Women Composers, Rene Denfield, Jo Milne

A poll for Woman’s Hour looking at how women voters are feeling ahead of the General Election, identified Education as the 5th most important area of concern. Jane talks to Gillian Hargreaves, the BBC’s Education Correspondent, about the big challenges that politicians will have to tackle affecting schools and universities in the run up to May 7th – and the different approaches the parties are offering. And, we hear what a focus group of women think about the value of a university education versus an apprenticeship.

How do you find enchantment and beauty on death row, and why do some people survive terrible childhoods, while others succumb to rage and violent crime? These are just two of the many questions that author Rene Denfeld tackles in her award winning debut novel The Enchanted. Rene herself has first-hand experience of working with prisoners on death row in the US. She’s a death penalty investigator employed to examine the stories of the accused to see if the right sentence has been passed as well as to try and help the Judge and Jury understand why some of the most terrible crimes, imaginable and unimaginable, have been committed. Jane Garvey speaks to her on Woman’s Hour on Monday.

The video of Jo Milne hearing for the very first time became an internet sensation and became a global news story last year. She’d been born profoundly deaf, and just before her thirtieth birthday was diagnosed with Usher Syndrome, a rare genetic and progressive condition that would also rob her of her sight. In 2014 she made a life-changing decision to undergo major surgery and had cochlear implants fitted. Her memoir, Breaking the Silence, describes growing up deaf and the discoveries she has made since the operation. She joins Jane to talk about her experiences.