We Should All be

Feminists!

Secondary sources supporting Adichie's work

Source 1: Gender Gaps

Author: Susan Jhirad

This source well compliments Adichie's work as a literature professor describes This text well describes the theme Feminine versus Masculine as it describes

her experience with students discussing Feminist and conventional

the different approaches men and women take over a certain issue due to

misogynistic literature where women assumed roles of delicacy and a weaker

empathy or even relatability. It shows how men are quick to voice their
sense of power.

opinions to take the charge of situations and present their ideas in a way that

She describes how, the characterization of women in such a way had a does not reflect the experiences of a woman and the problems she has to face

detrimental effect on women struggles and having an access to roles considered

due to the biased power dynamics.

more powerful.

It shows how men would understand the problem but will not understand
She expresses the divide in her students when it came to literary works with

the cause. The reason that we see less women in roles of leadership is because
moral issues involving women, such as the wife killing her abusive husband

and the wives of the officers removing the evidence that could have of th power structures and the social pressures that forces them to act in a

highlighted the motive. It shows how the difference in experiences leads to

certain fashion that men are not supposed, whilst taking care of the male

different approaches being taken by people of different genders as they don't

egos which when presented in literary arts represents women as weak

have similar experiences.

creatures due to their priceless struggles.
Source 2 :Gender Roles and Gender Relations: A reconstruction of Tai identity in Daikong

Author: Yos Santasombat

This source is very similar to the primary source as it

This source reflects onto 2 themes that are described in the

describes the position of women and their lower social

primary source. The first one being Brain vs Brawn, this is an

standing over cultural and social evolution.

interesting approach and refutes the historical claim of male

superiority as it describes women have contributed equally.

It describes how social constructs such as religion and gender

enable men to capture roles given more significance.

The second one is the Gender normativity, more precisely policing

the activities and apparels of women while men can go around

It also talks about how in the past strength was reasoned for

freely take any job that they want. where as women are

giving men priority to lake leadership roles;bhowever,

normalized to stay in kitchen, serve man and to not emasculate

women have always equally contributed to the society, it is

them.

just that we have glorified males and the positions that they

take.
Source 3:Taking Women’s Experience Seriously: Thomas Aquinas and Audre Lorde on Anger

Author: Diana Fritz Case

This source takes an approach on systemic brutality towards

This article goes in line with the themes of gender discrimination and the
women and moral and ethical standards that present women to be

history of disparity and structures that enable men to take leadership roles.
guilty for practicing their rights.

It is intersectional as it explains the disparities in laws and It talks about mansplaining and privileged men drafting a system that

mansplaining that runs rampant in the professional world.

supports them in every way. It talks about the gap in opportunities and

Men assuming roles which legislate women's right even when they are not

It also talks about the disparity in how much we validate and trust
the stake holders .

a woman's experience, their opinion and their needs.

It also justifies anger in the feminist movement as an enabler to

It also highlights the need of feminism to be intersectional and accommodate

inculcate change. It refers to the works on Lorde and explains how

differences in women's experiences due to race, religion and culture.

anger is a key to a change of a large magnitude, required to

restructure the society.

 Source 4: The danger of a single story

Author : Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi

This source acts as a foundation and can be used to understand

This video represents the idea of gender normativity. It highlights

why the society evolved on the basis of stereotype and ideas

how we have repressive ideas and spaces that do not let us

that are inherently discriminative.

acknowledge the contributions and capabilites of women. Women

are thought of as weak as we do not give them opportunities.

It talks about how we form an opinion about something by

It tells that we all are guilty of stereotyping as we all form an

listening to news, reading to novels, documentaries e.t.c and

opinion using those stories.

at several occasions that information is polarized, it does not

We suppress the stories that discuss the success of women, we do not

tell the whole story, because it is a single story and tells only

discuss their contribution, the whole history is explained from th

one aspect about a sex, culture or ethnicity.

perspective of a man.
Culture tells a single story , creating a set boundary for

This is a fact that society needs to unlearn, they must recongize the
behaviours of women, it confines them to the boundaries that

capabilities of women, the contributions of women and must

does not emasculate and threaten male egos.

support women in bringing about change.

Personal Opinion:
Adichie's paper, We should all be feminists hits the mark in describing the gender disparity and the need of feminism. She

brilliantly shows the subtle and the prominent features of patriarchy that have disenfranchised women. She also talks about how

society alienates the idea of feminism due to the preconceived notions of gender roles. Her article is not exactly data driven;

however, she adds experiences that are relatable for a large demographic and agree to that being the case. Furthermore, she talks

about the flaws of conventional upbringing and toxic masculinity that forces them to assume roles of power and repress human

behaviors such as vulnerability and emotion because they are characterized as womanly.

Furthermore she talks about the grave problems in upbringing of daughters as how parents indoctrinate the idea to serve the fragile male ego as

taking more powerful roles is emasculating for them and targets their insecurity as being a provider is what defines men. Se talks about how the

consummation of marriage is used as a deterrent for women to be who they are as this is considered a failure for the woman to not let her relationship

intact.