Woman and Gender Proverbs

Subject Areas : Persian Language and Literature

Mohsen Masoomi ¹ , Vida Rahiminezhad ²

1 - Assistant Professor, English Department, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literature, Sanandaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sanandaj, Iran
2 - Ph.D. in English Literature

Received: 2011-10-23 Accepted : 2012-04-23 Published : 2012-08-22

Keywords:

Abstract :

Proverbs are part of the oral literature said and heard in each language and culture, but their subjects differ from society to society. They show the  interests  and  disgusts  of  every  society  and  in  fact  they  are  the reflection  of  the  culture  of  each  society,  as  well.  Characteristics  of proverbs include anonymous author, oral transmission from generation to generation, and unknown origin. Since the formation of a proverb has no logical or scientific base, whatever the members of a society distance themselves from traditional and irrational behavior towards rational manner, then the use of proverb is reduced and in approving or rejecting a case individuals use proverb less, as logical reasoning helps them more. Some of these proverbs has gender base. The aim of this article is to determine the amount of the use of gender proverbs among people in Tehran. The methodology is based on survey research method. Statistical population is people in Tehran and the measurement tool is researcher- made questionnaire. Gender proverbs were set among common proverbs and 71 people including men and women in Tehran had filled the questionnaires. One of the most important findings of this project is that the amount of the use of gender proverbs among men is 0.93 and among women is 0.74 in the 0-4 scale in this statistical population.