The misogynist representation of women in Palestinian oral tradition: a socio-political study

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis paper, which engages with the critical lines of feminism and sociolinguistics and employs interviews as its central methodology, introduces readers to the ways Palestinian proverbs reinforce a contemporary Palestinian ideology of gender difference based on subjugating women to men’s authority. The paper analyses Palestinian proverbs about women alongside contemporary Palestinian practices including: arranged marriage; objectifying women in the marriage market; the silencing of women’s voices and honour killing. It is argued here that the Israeli occupation perpetuates the production and consumption of the masculine construction of gender roles as a marker of difference and adherence to familial and national belonging. Feminist views of gender equality espoused by feminist activists, NGO personnel and younger generations are taken to signify immoral symbols of imperial and Western cultures, incompatible with national and religious discourse.