What We Teach Girls

BY Zodwa Kumalo-Valentine

Pop culturists will know renowned Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for her noted TEDx talk titled “We Should All Be Feminists” which was sampled by Beyoncé in her track Flawless. In it she says:

“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 will threaten the man.’
We raise girls to see each other as competitors –
not for jobs or for accomplishments,
but for the attention of men.

“My 13-year-old niece calls herself a feminist—not because I made the speech, but because of Beyoncé,” Ngozi Adichie told Bella Naija.

The award-winning writer, who constantly explores and reinforces the theme of feminism in her novels such as Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun and Americanah, told The Guardian in a recent interview: “Since feminism was un-African, I decided I would now call myself a Happy African Feminist. Then a dear friend told me that calling myself a feminist meant that I hated men. So I decided I would now be a Happy African Feminist Who Does Not Hate Men. At some point I was a Happy African Feminist Who Does Not Hate Men And Who Likes To Wear Lip Gloss And High Heels For Herself And Not For Men.”

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