“This made sense – a thousand years ago. Because human beings lived then in a world which physical strength was the most important attribute for survival; the physically stronger person was more likely to lead. And men in general are physically stronger.

Today, we live in a vastly different world. The person more qualified to lead is not the physically stronger person. It is the more intelligent, the more knowledgable, the more creative, more innovative. And there are no hormones for those attributes. A man is as likely as a woman to be intelligent, innovative, creative. We have evolved. But our ideas of gender have not evolved very much” (Ngozi Adichie).

Written by: Kristelle Marie Villaverde                          Date: 08.30.16

We Should all be Feminists” definitely incorporates many points that I agree as well as disagree with. Further, men and women will gain beneficial information through this speech about the idea of feminism. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who eloquently presented the speech “We Should all be Feminists”, spoke to me the loudest with the quote written above. Growing up, I learned that men and women have specific roles in life. My parents were not biased with how they raised my siblings and I. My sister and I were not robbed of the experience of playing sports or trying out for sports. My brother was not ostracized for baking or cooking.  My parents taught us the duties men and women should do, but they never scolded us if we did the opposite sex’s job or if we did not fulfill our duties as a boy or girl or as a man or woman. I also agree with the notion that the world is definitely changing. Equality between men and women may not be established well enough but women have come a long way, at least in the United States, with their freedom, rights, and opportunities to do everything a man can do. When Adichie discussed what men and women have to do in a marriage to “keep peace”, she said that for women, we ultimately have to make the bigger sacrifices in relationships by compromising to something below our worth in order to “keep the peace” in the relationship. I defeinitely disagree with the idea that women have to compromise things such as a “job, career goal, or dream” just to satisfy the men in their lives. I disagree with that because I believe it is unfair that some men get away with doing irresponsible things because they do not have as much to lose as women do. In all, I believe this speech will help men understand women better and help women gain confidence that she does not have to follow the crowd just to be accepted. A woman should fight for her equal rights because as Adichie stated: “A man is as likely as a woman to be intelligent, innovative, and creative”.