16 Thought-Provoking Quotes From Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s ‘Dear Ijeawele, Or A Feminist Manifesto In Fifteen Suggestions’

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s ‘Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions’ is a guide to raising a girl child a feminist which is so important in this day and age. Today’s world, without doubt, needs more feminists. When you raise a child to be a feminist, you are contributing very positively to the society and world we live in. The book has 15 direct suggestions which everyone can implement to give a child the invaluable gift of being able to see the world like a feminist. So, here are 16 quotes from Chimamanda from this book that I liked the most.

1. Because when there is true equality, resentment does not exist.
2. ‘Because you are a girl’ is never a reason for anything. Ever.
3. If we stop conditioning women to see marriage as a prize, then we would have fewer debates about a wife needing to cook in order to earn that prize.
4. The writer had accused me of being ‘angry’, as though ‘being angry’ were something to be ashamed of. Of course I am angry. I am angry about racism. I am angry about sexism.
5. If a woman has power then why do we need to disguise that she has power?
6. But here is a sad truth: our world is full of men and women who do not like powerful women.
7. Because I do not believe that marriage is something we should teach young girls to aspire to.
8. Teach her that if you criticize X in women but do not criticize X in men, then you do not have a problem with X, you have a problem with women.
9. Find ways to make clear to her that marriage is not an achievement, nor is it what she should aspire to.
10. A marriage can be happy or unhappy, but it is not an achievement.
11. Tell her that if someone does not like her, there will be someone else who will.
12. It takes one person to make change happen.
13. There are so many African women who are sources of feminist inspiration. Because of what they have done and because of what they have refused to do.
14. She can counter ideas about static ‘gender roles’ if she has been empowered by her familiarity with alternatives.
15. Female goodness is as normal as female evil.
16. That a woman claims not to be feminist does not diminish the necessity of feminism.

Happy reading!

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