Woman's Hour - 12/02/2009

Presented by Jenni Murray. Jenni talks to Prof Annette Gordon-Reed about her award-winning book which pieces together the story of Sally Hemings, the slave who became Thomas Jefferson's mistress. Will Iceland's new female Prime Minister be able to make a difference? Jenni talks to economist Sigridur Ingadottir who has worked with the Prime Minister and Audur Styrkarsdottir, the Director of the Women's History Archive in Iceland. A study published in the British Nutrition Foundation's Nutrition Bulletin has praised the eating of eggs. One of the authors of the study, Dr Juliet Gray, joins Jenni to talk about how often we should eat eggs, and how we should cook them. The maternal mortality rate is plateauing and threatening to rise. So how worried should we be and how far is it connected to obesity in pregnancy? Jenni talks to Prof Philip Steer of the Royal Society of Medicine and cardiologist Dr Sara Thorne. Sue Elliot Nichols was the brave host of/accomplice to a children's sleepover. Including the drama Reading Between the Lines.