Balochi Oral Literature and Gender Construction

Abstract

Language plays a vital role for the shaping of the social structure of a society. Similarly, proverbs are the significant part of any language being used in a day to day communication. These proverbs are transformed and transferred from generation to generation in according to the social events and conditions. The current study carried out on representation of women in Balochi language proverbs. The purpose of this study was to critically analyze the gender representation of women in Balochi language Proverbs. In present study purposive sampling technique is used to collect data. The data were collected from four books on Balochi proverbs among them 15 proverbs are critically analyzed. All those proverbs which represented women are taken and analyzed. Moreover, the Hegemonic masculinity, hegemony and social constructionism theories are used to analyze the data. The findings of this study suggests that women are represented in a gendered way depicting her role as dependency, submissiveness, marginalized and lack agency whereas men have been portrayed as powerful, brave, ruler and holds greater autonomy over economic, social, religious and political domain.