Woman's Hour - 28/07/2009

With Jenni Murray. Dreda Say Mitchell is a writer, journalist and education adviser. Born in London to Grenadian parents in 1965, she grew up on an estate in the East End of London, which helped provide inspiration for many of her characters and novels. Her first novel, Running Hot, won the Crime Writers' Association's John Creasey Memorial Dagger Award for best first novel. Her latest book, Geezer Girls, explores organised crime in London. Alongside her writing, Dreda continues to work as a part-time education adviser in Islington, specializing in literacy programmes for under-achieving black children. She joins Jenni to discuss her career and the inspiration behind her successful crime novels. A recent report from the University of Essex found that women who adopt a more masculine approach to work earn 4 per cent more over a lifetime at work than those who are 'nice'. So, with latest figures from the Office for National Statistics showing that the pay gap between men and women is at 12.8 per cent, do women need to toughen up and stop being too nice at work? Jenni discusses the issues with Liz McKechnie of the Impact Factory and Deb Leary, Vice President of the British Association of Women Entrepreneurs. Katherine Rake has led The Fawcett Society, the UK's leading campaign for women's rights, for seven years. During her time as director, she has been relentless and resourceful in campaigning for equal pay, fair political representation and better treatment within the justice system. She also fought to put an end to sexism in the City, pregnancy discrimination and the prejudices faced by women from ethnic minorities. Poised to step into her next role as head of the Family and Parenting Institute, she takes a moment with Jenni to look back at her battles and successes and why she thinks feminism now has a public face. Plus: how Darwin's relationships with women may have affected his great works. Jenni hears about a new project which will explore the private writings of the father of evolutionary theory.