We Should All Be Feminist

According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, feminism is defined as the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism is a major part of the short story, “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, which is a story that portrays women’s lack of freedom in the1800s. Women had no rights, and had to cater to all of their husband’s needs. The main character in “The Story of an Hour” is a woman who suffers from heart trouble, named Mrs. Mallard. When Mrs. Mallard was told about her husband’s death, she was initially emotional, but because of her husband’s death she reaped freedom and became swept away with joy. The story is ironic because Mrs. Mallard learns her husband was not dead, and instead of exulting

To quote Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, an influential modern feminist, in her song ‘Flawless’ she defines a feminist as “a person who believes in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes”

Today, the feminist movement has grown and is still growing as women around the globe have joined hands in the fight against inequality. Even though a lot has changed, all feminists, despite

In the opening chapter, there is an immediate foreshadowing of feminism in the novel and what the story is about, “Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men.

Will Rogers the famous Vaudeville performer once stated, “We will never have true civilization until we have learned to recognize the rights of others”. Rogers’ statement is a very intelligent one; equal rights for all people is the next big step for humanity. Susan Shaw states in her book Women’s Voices Feminist Visions, “Feminism, of course, affirms and works to maintain difference; it merely asks that these differences be valued equally”. Feminism seeks to create equality amongst men and women, this means all women regardless of race, ethnicity, class, or sexuality deserve equal rights. Therefore, LGBT, race, ethnicity, transgender, and reproductive rights are issues of concern to women’s rights activists. Despite the post-feminist myth that equality has been reached, there are still multiple contemporary issues which deserve feminist attention. Violence against women, economic inequality, and social construction of gender, the body, and sexuality are all issues present in modern society which are of concern to women’s rights activists. Although it takes time, progress is being made toward total equality thanks to education and activist groups which raise awareness about inequality in the United States as well as around the world. Feminism is an ideology which aims to create a world without inequality, specifically gender inequality. Therefore, absolute equality is the central issue for contemporary feminist advocates.

"For me, it 's not even that I 'm a feminist. I 'm for anybody. I 'm for everybody, for everything. I don 't care what you want to do in your life, or whom you want to be with, which you want to love, who you want to look like. I’m a feminist in the way that I’m really empowering to women.”

In the transcript, “We should all be feminists” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the author explores several stories in her life that contain gender issues about sexuality, gender inequality and double standard, which show that the idea of feminists is still needed in present-day. Over time the gender issue has cause a grave injustice. This essay wills examines the conception of norms about double standard, gender inequality, and sexuality from Adichie life. It wills portrayal norms issues about gender to realize certain matter a long history that are not important anymore to bring a positive change.

Writer Ngozi Adichie says a feminist is a “person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes,” meaning both sexes are treated equally. “Cinderella” does not portray women as equal to men, rather it suggests that a woman’s value highly depends on a man and teaches girls to become patient victims. For instance, it places attention on a woman’s chastity, beauty, passiveness, as the story accepts abuse, discourages powerful women, and insists on a double standard.

"We Should All Be Feminists," by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a very popular Ted Talk that wrestles with the idea of what feminism is in today's society. It focuses on defining the term in both cultural and political aspects. Through the use of humor Adichie provides her own definition, while also recalling various personal experiences that had taken place in both the Nigeria and the United States. In her speech Adichie also explains how she had to force herself to unlearn understandings about gender that were taught to her as she grew up. The main message of her speech revolves around the idea that we must reclaim feminism.

I chose to read “We Should All Be Feminists” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie because I wanted to understand the meaning of feminism. Adichie discusses the gender roles of men and women. She mentions that women “have a need to prove their worth” due to social and cultural ideas. She also mentions that “women are under the idea of defining their role as women by how we should be rather than who we are”. In other words, women are forced to be and act the way society says they should.

Feminists were once thought to be “hairy, ugly, man-hating, angry women” (Costello, 2014), but as times changed, the idea of who these feminists really are have changed. The connotation of feminism has changed because it was originally considered a dirty word, and something you did not want to be. Today with the help of celebrities, including Beyoncé, feminism is no longer dirty, and a lot of both females and males around the world identify as a feminist.

Feminism is derived from the word “femina” which means woman. It is primarily focused on issues affecting women and their resistance to tyranny from patriarchy. Feminism seeks to free women from their traditional chains of oppression, subjugation, and exploitation. African writer’s however chooses to subvert from the term Feminism because of its Western origin. Also Nigerian women writer’s believe that using the term Feminism Nigerian men would believe they are forming an alliance with the Westerner’s and their ideal of Feminism. Nigerian women writer prefer using terms such as “Womanism, Motherism, and STIWANISM” because of its peaceful movement and committed to survival and wholesomeness of entire people but who loves herself regardless. It does not seek to separate but to form meaningful union between black men and women and black children and determined to see that men begin to change from their sexist stance. Unlike the Radical feminist in Feminism African women prefers to challenge patriarchy through negotiation and compromise, a foundation of shared values and principles in many African culture. Adichie use of feminism and womanism is prevalent in Purple Hibiscus through its female

The identity of African women juxtaposed to the Western women’s identity is a hard concept for one to grasp. The word feminism is merely looked at from one perspective, the western perspective. The reality of feminism is that everywhere in the world has a different idea of what feminism is defined as and what it should look like. However there is one central theme that applies to feminists around the world, which is a feminist is someone who goes against traditional roles of a woman in their society to better their gender as a whole.

Through the use of empathetic language rather than anger,the well known-award winning author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was able to capture and represent her personal ideas to those who haven 't been exposed to feminism and to those who constantly slanders it.In her twenty-first century short essay,We Should All Be Feminists,Adiche addresses feminism and sexism as unsettling issues that all of humanity should be majorily concerned and aware with.She prosposes a solution to the detrimental and negative cyclical persectives that society has imposed on of feminists and women in general based on her previous experiences.By narrowing in on her very own life experiences and her deep understanding of the often covered up realities of the treatment of women and their reputations,she zeros in on what it means to be a woman in the present day, exposes the injustices they frequently ecounter and ultimately explains why we should all be feminists.She focuses on the idea the everyone including both men and women are both the problem and solution to the controverisal and sensetive topic of what is called feminism.By taking these necessary steps and raising our children to understand these steps , Adichie proposes this can finally end the cyclical problem.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "We Should All Be Feminists" portrays how society views the difference between men and women. She speaks about why she is a feminist and why it is important to treat women with the same rights as men. Through history, women were always seen as inferior to men. Unfortunately, some aspects of this are still being see today. Adichie gives us an example in her speech saying how she experienced sexism when tipping her door man for helping her and her husband carry out their supplies. She tipped the man but instead of being grateful and thanking her, he thanks her husband instead. In the novel, Mr. Tansley had said “women can’t paint, women can’t write...” (Woolf 48). Comparing to Adichie’s speech, the setting in the story shows the man’s view towards women as lesser than them.