Reflections on Patriarchy in the Traditional Ga Communities of Ghana: A Paremiological Perspective

Abstract

The article examines the role of paremias in Ghanaian African culture, arguing that proverbs and wise sayings help shape everyday life. It analyses signs of patriarchy and the portrayal of women in a selected set of traditional Ga proverbs. The work shows how these sayings can normalise and sustain gender inequality, social hierarchies, and a patriarchal order—especially in defining women’s identities, status, and roles in traditional Ga communities in Ghana, West Africa. This article further suggests that everyday experience, ways of thinking, and social relations are often guided by discourses grounded in the long-standing wisdom embedded in paremias.