Tamara Guaman Conversation #4

Letter to Adichie

Dear Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie,

I recently watched your “We Should All Be Feminists” TedTalk where you spoke about feminism and how different occasions have made you feel uneasy about your gender. From what you said about feminism, I can say that I completely agree with you, some things have changed for women throughout history but in a way in many places it is still basically the same if there’s gender inequality. I agree with you that even if a woman and man have the same job and are married, the men is often seen as the one who does the most work, or their work is the most acknowledged. After watching your TedTalk, I thought about my own family and how I relate to some of the examples you gave in your talk about women doing most of the house work. My mom has always done the housework for as long as I can remember. She has told us, me and my siblings, many times that cooking and cleaning is important if we ever get married, in her eyes if we fail to do these things when we get married we will end up being mistreated by our husbands. Something that shocked me in your tedtalk was that example of a woman thanking her husband for changing their baby’s diaper. A mans resposibility as a parent should be no different to a woman. Something I have witnessed that relates to the topic about women been seen or valued less than a man, is a marriage of my uncle and aunt. Her husband works but she still does anything to please him, when he’s around, she serves him food, brings his clothes, and just does everything for him even though she has a job of her own too. She works hard and has this weight following her all the time, as soon as he speaks she has to follow on what he wishes for her to do as if she was his maid. This is wrong because all this responsibility should be split down, but she does it all with no help from him whatsoever. Some suggestions I have for gender inequality are for people start showing equality in their homes and in school, specially for kids because they are our future and the hope to end this pattern of women not being truly heard and seen.