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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian novelist and vocal feminist. She won the 2007 Orange prize for her novel Half of a Yellow Sun and became famous for her award winning 2012 TED talk entitled We Should All Be Feminists. The talk has over 2 million views on YouTube and was notably sampled by Beyoncé in her song “Flawless.” Adichie is hoping to spark even more global discussions about gender. The essay adapted from her TED talk, is being distributed in Swedish high schools. The Swedish Women’s Lobby and publisher Albert Bonniers Förlag are launching the project at Norra Real high school in Stockholm this week. They hope that the book will “work as a stepping stone for a discussion about gender equality and feminism.”
The definition of a feminist
In her essay, Adichie said:
“My own definition of a feminist is a man or a woman who says, ‘Yes, there’s a problem with gender as it is today and we must fix it, we must do better. All of us, women and men, must do better.” She added “Some people ask: ‘Why the word feminist? Why not just say you are a believer in human rights, or something like that?’ Because that would be dishonest. Feminism is, of course, part of human rights in general – but to choose to use the vague expression human rights is to deny the specific and particular problem of gender. It would be a way of pretending that it was not women who have, for centuries, been excluded.”
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Reaching out to female and male students
Adichie is looking to reach students of all genders. Her essay criticizes modern masculinity as well – “We teach boys to be afraid of fear, of weakness, of vulnerability. We teach them to mask their true selves, because they have to be, in Nigerian-speak – a hard man.” To her, feminism is about justice.
“I’m a feminist because I want to live in a world that is more just. I’m a feminist because I want to live in a world where a woman is never told that she can or cannot or should or should not do anything because she is a woman. I want to live in a world where men and women are happier. Where they are not constrained by gender roles. I want to live in a world where men and women are truly equal. And that’s why I’m a feminist,” said Adichie.
She’s hoping that one day, students will call themselves feminists as well
“When I was 16, I don’t think I knew what the word ‘feminist’ meant. I don’t think I knew the word at all. But I was a feminist” she said. “And I hope that the 16-year-olds that will read this book in Sweden will also decide that they’re feminists. Mostly, I hope very soon that one day we will not need to be feminists. Because we will live in a world that is truly just and equal.”
SEE ALSO: Nigerian Women Share The Discrimination They Face Every Day.
