Abstract:
This study analyzed the image of a woman as depicted by the Kikuyu proverbs. The main objective of the study was to establish the status and role of a woman in the Kikuyu society. This has been done with the view of establishing how a woman is portrayed by the Kikuyu proverbs given than the Kikuyu proverbs are means of propagating the society’s ideals regarding marriage, parenting, work, property ownership and leadership. Owing to the coincidental nature of proverb usage, two means of collecting data were used. These are library research and interviews, Forty four proverbs were collected, translated and analyzed qualitatively with the aim of revealing how a Kikuyu woman is portrayed. The results have been presented descriptively and in a tabular form. This study was guided by the theory of Feminism under Feminist Critical Approach. The findings of this research are expected to widen the knowledge of the readers as regards Kikuyu proverbs with special reference to women’s portrayal. It is also hoped that the study will shed some light on the traditional beliefs that militate against women liberation efforts besides giving impetus to researchers who would wish to carry out investigations on related fields.
