at thisjerusalem court, benjamin netanyahu beginning his corruption trial in earnest. the prosecution accuses him of accepting expensive gifts from businessmen and offering favours for more positive news coverage. charges he denies. meanwhile, across the city at the president's office, talks start on who should be given the first chance to form a new coalition government after last month's election, israel's fourth in two years. he is known as the great survivor, but this is another day when benjamin netanyahu's personal and politicalfate hangs in the balance. simply put, israel is divided into two camps — those for and against the prime minister. and you've got small groups of both here outside the court. anti—netanyahu protesters accuse mr netanyahu of putting his personal interests before those of the country. they want him to resign. he is doing everything that he can, and the last year has proved that he is doing everything

that he can to escape justice, actually. and he will take 9 million citizens, israeli citizens, down the drain, only to escape justice. but his supporters claim legal proceedings are a political witchhunt. now they're trying to do a governmental coup, and we are against it. because benjamin netanyahu is the one and only leader. he has no faults, maybe — he's not perfect, but he didn't do anything, he didn't do any of what they're saying. leaving court, mr netanyahu, the defendant, is quick to return to business as prime minister. but it won't be easy to keep public attention where he wants it. his trial could last for years and looks set to decide his legacy. yolande knell, bbc news, jerusalem. now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett. hello there. the cold arctic air has arrived now, but many places will be dry today, with some sunshine.

temperatures much lower than they were yesterday, and it feels colder because the winds are strong and gusty. gusts of 50 or 60 mph in northern scotland where we are seeing most of the snow showers at the moment. those will continue over night. some more snow showers coming into northern ireland overnight. they will push over the irish sea towards wales and even the southwest. many other areas overnight will be dry and clear. some icy conditions where we get those wintry showers coming in, and a widespread frost overnight, typically —1 to —3 celsius. another cold day to come on tuesday. some sunshine, but again those snow showers in the same sort of areas. cloud, though, will build up inland and almost anywhere could catch a snow shower through the afternoon i think. passing snow shower driven on by these strong and gusty winds. again, like today, temperatures three to nine celsius, but when you add on the strength of the wind, it will feel probably more like the middle of winter.

now on bbc news, global questions. hello, and welcome to global questions with me, zeinab badawi. thousands of women all over the world are protesting against gender violence and sexism, and are demanding an end to the violation of their rights. this week, we have two distinguished former female presidents — one from africa and one from europe — answering questions about why women still have to endure discrimination. that's global questions — sexism and violence against women in a patriarchal world. well, to bring you this edition of global questions, our two panellists and our questioners join us via video link from all over the world. let me tell you who's in the hot seat this week, giving the answers.

well, we have two leading global stateswomen who were co—chairs of the women leaders network of the africa europe foundation. mary robinson was the first female president in the republic of ireland, elected in 1990. before becoming a politician, she trained as a lawyer. on leaving office, she became the un high commissioner for human rights. and ellenjohnson sirleaf was the first woman to be elected a head of state in africa. she was president of liberia until 2018. an economist by training, she was the joint recipient of the nobel peace prize in 2011 for her work in promoting women's rights and for her leadership during and after liberia's civil war. welcome to you both. and remember, you, too, can join the conversation — it's hashtag #bbcglobalquestions. we've got lots and lots of great questions and i'm sure some really brilliant answers from our two panellists, so let's get straight down

to business and faith immanuel in nigeria, in lagos. faith, your question, please? hello, good evening! i'm pretty excited to be here. right, my name is faith- immanuel from lagos and my question is as follows — - given that patriarchy is rooted in our culture, why is there i a sense of male entitlement? ellenjohnson sirleaf, this gets straight down to business, doesn't it? the patriarchy — why does it still persist? long—standing cultural assumptions are what gave credence to the patriarchy. women have been addressing this over the years. fortunately, in more recent times as a result of this continued struggle on the part of women, some of these assumptions are increasingly no longer valid and we have

to continue to make sure we make that point. mary robinson. yes, i agree very much with ellen. i think boys sense, in a lot of cultures, that they are valued more than girls, and then they see their role models — they see the president is a man, the prime minister is a man, judges are all men, and itjust reinforces that sense that men are more important and therefore have that sense of entitlement. that's what we need to change. so both of you think it's a cultural problem, it's not something that can be addressed with legislation? because faith is asking, you know, why there is a sense of male entitlement, and it seems to be resistant to even good laws trying to eradicate it. i think laws can help. removing laws that discriminate can help and also, you know, a kind of an educational change based on equality — which is what generation equality, the forum

that is taking place in mexico and paris this year, is all about. it's all about asserting the true equality and the more women who hold high office in various ways and leadership at local level, the more we will address this. ellen johnson sirleaf. you know, while laws will help, but unless those laws are implemented and unless we have the environment in which the implementation are insisted upon by those in society — both men and women — then it's most difficult to get away from those culture's assumptions. let's go to casablanca, morocco, to dana. what do you want to ask ellenjohnson sirleaf and mary robinson? thank you, zeinab. both madam presidents, what an honour to be - with you in this session today. thank you for the opportunity, bbc global questions. - my question today is about - women in leadership positions.

many of us in this position often hear that we are too articulate or too direct or even too confident. j why do people make these kindj of statements, and do you think that this can lead to - self—limiting ambitions of, you know, for women i and for many other girls who are growing - to be these leaders? thank you. mary robinson, what's your answer to dana? well, thank you, dana. it is true that women in leadership are oftenjudged differently than men. the traits that are valued in men, like decisiveness, assertiveness, bold action, can often be seen as shrill or bossy — all the negative terms when a woman is doing exactly the same thing, and that's a cultural trait itself. i actually think the best way

to counter it is to ignore it. i remember when i was elected president of ireland in 1990, i was the first woman president. i was absolutely determined to do it confidently, feeling that, actually, i would do a betterjob precisely because i was a woman. i didn't want to be seen as being like the men. i wanted to do it differently and, you know, use all my skills and leadership qualities as a woman to do the job, and i think that's the way to counter it. ellenjohnson sirleaf, i mean, societal expectations of women, you know, they shouldn't fight in combat or go into space and not be too confident, as dana was saying — what do you think about this? if these values — articulate, direct — were the ones that are attributed to women, that would be great! we would claim it! most times, the values that are attributed are the ones that have a negative overtone.

too many times, when women are assertive, they say they're aggressive, even though men would be called assertive. so i don't think we have a problem with these particular attributes, and women are just prepared to stand up and accept those. they have no problem with being called articulate. we would like to have — to see that. and so, what we need to do is to make sure that women continue to speak out, women continue to have their voice, women continue to be regarded as the ones that are going to claim the leadership that they rightfully deserve. alright, dana. what do you want to say to what our two madam presidents have said?

well, first of all, - thank you very much. this is reassuring. i myself believed in this from day one, since i was a little l girl in the south ofjordan, you know, fighting these i stereotypes and trying - to break them and go beyond. and i'm very happy there i are so many other leaders who are encouraging - and inspires girls in these emerging markets and around | the world to really break these barriers and stereotypes. thank you very much. alright, let's go now to sydney, australia, to our next question, and that's from rachael wong. and rachael, i should say, actually, you're ceo of the think tank women's forum australia. so, um, fire away! it really is a privilege to be discussing these issues - with such influential women. my question today is - when are we going to wake up to the insidious - objectification of women in culture, for example i through films, advertising and in pornography? these shape misogynistic

attitudes in our society. i how can governments address this? - ellenjohnson sirleaf, i mean, this is a huge problem, isn't it, the sexual objectification of women so deeply embedded in, particularly, popular culture. it really is. 0bjectification of women is a problem that's got to be resisted in the strongest of ways. representation of women is very critical to how we shape the attitudes of women in society. and let me say, the media is a major concern in this regard. the media can be positive in being able to uplift the voices of women, but the media can also be very negative. and we've seen so many cases in recent times where women who have achieved leadership roles are told —

when conveying their leadership roles, are being put in a negative sense — which has happened in the case of the director—general of the world trade organization, in which she was accorded and elected to this position but in announcing it, she was called by — she was called names that were degrading. you're talking about ngozi 0konjo—iweala, who is a former nigerian finance minister who's just become head of the world trade organization. what specifically are you referring to there? i mean, she was — she was being attacked because she was the first woman to be elected a director—general of the world trade organization and they did not want to give her the credit for her talent and her managerial expertise. theyjust wanted to put her as — she's merely a grandmother.

in other words, she should not be there. and i think they have to apologise for that statement. 0k, alright, that was a disparaging statement there, but mary robinson, let's try you on rachael wong's story, which is about the sexual objectification of women and that's, you know, how they're depicted, easy access to porn and, you know, advertising and in pop videos and all the rest of it. we need consumer revolt against that kind of objectification, that misuse of the image of woman to sell products that are in a very sexy way and so on, and also the problems of social media that ellen was talking about. but we also have to be careful that we do not, you know, intrude on freedom of expression and have a censorship that can be counter—productive, you know, that can actually cause another kind of reaction.

i mean, it goes right across the board. women, when elected to high office, do suffer from, you know, complaints about how they dress, how they speak, how they work, how they smile. you know, it's a much tougher world for women in public positions, and we know that, and part of it is the fact that we allow an objectification and it's how we really try to counter that by having a society that values gender equality and that will not tolerate, as consumers, this objectification. it will take time. all right, rachael, have you got any ideas yourself about how governments can address this problem, because that's the question you posed? yes, i mean, i couldn't agree more that we need to ensure| equality across the board for women with men, - but i really don't think we can do that unless we seriously. address the issue of pornography. i

you know, to recognise that porn is normalising violencej against women and that is conditioning men — i many from when they are just young boys — to view womenl and girls as sexual objects to be used and abused, i and this is say nothing of the sexual violence| and exploitation that takes place in the porn industry. itself. i think it's time that- governments acknowledged the inherently obstructive - nature of porn and regulate it accordingly, like they do - with other harmful, addictive materials. all right, thanks very much indeed, rachael. let's now go to stanford, california, to audrey. audrey, your question, please? thank you so much for having me. - madam presidents, i'd be really interested to know what steps l men can take concretely. to achieve gender equality. mary robinson. it is really important that we engage men, because gender equality matters for both women and men, and there are efforts like un women has got presidents to adopt — head of state who are mainly men —

to adopt a he for she approach, to be champions of gender equality. actually, ellen has been seeking to bring male presidents in africa, for example, together on this issue, so i'll pass to her in a moment, but i do think it's really important to have men take on the child—rearing, the home—making, the care of elderly, so that the burdens and responsibilities at home are shared, because until we do that, we're not going to see a kind of full equality. how achievable is that, ellenjohnson sirleaf, in your opinion, in africa, to get the men to agree to be home—makers and take 50—50 share in the child rearing? 0h, we're a long way off from that. we have to ask the question, when will men recognise the value of women, to know

the contribution that women can make to society? they're equally smart, knowledgeable, they are courageous. what does it take for them to recognise those values that reside in there? their wives, their daughters? what does it take? what does that take, ellenjohnson sirleaf? you're posing the question, we're all agog, we want to know. we need the policies, no doubt. we need constitutional change, if that is required, but we haven't been able to change the attitudes. for people to see women beyond, that says they ought to be in the home.

audrey, what do you think about what you've just heard? these are excellent responses and just brings me back- to the thought that someone running an non—profit to get| more women in the industryl and talking about the 50—50, men will not just disappear from the conversation, - they need to be active alliesl and that means really calling out microaggressions, - telling people when it's not ok to do or say certain things - and these responses make me optimistic about being. a woman in the industry. that's great. we like optimism also. not all doom and gloom. thank you very much indeed. now let's welcome our next questioner. it's an honour to be here. thank you so much. my question is, what do- you think the biggest hurdle to achieving gender equality and women's economic-

empowerment across the globe is? all right, ellenjohnson sirleaf, biggest hurdle? what's the big obstacle? attitudes. attitudes, attitudes. continued male domination. the world default for male power is still what keeps women behind. how do we change the attitude, is what we need to address. lots of progress in that, as we mentioned, men who have now been liberated from these old attitudes, and we need to expand their numbers. all right, mary robinson, attitudes, attitude, attitude? yes, i agree with ellen, and i think what we really need is to have a sense that in the modern world, we all benefit from more

equality, therefore, for men and women, this is the goal and i think this is something that young people understand more. young girls are leading as climate activists. they're showing by their passion and how articulate they are that they're going to change the world, if i can put it that way, and i do think that a big hurdle is the fact that there's a lack of resources for what women want to achieve. very little trickles down to women at local level in their communities to make their communities resilient to climate, for example. a very small amount. and it's all the way — not only is power on the side of men, so are resources. thanks very much indeed, mary robinson. ok, now we go to dhahran, saudi arabia, for our last question from hiya shah. thank you so much for having me. - i am hiya shah, i'm17 years old, i'm part of the un- generation equality

forum youth group| and i am also a un delegate for girls learn international. i also run my own non—profit called fundraising for- the girl child, and my question is, how can we ensure - that women have equal| representation in power in places of decision—making and leadership? _ thank you. right, well, all that and you're only 17 here. my goodness me. all right, let's come to you, ellenjohnson sirleaf, how do we ensure equal representation and power in decision—making and leadership? can ijust say here, ellenjohnson sirleaf, because i know in 2016 liberia introduced a new law reserving parliamentary seats for women, young people and people with disabilities. i mean, are quotas one of the ways forward? we need more than that, we need an enabling environment. and for that, we go back to changing attitudes. and women cannot be

the only ones that fight to change these attitudes. men have to weigh in. you know, we're trying to write a letter to all the male presidents and the male leaders, and ask them to be willing to give an open commitment to gender equality. how will they respond? we do not know, but i think we ought to ask them to do it. all right. mary robinson, what's your answer to hiya? i agree with ellen, and i think also, women have to be smart. take, for example, the africa europe foundation that you mentioned at the beginning, zeinab. you mentioned that we are co—chairs of a women leaders network, ellen and myself. that didn't exist, we invented it, because the africa europe foundation was going to be chaired by two men, we were invited to be honorary presidents, which isn't

very significant, but we have made it more significant by deciding to have this women leaders network, and we already find that this network is giving a gender lens to the whole of the africa europe foundation, all its strategy committees, all of what it's doing. and there is a great power in women leaders networks, at all levels — at local level, girls, networking. i'm sure each of the questioners is probably part of a network. there's a lot of trust in women leaders networks because we know that we're not there for our ego, we're there to change things, we're there to problem solve, we're there to collaborate. can i ask you both very quickly because you're both older stateswomen and you've both been in positions of leadership, but frankly the progress hasn't been great, has it? in both your countries, the number of women parliamentarians is only around 10%.

one in ten women leaders globally is female, so why is it that even when have women such as yourselves in positions of leadership, the numbers just don't stack up, the progress isn't as great as we'd like it to be? all right, i was actually going to pick up on the importance of quotas. i think they do help to accelerate the equality and i fully agree with them, i've seen it work in so many countries — why is scandinavia seen as being very good on women playing a 50—50 role in parliaments and in cabinets? because they began with quotas. and i think we can all learn, we have quotas in ireland — they're not working as well as they should — but i do agree, and i think it's very, very important that we work at this during this gender equality year. very quickly, ellenjohnson sirleaf, progress has been very slow here, you've been

on the world stage for many decades, but we still only have 1a countries in the world that have more than 50% of their cabinet members who are women. the progress on women leadership is real and that may have led to a pushback — that we were moving too far, too fast. but i think we need to just continue and the timing is now. if there's any time where inequities have been exposed, it's in this covid—19 year. and now�*s the time for us to push even harder. i believe the progress women have made can now be discussed. and you know, mary mentioned the quota system. i think some of our countries have resisted it on the basis of competition, that this would not allow the competition in society — well, we disagree with that, because women are ready to compete fully for any leadership position or,

for that matter, any position in society. all right, thank you. hiya shah in dhahran, saudi arabia, a country of course which in many people's minds hasn't got the best record, let's put it that way, on women's rights. i think these past few years, saudi has seen slow- yet really steady and promising progress in terms of women's i rights. for example, we were given the right to drive in 2018, i the patriarchal guardianship system is dissolving, - although it does still exist in some circumstances - unfortunately, and i think- international pressure has also been working to get _ saudi arabia to release women's rights activists from jail- and progressing women's rights. i'm more of an optimistic- person and i really do believe in the country's ability. to make a lot of gender equality progress in the future. - well, thank you very much indeed hiya shah and very good to end this programme with a very articulate 17—year—old there.

thank you very much indeed to my two panellists, mary robinson, ellenjohnson sirleaf, and also you to my questioners who joined us from all over the world, and of course, to you, wherever you are watching this programme. that's all from this edition of global questions — sexism and violence against women and a patriarchal world. remember, we are the programme bringing you the trend lines behind the headlines, and if you want to be part of our next programme, just submit a question on globalquestions@bbc.co.uk. until the next time, from me, zeinab badawi and the rest of the global questions team, goodbye. thank you both very much indeed, madame presidents. hello there. the cold arctic air has arrived now, but many places will be dry today, with some sunshine. temperatures much lower

than they were yesterday, and it feels colder because the winds are strong and gusty. gusts of 50 or 60 mph in northern scotland where we are seeing most of the snow showers at the moment. those will continue overnight. some more snow showers coming into northern ireland overnight. they will push over the irish sea towards wales and even the southwest. many other areas overnight will be dry and clear. some icy conditions where we get those wintry showers coming in, and a widespread frost overnight, typically —1 to —3 celsius. another cold day to come on tuesday. some sunshine, but again those snow showers in the same sort of areas. cloud, though, will build up inland and almost anywhere could catch a snow shower through the afternoon i think. passing snow shower driven on by these strong and gusty winds. again, like today, temperatures three to nine celsius, but when you add on the strength of the wind, it will feel probably more like the middle of winter.

this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines: a traffic light system for foreign travel, is expected to be unveiled — when borisjohnson sets out his plans to further ease the lockdown in england today. there is to be an expansion of the coronavirus testing programme. everyone in england will have access to two free rapid tests a week, from this friday. this is the scene live at downing street, where the prime minister will lead today's briefing at 5pm — he'll be joined by england's chief medical officer chris whitty and the government's chief scientific advisor sir patrick vallance. they will in fact will be at number nine downing street, the new room for the government's briefing room. we will bring you that conference as soon as it begins. in other news...

hairdressers, homeware shops and garden centres are reopening in scotland, as covid restrictions are eased.