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Part of
Grammatical and Sociolinguistic Aspects of Ethiopian Languages
Edited by Derib Ado, Almaz Wasse Gelagay and Janne Bondi Johannessen †
[IMPACT: Studies in Language, Culture and Society 48] 2021
► pp. 137–170

Gender and women representation in Gurage culture of Ethiopia

| Hawassa University
| Wolkite University
The aim of this chapter is to describe the social, cultural and political representation of women in the Gumer district of the Gurage Zone of the snnprs of Ethiopia. We conducted semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions (fgd) with men and women in the district, and analysed the text using critical discourse analysis (cda). We had 19 interviewees and five fgd participants. We also made observation of events in wɨkjər ‘evening gathering’ and shopping in the big and small markets where men and women shop categorically, buying different items in different sections of the market. We also consulted documents dealing with gender and women’s roles in Gurage. The findings showed that there are noticeable differences between men and women in role categories, social positions, expected behaviours, and in the responses to different gender discourses. The differences were observed in the discourses of blessing, name bestowing, mourning ceremonies and proverbs, in addition to those found during interviews. Different factors, such as financial resources, societal views about men and women, and long-established cultural belief in the society contributed to the lower representation of women in social and political positions.
Keywords: discourse, gender, Gurage, representation, women
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Background
    • 1.2Statement of the problem
    • 1.3Objectives of the study
    • 1.4Review of related literature
      • 1.4.1Language, gender and discourse
      • 1.4.2Previous studies on gender discourses in Gurage
    • 1.5Research design and methodology
    • 1.6Organisation of the chapter
  • 2.Data analysis and presentation
    • 2.1Gender roles and social positions
      • 2.1.1Grammatical gender as reflection of social practice
      • 2.1.2Gender roles in markets
      • 2.1.3Gender roles in traditional courts
      • 2.1.4Gender roles and representation in bɨhjə ‘mourning’
      • 2.1.5Gender roles and representation in aӡəmənə ‘wedding ceremony’
      • 2.1.6Gender roles and representation in title name bestowing
      • 2.1.7Gender roles and political representation
      • 2.1.8Gender roles and social participation
    • 2.2Responses to gender discourses and construction of identity
      • 2.2.1Responses of participants to various gender discourses
      • 2.2.2Gender discourses and identity construction
  • 3.Summary, discussion and conclusion
    • 3.1Summary
    • 3.2Discussion
    • 3.3Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 23 April 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/impact.48.06men
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