Woman's Hour - 30/10/2008

Presented by Clare Balding. American singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco tells Clare how she views the current feminist movement in the US and performs live in the studio. Director of the Fawcett Society Katherine Rake and Professor of Economics John Shackleton discuss the persistence of the gender pay gap and what the government and employers should be doing to redress it. Does the growing trend in the courts equating cohabitation with marriage show that the law is out of touch with the real meaning of partnership, and the only people benefiting from this is the lawyers? Ruth Deech and Jane Craig, an expert in family law and a Partner at the law firm Manches, discuss. The Return of the Native is not one of Hardy's most famous novels, but it does feature one of his feistiest female characters, Eustacia Vye. Fiona Clampin and Professor Nick Groom from Exeter University meet guide Angela Bell in Puddletown Forest in Dorset to trace Eustacia's footsteps. Including drama: Writing the Century (4/5).