A Sociolinguistic Study of Women Representation in Rwandan Proverbs

Abstract

In almost all communities, proverbs reflect every aspect of the social and cultural lives of people. In Rwandan culture proverbs embed wisdom, values, norms, and social restriction. As in other languages, in Kinyarwanda, proverbs are used as a tool for human communication. Kinyarwanda proverbs have certainly the features of gender as they disclose the real and normal life of Rwandans. Gender-related Kinyarwanda proverbs that value women are referred to when valuing women's role in the community. This contributes to the journey of women’s emancipation that Rwanda is currently fostering. However, there are some negative proverbs that strengthen the roots of gender discrimination linked to patriarchal social norms and practices. Despite an outstanding progress in women’s empowerment and gender promotion that Rwanda has made, Kinyarwanda proverbs still contribute to women exclusiveness in a way that attributes negative traits to them. Thus, the gender discrimination persists.  This paper reveals the findings of a study on the socio-linguistic perspectives that explore the place and role of women and/or girls in the Rwandan society. Therefore, this paper outlines Kinyarwanda proverbs that loop women and girls in a negative perspective, and their effects in achieving Rwanda Vision 2050 goals and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study examines 30 Kinyarwanda proverbs related to disempowerment of women and girls. They were analyzed by using the feminist theories of the Radicals and Critical Discourse Analysis by Norman Fairclough.

Keywords: Proverbs, gender equality, Vision 2050, SDGs.

DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/10-24-02

Publication date: December 31^st 2020