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So nothing at all has changed then?

In its modern incarnation, Woman’s Hour deals with issues as diverse as domestic abuse, teenage pregnancy, and equal pay.

But as the Radio 4 programme celebrates its 70th anniversary, documents discovered deep within the BBC’s archive have revealed that the show has not always featured such varied topics of debate.

Women who tuned into the first episodes complained to the corporation that the programme was “offensively patronising”

It still being offensively patronising, just about slightly different things.

14 thoughts on “So nothing at all has changed then?”

  1. About time we had a Man’s Hour. Instead of the perpetual whining we get from the wimmin, we could listen to amusing natter about cars, motorbikes, hi-fi, beer, computers, and everything else important in this world. No football, mind, or indeed any other sport except possibly cycling, and then only a bit of that.

  2. Thomas,
    If the BBC ever made Man’s Hour, it would be full of people like Grayson Perry and Owen Jones telling men not to be so masculine all the time.

  3. @Thomas Fuller

    You know that the answer would be:

    “All the other broadcasts are for men, this is our only program”

    Ignoring GBBO, Strictly, Big Brother, Love Island, I’m a celeb and all the other shite focussed at a female audience that packs out our schedules. This means I watch less than an hour of TV a week, year round.

    (In other words, I watch Elementary, when new shows air, and nothing else)

  4. So nothing at all has changed then?

    I assume in ’46 one would be patronised by someone with the appropriate accent. Now I imagine it’s some diverse item talking down to you in Estuarine?

  5. Bloke in Wiltshire

    John Square,

    “This means I watch less than an hour of TV a week, year round.”

    Same.

    I’m not even after TV that’s Danny Dyer snorting coke off a hooker while driving a Ferrari and talking about the offside trap. But just more stuff that doesn’t literally repulse me. I wouldn’t even mind actual cookery shows, where someone talks about technique, or what ingredients do. Or sticking some ballet on – you know, brilliant people who can dance really well.

    I watch more stuff on Amazon and Netflix than the BBC now. Hell, I think I watch more stuff on YouTube.

  6. So Much For Subtlety

    Women spend something like 80-90 pence of every pound earned in the UK. There is almost no spending decision where women are not the ultimate decision makers. Obviously the media caters to them almost exclusively.

    The solution is to close down joint bank accounts and assert control over your wives’ spending. Admittedly that is not going to happen but it is the only solution in the end.

  7. This means I watch less than an hour of TV a week, year round.

    Since the BBC canned Top Gear, I don’t have anything of theirs I want to watch. So I stopped paying my telly tax and unplugged the aerial.

    Now if there’s anything that looks interesting (on any channel) I can just download it from the relevant on-demand service. iPlayer needing a licence doesn’t affect me as I never used it anyway.

    I watch more stuff on YouTube

    Absolutely. There’s some fairly professional-looking stuff on YouTube now – weekly shows, interesting presenters and content etc. And catering for a far wider audience than the BBC.

  8. My mother was a dedicated listener to Woman’s Hour. I can’t imagine she’d have listened for two decades had it not been informative and/or interesting.

  9. BiW, with you on Amazon Prime. The two series of Bosch were excellent and I really enjoyed the Hap and Leonard series having read all of Joe R Lansdale’s books.

  10. @TimN
    But does that say as much about your mother as WH? From what I remember, it aired in an afternoon slot. When working class lassies were ….working. Content was exclusively middle-class concerns.

  11. Henry Crun,

    I’ve really enjoyed The Man in the High Castle, Mozart in the Jungle, Alpha House and The Girlfriend Experience. And I liked the first season of Outlander, but the 2nd is terrible.

  12. Bloke in Costa Rica

    I have a TV. Friend lent it to me so that when she’s round she can watch it. It’s a CRT with a screen smaller than my Mum’s iPad. I don’t turn it on one week to the next. The last one, also a CRT, blew up and I didn’t replace it.

  13. – Womyn watch about 10% more TV than men in the UK (1)
    – Womyn outspend men by about £2 to £1 (2)

    The advertisers and program makers know which side their bread is buttered, and womyn are being well served.

    That said, Radio 5 live is a de facto mens channel (says the data) and I dont have a problem with WH. But I would like to see something *about* men, not *for* men.

    (1) https://www.thinkbox.tv/Getting-on-TV/Useful-resources/Audience-profiles

    (2) http://www.forbes.com/sites/bridgetbrennan/2015/01/21/top-10-things-everyone-should-know-about-women-consumers/#23f20a082897

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