To The Woman Is The Must-Listen Podcast Of The Month

If you could choose a woman to write a letter to, who would it be? Your mother, your aunt or grandmother? Perhaps a former teacher or schoolfriend? Maybe they helped shape who you have become or they showed you love in a way no one else could? This is the question June Sarpong OBE, an author, broadcaster and the BBC's first director of creative diversity, asks herself and a bunch of her fellow journalists, activists, authors and comedians in a new podcast.

The second series of To The Woman shines a light on incredible women through a series of letters to mothers, lifelong friends and women we are yet to meet. Over five episodes, the series aims to uplift women who have been vilified or disparaged in the media in some way by giving them a platform to share their deeply personal and heartfelt love letters to the ones who have helped them become who they are.

There are over 20 contributors including political activist Gina Martin, Labour politician Jess Phillips, model and activist Munroe Bergdorf, writer, director and whistleblower Rose McGowan, and Anita Sarkeesian (who weathered an internet pile-on of 'GamerGate' trolls), who explore their relationships with the important women in their lives.

Others contributors include Jada Sezer, Sinéad Burke, Alix Fox, Ruth Davidson, Rosie Jones, Helen Lederer, Miranda Kane, Nora Monsecour, Bonnie Greer, Zing Tsjeng and many more.

In episode one we hear from Sarpong, who speaks candidly about her older sister Rebecca, the first woman who nurtured her. "She was the first person to champion me, to really make me believe I can do whatever I set my mind to. Although we're close, I've never written to tell her what that has meant to me through the years."

Poet, playwright and performer Sabrina Mahfouz writes to Martha, a woman she befriended during her first job as a cocktail waitress. "I have the unbelievable privilege of having had you next to me, physically, metaphorically, spiritually for the last 15 years and that deserves a letter or two, doesn't it?"

She continues: "We grew into each others' afternoons rather than last orders. I danced at your wedding without any sparklers. We came to each other's launches without needing to signal upskirters, instead we applauded our dreams that had once been drink trays above our heads and then as now, we always said: I couldn't have done it without you."

Gina Martin, the writer and activist who launched a national campaign that made upskirting illegal in the UK, writes to her mother. She says: "You were my style inspiration then when I was a teen. That's why I went to the hairdresser's and got my hair so layered that I basically had a mullet by the age of 16. But when I was that age, you were still my mum. You were still my authority figure and so it wasn't really until I hit my mid 20s [that] I started to understand it was the way you moved through your life that made me the way I am."

We also hear some difficult letters that tackle tough topics, such as sexual assault. Rose McGowan, the Hollywood star, director and activist who has been at the heart of the #MeToo movement, speaking out against convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein, writes to her mother following the publication of Rose's memoir, Brave, which details her difficult relationship with her mother and her childhood experiences of sexual abuse and growing up in a cult.

"Dear Mother, I want to know why you can't love me. I'd be a terrific daughter to have if only you'd try. Maybe you'd like me if you got to know me," she says.

"I'm sorry for telling the story of your marriages on a chat show when the audience laughed at your expense. I didn't realise how hurtful that must have been but you never spoke to me about it. I am ashamed of that incident. I also know you were unhappy about me talking and writing about the cult I was born into. I know you like to leave that part of your life behind you, but can't you see that unlike you, I didn't have a choice to join. It was what I was brought into and therefore, my story to tell.

"For all these years, I thought it was my father I got all my strength from but it's you. You, the one who persevered despite having six kids and no money when you landed back in America; you who put yourself through university while working full-time at night as a cocktail waitress in order to better our life. Your mother died while I was in your womb. Is that trauma why you can't love me?"

Sarpong, who hosts the podcast, says that working with the women in the series has been "an incredible experience".

"There's nothing like the power of a collective, and when women come together, when we support one another, truly something magical happens. Through our bonds with the women who loved us, shaped us, heard us, saved us and surround us – we can begin to create a world that unleashes the full potential of everyone regardless of gender."