logo
episode-header-image
May 2023
28m 51s

20. Is the law gender blind?

Bbc Radio 4
About this episode

Lucy Worsley, Professor Rosalind Crone and lawyer and comedian Sikisa Bostwick-Barnes discuss the wicked crimes of the last four Lady Killers in this series. They examine their treatment by the criminal justice system and ask whether there are parallels with women’s experiences today. Together they examine gender, prejudice and racial bias.

They explore the major changes for women over 100 years from 1823 to 1923. From raising hemlines to the campaign for women’s suffrage and opportunities in the world of work. They examine how changes in society filter through to the justice system, and reflect on the changing nature of how we consume information and the cult of celebrity - from early newspapers, pamphlets and cheap sheets to social media today.

Producer: Emily Hughes Sound Design: Chris Maclean Series Producer: Julia Hayball.

A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4

Up next
Jul 14
Trial by Media
Lucy Worsley continues the new series Lady on Trial, where courtroom drama meets history with a twist.Lucy and her team are meeting women who find themselves at the centre of extraordinary legal battles, from the 18th century to the 1920s.But in this episode, we’re putting someth ... Show More
27m 37s
Jul 7
Audrey Jacob - Murder on the Dancefloor
Lucy Worsley goes to a glittering ball in Western Australia to investigate the sensational case of Audrey Jacob. It’s the 1920s, the era of bobbed hair and daring hemlines, and a ball at the Government House in Perth is in full swing. A young woman pushes her way through the thro ... Show More
28m 3s
Jun 30
Annie Kenney - Suffragette
Lucy Worsley is back with a new series of Lady on Trial, where courtroom drama meets history - with a twist. Lucy and her team of all female detectives travel back more than a hundred years to meet women hauled before the courts for crimes ranging from murder, adultery, and bigam ... Show More
28m 10s
Recommended Episodes
Feb 2024
Lady Killers: what murder scandals reveal about Victorian society
What can brutal murders reveal about society at the time they were committed? And what additional insights can we gain when those killings were committed by women? In today's Long Read, Rosalind Crone, historical consultant on the BBC series Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley, reveal ... Show More
20m 49s
Nov 2022
Greg Jenner talks to Lucy Worsley about Lady Killers
Greg Jenner and fellow historian Lucy Worsley discuss Lucy’s Radio 4 podcast, Lady Killers, which is about Victorian murderesses. Lucy explains why she wanted to examine these historical cases and what these women's stories tell us about life and society in 19th-century Britain. ... Show More
15m 36s
Mar 2025
Women killers of the early modern era
From true crime pamphlets to reports from the scaffold, early modern Britain was gripped by tales of women who killed. But were these cases as common as they seemed, or was something else at play? Speaking to Lauren Good, historian Blessin Adams explores the obsession with female ... Show More
34m 56s
Dec 2024
Audacious lady swindlers, con-women and hustlers
New BBC series Lady Swindlers with Lucy Worsley tells the stories of female criminals from the 18th to 20th centuries. Their chicanery often earned them great riches, yet, their schemes didn’t always go to plan… This Long Read, written by series consultant Rosalind Crone, examine ... Show More
24m 30s
Oct 2022
Serial Killers & Misogyny
What is it with our culture’s fascination with serial killers? Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Peter Sutclifffe, Jack the Ripper….these violent people are as well known as our national treasures, but we only know them for their horrific crimes.What role does misogyny play in how these ... Show More
39m 35s
Jan 2025
Crime Stories
Laurie Taylor explores the fascination for true crime stories. He's joined by Jennifer Fleetwood, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at City, University of London, whose latest work considers the remarkable rise in the number of people who speak publicly about their experience of cri ... Show More
28m 14s
Apr 2021
The women who reclaimed the night
<p>We hear from the women who started "Reclaim the Night" marches in the north of England in 1977 - a time when a serial killer nicknamed the Yorkshire Ripper was murdering women. The women felt police were policing their behaviour rather than that of men by instructing them to s ... Show More
49m 45s
Jun 2023
21: Bonus: The Dark Psychology of Lizzie Borden (feat. Women & Crime)
Let's take a modern, scientific lens to last week's Lizzie Borden case, and try to understand why someone would commit this crime. Dr. Amy Schlosberg and Dr. Meghan Sacks, professors of Criminology at Fairleigh Dickinson University, join me today to break down the case with what ... Show More
25m 29s
Mar 2018
Welcome Trailer
From the team behind hit podcasts Serial Killers and Cults, Female Criminals gets into the minds of women who live outside the law. Every Wednesday, we examine the psychology, motivations, and atrocities of female felons. Female Criminals premieres March 21st and new episodes wil ... Show More
1 m