Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: A Feminist Analysis

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, author of Dear Ijeawele, writes the novelette in the manner of fifteen suggestions to a friend whom is asking how to raise her daughter into a well-rounded feminist. Although the book is originally intended solely for her friend, Adichie believes it is important for everyone that is an active member of society to sit down and read the advice she proposes. As she expresses in the beginning pages of her enlightened manifesto, “Your feminist premise should be: I matter. I matter equally. Not ‘if only.’ Not ‘as long as.’ I matter equally. Full stop” (Adichie 6). With this in mind, readers begin to see the basic principle of feminism: socioeconomic equality of both men and women that should be applied humanity in its entirety. When evaluating Adichie’s fifteen propositions, one can see they are very realistic and can be applied to modern societies. However, this is unfortunately not the case for many patriarchal cultures, such as the Igbo culture Adichie come from. In her culture, the word ‘tradition’ is often used to vindicate actions women are forced to carry out, meanwhile men do not reciprocate the same activities (Adichie 8). For example, women are expected to live up to customary submissive roles by becoming housewives and catering to their husband’s needs. As a response to these outmoded traditions, Adichie thinks an Igbo woman that supports feminism can be taught to embrace her culture while also neglecting the adverse characteristics it comes with by writing, “Igbo culture is lovely because it values community and consensus and hard work…. But Igbo culture also teaches that a woman cannot do certain things just because she’s a woman and that is wrong” (39-40). Furthermore, this is one of the several reasons why the benefits of feminism will take years to reach androcentric cultures before they are equally embraced by both genders. Although many of Adichie’s standpoints can be seen in the American society today, they are not fully embraced by men and women yet because of traditional beliefs that are still present. …show more content…
For instance, the division of both males and females into ‘gender roles’ exist in everyday retail stores around America. From clothes to toys that children possess, nearly everything is segregated into ways society believes these young men and women should present themselves regarding their appearance, diction, and personal opinions. Adichie witnesses this partition when she is looking to buy a gift for her friend’s daughter. As she is strolling along the toy section of a retail store, Adichie takes note by writing, “Toys for boys are mostly active, and involve some sort of ‘doing’—trains, cars—and toys for girls are mostly ‘passive’ and are overwhelmingly dolls” (16). By dividing children into what clothes to wear and toys to play with, society is holding them back from reaching their utmost capabilities (Adichie 16). They are not merely ‘boys’ and ‘girls’. In truth, they are individual human beings that deserve to be taught to express themselves however they desire despite binary boundaries that society is not willing to shatter in order to embrace Adichie’s notions. Personally, I wholly concur with Adichie's beliefs of feminism. Just like her, I believe in feminism that promotes gender equality, not dominance of one or the other. As Adichie writes in her sixth suggestion that questions terminology usage, “Teach