DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2016.v04i09.007

Pages: 1023-1027

For a holistic understanding of social, economic, political, and historical understanding of issues affecting Africa, the struggles of social equality between both men and women must be addressed. This article focused on semantics of female derogation and subjugation in Gikuyu proverbs. Stereotypes have been encoded in proverbs; which are highly respected and valued in Gikuyu culture suggesting the masculinised level of the society. Proverbs then, poses evidence of male’s intentions of being in control over discourses that are in the society. Women’s representation in the society is mainly negative. The study was informed by a combination of Wodak’s Discourse Historical Approach and Connell’s Hegemonic Masculinities theory .The theories benefited the study in terms of their practical approaches, perspectives and also the analytical tools. Further, they were utilized for the purpose of exploring the complex understandings of manliness as inscribed. The data was analysed descriptively as the researcher described possible attitudes and behavior that the subjects have. The beneficiaries of the study are other researchers since it will inspire future research in the area of gender and language by showing how language planners can inculcate issues of social justice such as gender equality into the curriculum and it will also be of help to institutions interested in gender issues together with curriculum developers in their efforts to mainstream gender strategies into the planning and implementation of language.