Abstract
The study is centred on the perceived role and status of women as depicted in Setswana proverbs. The review of previous studies about Setswana proverbs and the analysis of proverbial expressions revealed androcentric bias of the Setswana paroemiology where women are generally viewed as persons of low status and value – often times lower in status than their own male children. Women extolment only appears at the mention of motherhood, otherwise they are less recognised as decision makers and leaders, as they are considered less intelligent than their male counterparts. The Setswana proverbs’ portrayal of the image of a ‘beautiful’ woman is posed critically as they (proverbs) only exalt hard work in a woman. In marriage, the position of a woman is non-existent as she is not expected to make any decisions. She is to act upon the husband’s instruction, otherwise she will be considered dominant, and her husband will be mocked by society for being controlled by a woman. This shows the androgenic character of the Setswana language worldview.
Zoomorphic images in the Setswana proverbs may thus be gender insensitive. The perception of women, actualized by the Setswana proverbial units, is of a contradictory and inhomogeneous nature, as women are compared to monkeys, dogs, and bees. Some attributes of Setswana proverbs about women represent the moral system and social grounds of patriarchal society, where females are cautioned against certain behaviour to avoid missing out on marriage.
Qualitative approach was used to explore how proverbs contribute to the place and status accorded to women in society. Data was collected from studies about Setswana proverbs to find out their stance on the place and status of women. The data from reviewed studies were analysed using content analysis and analytical constructs, also called rules of influence. Studies reviewed are from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Namibia since these are countries that have Setswana as either official or national language.
It is clear that Setswana proverbs are entrenched in societal fibre as they still manifest themselves in current modernity. There is a lot of gender biases in modern society in South Africa and the world at large (Phiri, Mulaudzi and Heyns, 2015). Digging deep into these bias tendencies, some of them emanate from pre-colonial times when proverbs were the order of the day. Times have changed, but the actions of people have not. Despite government laws and policies against gender inequality, incidents of gender imbalances that affect women, as well as those of Gender Based Violence, are still prevalent in South Africa and all over the world.