Why are wisdom and folly depicted as women in Proverbs? Something hit me a while back for you to test against the Word: traditionally a female is pursued, so is wisdom and wickedness–each require deliberate action, so we must consider carefully what we chase; you wouldn’t exactly chase a dude in that way, so any comparison to a male would seem more like a conquering of an enemy rather than a catching of a prize. In Proverbs, one prize kills you, but the other is an eternal treat.