Kamala Harris and female votes, Rebecca Achieng Ajulu-Bushell, Poet Zara Sehar

Woman's Hour

Kamala Harris has spoken about making childcare and eldercare more affordable, securing universal paid maternity leave and signing into law a bill that would restore and protect the right to abortion. So could these policies win her female votes, and how does this fit in with her strategy to try and beat Trump in the US presidential election? Anita Rani speaks to Dr Leslie Vinjamuri, director of Chatham House's US and Americas programme.

Zara Sehar recently won the audience vote at the Roundhouse Poetry Slam competition, and joins Anita to talk about her work and perform from one of her poems, (Hon)our Killings. In it she mentions spoons in knickers, a tactic suggested to young girls being taken out of the country who are at airports and at risk of forced marriage. Natasha Rattu, Executive Director at Karma Nirvana explains why they give this advice to British-Asian girls.

Rebecca Achieng Ajulu-Bushell was the first black woman to swim for Great Britain. Born in the UK, her family moved to Kenya when she was four. She started swimming competitively from the age of six and was world number one in the 50 metres breaststroke, aged 15. But Rebecca walked away from the sport ahead of the London 2012 Olympics. She has written a memoir, These Heavy Black Bones, in which she delves into how she achieved success but also what it cost her, physically and mentally, and why she gave it all up.

It's 50 years since the death of the American singer Cass Elliot. She died at just 32, and her musical legacy includes some of the best-known songs of the 60s and 70s, from both her time in The Mamas & the Papas and her solo career. Eddi Fiegel, author of Dream a Little Dream of Me: The Life of 'Mama' Cass Elliot, tells Anita who she was.