Browsing by Author "Bililigne, Aschalew"

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    Female Disempowerment: Some Expressions in Amharic
    (Addis Ababa University, 2012-11) Bililigne, Aschalew; Yimam, Baye (PhD)
    By examining various language expressions about women one can see to some extent how women are perceived in a certain culture. This thesis is conducted in order to examine Amharic proverbs and literal expressions that refer to females. Although there are expressions that empower women, they are not the concern of this study. The data are collected through participant observation and introspection since the researcher is a native speaker of the language. Besides, different books have also been consulted as secondary sources of data. Since the Amhara society is patriarchal the expressions are analyzed based on the “dominance” theory which assumes that social norms are established dominantly by men and because of this the social and political systems see and treat women as not equal to men. The expressions which are analyzed under various themes illustrate that women are inferior, talkative, ill-natured, dependent, etc. In some contexts, women themselves accept the superiority of men. They are marginalized and systematically forced to be powerless. As a result, they have little political, social, economic, etc. participation in the society. Key words: gender, sex, dominance, gender-ideology, patriarchy, disempowerment, socialization, gender-segregation