What Wedding Speeches Really Say About Gender

In my research paper 'A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Representation of Gender Images in Wedding Speeches in Tanzania,' co-authored with Antoni Keya and published in the Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (Vol. 13, Iss. 2, 2024), we examined the parental guidance speeches given at Tanzanian wedding ceremonies, the advice parents offer the bride and groom before they start their life together. Using audio-visual recordings and focus group discussions, we analyzed the actual language used in these speeches through the lens of critical discourse analysis. What we found was consistent: the discourse still leans heavily on traditional gender roles. Men are routinely framed as the 'supreme heads of households,' responsible for major decisions: financial, political, domestic. Women, by contrast, are framed around obedience and humility, described as dependent and submissive. These aren't neutral turns of phrase; they are inherited scripts, repeated at ceremony after ceremony, quietly reinforcing patriarchal norms in one of the most emotionally significant rituals in Tanzanian culture. My hope with this research is that naming these patterns is the first step toward changing them, and that officiants, MCs, and families alike can start choosing language more deliberately.