Original Air Date:
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Guests:
Oprah showed different views of marriage from Denmark, Egypt, Ukraine, and India as well as heard thoughts from author Elizabeth Gilbert on her latest book Committed.
Show Summary:
What does marriage mean to you? Would everyone in America answer that question differently? How about around the world? Oprah set out to answer that question as she welcomed guests from Denmark, Egypt, Ukraine, and India on the live episode to share what marriage means in their cultures. After visiting Denmark to see how the happiest people in the world live, Oprah issued the help of Nanna, a woman she met in Copenhagen, to travel to Egypt to find the differences and similarities of the tradition. Oprah then spoke to a woman who chose to be a mail-order bride from Ukraine and a couple in an arranged marriage from India.
Special Highlights:
This episode featured the following highlights:
- Nanna from Denmark, who lives with her partner of 14 years without marriage, traveled to Cairo, Egypt to speak with two women living different sides of the marriage tradition. Heba, 33, has been divorced and followed the tradition of moving back in with her parents. Injy, 37, lives a more traditional life with her husband and children. Both women are professionals and religious, but see things in their country very differently.
- The women discussed the controversy of wearing a head scarf or not, the unfair process of divorce, and sexual frustrations with saving sex for marriage.
- Lera from Ukraine has been married for six years and lives in New York with her husband who found her online.
More Highlights:
- In many mail-order cases, women are looking for an easy ticket to the United States, and in the Ukraine it is a priority for girls to start thinking about marriage at 17. Women in Ukraine want to be taken care of and have the ability to stay at home and take care of their children.
- More than half of marriages in the world are arranged, including 95% of those occurring in India where Oprah spoke to Shalin and Sneha who have been married for five years. Love in an arranged marriage grows with time as the couple gets to know each other.
- Elizabeth Gilbert's new book Committed looks into the history of marriage and how it is viewed differently around the world.
What to Take Away from the Show:
After watching this episode it would have been difficult not to examine my own thoughts on marriage, as many viewers likely did after seeing such a variety of traditions and practices. Knowing how America has a variety of views, it was interesting to see that in Cairo, where most people are of Muslim faith, there is also a vast difference in how people view the traditions and how they are intended to practice them. Mail-order brides and arranged marriages are fairly unknown topics to most Americans, but the reports in this episode showed them in a respectful and informative way, not clouded by judgment. After seeing this episode I have a more open-minded view on how people enter into relationships and the many traditions that exist.
Products Featured in This Episode:
Elizabeth Gilbert - 'Committed'
Viking Pr
After the huge success of 2006's Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert followed up with a book that takes a look into the history of marriage with part reference and part memoir. Eventually marrying the man in the 'Love' portion of her first book when the US government gave them the choice to wed or chance Felipe leaving the country due to visa issues, Elizabeth changed her skeptic ways and found that she could indeed try again.
