Women’s History Month Profile: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is an unapologetic feminist, novelist and short story writer who is passionate about women’s issues. This passionate woman is a vocal advocate of feminism and uses her complex work as a voice for the voiceless African women to address social imbalances .

Chimamanda has written lauded novels which include Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun, Americanah and a book of short stories, The Thing around Your Neck. Many people see her as one of the unique and complex contemporary authors, because of the blunt approach she takes in articulating serious issues in her writing. In December 2012 Adichie delivered what was to be come a famous TEDxEuston speech on feminism in modern-day Africa and the world. The speech attracted further attention when it was sampled in the song “Flawless” by the famous American performer Beyoncé Knowels in 2013.

Quotes

“I think of myself as a storyteller, but I would not mind at all if someone were to think of me as a feminist writer… I’m very feminist in the way I look at the world, and that worldview must somehow be part of my work.” ―Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

“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 would threaten the man. Because I am female, I am expected to aspire to marriage. I am expected to make my life choices always keeping in mind that marriage is the most important. Now marriage can be a source of joy and love and mutual support but why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage and we don’t teach boys the same? We raise girls to see each other as competitors not for jobs or accomplishments, which I think can be a good thing, but for the attention of men. We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings in the way that boys are.”― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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