Chapter 4: Patriarchal implications on women empowerment in Chichewa and Shona proverbs

From time immemorial, proverbs are some of the most widely and commonly used expressions on the African continent in the oral transmission of knowledge, beliefs, values and traditions from generation to generation. Apart from being a linguistic sign with a literal interpretation, proverbs have other communication functions. From literature, in Chichewa in Malawi, and in Shona in Zimbabwe, gendered proverbs are used not only as linguistic tools but also to define gender identity and social parameters and enforce decisions between the speaker and the hearer. Because of entrenched patriarchal ideologies coupled with colonialism and religion in African societies, the gendered proverbs have been at the centre of the construction of masculinity and femininity gender identities of what it means to be a woman or a man in Africa as they reinforce issues that can be contested. This chapter critically analyses the connotations in the gendered proverbs to establish the extent to which they impact on women empowerment and girls’ education in the respective countries. The chapter is underpinned by a qualitative, comparative and desktop approach to establish the intersection of the proverbs and their implications. The authors relied heavily on already documented texts to source gendered proverbs. For Malawi, a compendium proverb text by Chakanza (2001) with the title *Wisdom of the People 2000: Chichewa Proverbs* was used. Shona proverbs were sourced from the Shona dictionary, *Duramazwi guru reChishona* (2001), and from conversations with a few Shona speakers conversant with proverbs. Critical discourse analysis (CDA) and intersectionality frameworks were deployed as the main analytical tools to unpack the connotations embedded within the proverbs. Findings revealed that notwithstanding the utility in some of the proverbs as rich cultural indigenous knowledge systems, some of the proverbs appear outdated and continue to perpetuate stereotypical ideological values and beliefs about women and girls. Evidently, the findings reveal that proverbs in Chichewa and Shona portray men as superior, as leaders by birth and owners of intellect, while women are portrayed as inferior, less intelligent and as gossipers and evil. This chapter concludes by making two related recommendations: Firstly, although there are growing debates in the light of decolonisation to revitalise and recentre Africa’s cultural values, the emancipation of women and girls from negative traditional ideologies remains paramount, and secondly, there is need to revisit some of the traditions that prevent women and girls from participating fully in society and unlock their full potential.