Bekele, Berhanu2020-11-302023-12-052020-11-302023-12-052008-06http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/23720Many scholars have revealed that various elements of folklore have emerged out of the age long human experiences. Folktales and popular sayings belong to the verbal aspects of fo lklore and are believed to reflect a given society's mode of thinking, traditi on, attitudes, ways of life and so on. Research indicates that through the study of such forms of oral li te rature, it is possible to learn the political, cultural and social ideals as well as the economic realities of a given society. The present study is aimed at exploring how women have been portrayed in some folktales and popular sayings of the Oromo of East Wollega. It has been found out that women and the femin ine attributes have been portrayed negati.v ely in most of the tales and sayings widely told in the area. In most tales and sayings, women characters in both genres are depicted as unfaithful, adulterous, cruel, ignorant, foo li sh and the like. However, in very few tales and sayings, women particul arly one's mothers and wives are depicted as lovable, generous, wise and tactful. Most of the folktales and popular sayings in which men and women are characterized seem to have been used for maintaining arid validating patriarchy. Women's role and status in the society seem to have been di mi ni shed to such a very great extent. As the finding indicates, the society seems to have a wrong perception about women. The paper has four chapters. In the firs~ chapter an attempt was made to state and describe the background of the study, statement of the problem, objectives of the study and signi ficances of the study. Besides, areas of the study, methodology and the sociocultural background of the people under focus have been included here. In the second \ ch apter, an attempt has been made to review the works of many schol ars on oral li terature in general and folktales and popular sayings in particul ar. The third chapter deals wi th the analysis of the folktales and popular sayings coll ected from the area under focus . • Finally, an attempt was made to conclude what has been discussed under the preceding chapters. The li st of informants and the tales and sayings selected for analysis has also been appended at the end.enThe Portrayal of Women in FolktalesThesis