Women in proverbs across the world (video)

Mineke Schipper (Never Marry a Woman); Ananda (DBM), Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

In cultures all over, sex and gender issues have been expressed in proverbs, the world's smallest literary genre.

This fascinating book by Mineke Schipper provides revealing insights into the female condition across centuries and continents, as recorded in thousands of vivid and earthy proverbs about females.

• "A wife is like a blanket: cover yourself, it irritates you; cast it aside, you feel cold" (Ghana).
• "The name of the father is the secret of the mother" (Jamaica).
• "A woman who knows Latin will never find a husband nor come to a good end" (Europe).
• "Wives and shoes are better when old" (Japan).

Hills of Paradise (M. Schipper)

Schipper analyzes similarities, differences, and contradictions in the cultural norms about gender expressed in proverbs she found from over 150 countries.

Grouping the sayings into such categories as the female body, love, sex, childbirth, and female power, she finds shared patterns in ideas about women (or how men see them).

Part cross-cultural study, part literary criticism, and part anthology, this book is a unique and intriguing resource to dip into again and again. More

• NEW BOOK: Hills of Paradise (Letterenfonds)
• Mineke Schipper website: Hills of Paradise
• VIDEO: Celebrating Dissent: Women Against Gods?

For centuries in every religion, country, and culture women have been oppressed and undermined. Men have been shaping religion and society, placing themselves at the center of it along the way. How are we to understand oppression, its history and practice, to enable ourselves to change the future?