91Èȱ¬

More than 10,000 women a year end up in prison, the majority for non-violent crimes and theÌý sentences they receive are shorter than six months.ÌýCampaigners have argued that many of these women should be given alternative sentences rather than sent to prison.ÌýJust before Christmas, theÌýHouse of Lords amended the Crime and Courts Bill to ensure that appropriate community-based options for women, which take account of their distinct needs, should be provided across England and Wales but earlier this month the amendment was struck out.ÌýJuliet Lyons, and Joy Doal, Project Manager of in Birmingham, a Woman’s Centre in Bimringham discuss.

It is theÌý25th anniversary of Comic Relief’s first-ever . Over the past 25 years the money raised by the public will have helped 50 million people across Africa, the world’s poorest countries and here in the UK.Ìý Jane has been to Ghana to see how some of these projects are helping to transform people’s lives.

Ìý

Ìý

The Counting Women In Coalition publishes – its audit of women in senior decision making roles in public life. They say that only by counting where women are, and where they are absent, can we start to address the inequality. So what do the numbers tell us about the progress women are making – and where it’s disappointing what can we do about it?ÌýÌýNan Sloane, Director for the Centre of Women and Democracy who has produced the report for the Counting Women In Coalition andÌýDr Rainbow Murray from theÌýUniversity of LondonÌýjoin Jane to discuss.

Ursula Holden’s trilogy Tin Toys follows a well off family of 3 sisters living at the time of World War II. Ursula, now in her nineties, lives in a convent nursing home in London.Ìý She grew up in a strict Church of England family just outside Guildford in an affluent world of nurses and governesses like the one she depicts. As the trilogy is re-issued, Jane went to visit Ursula.

Bright neons have been on the catwalks and spotted on the streets and they are not going away. In fact they are on trend for this spring/summer. But what is the best way to wear fluorescents? And can women of any age carry it off? Fashion writer and author of ‘How to Walk in High Heels’ Camilla Morton and the fashion blogger Sasha Wilkins share their tips.