International Women’s Day (IWD) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. It falls on the 8th of March and this year, the day also marks a call to action for ‘accelerating women’s equality’, something that is at the core of the Prison Radio Association’s work.
At the current rate of progress, gender parity will take until 2158, which is roughly five generations from now, according to data from the World Economic Forum. Significant barriers to gender equality remain, but with the right action and support, positive progress can be made for women everywhere.
Women in prison make up one of the most marginalised and disadvantaged demographics in our society; over half the women in prison report having suffered domestic violence, with 53% of women reporting having experienced emotional, physical or sexual abuse as a child. 1 in 3 women are self-harming, with the rate of self-harm being 8 times higher in women’s prisons than in men’s prisons and 82% of women report that they have mental health problems withonly 51% of women in prison say that they have received support.
Many women leaving prison are not adequately prepared for life on the outside and find themselves back in jail – currently, the women’s reoffending rate is 23% but rises to 71% for women who have served a sentence of less than 12 months.
Women are considered the forgotten population of prisons, their needs are often overlooked, but as of 2024, there are over 3,600 women in prison in the UK (twice as many women in prison now as there were 30 years ago), and hundreds of thousands more in prisons all over the world.
International Women’s Day is a chance for us to talk about the very specific experience of women in prison and celebrate our very own women on National Prison Radio, broadcasting from HMP Styal.
As a charity we are dedicated to using the power of radio and podcasts to connect people who have experience of prison to education, community, and a sense of belonging – our work with women is an essential part of this.
From one of our radio studios behind the walls of HMP Styal in Cheshire, we broadcast National Prison Radio – the world’s first national radio station for people in prison, founded in 2009.
National Prison Radio reaches up to 80,000 people behind bars across England and Wales, 24 hours a day, seven days a week and around 13% of our listenership is made up of women. The content is produced and presented by serving prisoners who are trained and mentored by our team of professional radio producers. This makes National Prison Radio a by prisoner, for prisoner service.
Last year, we offered radio production training to 12 people housed at HMP Styal.
Currently, 30% of the content on National Prison Radio is created by women either housed in HMP Styal or who have been previously housed there. Here are some of the shows they produce and present:
The Family and Friends Request Show – hosted by Jules and produced by Faye, our only show that is available to listeners outside of prison too.
Friday NRG Request Show – hosted and produced by the team at HMP Styal.
Deja Vu – hosted and produced by the team at HMP Styal.
Wednesday Request Show – hosted and produced by the team at HMP Styal.
Love Bug – hosted and produced by the team at HMP Styal.
NPR Talk – hosted by the team at HMP Styal, sponsored by the Howard League.
The Rock Show – hosted by Scout.
Free Flow – hosted by Lady Unchained, sponsored by the Shannon Trust.
Vibes – hosted and produced by the team at HMP Styal.
With support from organisations such as Audible, our training enables individuals in prison to develop valuable skills that extend across the creative industries. It empowers people to find their voices, build confidence and unlock new passions.
We support women and girls who have entered the criminal justice system to move on and rebuild their lives by providing access to mentoring and training, and opportunities to build confidence, skills and networks.
With support from Sony Music UK, we have also had the the opportunity to supercharge our work with female prisoners through the development of our first ever post-release offer for women leaving HMP Styal. We now offer a distinct pathway, including paid opportunities, for women leaving prison to continue their radio production skills development.
To honour International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, we are broadcasting special programmes on National Prison Radio throughout the month.
National Prison Radio will be broadcasting an interview with former Spice Girl and domestic abuse campaigner Mel B throughout the week commencing 3rd March. Listeners in prison will hear daily snippets of Mel B’s story on NPR Talk and the Friday edition of the show will be the interview in full.
Series two of our show that focuses on gambling harm, Hold or Fold, has just kicked off and the second episode of the new series, dropping on the 11th March, is focused on Women and Gambling. Hosts Ben and Steve will be speaking to women who ended up in prison as a result of their gambling addiction.
This will also be released as a publicly accessible podcast episode that you can listen to here.
Outside In – our show produced by a team of former prisoners in the community – will be broadcasting an interview with Family and Friends Request Show producer Faye who was released from HMP Styal last year. Faye we be talking about going to prison as a mum, how she got through her sentence and how working at National Prison Radio changed her life. Again, people outside of prison will also be able to hear this episode by heading here.
The Spark is a podcast series which sits under the award-winning Life After Prison umbrella.
In episodes of The Spark, incredible women who have been through the criminal justice system sit down with our presenter Jules to discuss the ‘spark’ that they found either in prison or since leaving, which set them on a path of transformation and change. For Jules, that was fitness. She’s now a successful Personal Trainer, using the qualifications she achieved during her prison sentence.
This International Women’s Day, why not spend some time discovering our Spark?
You can listen to the latest episodes here.
Every day, we work alongside women who are in prison or who have been to prison to create award-winning radio and podcasts.
By providing opportunities for women in prison to be trained in radio production and have their voices heard and their passions shared nationally we can support women like Faye into build brighter futures beyond bars….
Less than a year ago Faye was behind prison walls. Now, she works for the Prison Radio Association full time and spends her days producing award worthy audio.
Faye credits National Prison Radio for changing her life – we hope we can do the same for other people who are in the position Faye was once in.
Hit the play button to listen to her story and how much National Prison Radio meant to her whilst she was serving her sentence.
Faye now produces both The Family and Friends Request Show and our podcast The Secret Life of Prisons which you can tune into here
From all of us here at the Prison Radio Association, Happy International Women’s Day!
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National Prison Radio is the world’s first national radio station for people in prison. It’s available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year on in-cell TV.
National Prison Radio was founded by the Prison Radio Association – a registered charity. Our shows help people to cope with life inside prison and thrive on release. If you would like to support our work, and enhance the futures of people in prison across the UK you can make a donation at prison.radio/donate.
