Woman's Hour - 09/07/2010

Presented by Jenni Murray. Marin Alsop made history by becoming the first woman in charge of a major American orchestra, when she took charge of the Baltimore Symphony. Her appointment was greeted by controversy, as the musicians were divided on the question of whether they actually wanted her. Now she is - temporarily - back in Britain, as the Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre's Bernstein Project where she will conduct Leonard Bernstein's Mass. She discusses the difference between conducting in Britain and America. The appointment of female bishops is expected to dominate this weekend's Church of England Synod meeting. The Archbishops of York and Canterbury have stepped in to try and avert a split over the issue. They've suggested that diocese which oppose women's ordination be partly overseen by male bishops. Their intervention has angered some of those who support women's ordination, saying it's a compromise too far. Jenni Murray is joined by a supporter and critic of the Archbishops' stance. The journalist Zaiba Malik talks about her memoir, 'We Are A Muslim Please'. It's the story of her childhood in Bradford, and the conflicts she felt as a Muslim girl, born and raised in Britain. In it she talks about her parents, her relationship with her religion, and how that religion has been hi jacked by extremists. It's 50 years since the publication of Stan Barstow's 'A Kind of Loving'. To mark the occasion, the book has been adapted as the Woman's Hour serial. So how has life in the north been represented in books over the past half century?