Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED Talk, “We Should All Be Feminists,” has been popularized by
vocalist Beyoncé Carter in her song “***Flawless” off her 2013 self-titled album. Since openly declaring herself a
feminist, Carter has taken special care to post Adichie’s half hour long talk on all social media and integrate parts into
her “Flawless” concert interlude:
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.’ Because I am female, I am expected to aspire to marriage. I am expected to make my life choices
always keeping in mind that marriage is the most important. Now marriage can be a source of joy and love
and mutual support. But why do we teach to aspire to marriage and we don’t teach boys the same? We
raise girls to see each other as competitors — not for jobs or for accomplishments, which I think can be a
good thing, but for the attention of men. We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings in the way that
boys are. Feminist: the person who believes in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes
(Adichie).
Throughout the TED Talk, Adichie is professional, impactful and fearlessly addresses Nigerian culture,
American culture and women in the workplace. She never pits the sexes against each other, nor does she even
reprimand males. Instead, Adichie is fully cognizant of the fact that any change must be societal.
Adichie also references humanitarian and Nobel-Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai, and talks about how,
“most of the positions of power and prestige are occupied by men…The higher you go, the fewer women there are”
(Adichie). In Corporate America, “14.2% of the top five leadership positions at the companies in the S&P 500 are held
by women,” and when examining the top position, there are only 24 female CEOs in those top 500 companies (Egan).
“We Should All Be Feminists,” also presents a call-to-action:
I would like today to ask that we begin to dream about and plan for a different world. A fairer world. A
world of happier men and happier women who are truer to themselves. And this is how to start. We must
raise our daughters differently. We must also raise our sons differently. We do a great disservice to boys in
how we raise them. We stifle the humanity of boys…The problem with gender is that it prescribes how we
should be rather than recognizing how we are (Adichie).
This TED Talk, clearly a strong stance on Feminism, is eye-opening. Adichie is poised, intelligent, and confident–
the ideal speaker. Her experiences have clearly shaped her to recognize where she comes from, and it is an easy
place for those who do not fully understand feminism to start learning because she breaks the hard-to-grasp concepts
down beautifully.
It is no wonder Beyoncé took notice of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and revered her so much that she wished to
integrate her voice into her song, concerts and brand. Adichie is a fearless firebrand with words are so powerful that
everyone should hear them.
