"For centuries, the world divided human beings into two groups and then proceeded to exclude and oppress one group. It is only fair that the solution to the problem should acknowledge that."
As I've grown older, I've become more and more interested in equality issues and women's rights. Going to an all girls grammar school, my friends and I were told that the sky was the limit, the glass ceiling was a myth, and that gender played no negative part in our futures. Now I have come to realise that gender does play a big role in my life, and so does my commitment to feminism. For me, We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, sums up exactly what I feel needs to be changed in order to achieve gender equality and/or further the feminist movement.
We Should All Be Feminists is the transcript of Adichie's Ted xEuston talk, in which she addressed feminism and gender equality in Africa. Instead of simply stating the obvious - Africa, much like other continents, struggles with gender equality - she explains why and provides this very simple solution:
"We must raise our daughters differently. We must also raise our sons differently."
And there you have it. Unlike some feminist writers, Adichie has said it how it is. Problems with gender inequality do not stem from the younger generations. They stem from the older generations who pass on gender norms to the new blood. This is not necessarily family members, but teaching institutions, the media, simply anything that has the potential to impact on someone's opinions. We shouldn't be teaching young women to dress modestly in order to attract the 'right sort of male attention', we should be teaching young men that a woman's item of clothing does not denote their value, intelligence or promiscuity. As Adichie writes, women should not be thanking men for doing the housework purely because they have 'been given the night off', but simply out of thanks for doing their share.
We Should All Be Feminists took next to no time to read from cover to cover, but contained a wealth of knowledge about an aspect of feminism that is so simple, yet has the potential to be so effective. If you have 15 minutes spare, an open mind, and a thirst for new feminist thought, I implore you to make this your next read.
Beth x
