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Abstract
The Kurdish language has a rich oral history and culture, part of which is represented in
sayings and proverbs on all aspects of life. This oral cultural knowledge is passed from a
generation to another and it has an influence on the people’s social life. Recently, these kinds
of oral arts have been recorded, written and published in Kurdistan. This ancient region is
divided among four countries (Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria), and this study examines only
proverbs in the Iraqi Kurdish region known as Southern Kurdistan.
Proverbs as part of the cultural knowledge and discourse may have substantial impact
on the unconscious attitudes of the people in a society; therefore, they are precious as an
entry point for discussion and analysis of gender roles and iniquities. Although proverbs
are not always true and they could be biased, they are highly revered by many people and
consequently affect their viewpoints towards their society and the world.
In academic and social researches, Kurdish proverbs are presented as colorful imagery
that contains wisdom, but their sexist tone is usually ignored. The academic studies have
disregarded the dimension of gender bias and unfairness of the discourse of Kurdish
proverbs. Therefore, this paper aims at demonstrating the role of the discourse of Kurdish
proverbs in reproducing the inequity between men and women, and boosting up gendered
language. It attempts to tackle and analyze the Kurdish sayings and proverbs based on
eight contrastive categories: Women’s naiveness vs. Men’s wisdom/intelligence, Women’s
inferiority vs. Men’s superiority, Women’s unfaithfulness vs. Men’s faithfulness, Woman’s
powerlessness vs. Men’s powerfulness, Women’s helplessness vs. men’s bravery, Women’s
talkativeness vs. men’s serenity, Women’s superficial beauty vs. men’s
charisma/personality, and women’s submission and restriction vs. men’s dominance and
freedom.
The main conclusion of this study is that the Kurdish proverbs create the notion of
male superiority over female, such that men are considered dominant and women
subordinate. Such attitude can hinder the improvement of any civilized society. Thus, the
conclusions of this study are projected to back a discourse that leads to a social change
and more equity between women and men in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.
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Key to Non-English Phonetic Symbols
/ q / voiceless uvular plosive, as in the Kurdish /qα:p/ ‘dish’
/ x / voiceless velar fricative, as in the Kurdish /xe/ ‘salt’
/ ħ / voiceless pharyngeal fricative, as in the Kurdish /ħΛft/ ‘seven’
/ ʕ / voiced pharyngeal fricative, as in the Kurdish /ʕærd/ ‘earth’
Introduction
Language and society have influence on each other, and thus discourse can affect the
attitude of people and vice versa. This is reflected in the male and female language. As
Eckert and Mcconnell-Ginet (2003:55) state: “both the gender order and linguistic
conventions exercise a profound constraint on our thoughts and actions, predisposing us
to follow patterns set down over generations and throughout our own development.”
Discourse analysts do not believe in the common and simple view of language as a
means of communication, but they believe that language produces discourses, and
discourses produce practices (Fairclough, 1992: 75-6; Van Dijk, 2004: 6-8). Language is
“constitutive as well as reflective of our place in the political, socioeconomic, racial and
sexual configurations of our existence” (Cohen, 1993: 1).
In a gendered society, language is used to express how groups should behave and
relate to the external world and to each other. Once they have entered into a relationship
of dominance and subordination, the social groups make distinctions among themselves
“through forms of signification” (McLaren, 1997: 528). Language offers them the
opportunity to construct stereotypes of self and others. The dominant groups use their
languages to facilitate their oppression of and aggression or prejudice against those they
dominate.
In the second half of the twentieth century, women all over the world tried to fight for
their rights, to get their freedom, and to be equal to men. One of the contributions of the
feminist movements of the 1960s in the West was the creation of a body of knowledge
about social gender and language, focusing on the exercise of patriarchal power in the
realm of language. Individual feminists, widely dispersed throughout North America, acted
as a language academy, and in the early 1970s launched a language reform movement by
successfully promoting ‘non-sexist,’ ‘inclusive’ or ‘gender-neutral’ language use
(Hassanpour, 2010).
There still seems to be an oppression towards women in the Kurdish society and this is
reflected in the proverbs and sayings that the people recall in their daily life. The Kurdish
proverbs present women in general as stupid, weak, reliant, naïve, evil, talkative, etc., and
the only thing that women should be proud of is their beauty and shyness. Contrastively,
they present men as brainy, strong, independent, faithful, brave, etc. This seems to be a
characteristic of a patriarchal society, and it usually produces a kind of gendered ideology
and a system of shaping different lives for men and women by placing them in different
social positions and patterns of expectations. This system legitimizes men to exercise their
power over women to sustain the latter’s subordination and marginality.
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Data and methodology
The data of this study are collected from a range of published books and online
sources. The focus was on the topics that involved the proverbs that are either about
women or men separately, or those comparing them with each other in certain aspects.
The proverbs are categorized according to their general propositional content. For
example, proverbs that show women as men’s properties, proverbs that present women
as sexual objects, those presenting women as biologically defective while men as perfect,
those that view women as socially inferior and men as superior, those that portray women
as unfaithful whereas men as noble and moral, those encourage men to control women,
etc.
Due to space limitation and to avoid unnecessary repetition of similar ideas, discussing
the meaning of each proverb separately and fully is avoided. The qualitative method, both
content analysis and critical/ feminist, are used to analyze the data. According to this
approach, the real world is composed of historically situated structures that are perceived
to be true and thus can influence the everyday life of the people, and one of the essential
aims of this type of inquiry is:
to raise the consciousness of those being oppressed because of historically
situated structure tied to race, gender, and class. With raising consciousness
comes providing understandings that lead to social change … The object is to
reveal for others the kinds and extent of oppression that are being
experienced by those studied. With the exposure of oppression comes the
call for awareness, resistance, solidarity, and revolutionary transformation
(Hatch 2002: 17).
Analysis
Generally speaking, proverbs are popular sayings that express commonly held truths.
They are the wit of one and the wisdom of many (Stone, 2006: xii). The Kurdish proverbs
are usually presented as colorful imagery expressing wisdom, but their sexist tone is
usually neglected. Most studies have not paid attention to the dimension of bias and
unfairness that is embedded in their discourse.
In analyzing the data of this study, the Kurdish social environment is taken into
consideration, since, theoretically, discourse cannot be studied out of context. Many
researchers believe that the structural simplicity of a text (proverb) may not guarantee
increased comprehensibility. A reasonable understanding of the proverb should take into
account the historical and cultural contexts within which they were structured (Paltridge,
1994; Tyler, 1994). So in analyzing the Kurdish proverbs, one needs to take into
consideration the socio-cultural perspective of Kurdish society.
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The study tackles and analyzes the Kurdish sayings and proverbs according to eight
categories, as explained in the following sections.
A woman’s brain is in her knee (i.e. she has low mental abilities)
(3) /ʒin pirʕi dreʒa la birda zor kurt w ʕeʒa/ (Lak 2009:102)
A wise man does not kill anyone with a blade but with golden (i.e. wise) speech and
proverbs he can kill (i.e. ashame/silence) the enemy.
The superior size and physical strength of men and the fact that
women are the birth-givers have had far-reaching consequences for the
gender history of mankind. In many ways, the male sex has made use of its
physical size and power for its own gain and benefit (Schipper, 2004: 3).
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even worthless. Conversely, a male is shown to be the source of pride and
dignity:
A girl is a fish; she should not remain (unmarried) because she will decay.
(9) /xu∫ki be bira wΛk mali be ʕiraja/ (Sirwan 2011:76)
A girl belongs to other people (i.e. after marriage); a boy is a golden ball (i.e.
precious).
(11) /ʒini sarbaxo milateki be ħukmata/ (Lak 2009:101)
(13) /ba a:wi bja:ba:n w ʒin la ma:lawa mitmana mΛka/ (Sirwan 2011:35)
Do not trust the water in the desert (i.e. a mirage) and a woman in the house.
(14) /ʕegajek ʒin ћa:kim be le ∫ajtan xizmatka:riati/ (Sirwan 2011:69)
It’s better for a man to kill another man than deceive him.
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(17) /pijau aw pijauaja lapa∫ mila w ru wak jak be/ (Sirwan 2011:65)
A man is the one who behaves the same in front of you and behind your back
(18) /pijaui barez dangi wiʒdan danase/ (Sirwan 2011:64)
Women are seen as lacking authority, power and even self-defense. A man, on the
other hand, is regarded as powerful and protective:
Women are presented as weak and helpless whereas typical men should be
courageous and fearless in the face of difficulties:
A man is a lion if he does what he says but he is a cow (i.e. a coward) if he doesn’t.
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(27) pijawi mard hamiʕa marda (Sirwan 2011:63)
The Kurdish society regards women as talkative and noisy creatures but men
as calm and courteous:
It is worth mentioning that though the above proverbs portray women as more
talkative than men, various studies have shown that men generally talk more than women in
various social situations (Spolsky 1998:37)
(32) /ʒini ʕarmin ʕarek dayni pijaui ʕarmin ʕanajek na:jni/ (Lak 2009:98)
A shy woman is worth a city; a shy man is not even worth a comb
(33) /ʒini be ʕarim wak ʕeʕti be xweja/ (Sharif 2005:99)
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7. Women’s superficial beauty vs. men’s charisma/personality
The society seems to believe that the most important thing for a woman is her
appearance but for a man his personality:
The beauty of a woman is in her smile; the beauty of a man is in his reasonable
conversation.
Women are associated and equated with home and hearth, and with
other metaphors localizing them in, or rather chaining them to, the place
where they belong or ought to remain, wishfully shut away, so that they do
not fall prey to the greedy eyes and hands of men other than their
husbands. Thus, proverbs confine them to rooms, homes and houses, and
would rather have them stay there until the end of their lives. There are
innumerable proverbs emphasizing that by leaving their home, women
“walk out of their honour” (Schipper, 2004: 8).
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A bride is/exists for (the satisfaction) of the groom’s heart (i.e. enjoyment)
(41) /pijaw wak hang waja la gulek dat∫et bo guleki tir/ (Sirwan 2011:57)
Tie your female puppy (i.e. daughter) so that the other people’s male puppy
(i.e. son) would not ride/go above her
(43) merdi ʒini ba na:mu:s hami∫a sarbarza
Discussion
In the discourse of all the above mentioned proverbs one can easily grasp the
notion of female humiliation and male glorification. In discussing this kind of discourse
one needs to consider the fact that Kurdistan is a conservative area with deep cultural
traditions steeped in eastern and Arab patriarchal cultural practices, and it seems that
some of these proverbs are influenced by customs and traditions.
Although unfairness and gender violence are obvious in every society, the role of
women within predominately patriarchal regions is one of particular vulnerability to
honor violence and subordination. Numerous women in such regions find themselves
to be victims of violence on the pretense of protecting family honor. Crimes of honor
include but are not limited to honor killings, assault, and interference in the choice of
marriage, confinement, imprisonment, or rape (Mason, 2010: 32-34). Kurdistan is not
an exception in this respect since there have been various instances of honor killing,
especially in rural areas. Writing in Kurmanji Kurdish in 1858-1859, Mela Meĥmûd
Bayezîdî, a knowledgeable Kurdish mullah, noted that Kurdish women were, ‘like
Europeans,’ free to associate with men. They know, however, that they would be
killed if they engaged in ‘bad deeds’ (şûlaxirab), that is, pre- or extra-marital
intercourse (Hassanpour, 2010: 239). However, there have been cases of a woman
killed simply for falling in love or having a dialogue with a man.
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place of paradox in relation to women. Despite the strides women have made in
gaining rights or leadership roles in Kurdistan, they continue to be treated as
inferior to men in various aspects of social life, often possessing little choice in
regard to important personal decisions. (Mason, 2010: 13-15).
Conclusions
In the Kurdish culture, especially in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, proverbs about
women to a large extent help explain how and why gender differences have resulted
in a growing gap, a gap that has alienated men and women from sharing both public
roles in life and responsibilities at home. Proverbs are believed to serve and follow
“the tradition”, but without ever specifying whose tradition is actually being referred
to and to what extent they are reflective of the truth. This study has attempted to
uncover the gender iniquities that are embedded in the Kurdish proverbs, and has
reached the following conclusions:
1. The Kurdish proverbs construct the notion of male superiority over women, and the
influence of tradition is prevalent in the interpretation of the proverbs with regard
to sex and gender stereotyping. Thus, the treatment of women by men in Kurdish
society can be traced back to the interpretation of old cultural values in which
women are expected to be totally obedient and submissive to men.
2. In the Kurdish proverbs, relationships between males and females have been
hierarchical, one in which males are dominant and women are subordinate.
3. In the Kurdish proverbs more attention is paid to women’s appearance and men’s
characters. Besides, these proverbs portray women as being confined to the
domestic work such as child care and household tasks, and men as being in charge
of the physical work and social activities outside home.
4. The discourse of Kurdish proverbs sometimes leads to women oppression and such
risky phenomena as interference in the choice of marriage, confinement,
imprisonment, rape or even ‘honor killing’, in which the murder of a female family
member typically takes place when a woman is accused of having a pre- or extra-
marital relation.
References
Cohen, S.D. (1993). Women and Discourse in the Fiction of Marguerite Duras. The
Macmillan Press: Hampshire & London.
Fairclough, Norman (1992). Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge: Polity Press.
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Faqir, F. (2001). “Intrafamily femicide in defence of honour: The case of Jordan”. Third
World Quarterly, 22, 65-82.
Hassanpour, Amir (2010). The (Re) production of Patriarchy in the Kurdish Language.
Retrieved from:
http://www.utoronto.ca/wwdl/publications/english/hassanpour_11.pdf
Hatch, J. A. (2002). Doing Qualitiative Research in Education Settings. New York: State
University of New York Press.
Rashash,H. (2012, October 11). Pandi Kurdi (Kurdish Proverbs). Hawler Daily (1456),
p. 5.
Schipper, Mineke (2004) ‘Never Marry a Woman with Big Feet – World Wisdom and
Development Cooperation’ Lecture Series on Forgotten Issues of Globalization -
Implications for Development Cooperation.
Stone, Jon R. (2006). The Rutledge Book of World Proverbs. London: Rutledge.
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Tyler, A. 1994. "The role of syntactic structure in discourse structure: Signaling logical
and prominence relations." Applied Linguistics, 15 (3): 243-262.
Van Dijk, T. A. (2004). “From Text Grammar to Critical Discourse Analysis”. Retrieved
from:
http://www.discourses.org/OldArticles/From%20text%20grammar%20to%20critic
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