| Admin Biographical History | Women's Parliamentary Radio was founded in 2007, growing out of the publication of 'Women in Parliament: the New Suffragettes' by Boni Sones, Margaret Moran and Professor Joni Lovenduski. In the book women talked about the nature of life in Parliament for women, the difficulties they faced and the achievements they made. After the project Sones et al realised that despite 90 years of women having the vote, only 1 in 5 MPs were female, prompting them to consider how the voice of female MPs could be better heard.
Boni Sones, a former political editor for BBC TV and Radio in the Eastern Region, consequently set up Women's Parliamentary Radio as a mechanism of broadcasting audio and video interviews with women MPs of all parties. Taking advantage of the changes to broadcasting law and new internet technologies, Women's Parliamentary Radio pioneered the first "as live" online broadcasts. Broadcasting as radio, rather than as TV or film, also ensured that Sones and her colleagues could record all over Westminster without requiring formal permission. Since 2007 over 350 interviews and 30 documentaries have been broadcast, all with the stated aim of being "the Woman's Hour of Westminster, reporting fairly and accurately on policy issues of concern to women and their families".
Other people who collaborated on the WPR project include journalists Jackie Ashley, Deborah McGurran and Linda Fairbrother, and MPs Gisela Stuart, Barbara Keeley, Caroline Spelman, Eleanor Laing, Penny Mordaunt, Baroness Susan Kramer, Jo Swinson and Anastasia de Waal. |