Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the most feminine feminist
On May 29th 2015, at Wellesley College (Massachusetts, USA) she gave one of the funniest, sweetest and most inspiring commencement address to the lucky 137th graduating class. Any women and girl should absolutely watch it!
Today, who doesn’t know Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie with her famous “We should all be feminists”. But does everybody know that this is actually the title of an essai that she first published in 2014?
Chimamanda was born in 1977 in Enugu, Nigeria. She is the fifth of six children. After having completed her secondary school, she started studying Medecine and Pharmacy at the University of Nigeria. After one year and half, she finally left to the United States where she studied communications, political sciences and finally completed a master degree in creative writing in 2001. Her first novel published in 2003, Purple Hibiscus, has received a wide acclaim and so did the many others who followed, like Americanah (a must read!). She is married and has a daughter.
I felt in love with her when I heard this speech. I did not know her at that time, never read any of her books, but I was immediately fascinated by her shinning face and smile, soft voice but powerful words and messages.
In my opinion, this is what feminism should look like: a sweet mix of grace and humour, intelligence and feminine elegance. Her text is full of so many strong phrases such as:
– “Always just try. Because we never know”
– “In this age of “parenting as guilt”, please spread the guilt equally. Make fathers feel as bad as mothers”
– “Never ever accept ‘because you are a woman’ as a reason for doing or not doing anything”
– “We females are so often socialized to silence. Don’t silence that voice. Dare to take!”
Please watch her video and read her full text.
