Men make houses, women make homes: A comparative study of gender roles in proverbs across languages

Abstract

Gender is a very popular area among researchers and can be an interesting study as far as Proverbiality is concerned. Proverbs which are words of wisdom that are passed on from generation to generation reveal very interesting facts regarding the relation between language and thought; proverbs acquire great significance because they mirror the
traditional power relationships between genders.  This paper comparatively studies the differences and or similarities between the worldviews related to “man and woman” presented by English and Urdu proverbs to seek answer to the question of linguistic universalism and linguistic relativity. I have used The Matti Kussi International Type System of Proverbs to thematically categorize the fourteen proverbs from Urdu and same number from English language on gender and would seek whether the proverbs talk about men and women in similar or different ways. The study showed linguistic relativity where languages portray women and men differently as per their societal norms and culture.