Analysis of Representation of Women in Luhya Proverbs

Abstract

This study is on "Analysis of representation of women in Luhya proverbs," and is grounded on the premises of the Luhya traditional culture which is patriarchal and the need to deconstruct the wrong attitudes towards women in the Luhya community that are institutionalized and reinforced through proverbs. The study was guided by two objectives; to examine the representations of women in Luhya proverbs, and explore the possible implications of these representations in Luhya Proverbs on gender relations and women subordination. The study was guided by African Feminism and Foucault’s power theory. The study employed the discourse analysis approach of Siegfried Jäger to identify the emerging themes and discourses from the proverbs. CDA approach helped to complement the African Feminist theory and Foucault’s power theory. The findings of this study reveal that from the selected Luhya proverbs, women are portrayed both in the favourable and unfavourable light. Positive themes were only realized in a few proverbs on mothers who are projected as reliable, protective, selfless, providers and are worth respect. Majority of the Luhya proverbs were found to portray women as objects, commodities, untrustworthy, weak (dependence), unintelligent (c.f chapter 4). The study concludes that the ideological and power assumption contained in the majority of the explored proverbs is that power is controlled by men and that women should abide by the dominant-subordinate relationship. The study also concludes that women in the Luhya community should accept their secondary position without question. The study recommends that more scholarly work should be done on Luhya proverbs that represent the women in good light and to bring out new proverbs in speeches and publications in an endeavour to recreate new discourses. The study also recommends the need for studies to establish ways of encouraging women to develop self-affirmation and self-esteem and not to accept their subjugation.