Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s essay “We Should All Be Feminists” is a text adaptation of her speech given at TedxEuston in 2013.

The paperback adaptation of her speech was published last month in light of International Women’s Day on March 8, recognizing her reasoning behind why we should all be feminists seems appropriate.
Adichie is breeding a new generation of feminism with her work. The bestselling novelist’s previous titles, “Half of a Yellow Sun” (2006) and “Americanah” (2013) have similar themes in comparison to her new essay, focusing on Nigerian culture with an emphasis on gender inequality.

However, in Adichie’s recent essay, despite her Nigerian cultural influences and background, she manages to globalize feminism while simultaneously recognizing the impact feminism can potentially have on both sexes:
“Gender matters everywhere in the world. And I would like today to ask that we should begin to dream about and plan for a different world. A fairer world. A world of happier men and happier women who are truer to themselves,” she writes. “And this is how to start: we must raise our daughters differently. We must also raise our sons differently.”
She accurately describes the disadvantages women face, “We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls you can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful but not too successful, otherwise you could threaten the man. If you are the breadwinner in your relationship with a man, pretend that you are not, especially in public, otherwise you will emasculate him.”
This is where Adichie eloquently weaves the social disadvantages of men and women together, “But what if we question the premise itself? Why should a woman’s success be a threat to a man? What if we decide to simply dispose of that word – emasculation?”
She continues to argue, “We do a great disservice to boys in how we raise them. We stifle the humanity of boys. We define masculinity in a very narrow way. … We teach boys to be afraid of fear, of weakness, of vulnerability. We teach them to mask their true selves…” With that statement, Adichie uproots the origin of socially constructed gender inequality and asserts the idea that women are not the only ones who suffer from disadvantage.

Adichie delivers a clear and authentic version of feminism to our generation; evolved beyond the second and third waves of feminism. This new feminism is groundbreaking. Not because it recognizes and refutes gender inequality in a better way, but because it identifies the source of the problem itself. Adichie shows the origin of gender roles, prejudice, and inequality as products of society and social experiences.
“Culture does not make people. People make culture,” she says.
The power to change culture and societal standards lies in each individual and until that power is acknowledged, culture will not change. Adichie proves the relevance of feminism beyond how it has historically been defined. Feminism is not strictly a female phenomenon. With conviction and purpose, she gives concrete meaning to the abstract idea of why we should all be feminists.

Rilwayne001:
Who is Adichie? Is she a Philosopher?

K9blunt:
true women should be treated fairly as well as men, but there should be a balance , men are physically stronger than women, women are psychologically stronger(or rather emotionally stable) they just need to complement each other and should be respected that way. I still prefer my man opening doors for me and pulling chairs for me to sit and taking responsibilities in one way or the other, and I prefer the cooking and being submissive(to a point o) shikena.

AllNaijaBlogger:

Who are you?

Are you a Cleric?

How can you be a Nigerian on the internet and not know who she is?

K9blunt:
true women should be treated fairly as well as men, but there should be a balance , men are physically stronger than women, women are psychologically stronger(or rather emotionally stable) they just need to complement each other and should be respected that way. I still prefer my man opening doors for me and pulling chairs for me to sit and taking responsibilities in one way or the other, and I prefer the cooking and being submissive(to a point o) shikena.

Rilwayne001:
Who is Adichie? Is she a Philosopher?

SAMBARRY:
Exactly adechie

kaboninc:


It is ADICHE!!!

Not ADE(like she's yoruba)

Are you trying to 'yorubanize' her?

SAMBARRY:
yes because I deliberately typed that


And please excuse me. You have been noticed

kaboninc:


No it wasn't deliberate.

Admit it and say 'thanks'!

Is it too much?

SAMBARRY:
I can see you're looking for someone to argue with you and I won't give you such attention you are after. You're free to believe whatever you want to believe. I have typed that And I am not going back on my words. EOD!

kaboninc:


Lool.

Did I rattle you?

Kpele, it was deliberate!

Trussss me, am like that, to you.

Its too late to argue. Want to hit the air now with my broom stick. Hope you'd join.

But, how was ur day?

kaboninc:


No it wasn't deliberate.

Admit it and say 'thanks'!

Is it too much?

pcguru1:



He was being sarcastic.

kaboninc:


She's a she.

Not a he.

A transgendered - a male that has the feature of a female.

Rilwayne001:
Who is Adichie? Is she a Philosopher?

AllNaijaBlogger:


Who are you? Are you a Cleric?

How can you be a Nigerian on the internet and not know who she is?

@ FrancisTony, old news

klark3:

What do u mean by women are emotionally stable?

Is there anything stable about women? Women are known for their volatile perception about life.

If I have my way, i will destroy all feminists, they are ideologies contradicts God's command.

Rubbish!!!

macof:
Feminism is sexism.. Even the name gives it away as a fraud
I wonder why an intelligent woman like,Adichie is falling for such fraud

Promote gender equality and Meritocracy, not demonise the society because more men are involved in big things and top positions.

Women shouldn't be lazy, get up and stop looking for swag boyfriend and caring so much about make up and fake hair and rise up for your own good..you waste your youth and then blame serious and successful men for your failures

Women like Oprah, Adichie, Beyonce, Okonjo-Iweala didn't waste their time, they found their interest, created a goal and worked towards it...most young ladies today lack interest in things that require hardwork so don't blame men, blame yourselves

People would have confidence in you and support you to lead if you have a personality and the merit to do so

SAMBARRY:
a sensible woman who knows her worth

FrancisTony:

Seriously, do you think everybody is a Christian

What's the difference between you, ISIS, Alqeada and Bokoharam?

klark3:

I'm referring to all feminists who still believe in christ, what business do I have with non christians.

Animals like goat, lions etc, acknowledge d fact dat male & female are two different gender with distinct characteristics & sensibilities. feminism is nothing but a fight against nature, this makes it a blind alley.

d difference btw me & terrorists/feminists; Terrorists/feminists fight for no good cause, their actions are unjustifiable, but there is always a cogent rationale for my actions & inaction. Hope d difference is clear now..

pcguru1:
There's nothing wrong about being a feminist i support it, people don't really know the true meaning of feminist it has nothing to do with women stepping on men's balls but giving women the equal right and also stop educating women to think their life must revolve around a man. Most people confuse misandrists for feminist. Women are raised to see each other as enemies compete with each other just to get the favour of a man. I support her statement this is not me kissing arse. My mother raised me on her own when my father died and she worked till she got to the point of her career, we should not delegate the woman to the kitchen. I have respect for women are top in their career , i also respect housewives too. I don't believe that a woman should not be too successful in her career, in my work place (can't mention the company) i can tell you that its a lady who's holding our department together. I always tell her the day she lives the company is the day all of us are going to have issues. She the rock and all the men give her that respect we don't ever doubt her judgement. this is the modern age maybe am down today am just tired of all these comments on NL, that state that women should tone down just to make the man feel like a man. A real man shouldn't be bothered by his wife success.

But what do i know ?

klark3:

I'm referring to all feminists who still believe in christ, what business do I have with non christians.

Animals like goat, lions etc, acknowledge d fact dat male & female are two different gender with distinct characteristics & sensibilities. feminism is nothing but a fight against nature, this makes it a blind alley.

d difference btw me & terrorists/feminists; Terrorists/feminists fight for no good cause, their actions are unjustifiable, but there is always a cogent rationale for my actions & inaction. Hope d difference is clear now..

FrancisTony:


www.theonlineclarion.com/arts-culture/2015/03/30/adichie-argues-we-should-all-be-feminists/

klark3:

I'm referring to all feminists who still believe in christ, what business do I have with non christians.

Animals like goat, lions etc, acknowledge d fact dat male & female are two different gender with distinct characteristics & sensibilities. feminism is nothing but a fight against nature, this makes it a blind alley.

d difference btw me & terrorists/feminists; Terrorists/feminists fight for no good cause, their actions are unjustifiable, but there is always a cogent rationale for my actions & inaction. Hope d difference is clear now..