We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Feminist: a person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.

Before I get into this book review, I’d first like to say thank you to my dear friend Ambika (a.k.a. Ganges Gal) for this recommendation! 

When I think of this book, I think of the phrase, “tiny, but mighty,” because that’s exactly what it is. Technically this “book” is really an essay or a short, but I will be referring to it as a book because it delivers a powerful, book-length message in a quick 64 pages. 

As the title suggests, this work is all about Feminism. I know you might’ve just rolled your eyes or let out a soft sigh due to the negative connotations the word “feminism” carries. I would have done the same before reading this piece.. But from the first couple of pages, I realized We Should All Be Feminists didn’t fall into the same category as the other Feminist literature that may give the cause a bad rep.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie addresses Feminism from a relatable and cultural point of view. Adichie comes from a Nigerian background, where she grew up being scrutinized for being a strong-willed woman. In her book she speaks on Feminism in terms of family life, social scenarios, professionalism, romantic relationships, and culture. 

Let’s get into the review... 

I really loved that Adichie calls you out in this book! She not only calls out the reader, but she also calls out people in your family, your boss, your friends, and, of course, men! Adichie provides real-life examples, personal experiences, and scenarios which help prove her points, and they always hit. For example, she wrote, 

“If you are a man and you walk into a restaurant and the waiter greets just you, does it occur to you to ask the waiter, ‘Why have you not greeted her?’ Men need to speak out in all of these ostensibly small situations.”

This situation may seem small, but it is so belittling to women and all too common. Just the other day I went with my boyfriend to the reception desk at our San Francisco hotel to make a complaint about our room being 90 degrees (no joke, I would've had heat stroke had I stayed.) We got to the front office and I approached the desk to tell the man what the issue was. Not only did he question my complaint, but after a couple of probing questions, he looked behind me to my boyfriend to ask him to clarify the situation, as if I wasn’t credible enough. Now, my boyfriend is great and a Feminist himself, and he simply confirmed to the man everything I had already told him with a, “Like she said, the thermostat was turned off and the heat was still on.”

Of course, after my boyfriend confirmed what I said was in fact, the truth, the man gave us a new room, but the whole situation left a sour taste in both of our mouths. It’s these seemingly small and passive acts that happen to women every day which show just how prevalent sexism still is today.

Another portion of this book I loved was Adichie’s conversation of child rearing, and how sons and daughters are often raised differently. This is something that is true across cultures. Girls are raised with beauty, likability, and empathy as our main values. Meanwhile, our male counterparts are often raised with money, strength, and success as their main values. Partially, for this reason, society has unequal views of and respect for those two genders. Of course, women are often not taken as seriously, and are seen as inferior and less valuable in professional settings. Then, on the other hand, Adichie makes the point that; 

“We do a great disservice to boys in how we raise them. We stifle the humanity of boys. We define masculinity in a very narrow way. Masculinity is a hard, small cage, and we put boys inside this cage.”

Boys and girls need to be raised differently, with more equality.. They should both be taught to strive for greatness and to be strong and successful, just as they both should be taught to properly express their emotions and that vulnerability is not a weakness, but a strength. 

Adichie gives her readers a great question on child rearing, 

“But what matters even more is our attitude, our mind-set. What if, in raising children, we focus on ability instead of gender? What if we focus on interest instead of gender?”

And honestly, that’s how I plan to raise my children someday.

Without going too much deeper into this book, I’ll leave you all with that, and my final rating of this book. My overall rating of We Should All Be Feminists is a much-deserved 5/5. This short book is relevant, relatable, and impactful in an easily digestible format. Not only do I agree with the title that we should all be Feminists, but I also believe that whether or not you identify with being a Feminist, you should read this book. You might learn something new and you might even change your perspective on what it actually means to be a Feminist.

My overall Rating: 5/5

This post was reviewed and edited by Arjuna Ramgopal, Producer of Was It Good Podcast