Women Farmers, Victoria Vardy and Dame Fanny Waterman

Available for over a year

Women produce over fifty percent of all food grown worldwide. In sub-Saharan Africa, they grow around 90 percent of the food, yet little global investment is being made to support women farmers. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that if women were given better access to training and agricultural technology, they could increase production on their farms by 20 to 30 percent, and reduce the number of hungry people in the world by up to 150 million. So why is the value of women farmers not being recognised? Misogyny is a constant in standup comedy, but jokes about rape and domestic violence seem to be on the increase. By making it easier to laugh at violence against women, do we make it harder to take it seriously?. Twenty five years ago Victoria Vardy was abandoned as a newborn baby on the steps of the Co-op in Chesterfield. She was adopted at nine months old and now lives in Manchester. Although she had a happy upbringing she has always wondered about her roots. Now, she's taken to YouTube to publicly appeal for answers about her birth with a short film entitled Who is Katy Elder? - the name she was originally given when she was found. Almost fifty years ago Dame Fanny Waterman came up with the idea of organising a piano competition in her home city of Leeds. The Leeds International Piano Competition is now one of the biggest piano competitions in the world and attracts hundreds of entrants. At 92, Dame Fanny still continues to be involved in every aspect of the competition. She joins Jenni to discuss the competition and her musical life.