We should all be feminists (essay/biography) by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

#genderempowerment #challengingsocialnorms

It was a tiny and short book to read, but because it is so small, it'll be easy for me to carry around and re-read it, because I really appreciate how the author writes and challenges the social norms that have been put onto women and men in our everyday life.

A few phrases from the book that I want to remember in general are:

• "If we see the same thing over and over again, it becomes normal." - in this case, the author refers to if we only see male figures as leaders, then unconsciously, we are conditioned to think that leaders are supposed to be male, for example.

• "The person more qualified to lead is not the physically stronger person. […] there are no hormones for those attributes. A man is as likely as a woman to be intelligent, innovative, creative. We have evolved. But our ideas of gender have not evolved very much."

• "I knew that because I was female, I would automatically have to prove my worth. And I was worried that if I looked too feminine, I would not be taken seriously."

• "there are particular things that happen to me in the world because I am a woman".

• "Culture does not make people. People make culture."

I hope these excerpts manage to convince you to give the book a read. :)