“When I was 16, I don’t think I knew what the word ‘feminist’ meant,” confesses Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the Nigerian author who’s penned award-winning works such as Half of a Yellow Sun and Americanah. “But,” she adds firmly, “I was a feminist.”

The latest book from the writer, We Should All Be Feminists, is a personal essay that discusses sexual politics, gender construction, and her experience being an African woman. The book is an adaptation of the TED Talk the author gave in 2013 that’s now garnered over two million views on YouTube, the book is both a close-to-the-heart narrative and a clarion call for global feminism.

The intent of the book is beginning to yield results at least in one country.

Sweden is doing everything possible to ensure that the citizens get a full grasp of the message by having the book translated and was released last Tuesday (Dec. 1), several organizations have come together to distribute and make available Adichie’s book to all 16-year-olds in the country.

The organisations that came together among others are the Swedish Women’s Lobby, together with publishing company Albert Bonniers Förlag, the UN Association of Sweden, and several other partner groups. They revealed on Tuesday that they would ensure that a free copy of the book gets to every second-grade high school student in Sweden. So far, Over 100,000 copies have been given out, and the Swedish Women’s Lobby also plans to distribute discussion guidelines to teachers next month.

While the free book is intended for the teenagers alone, it is hoped that all Swedish citizens will benefit. In a statement, Clara Berglund, chair of the advocacy group, said “this is the book that I wish all of my male classmates would have read when I was 16.” Adichie’s book, she said, will be “a gift to ourselves and future generations.”

At the group’s Tuesday press conference in Stockholm announcing the project, Adichie greeted Swedish high school students via video, saying:

For me, feminism is about justice. I’m a feminist because I want to live in a world that is more just. I’m a feminist because I want to live in a world where a woman is never told that she can or cannot—or should or should not—do anything because she’s a woman. I want to live in a world where men and women are happier, where they’re not constrained by gender roles. I want to live in a world where men and women are truly equal, and that’s why I’m a feminist.

Sweden, of course, is not the only country to have adopted Adichie’s book as an exemplar of feminist speech. The book is ranked high in Amazon’s best-selling gender studies book list currently and US singer Beyoncé even sampled Adichie’s words in a pop track in on her latest album.

Good one for Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie!

http://samhaykins.com/all-16-year-olds-in-sweden-will-get-a-copy-of-chimamanda-adichies-feminist-book/

She needs to do same to in nigeria and in other african countries

TEAM FEMINIST