Excerpt:
SHE HAS BEEN CALLED the most influential woman of our time. They are among the most disempowered women on earth.
She is a self-made billionaire, with worldwide business and philanthropic interests that range from television to publishing to education. They are forbidden to get a job without the permission of a male "guardian," and the overwhelming majority of them are unemployed.
She has a face that is recognized the world over. They cannot leave home without covering their face and obscuring their figure in a cloak.
She is famous for her message of confidence, self-improvement, and spiritual uplift. They are denied the right to make the simplest decisions, treated by law like children who cannot be trusted with authority over their own well-being.
She, of course, is Oprah Winfrey. They are the multitude of Saudi Arabian women whose devotion to her has made "The Oprah Winfrey Show" -- broadcast twice daily on a Dubai-based satellite channel, MBC — the highest-rated English-language program in the kingdom. . . .