The Syrian province of Deir Ezzor was taken over by Islamic State militants a year ago. A former teacher explains how she's expected to behave under the control of militants.

American high school student, Delaney Osborne explains the pressure she feels to behave in a certain way. Delaney is 17 years old, pregnant, and living with her mother.

22-year-old Lubov Russkina from the nomadic Khanty tribe in western Siberia explains to Olga Ivshina from the BBC Russian service what it means to be a good girl in her community

Is a relationship more or less likely to fail when a woman is successful? When is it right to put career aspirations on the back burner - to bring up a family? Live debate.

Why aren't there more women in leadership roles - why do men still seem to be ahead, particularly in the corporate world? Are quotas the way to address the gender imbalance? Nuala McGovern chairs.

How important is image? Are beautiful woman more likely to succeed? What has led to so many turning to plastic surgery? Does self improvement come from within or without? Listen to the live debate.

Anu Anand speaks to three women in Delhi with very different experiences of life in this male-dominated country which hint at the big change in the gender balance. Anu Anand speaks to three women in Delhi with very different experiences of life in this male-dominated country. One cooks and cleans for her whole family, a second left home to set up her own designer clothing shop, while the third became the city's only female bus driver. Yet the stories of all three provide a hint at the big...

James Fletcher travels to one of America’s poorest cities to meet a passionate group of people working hard to get young, black women into technology and tech jobs.

Dr Comfort Momoh is a campaigner against the practice of female genital mutilation. She currently runs the African Well Woman’s clinic at Guys and St Thomas’ hospital in London, which she founded in 1997 to help women who have been subjected to the procedure.

A Nigerian journalist, Hauwa Yusuf, and student, Abigail Olaley, discuss their arrival and making a life in the UK. Marvina Babs-Apata says that she didn’t know she was black until she arrived in Britain 17 years ago. She was surprised to find that she was defined by her colour and that her new London classmates believed she had lived in a mud hut in her native Nigeria. In the fourth of a series of conversations between different generations of women who have created new lives for themselves...

Meet Maria Bueno who left El Salvador as a teen and now runs five businesses and a working mother who heads up communications for one of the biggest public transport companies

Fatou Bensouda’s quest for justice began as a young girl in Gambia she was disturbed by the plight of a female relative who suffered domestic abuse. She joined the International Criminal Court – the word’s only permanent war crimes court - in 2004 as a Deputy Prosecutor and has served as Prosecutor since 2012. As Prosecutor, she has prioritised crimes against women and children but that hasn’t silenced critics who accuse the Court of being slow, expensive and only targeting African...

At the age of 18 and speaking barely a word of English, Izabella Brodzinska arrived in Edinburgh in 1957 to live with the father she had never met. Having fought with the British during World War Two, he was unable to return to their home in Poland. In the third of a series of conversations featuring women who have created a new life in the UK and younger female members in their community, Izabella chats with 24-year-old student Magda Greszczuk and 56-year-old Violeta Ilendo who has spent...

Hilary Swank has won Best Actress Academy Awards for her roles in Boys Don’t Cry and Million Dollar Baby. Rajini Vaidyanathan discusses her background, influences and her work with the disadvantaged. Growing up in poverty in a trailer park success wasn’t automatic for her and she has said despite wanting to be an actor since she was 8 years old she never expected to excel in the industry. Now a red carpet regular, Hilary Swank dedicates a lot of time to animal rights, homelessness and...

Sania Mirza started playing tennis at the age of 6 and has gone on to become one of the most prominent names in the women’s game. She is considered a national treasure in her native India. But her life off the court has won her fans as well as critics with some of her compatriots questioning her outspokenness on women’s rights and her marrying a man of Pakistani origin. Yogita Limaye talks to her about the ups and downs of celebrity, the objectification of women and encouraging female...

The Japanese Prime Minister has promised that within five years, around a third of all Japanese executives will be women. How achievable is that? Mariko Oi reports from Tokyo.

Nomsa Maseko talks to make-up entrepreneur Bobbi Brown about starting out in 1980s New York and her three-decade career developing the clean, polished look she is famous for.

Alek Wek is a model who spent years of her life fleeing from civil war in South Sudan. She talks to Anne Soy about being a model, life as a refugee and her father's lessons.

Two nurses who care around the clock for the sick and dying in Uganda and Singapore, discuss their priorities and experiences. Hear from Rose Kiwanuka and Subadhra Devi Rai.

London’s midwives deliver babies born to mothers from around the world. Smitha Mundasad talks to those who provide care for mothers in one of the world’s most diverse cities.

How does the news serve and represent women? And why, in some countries, do women reject traditional news media for news on social media? A panel of experts on global news discuss

Aasmah Mir hosts an intimate and revealing discussion between three women from the Jamaican diaspora in Handworth, a suburb of Birmingham. Enid Weir arrived in a cold, damp, dark Britain in 1960 and instantly wanted to return to Jamaica. But, at the age of 77, she now calls the UK her home. Joining her is 45-year-old businesswoman Sharon Warmington and 22-year-old student Rheanna Russell. (Photo: A Caribbean woman and three children in London, UK, March 1963. Credit: Evening...

Aasmah Mir hosts an intimate and revealing discussion between three women from the Bangladeshi diaspora in east London. Shaheen Choudhury Westcombe arrived in Britain in 1972 as civil war raged back home in Bangladesh. She was the first woman to train as an architect in Bangladesh but ended up helping her community in the UK through her work for local government. Joining her is 44-year-old Shamshia Ali, who works for a number of Bangladeshi women’s groups, and 27-year-old Shanaz Begum from...