The portrayal of women in Jordanian proverbial expressions: A thematic analysis

Abstract Proverbial expressions are linguistic elements that represent the images and values of a society. This study examines the portrayal of women in Jordanian proverbial expressions. It attempts to answer the following question: How are women portrayed in Jordanian folk proverbs? To this end, seventy-eight Jordanian proverbs related to women were collected through interviews and from published folklore books. Employing thematic analysis, the data were classified into eight categories, namely, women as wives, unmarried women, women as mothers, women as daughters, widowed women, divorced women, women as relatives-in-law and women in general. The analysis also shows that women are represented both negatively and positively in all categories. However, the negative image of women depicted in the proverbs exceeds the positive one. Based on the conclusions, some future research was suggested.