MUŠKO-ŽENSKI ODNOSI KROZ POSLOVICE U B/H/S I ENGLESKOM JEZIKU

Abstract

The male-female relationship constitutes an eternal enigma analysed in different ways throughout the history. The status of women through the ages has been significantly different from the status of men; the domestic domain of their home has been regarded as a female space, while the public life has been reserved for males. Women have been invisible in many aspects of life; the procreation has been viewed as their most important function, while not protesting and accepting the fate in silence have been considered their highest virtues. The present paper illustrates how this topic is described in proverbs, and the contrastive analysis sheds light on the similarities/differences between the conception of women, men and the relationship between them in two languages: B/C/S and English. Although the results indicate that in both languages the dichotomy male-female does not divide the world into two symmetrical parts with regard to the power, freedom and rights being marked by the male dominance, the inequality is more visible in B/C/S.