Following a year that saw gender politics catapulted to the fore and many women across the world speaking out, the BBC 100 Women season spotlights the trailblazing women who have turned their feelings of anger and indignation into a moment of action. In the two-part series, Trailblazers, 100 Women hears from women as they reflect on the moment they decided to stand up - and the change they inspired. In this first episode 100 Women speaks to Shaparak Shajarizadeh, a woman from Iran who protested against compulsory hijabs, and Russian model Svetlana Alekseeva, who was severely scarred as a child and is now baring the marks on her skin to inspire body positivity.

This is the surrogate mothers' club: women that volunteer to give birth to a stranger's child and receive only expenses in exchange. 100 Women speaks to the founder of Canadian Fertility Consulting and follows three altruistic surrogate mothers in Canada, as they navigate the emotional challenges of giving life to a baby that they will say goodbye to after birth. In a forward-thinking country that's seen a dramatic increase in surrogacy of an estimated 400% over the last decade, the programme meets the women behind the statistics to find out why they do it.