The Woman of Courage: A Womanist Reading of Proverbs 31

In The Woman of Courage, Mmapula Diana Kebaneilwe provides a brilliant contextual and inter-textual, womanist analysis of Proverbs 31:10-31. Kebaneilwe critically engages with this well-known pericope’s intertextual context with other biblical texts from the same era. As she renders the Hebrew eshet hayil, she questions conventional patriarchal readings of Prov. 31 and emphasizes the agency, tenacity, and economic might of the ‘woman of courage.’

Kebaneilwe shows that the woman who is celebrated in this biblical text lives in a culture with accentuated gender roles which resonate with the lived experiences of many Batswana women in many ways and at different levels. Like Botswana culture, ancient Israelite culture, as demonstrated throughout the Hebrew Bible, is agrarian, patriarchal, and androcentric. In both worlds, a woman’s worth and dignity are closely associated with her socially prescribed and labour-intensive roles of wife and mother.

This monograph demonstrates that eshet-hayil is impressive to her oppressors, including her husband and the patriarchs in higher authority, who are urged by the overarching voice of the narrator to hold her in high esteem and applaud her for her work and position. The implied praise of the men at the gate shows that the Woman of Courage has transcended one of the fundamental limitations of the patriarchal system, which was that she could never be recognised, praised, or rewarded for her work.

By emphasizing African womanist viewpoints, Kebaneilwe shows that Prov. 31 is not only a critique of patriarchal biblical ideas about women, but also—and perhaps more significantly—a text of empowerment for modern women and everyone else because it provides new perspectives on gender justice issues. The Woman of Courage is a must read for theologians, undergraduate and graduate students and all those interested in the intersection of religion and gender justice.