NPR : Status of Women in Iraq, Part II: Villages surprised me by noting that Oprah is the most popular television show in rural Iraq:
Women in Iraq’s cities have made strides in education and civil rights since the fall of Saddam Hussein. But rural women still struggle with illiteracy, poverty and confining traditions. They rarely leave their villages. Now the outside world is creeping into their lives via satellite TV. But shows like Oprah ? a favorite ? also underscore the problems facing rural women and the paucity of solutions to those problems.
One of the women interviewed (via interpreter) mentioned how she loved the stories about people surviving terrible medical conditions ? people in Iraq don’t get cured like that, she noted.