Cynthia Rodriguez

Professor Jackie
English 113A
November 3, 2015
Gender Equality
I believe that everybody should be a feminist. Womens rights is referred to the feminism
movement, today. The word feminist is a person who believes in the social, political and
economic equality of sexes. This article is by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. She is an African
feminist who believes that gender is the problem that shapes who you are. Gender equality plays
a major role in society that isnt fair for women. Why are women looked down upon because
they are females rather than males? Women are also taught that they are sexual beings rather than
men that are not.
Gender matters everywhere around the world. In this article Adichie focuses on her home
place Nigeria. She mentions that she has had personal experiences herself. One experienced she
focused on was when she was in primary school and her teacher made her class do a quiz. The
student with the highest grade on the quiz will be class monitor. At that age it was very important
to Adichie and she wanted to become class monitor. She received the highest score in her class
but they eliminated her from being class monitor because the teacher said only boys can become
class monitors after she had received the scores back. Adichie mentioned how this is an
experience she will never forget. Gender is who identifies who you are. This was a major

incident to her because she wanted to become class monitor and she couldnt do so because she
was a female and the other student was male.
Adichie states reasonable evidence. Girls at a young age are taught shame such as close
your legs. Cover yourself. Girls are being taught shame and make them feel because they are
women they are already guilty of something. Raising girls with the idea that they are guilty of
something only shifts them to become silent of what they think or of what they want to say.
Adichie quotes they grow up to be women who have turned pretense into an art form. What
this means is that women are taught things at an early age and are expected to do it because of
the gender that they are. If you pay close attention to how society and how people raise their
children, you are able to notice that girls and boys are raised completely different. Boys are
raised with the attitude that they must not show fear but yet must show their masculinity. Boys
are expected to pay when they are out with girls to show that they are able to manage anything
that comes their way and they are noticed as the hard man. Furthermore, girls are taught to
shrink themselves up and shown that they can have ambition but not more than men because its
threat to them.
The world that we live in today is identified by the gender that you are. Just recently the
U.S elections alternately there was a law Lilly Ledbetter Law This law brought a lot of
attention because it was mainly about women and men doing the same job and being equally
qualified because of the gender. A man was to get paid more because he is a man. Literal speaks
that men rule the world only because they are physically strong. There are about 52% of the
worlds population are women. But positions of power are taken up by men. The stronger gender
is more likely to take the lead of any situation. Modern day today, seems like it has changed that.
Now, the gender with more intelligent, education, and innovative are the ones getting well pay

and getting paid what they deserve. They are not as discriminated as before due to this recent
law. Adichie mentioned in her article about another personal experience that she had to face. She
mentions that in her hometown Lagos she is not allowed to go anywhere by herself unless she
occupied with a man by her side. One day she went to a restaurant with a guy friend and the
waiter seemed to friendly welcome the male friend but not her. She felt invisible and horrible.
She hates not being recognized anytime she is in her hometown. She saids I feel like telling
them I am a human just as much as a man. Women arent often recognized that they are
humans as well. They shouldnt have to feel like they are any different than a man only because
they are two different genders. Especially in this situation where Adichie said she isnt even
welcomes at a restaurant.
Adichie quotes I have chosen to no longer be apologetic for my femaleness and my
femininity. And I want to be respected in all of my femaleness because I deserve to be. The
word gender is automatically supposed to identify you in society and if you are women you have
to have the bottom power underneath men. Bottom power meaning rarely having power at all.
Adichie mentions that in her hometown the term bottom power means women using their
sexuality to get what they want from men. Culture is also being mentioned in this article. It is
brought up in the situation where women are the ones to be expected to know how to cook, clean
and do all the house work. This caught my attention. Men can also be taught these things too. But
in a culture it is expected for the women to do all of it, while the men are the ones providing for
the household. Women can work as well they are just looked down upon if they are the ones
providing the household, because it is a threat to men. A womens success should not have to
be threat to anyone. It should be looked as a positive thing but because you are making the man
look weak that is why it is seen as a threat. Culture doesnt make people. People make culture.

Overall in this article Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie argues that men arent any different
than women and should both be treated equal. The economy, politics, and cultures should not
treat genders different from one another. She angrily expressed her true emotions to her
hometown and how they discriminate women. She also expresses how she feels towards this
argument. I am angry. Gender as it functions today is a grave injustice. Gender should not be
something that identifies who a person is; it should be recognized as equal opportunities for each
gender being. I agree Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, both genders can be both taught the same
opportunities without harming anybody. It would be amazing if globally all cultures and politics
saw the way Adichie does. A girl should not feel ashamed of her gender or feel like she has guilt
because of that. If girls are taught at an early age that it if fine for them to become successful
without feeling like society slows them down then more proud and independent women would be
able to spread feminism. I am a feminist and the way Adichie defines the word feminist is a
man or a woman who is able to say yes, theres a problem with gender as it is today, and we
must fix it, we must make it better. The way Adichie define feminist in her own words sound
more inspiring rather than the dictionary definition. It is equal opportunities for both genders.
Therefore, everybody should be a feminist so we can have more equal opportunities for
everybody and begin to teach beings of a young age what opportunities they have to share and
not believe there are any differences.

Work Cited:

"TED | We Should All Be Feminists - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie at

TEDxEuston (transcript)." Vialogue. N.p., 30 Dec. 2013. Web. 03 Nov. 2015.