Proverbs and Patriarchy: Analysis of Linguistic Prejudice and Representation of Women in Traditional Akan Communities of Ghana

Charles Gyan, Eunice Abbey and Michael Baffoe
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Charles Gyan: Faculty of Social Work, University of Regina, Regina, SK S4S 0A2, Canada
Eunice Abbey: Methodist University College, Accra, Ghana
Michael Baffoe: Faculty of Social Work, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada

Social Sciences, 2020, vol. 9, issue 3, 1-10

Abstract: Discourses govern the phenomenological interpretation of our everyday existence and influence both our way of thinking and our relationship with one another in the world. Undoubtedly, popular sayings and proverbs mediate the way of being in African context. This paper examines the role of proverbs and wise sayings in the African culture. This paper attempts to analyze the representation of women in sampled Akan proverbs and the ways in which these proverbs institutionalize the position, identity, and roles of women in traditional Akan communities of Ghana. This paper suggests that oral traditions are used in the systematic perpetuation of patriarchal culture, gender inequities, and inequality. Therefore, it recommends the revolutionalization of oral traditions to assist in the deinstitutionalization of the prevailing patriarchal discourses and culture in traditional Akan communities of Ghana.

Keywords: proverbs; gender inequality; oral traditions; patriarchy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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