illusion: The Truth about Women and Men Today. Is this the next big push towards equality?