Abstract:

In the 21st century, the pervasiveness of gender stereotypes is a widely recognized phenomenon. Gender-based discrimination has been subject to extensive research over the last several decades. The common consensus is that gender conventions have a notable effect on society at large. Due to its enduring nature, this phenomenon continues to manifest itself through the language we use today.

Culture and folklore are two of the most essential components in many of the world’s languages. They include proverbs, adages, and sayings, which are covered by a subfield of linguistics known as paremiology. At some point in their life, speakers encounter an element of paremiology or use it as part of their active lexicon. Schooling is no exception given the vital role it plays in language acquisition.

Proverbs, sayings, and adages serve a didactic purpose by instilling a certain life view in the speaker’s mind. Political education offers a striking example in that regard. Many paremiological units stem from politics and are therefore encountered in both the teaching and learning of political competences. A large portion of the time, paremiology is also linked with a concept known as gender marking. Defined as a set of features that identify a linguistic unit as pertaining to a certain gender, this aspect makes proverbs a likely source of gender-based stereotypes.

The purpose of this article is to identify and analyse gender stereotypes that could arise in political education through the lens of gender marking and paremiology. Proverbs related to governance and power, as well as popular political quotes, have been analysed to determine their suitability for political education and their effect on gender-based stereotypes. Special consideration is given to the representation of women, as they are known to be disproportionally affected by gender discrimination.

The materials for this article are presented in English and Greek. Quantitative analysis has been used in processing the data for this study. Componential analysis has been used to examine the gender-marked elements in the material. A trial lesson with the use of proverbs in English and Greek has been prepared to test the result of the study.

As a result, the following has been concluded:
- Studying gender-related elements in proverbs has helped broaden the scope of research into the concept of femininity, both in political education and other fields;
- Proverbs are a useful tool that can be used to determine gender stereotypes confined to a specific area of study;
- The idea of power and governance is commonly expressed through proverbs that use masculine gender markers;
- Political proverbs are often subject to androcentrism (prioritizing the masculine perspective);
- The sexist representation of women in political proverbs appears in the forms of disparagement, subtle discrimination, as well as semantic derogation;
- In political education, elements of paremiology should be approached with caution so as not to instil gender-related stereotypes.

Keywords:

Greek language, English language, paremiology, gender marking, quantitative analysis.