1. On Tying the Knot

Available for over a year

Journalist and commentator Zoe Strimpel asks thought provoking questions about the family in contemporary British life in a specially commissioned series for Radio 4. In each episode Zoe Strimpel grapples with a different aspect of the role of the family in society, she considers whether the family is dead as some traditionalists would have us think. Over five days, Zoe will look at the enduring appeal of marriage for those couples who have decided to tie the knot, she'll also turn her attention to what happens after the wedding presents have been opened and family life has begun. The gendered case for the family is under the spot light as she assesses the seismic social changes that took place in the wake of Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex and Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique; later in the series she'll ask about the outcomes for children caught in the crossfire of warring parents who live apart or under the same roof, and lastly she'll consider alternatives to the nuclear family. Zoe Strimpel is an author, newspaper columnist and broadcaster. She has a PhD in modern British history and the history of feminism, gender and intimacy. The producer is Elizabeth Allard