2.1 Murderous menstrual blood

If you ask any woman whether she’s happy with her contraception, chances are she’ll say no - but that she’s settled for the best of a bad bunch. In this episode, Caroline asks why our options are stuck in the 1960s. We take a deep dive into the history of family planning; we investigate the hurdles standing in the way of progress; and we uncover some ground-breaking forms of contraception that could one day be coming to a clinic near you. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Caroline is sent photos of women’s toilet queues on an almost daily basis, since writing in her book Invisible Women about how women’s queues are always longer than the men’s. In this episode, she investigates the history of public conveniences, what impact they have on women’s participation in society and why councils and businesses seem unable to get it right. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In October 1975, the women of Iceland took a 'day off', leading to national chaos. It highlighted the importance of women’s roles in the economy, of which unpaid care work - cooking, cleaning, caring for family - is a vital part. In this episode, Caroline asks whether the Covid pandemic could be the shock we need to finally fix perhaps the greatest gender data gap of all. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After learning shocking data about concussions in women's rugby, Caroline takes a closer look, and discovers an even more widespread and worrying issue. Domestic violence affects one in three women worldwide, and new research suggests many of these women may experience repeated concussions after violent abuse. Caroline meets the people working in this under researched area, and hears from a woman who is still recovering from her own experience.This episode comes with a caution for descriptions of domestic violence Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The standard piano keyboard is too big for 87% of women and 25% of men, limiting the range of pieces they can play. But how did pianos end up this size? Is it time we came up with an alternative? The Visible Women team investigates. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that periods are terrifying. Well, men have certainly seemed to think so. All the way back to Roman times, the male chroniclers of the human condition have agreed on one thing: menstruation is unseemly, ungodly and just plain horrible. The resulting taboo means we know really very little about periods, with obvious knock-on consequences for women’s health. Now, researchers are investigating the healing powers of period blood, and how it could hold the key to developing treatments for conditions like endometriosis. In this episode, the Visible Women team asks: what could we gain from breaking the taboo over periods.Subscribe to Tortoise on Apple Podcasts, or join Tortoise as a member to get this, plus even more content and invites to exclusive newsroom events with the code Caroline50. Visit tortoisemedia.com/Caroline Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do we fix a world designed for men? In this ambitious second season, Caroline will investigate data gaps in everything from endometriosis to the economy, concussions to contraception -- and she’ll revisit her old nemesis: the queue at the ladies’ toilets. You’ll hear Caroline and the Visible Women team tackle decades-old myths about female reproductive health, and hear more from the people fighting to change things. You might even find out whether menstrual blood can really kill your husband.Follow Visible Women wherever you get your podcasts.For ad-free access, plus special bonus content, join Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts or join Tortoise as a member. Visit tortoisemedia.com/Caroline Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Caroline has spent over a decade calling for more data to be collected on women -- but in this episode the Visible Women team investigates: what happens when that data gets used against us? For many of us, concerns about privacy may seem like an intellectual exercise, but post Roe V Wade, this is has become a live issue for millions of American women. And, as we discover, this is something all women should care about.Bonus episodes featuring behind the scenes chats, rants, and stories from Caroline’s community of generic female pals are released every Friday for Tortoise members and Tortoise+ subscribers on Apple Podcasts.Just subscribe to Tortoise on Apple Podcasts, or join Tortoise as a member to get this, plus even more content and invites to exclusive newsroom events with the code Caroline50. Visit tortoisemedia.com/Caroline Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode the Visible Women team try to get to the bottom of one of the world’s most trying problems: the paucity of pockets in women’s clothes compared to men’s. Caroline speaks to a pocket historian, learns to make her own pocket, and takes on some troubling mysteries.Bonus episodes featuring behind the scenes chats, rants, and stories from Caroline’s community of generic female pals are released every Friday for Tortoise members and Tortoise+ subscribers on Apple Podcasts. Just subscribe to Tortoise on Apple Podcasts, or join Tortoise as a member to get this, plus even more content and invites to exclusive newsroom events with the code Caroline50. Visit tortoisemedia.com/Caroline Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If a woman is involved in a car crash, she is 17% more likely to die than a man in the same crash. In this episode, Caroline investigates why... and comes up with a campaign to fix crash testing.To email Euro NCAP President Niels Ebbe Jacobson with a message asking for more transparency, just click through to the link on the Tortoise site. Bonus episodes featuring behind the scenes chats, rants, and stories from Caroline’s community of generic female pals are released every Friday for Tortoise members and Tortoise+ subscribers on Apple Podcasts.Just subscribe to Tortoise on Apple Podcasts, or join Tortoise as a member to get this, plus even more content and invites to exclusive newsroom events with the code Caroline50. Visit tortoisemedia.com/Caroline Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.