From a searchable collection of over 15,000 proverbs about women from cultures around the world. Many of them sexist far beyond the point of gender differentiation, but I suppose that’s the point. It’s fascinating to enter different metaphors and see the range of proverbs that pop up: these are the first few results from the hundreds of proverbs about women and soup
The clever cooking pot! It loses meat and keeps the soup [said the husband: his wife ate the meat while cooking; ironically blaming a thing for the misdeeds of a person]. / Oromo, Ethiopia A child who remains in his mother’s house believes her soup the best. / Efik, Nigeria A good wife and a strengthening cabbage soup, you should not want more. / Russian A hen’s soup and a girl’s laugh bode no good. / German A woman who follows the fashion will never boil a good soup. / English, Jamaica An old hen makes a good soup. / Spanish, Central America and the Caribbean Asking [a neighbour] for salt does not yet make soup. [You have to depend on your own efforts.] / Krio, Sierra Leone Beauty will not season your soup. / Polish If you can’t control your moustache, don’t eat lentil soup. [If saddled with a jealous wife, to lead a peaceful married life, in her presence play no game that involves a sportive dame.] / Burmese
from “Never Marry a Women with Big Feet: Women in Proverbs Around the World,” by Mineke Schipper, Universiteit Leiden :: via MetaFilter