Title: Dear Ijeawele (or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions)
Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Published: 2017
Format: Hardback
Publishers: Fourth Estate
Epeolatry London's Rating: *****
Reviewer's Rating: *****
If you liked this, Epeolatry London recommends:
Liberating Motherhood (Vanessa Olorenshaw)
We Should All Be Feminists (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)
Fifty Shades of Feminism (Lisa Appignanesi)
Motherhood seems to be a contentious subject when it is associated with feminist ideals. There is an expectation that a feminist must forgo marriage and motherhood out of principle; pick a career over bringing up a child. Much that can be said about such thoughts but the best would be naivety, or ignorance. Feminism, at its very basic set of principles, revolves around the simple concept of equality. Men have the social right to choose what path their life will take,and so should women. In some countries, even the most liberal, there is still the same questions and answers given;
'When are you going to have children?'
'I'm not very maternal, so probably never.'
'Wait until you get older, or fall pregnant!'
This is exactly the same for women who take the decision to be stay at home mothers. They understand that it is not the 1950s anymore, it is 2017 and we now (atlas some of us) have a choice in what kind of mothers they wish to be. Either avenue taken can end up with either a roll of the eyes or a sneer at their anti-feminist lives. It is just silly. And this is why, especially for Her, that the arrival of Chimanda Ngozi Adichie's latest book is so important.
For Her, Adichie is a guru; and we will let her tell you why. As well as how Adichie's newest book should be read by all.
"I had always been a feminist, I guess it was a mixture of having strong women in a close-knit family and a father who I fell after far too much. But as an impressionable young girl I found myself at conflict as one part of myself desperately wanted to conform but the other side of me saw it for what it was; an inequality.
Then I heard her, Chimamanda had done something that i struggled to do, she had put into words exactly how we felt. The next day - on such little sleep I'm surprised i was able to make it to the high street - I bought her essay We Should All Be Feminists. This did not send me down a path, as I was already on it, but it did give me a name for the road. And this road, should it come to such a time for me, may come to a fork and for once in a women's life the choice of motherhood is not one that seems at odds with what feminism is. It is all about choice.
Dear Ijeawele is a short non-fiction book that reads like a conversation; something that Chimamanda has mastered. Turned from a letter to a dear friend (who has become a mother) it outlines her feelings towards raising a daughter (the ideas would be just as important in raising a son as well) as someone who sees and promotes equality between men and women. The carrying theme of Adichie's 'letter' is her views on what feminism is and this is what underpins her advice on how to raise a child a feminist. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie does not hold back in her views and arguments and her use of Nigerian experiences and anecdotes does not create a barrier for a western reader. Instead it promotes a unity as we are sharing the same experiences - they just may look and/ or feel different.
It is short book so it can be a one-sitting read or read through gradually as being a mother - whether you are working or not - is full-on. I personally read it within an hour but it will be one that I pass on (if I could I would buy most of the stock and stand on a box at Speaker's Corner, Hyde Park, and simply hand them out) to all women and men!"