We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Publisher: Fourth Estate, 2014
- Genre: Essay
- Format: Ebook
- Page Count: 52 pages
- My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5)
Ah, of course this is an angry book. When it comes to gender issues, how can you not be frustrated?
This is an essay on what a feminist is and isn’t, based on Chimamanda’s TED talk. Even though growing up, my environment were never as vicious as the author’s, it was, nevertheless, similar to an extent. The gender perceptions of the society seeped into our lives, and we were somehow brainwashed to believe that men were more capable of handling tasks and more trustworthy of making important decisions.
I am trying to unlearn many lessons of gender I internalized while growing up. But I sometimes still feel vulnerable in the face of gender expectations.
I used to believe that the world is different now, that people are equal. If we do the same job, we get the same pay. But in reality, it isn’t like this. I remembered how horrified I felt when I found out that gender pay gap still exists. I’m not talking about the average money people make, but when they are in the same company, doing practically the same job, their pay is still unequal. I was oblivious, and needless to say, furious when I found out.
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.’
We need a world with more women who are willing to challenge the system, and more men who understand that this is a progressive modern world. Together, we create a better place. [12 May 2018]
