Award-winning screen director Tope Oshin celebrates a new generation of Nigerian women film-makers who are currently reinventing Nollywood, the largest and most prolific film industry in Africa. She explores their distinctive approach to telling screen stories that better represent women’s lives and aspirations in Nigeria today.

Brazil is the C-section capital of the world. In a country where caesareans account for over half of all births and 88% in the private sector. BBC correspondent Julia Carneiro investigates what some call the “C-section epidemic”.

Indonesia has just conducted its first ever national survey on domestic violence. It found that 41% of women had experienced some form of domestic abuse. We hear about the work of a pioneering crisis and counselling centre offering holistic support, the first organisation of its kind in Indonesia. In Behind Closed Doors Claire Bolderson reports from three different countries: Kenya, Peru and Indonesia. The issue that unites them all is domestic violence. It’s not that the problem is...

Rates of domestic violence in the Peruvian Andes are particularly high - nearly double the national average. The shocking case of violence against Arlette Contreras Bautista, was caught on hotel security cameras, led to calls for greater action against domestic violence. In August 2016, tens of thousands of people marched through the Peruvian capital, Lima to protest against the country’s shockingly high rates of violence against women. We hear how some inspiring women are working together...

Unity is a village without men set up by Samburu women in response to domestic abuse. Claire Bolderson reports from three different countries: Peru, Indonesia and Kenya. The issue that unites them all is domestic violence. It is not that the problem is unique to these countries - the World Health Organisation estimates that one third of women worldwide suffer physical or sexual violence by a partner - but in each of the three countries, we hear about different and often inspiring...

All over the world women hold families together, work hard all hours of the day and have little power to change their lives for the better. To make that happen they need to organise. In a small corner of the Buenos Aires district of Argentina one woman has achieved something remarkable by doing just that. Aymara Val has been working with her neighbours to change their living conditions for eight years.

Sun City is one of America's biggest retirement communities and home to the Poms, a group of amazing women aged between 55 and 85. We follow the Poms as they rehearse for one of their biggest parades of the year. They train hard, squeezing into unforgiving sequined leotards, doing the splits and balancing as human pyramids. Aside from being a funny journey, their story is also one of courage in the face of mortality and high-kicking against ageism.

Sun City is one of America's biggest retirement communities and home to the Poms, a group of amazing women aged between 55 and 85. We follow the Poms as they rehearse for one of their biggest parades of the year. Their story is one of courage in the face of mortality and a high-kick against ageism.

Among the women that history overlooked are Yelena Malyutina, Queen Muhumuza, Dame Janet Vaughan, Rosalind Franklin, Nazma Akter, Sizani Ngubane, Salika Amara, Mercedes Doretti and Morfydd Owen. This special edition of The History Hour explores the lives and achievements of women scientists, fighters, musicians and trade unionists. Yelena Malyutina served in the women's bomber regiment in the Soviet Airforce during World War II. She was hit by anti-aircraft fire but managed to land...

In 2004, Kenyan Wangari Maathai became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. She was an environmentalist and human rights activist who founded the Green Belt Movement in the 1970s. She focused on the planting of trees, conservation, and women's rights but repeatedly clashed with the government while trying to protect Kenya's forest and parks. Witness speaks to her daughter, Wanjira Mathai.

Why is feminism still regarded by many as a word to avoid? Despite an ongoing gender pay gap, and a lack of female business leaders, why does the word continue to raise an eyebrow? Why is empowerment proving to be a great marketing tool, but feminism is not? The BBC's Katy Watson hears from the self-styled 'factual feminist' Christina Hoff Sommers on why modern feminists may have gone too far. She speaks to Ana Flores of We All Grow Latina, who explains why many US Latinas prefer to brand...

Rachida Dati is a Member of the European Parliament and a Paris mayor. One of twelve children from a devout French/Moroccan Muslim family, her rise has been remarkable. A former Minister of Justice, Rachida Dati has never been far from controversy. She's made a career of challenging the comfortable ways of the French establishment; she rails against what she considers to be French anti-Muslim discrimination and blames it, in part, for the extremism behind the French terror attacks of the...

Simone Biles is being called the greatest gymnast of all time, a sporting superstar who stunned audiences at the Rio Olympics. But now, at 19, she is ready to reflect on what lies ahead and to look back at the circumstances that have shaped who she is. Adopted by her grandparents as her biological mother struggled with drink and drug addiction, Simone Biles' life story is almost as remarkable as her leaps and tumbles.

Women from rural parts of India are bucking the trend and working in jobs traditionally done by men. In Rajasthan, Divya Arya drops in at the Barefoot College to meet ‘Solar Mamas’ learning solar engineering to take electricity to their remote villages and meets a widowed railway porter who has taken on the tough job her husband used to do, the women finding a voice in local radio, and those learning the traditionally male-dominated trades of boat building, masonry, carpentry and farm...

Chairwoman of Santander UK, Shriti Vadera is a leading voice in British business and as shining example of what can be achieved. Born in Uganda into a land-owning family, Shriti Vadera was exiled to India at the time of Idi Amin's expulsion of all of Uganda's Asians. At the age of only five, she insisted that her family find the money to pay the school fees of her carer, who couldn't afford them herself. At 14 she went on hunger strike demanding to be sent to school in England and it is in...

The working life of Denmark's Tine Bryld, a radio personality, social worker and writer recently voted the country's most important woman in a century.

In 1996, England won the inaugural Home Nations championship in women's rugby. It was a major victory in the English players' fight for official recognition for their sport. Robert Nicholson talks to Gill Burns and Nicky Ponsford about how the women's game overcame entrenched sexism and official indifference.

Alicia Keys started writing music at 15 years of age and her first album, recorded when she was only 19, won a record five Grammy awards. She talks about growing up in New York's Hell Kitchen, her determination not to be pigeon-holed as a performer or as a woman and how choosing to wear no make-up - even on stage and on camera - has left her more free to be herself. Presented by Babita Sharma.

Two presidential speech writers reveal their top tips for crafting a really memorable speech. Sarada Peri is Special Assistant and Senior Speechwriter to President Obama. She says a good speech writer is like a ghost, and that her job is really to inhabit the President's mind on any given topic. When the first female President of the Republic of Kosovo came into office in 2011, it was Garentina Kraja who she turned to for her speech writing prowess, as well as her policy expertise.

From a Bolero concert to a cancer ward, and from the apartment of a guy who helps Cubans get foreign visas to an Afro-Cuban Santeria ceremony, reporter Deepa Fernandes finds out how ordinary Cuban women have lived, loved and invented their way through dwindling resources and political isolation.

Bouncer, mechanic, taxi driver and firefighter - just some of the jobs being done by women in India today. Divya Arya meets some of the women who are challenging gender stereotypes and breaking down social taboos in order to find work in areas traditionally the preserve of men.

In 2002, the French Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt became perhaps one of the best-known hostages in the world when she was kidnapped and held for over six years, deep in the Colombian jungle, by the Farc. Watching Ingrid's emotional release on TV in 2008, was a young Canadian journalist called Amanda Lindhout. A month later she herself was taken hostage at gun-point, on a work trip to Somalia. For the 460 days of Amanda's captivity, she thought about Ingrid nearly every day, inspired...

Akwasi Sarpong visits Uganda’s thriving coding scene, to find out if home-grown, technology-based solutions can help tackle some of the country’s big development challenges.

Bola Mosuro travels to Ghana to meet the women who are making their mark in the male dominated world of technology, and inspiring young girls to follow in their footsteps.