Award-winning journalists Sophia Smith Galer and Scaachi Koul are launching a new podcast with the BBC for International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month.
Where to Be A Woman is a new title looking at what it means for women to live their best lives around the world.
Hit podcast Dear Daughter, which won Podcast of the Year at the British Podcast Awards in 2022, will return for a third series and will feature celebrity chef Nadiya Hussain, amongst others.
Where to Be A Woman, starting 4 March, sets out to ask the question of where women thrive most in the world and why. It is hosted by journalist, author, and TikTok creator Sophia Smith Galer and journalist, author and podcast host Scaachi Koul.
The hosts will look for answers to what true wellbeing looks like from a global perspective. Each episode will hear from two countries about something they’re excelling at; from there, Scaachi and Sophia will decide if they want to adopt one, both or neither for their fantasy place to be a woman.
Where To Be A Woman co-host Scaachi Koul says: “If we want to build a world in which women really thrive, we first have to be able to imagine it. Where To Be A Woman will investigate how we might be able to find solutions to our endless gender quandaries.”
Fellow co-host Sophia Smith Galer adds: “Stories focusing on women’s wellbeing like this often get siloed by news media, but in this podcast, we will be shining a spotlight on these stories and putting them centre stage.
“This space deserves scrutiny and investigation – but we’re also here to have a good time. With every problem we explore, we’ll deploy solutions that you’ve possibly never even thought of. We can’t wait to share them.”
Also in March, the award-winning Dear Daughter will return for season three, with 15 new episodes, hosted by Namulanta Kombo and featuring letters of advice for daughters everywhere.
Namulanta was inspired by her own young daughter, Koko, to start writing letters and to create a “handbook for life”. Her idea won the BBC World Service’s International Podcast Competition in 2021 and since then she has hosted the first two seasons of Dear Daughter, which won both Best Family Podcast and Podcast of the Year at the British Podcast Awards in 2022.
Each of the 15 new episodes are based on a letter, usually a personal story, written to daughters, some to other daughters, and some to daughters who haven’t been born yet.
Namulanta Kombo says: “I am delighted to be back for a third season of Dear Daughter on the BBC World Service – I am so proud of the podcast and the community we have built, sharing advice from people from all over the word of all ages – to all ages – for the sake of all our daughters.
“This season, letter writers tell me how they found the humour in difficult moments, reflect on the importance of sharing, and about creating a connection across generations. I’m also looking forward to talking to someone I’ve known all my life and a personal hero who I feel like I’ve known all my life.”
Dear Daughter will launch on 1 March and Where To Be A Woman on 4 March on BBC Sounds and wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
