The Author (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)

The author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who splits her time between Nigeria and the United States, uses this essay to encourage more individuals to recognize that there are deep-seated problems in the way gender works in the world today and to adopt the word “feminist.” Although the author does not give a straightforward autobiographical history, details from the author’s life surface time and again through anecdotes. For instance, readers learn that she used to read racy Mills & Boon books, that she has a brother, that she grew up in Nigeria in a university town named Nsukka, that now she prefers to spend her time in Lagos, and that she has multiple female American friends working in corporate America. The author uses these details to fuel her analysis of the way gender works in cultures and societies around the world, but particularly in Nigeria...