From my Goodreads account
This short essay is an insightful and well thought out piece on a serious issue that we are currently struggling with in every corner of the globe: inequality. Adiche's call to action is spot on. We should all be feminists (one who believes in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes). There is a gender problem today. We, all of us, must do better. The issue that I have with this book is the segmentation of the equality issue.
Adichie argues that the label of feminism is important because it acknowledges the specificity of inequality between genders. But, if we as people, individuals regardless of gender, strive toward her stated goal of doing better in treating each other with equal dignity, honor and humanity then this would eliminate the gender issue in the process. I'm not Utopian and have no illusions that this is easy, or even achievable. But, the outcome of doing better has no bearing on whether or not we put forth the effort to do better. By doing better we create better individual interactions between people; done often enough, we change the culture.
What I like about Adichie's striving for gender equality is that it acknowledges a uniqueness to each gender and to each person specifically. She notes that the ones who ought to lead are the more intelligent, more knowledgeable, more creative and more innovative. These qualities know no gender, but they are cultivated individually. Of course, there are advantages in cultures for certain groups. Race, gender and socioeconomic factors all play a part in this. She addresses it somewhat when she notes that the poor man doesn't have all the advantages that the wealthy one does and that the black man faces challenges that are unique to his experience. But then she puts her foot down and claims a uniqueness to the inequality of the genders. Herein lies where I disagree with her.
Inequality exists in the world and we have a moral obligation as human beings to struggle against inequality and to promote equal treatment of all human beings in a merit based way in economic situations and, more importantly, an equal amount of dignity should be afforded on a personal level. I have had and continue to have more opportunity, recognition and privilege than others in society have. But, I have had and continue to have less of these than others in society have. Every person in my society is similar in that regard. It isn't right and we must continue to do better and work towards a more equitable society, even if this is ultimately tilting at windmills. We ought to do better because each individual deserves the same, limitless amount of dignity in treatment. Focusing your drive for equality based on a single, specific and limiting factor ignores your own privilege in relation to those with less and is a quick path to bitterness, an us vs. them mentality and ultimately an unhappy state of being.
I agree with a lot of what Adichie writes in this essay. I think she is a brilliant speaker and writer. My overly wordy rebuttal to this book has more to do with the notion of over-identity and its narrowing effects on our experience as humans (which are more common than dissimilar) and how it creates segmentation within humanity that is an unnecessary barrier placed between us. To illustrate our commonness rather than our dissimilarities I'll mention Adichie's anecdote about the business meeting. She notes that, "A man going to a business meeting doesn't wonder about being taken seriously based on what he is wearing- but a woman does". She has created an otherness here that is unnecessary. Dressing for success is preached to men from an early age. Men and women alike are going to afford the properly dressed person more attention than the overly casual dresser. Lastly, confidence and the struggles with it and how one looks are not specific to a gender.
To end this unnecessarily long-winded review that will either remain unread or be dismissed as someone speaking from privilege (or worse, be condemned as mansplaining) I want to stress the importance of this book. It is spot on when it calls on us to do better. It is a captivating read because she is such a good writer. And, like her Louis, I need reminders from time to time that the drive for improvement is not a completed task.
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