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The Fourth Wave: Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
Other | Friday 3rd August 2018 | Roberta Micallef
The Fourth Wave is a series of stories
about people advocating for women's rights, today.
Most famously known for the books, Purple Hibiscus and We Should All be Feminists, Chimimanda Ngozi Adiche is considered a literary genius of our time. Before this however, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a feminist icon, with feminism evidently sown into her work.
Her TED Talk in 2012 that later turned into the book We should all be Feminists draws from personal encounters with misogyny and concludes that to have an equal society, we must raise our children, boys and girls, as equals.
Her feminist tag prompted her friends to ask for advice on how to raise their own daughters as feminists. In classic Adiche manner, she turned this advice into a short book called Dear Ijeawele or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions, written in the form of a letter to her friend, Ijeawele.
In her book, she abolishes the idea of gender roles, advises her friend not to speak of marriage to her daughter as an achievement, to give her daughter a sense of identity and to teach her daughter how to love reading - this she considers the most valubale.
Adiche acknoledges the differences between women and men, she herself often mentions "her journey as a woman". What Adiche seeks to achieve through this is an honest depiction of women's experiences with mysogyny.
This year Adiche spoke out about being sexually harrassed at the age of seventeen. The #MeToo movement, which Chimanada has commented on, brings to light these experiences. By contributing her story, Adiche has continued to shine light on the reality of sexual harrasment in our society.
Adiche's feminist books have reached critical acclaim in the past few years, and we sincerely hope that this reflects a changing, more-willing-to-learn society.
Follow her on Instagram @chimamanda_adichie
