‘I Feel Lonely in My Fight Against Sexism’ – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is obviously not relenting in her fight against sexism, despite recent criticisms.

Recently she spoke with Guardian UK on many things affecting the woman, some of which includes the culture of likability, how pregnancy affects the woman’s growth, why she about the impact of her words on young women all over the world, and the #MeToo movement.

This comes days after she addressed the backlash she received for asking Hillary Clinton why her Twitter bio begins with ‘wife.’

See the excerpts of her recent interview below.

On the #MeToo movement: I feel optimistic. But cautiously optimistic. It’s either the beginning of a revolution, or it is going to be a fad. We just don’t know … I do see in women a sense that ‘We’re done, this is it … No.’ and it gives me hope.

On her fight against sexism: I don’t think sexism is worse than racism, it’s impossible even to compare. It’s that I feel lonely in my fight against sexism, in a way that I don’t feel in my fight against racism. My friends, my family, they get racism, they get it. The people I’m close to who are not black get it. But I find that with sexism you are constantly having to explain, justify, convince, make a case for.

On impacting young women all over the world: To get letters from women, saying ‘you make me feel stronger’ that means a lot to me. It’s a woman in Denmark, it’s an email from a woman in Korea, it’s the woman in Ghana. I can’t tell you how happy that makes me.

On the need to reject likability: Oh my God, all that time wasted. It is still very upsetting to me. I don’t care how much societies tell themselves that they are progressive, the kind of criticism that Clinton gets from the very progressive left, I think is terrible. People now say to her ‘shut up and go away’ – that whole idea of silencing women. I kind of like what’s happening to her now, it feels as though that ‘f*ck it’ I wish she had said before, she seems to be saying now.

On pregnancy and feminism: There are so many women for whom pregnancy is the thing that pushed them down, and we need to account for that. We need to have a clause in every job that a woman who gets pregnant gets her job back in exactly the same way. It’s wrong! I don’t think I’m more inherently likely to do domestic work, or childcare … It doesn’t come pre-programmed in your vagina, right?