The right to squeak

It’s probably tendentious to say that the feminine voice is a feminist issue, but let me say it anyway. I have, I may say, a voice that spans the vocal spectrum from soft to strident — oh all right, shrill, but I never quite appreciate what a problem it is until I do the odd bit of radio. Really, I should stick to print.

Last year, I took part in a fun Radio 4 programme that sought to replicate a newspaper leader conference in a BBC radio studio. In theory, the editorial line on this particular programme is decided by the strength of argument. But it was only when the thing kicked off that I realised this was not entirely the case. What clinches the matter when it comes to winning an argument on the radio, as in life, is whether you can make your voice heard. And it was here that I realised, not for the first time, that women are never going to win when it comes to making ourselves heard; for most of us, our voices are too light, too weedy.