Abstract:
Ethiopia is a country known for its rich on folklore genres. Proverbs are the most
widely and commonly used in transfer knowledge generation to generation Among such
oral arts, the Amharic proverbs have been facilitating the transmission of knowledge
and conventions from generation to generation. In this study, a rigorous attempt has
been made to examine the portrayal of Women in the glance of Amharic proverbs and
proverbial expressions. Qualitative research approach particularly ethnographic
design, the participants were selected Purposive sampling technique. Data were primary
document compiled by woreda cultural truism office document and the researcher met
eight semi structure interviewee, twelve focus group discussants and six key informants
for further clarification and exploring the meaning of the proverbs from the community.
Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data that has been collected from the
fieldwork and documents. The findings of the study illustrated both the positive and
negative portrayal of women. The fact that the proverbs and proverbial expressions of
Amharic did not balance between the negative and positive outlooks towards women.
women are portrayed positively only in a very few proverbs women are excellent home
management, family caring, faithful, honest and loving, cautious, suspicious and good
critical thinker. Most proverbs and proverbial expressions of Amharic also indicated
that women are dependent, evil, lazy, unfaithfulness, opportunistic, jealous, liars,
deceivers, talkativeness, lacking leadership and decision-making and knowledge and
critical thinking. Most Amharic proverbs negative impact on the overall well-being of
women. Based on the findings of the study, a recommendation was made as to how to
change the biased and largely unfairness attitudes of the society towards women. The
Regional Government of Amhara and central Gondar administration zone and Wogera
woreda administration should document proverbs related to women in general and
proverbs that deal with the positive portrayal of women in the society in particular. It
helps to preserve the images of women for the upcoming generations.
Key words : Portrayal and Amharic proverbs
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