Extreme Wives with Kate Humble

Station:
BBC Two (GB)

Status:
Ended

Start:
2017-11-10

Rating:
0/10 from 0 users

Kate Humble has spent time with communities all over the world, and has been struck by how often the roles of men and women tell us something about how a society works, and how the everyday lives of women in particular reveal its values.In this series she explores three diverse and extraordinary communities in Kenya, Israel and India, where the roles of women are exceptional, complex and sometimes extreme.

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List of episodes

S1E1 - Kenya

In the first episode, Kate is in southwest Kenya in the district of Kuria, a predominantly Christian area. Traditionally cattle-herding warriors, the Kuria people are now mostly agricultural farmers, but cattle remain important as currency in marriage. The Kuria are polygamous, so men marry a number of wives. But what makes this community so fascinating is that they also practice woman-to-woman marriage known as Nyumba Mboke. These woman-to-woman marriages aren't sexual, and the young Nyumba Mboke wives become pregnant by men outside of the household, or come to the family already having had a child.

Air Date: 10 Nov 2017 15:00 (CDT)

S1E2 - Jerusalem

In the second episode, Kate tries to access the intensely private Ultra-Orthodox Haredim in Jerusalem. Kate knows very little about this community, so she begins in a Haredi area of Jerusalem called Mea She'arim. The Haredim usually reject media intrusion, but after months of attempts to access the community, a Rabbi agrees to meet her.

Air Date: 17 Nov 2017 15:00 (CDT)

S1E3 - India

In the third and final episode, Kate is in Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya state in north-east India, in search of one of the world's last remaining matrilineal societies. In the village of Kongthong, Khasi women hold the wealth, family name and many of the top jobs. She spends several days with the Khongsit clan, who have lived there for generations, and meets the most important family member, Shitoah the Khatduh. Kate goes pepper picking the following morning and speaks to Shitoah's husband to find out how he feels about his wife holding the purse strings, before venturing down into the valley with the male members of the family to repair a root bridge. She then leaves this apparently utopian village for the capital, where she learns that there are cracks developing in the Khasi matrilineal system.

Air Date: 24 Nov 2017 15:00 (CDT)