The image of women in selected Lango proverbs

Abstract

The broader aim of this study is to analyze how selected proverbs portray women in the Lango culture. To achieve this, the study is sub-divided into two SMART (specific measurable achievable reliable time bound) objectives i.e.: to analyze the word choices in proverbs referring to women and to analyze the way imagery construct meaning about women in the selected proverbs. The study argues that the negative portrayal killed women’s potentials and continuously jeopardize the struggles of feminism movement which aims at promoting gender equality and women’s rights. Furthermore, the study argues that there is essential yet ignored aspect in gender studies hiding in the proverbial oppression of the female gender in the Lango culture, and this underscores their effects on the struggle for gender balance. The study finalizes in agreement that if the underlying assumptions of these proverbs are not changed, the current generation will progressively undermine the importance of these proverbs as well as culture in general, because there a group of people nicknamed “new men and new women” who do not succumb to traditional disregards for female gender.