Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Advice To Young Women: "Don't Apologize"

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Image: Facebook

BY K. W. COLYARD

Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has an important piece of advice for young women: "Don’t apologize." In the interview below, she explains why that advice is so necessary.


The interview with Adichie is an excerpt from Women: The National Geographic Image Collection, out later this month, which contains 400 glorious photographs, some dating as far back as the 19th century, as well as interviews with famous women, like primatologist Jane Goodall and Women's World Cup champion Alex Morgan. The book also tracks how depictions of women in the pages of National Geographic have changed since the magazine's founding in 1888. Women also features profiles on 17 of the female photographers behind the famed magazine's portraits of women.

The book is part of National Geographic's yearlong focus on women — a move that anticipates the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave white women the right to vote in 1920 — Women will be accompanied by the release of a documentary profiling many of the personalities featured within it.

Women: The National Geographic Image Collection is out on Oct. 15 and is available for pre-order now. Below, read an exclusive preview from the book — an interview with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie:

In Conversation With Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

"Unflinching, unswerving, fierce intellectual determination... to define the real truth of our lives": That’s the high bar that playwright Harold Pinter set for writers in his 2005 Nobel acceptance speech. They are also the criteria for awarding the annual PEN Pinter Prize, which in 2018 went to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The Nigerian novelist and essayist — whose books include Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun, Americanah, and Dear Ijeawele — has received honors such as the National Book Critics Circle Award and a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant.” She’s a star to TED audiences; her 2012 TED Talk, "We Should All Be Feminists," was made into a book. In accepting the Pinter prize, Adichie noted that she’s been criticized for her stances: championing women’s rights, decrying Nigeria’s criminalization of homosexuality. A journalist advised Adichie that her fans might prefer that she “shut up and write.” To date, she shows no sign of doing the former, and every intention of continuing the latter.

National Geographic: What do you think is the most important challenge facing women today?

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: It’s really difficult to narrow it down to just one. I would say women’s autonomy over their bodies — and by this I mean a broad range of things. Not just reproductive rights, but including the scourge of domestic violence and also the lack of proper legal protection for women globally.

And what do you think is the most import­ant thing that needs to change for women in the next few years?

We need to have more women in positions of decision-making — politically, eco­nomically, in every way. More women’s repre­sentation will result in more diverse decisions, decisions that incorporate women’s experi­ences. I don’t think having women in positions of power means that the world is going to be perfect or that conflict will be eradicated. It just means that the concerns of half of the world’s population will finally be center stage.
"The world is not simple, so if you are familiar with things that are not simple, you’re more likely to deal with the world in a constructive way."

What do you think is your own greatest strength?

I think it’s maybe my ability to deal with complexity. That I am comfortable with gray, I don’t need for things to be white or black. I believe in nuance. I look at the world and know that it’s complex, and that things don’t have to be simple to be understood. And that I am not uncomfortable with things being complex and difficult. I think part of that is because of my socialization as a woman.

Could you say more about that?

Women are socialized to be caregivers, to find ways to solve conflicts. Women are socialized to be many different things — and, in some ways, to pretend to be different things for different people. Women are socialized to protect male egos. Women are socialized to care for family members. Women are socialized to have a certain kind of emotional intelligence. I really don’t think these things are inborn in women; I think that it’s because of the way that women are socialized. In some ways, this is bad for women in that they’re socialized to hold themselves back and not be too ambitious. But I think that there are ways in which it is good, because it teaches women to be able to deal with complexity and not to be mentally simple. The world is not simple, so if you are familiar with things that are not simple, you’re more likely to deal with the world in a constructive way.

When you look back through your life, is there something that you would consider a breakthrough moment?
I think it was when I was nine years old, in the third grade, and I remember this very clearly. My teacher had said that the child with the best results on the test that she gave would be the prefect. So I got the best result — and then she said, “Oh, I forgot to mention, it has to be a boy.” I just thought, “Why?” It would make sense to have said the class prefect has to be the child with the best grades or the child with some sort of useful skill. But the idea that this position of prestige and power in the classroom was reserved for some­body by an accident of being born a partic­ular sex — that was just strange. So my sense of righteous indignation flared up and I said to my teacher, “That makes no sense.”

You actually spoke up and said that?
Oh, yeah.

And what happened?

Well, the boy still was prefect, and I was made the assistant prefect, which was not necessarily the solution I wanted. But for me it was really crystallizing: That was the first time that I spoke up about sexism. It didn’t work, but it was the moment for me that I don’t think I’ll ever forget.

I guess that leads to my next question: What do you think are the greatest hurdles that you’ve had to overcome?

I think maybe the fear of failure; not wanting to try because I was afraid I would fail.

Do you consider yourself a feminist?

Yes, I do very much, because I believe that men and women are equal as human beings, and I believe that sex should not be a reason to hold people back. We live in a world that has consistently held women back because they are women, and I feel very strongly that this needs to change. That’s what feminism means to me.

What living person do you most admire?
My father, because he is the best exam­ple that I have seen of a certain kind of integ­rity and decency. He is gentle and kind and he raised his children — the six of us, three boys and three girls — to believe that we could be or do anything. The confidence with which I occupy my space in the world is partly because I was raised by a man like him.
"Performing likability makes women diminish themselves; it means that you’re often not able to reach your potential because you’re not letting yourself really be yourself."

And is there a historical figure — some­body who is not living — that you might iden­tify with?

There are people that I admire; I don’t know about identifying with them, necessar­ily. I’m also deeply suspicious of stories of people, deeply suspicious of biographies, because I just think that we don’t really know people in the end. But I suppose I could say that I admire Winnie Mandela [anti-apartheid activist and ex-wife of South African president Nelson Mandela] for her resilience, for the way that she managed to hold her own despite a lot of unkindness that she had to deal with. I also admire writers like Rebecca West [born Cicily Fairfield] and Elizabeth Hardwick.

What advice would you give to young women today?

Don’t apologize. Again, back to that idea of socialization: I think women are social­ized to be apologetic just for existing, in many ways. And also, don’t perform likability. All humans like to be liked, because we are human — but girls are socialized to think that they need to be liked, and it makes them pretend to be what they’re not. Performing likability makes women diminish themselves; it means that you’re often not able to reach your potential because you’re not letting yourself really be yourself. I would say to young women, Don’t do it, because it’s not worth it. Young women should just be them­selves. It sounds simplistic, but I think it’s quite difficult, considering all the messages that society gives young women.

Last question: Where are you most at peace?

In my ancestral hometown in eastern Nigeria surrounded by family.

SOURCE: BUSTLE

Peter Obi’s Media Aide Weighs In On Attack On Chimamanda Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Image: Wiki

BY CHUKWUEMEKA EDOZIE

Media Aide to former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi, Val Obienyem, who is also an author and barrister, has condemned recent attacks on author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Obienyem wrote in an opinion piece, in response to attacks on Adichie for writing an article about the dispute in the Guardian newspaper entitled, ‘My Hometown Under Siege’. The primary focus of her article was ongoing sponsored harassment and intimidation of Abba community residents.

Prior to publishing Adichie’s piece, the Guardian had carried out an investigation of the dispute and the facts that Adichie laid out in her article, even despite Adichie’s local and international stature and credibility- to ensure that there was sufficient basis to publish her piece, in line with journalistic best practices. The paper published the resulting 3- page investigative report alongside Adichie’s article, with the combined four-Page write up being entitled “Special Report”.

In Obienyem’s piece, he stated: “I read what our pen export and one of the best in the world, Chimamanda Adichie, wrote about the land dispute between her town, Abba and Ukpo – both in Anambra State, Nigeria. It was the lamentation of a deeply-troubled soul over the impunity of men. Her timely piece is a necessary buffer against environing principalities eager to control or appropriate Abba.”

“Going by her stature and comfort zone, Chimamanda could have decided to remain aloof to the unjust plight of her people. But, with what she did, especially more from the urge to fight injustice than anything else, my respect for her has many times been magnified.”
He continued by writing: “I have met Chimamanda severally and on each occasion, was thrilled by her charming modesty and sense of propriety. Typical of her, she made her point clearly, and without denigrating anybody: Is justice up for sale to the highest bidder? Do we no longer have rule of law in this country? What are the actual duties of the Police — serving the nation or individuals? What wrong did she commit? All I saw was the disillusioned tenderness of a writer mourning the disorder in her country.”

Indeed, the main point of Adichie’s piece -which Obienyem highlighted- the aforementioned harassment, intimidation and disruption of family and business affairs of Abba residents, has not been denied by any of the parties concerned. To the contrary, there have been credible reports of same occurring, including video recordings and well-documented statements to the authorities.
Some objective and informed observers of unfolding events have noted that

personal attacks on Adichie, sometimes combined with the recitation of the legal history of the land dispute, appear to be the means by which those behind the attacks on Adichie have sought to distract attention from the main issue which she raised about the harassment campaign, and to throw dust in the air to hide the facts.

Obienyem carried on: “From her piece, it was obvious she did her homework and was availed of all the facts. At a stage in one’s life there are risks one would not venture into. For a person of her standing to go through books, talk to people and come up with the synthesis of views on the matter, one is convinced that she has done the right thing.”

“On the contrary, it was with great embarrassment and indeed, shame that I read the reactions of those that called themselves “Igbo Youths” to what Chimamanda wrote. I was even more upset that the reactions were brazenly published as advertisements in newspapers. Do they expect Chimamanda to condescend so low as to engage in “tru bum tru bum” with them? No way!”

“The so-called youths being used are ordinarily those that should be enjoying the calming hypnosis of a well-written piece — Chimamanda’s Lamentations and Other Works. Alas, there they were, abusing and pouring obloquies on her.”

Obienyem stated: “Clearly, the practice of exchanging people’s conscience with money has not ceased as those so-called youths have proved.”

Adichie is renowned for being extremely familiar with and knowledgeable about Igbo culture and history despite her relative youth: including of her hometown, local government area and Anambra State. Indeed, the late literary icon Chinua Achebe said of Adichie early in her career, ‘We do not usually associate wisdom with beginners, but here is a new writer endowed with the gift of ancient storytellers…Adichie came almost fully made’.

She has received various awards and commendations from successive Anambra State governments over the years, including most recently in 2016, being honoured with the Anambra State Award for Excellence by the current incumbent, His Excellency Governor Willie Obiano. She had previously been the keynote speaker at Governor Obiano’s 100-Days in Office event.

Former Anambra State Governor, and current Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige had previously honoured her by gracing an event celebrating Adichie in her hometown, Abba, at the beginning of the decade.

Indeed, at the national level, the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, had previously distinguished her with the Global Ambassador Achievement Award in 2011. Adichie has also received numerous international awards, including 14 Honorary Doctorate Degrees from leading universities, including one of her alma maters, Yale University.

Obienyem in his article, discussed other issues which he considered salient, including his view of the distorting effects of misuse of wealth on the Igbo culture today, and indeed on many other cultures in the country, and how it has led directly and indirectly to this situation of serious and accomplished individuals being attacked by sponsored groups. He rounded out by saying “There must be limit to madness in this clime”.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

My Hometown Under Siege

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Image: Chimamanda

BY CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE

One night in July, the signboards disappeared. The people of Abba, my hometown in Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra state, woke up to see that the signboards were gone — the signboard that said ‘Welcome to Abba Town’ had vanished. The signboard mounted by the state government that said ‘Drive safely through Abba’ had vanished. Every signboard that announced Abba’s boundary had disappeared.

In a country where signboards exist to make communities visible, this was an act of erasure, a way of saying to a community: you no longer exist. An attack on a community’s autonomy. An aggression. But how could it have happened? There are laws, after all, and signboards set up by the state government cannot arbitrarily be torn down. It happened because the Nigerian police accompanied people at night to commit this illegal act. Witnesses saw them: the police vans, their flashing lights, their guns. And it happened because a Nigerian billionaire, Prince Arthur Eze, is financing a campaign of intimidation in order to win a land dispute.

Land disputes are depressingly common all over Nigeria – Awka-Amawbia, Umuleri-Aguleri, and Ife-Modakeke are some well-known examples – but perhaps what makes Abba-Ukpo different is the brazen meddling of a wealthy man. The land in question is called Agu Abba – a vast stretch of woods, farmland, and a market, Oye Abba, with roofed wooden stalls. All land cases are complex, but here is a simplified history of this case: In 1967, shortly after the Nigeria-Biafra war began, Abba sued a nearby town, Ukwulu, for trespassing on its land. A state high court ruled in Abba’s favour.

After the war, Ukwulu questioned the legitimacy of the ruling, as Biafra no longer existed. Abba then sued again in 1975. The case dragged on until 1985 when Ukpo, another nearby town, formerly a witness for Ukwulu, made a surprising volte face and joined the suit, claiming some of the land as theirs. The suits were subsequently consolidated and in 1999 a state high court ruled in Ukwulu/Ukpo’s favour. Abba got a stay of execution on the judgment. Then something strange happened: the record of proceedings in the case suddenly disappeared. The Anambra State government set up a panel of inquiry, which sat for three months and returned empty-handed to say they could not find the court records.

Abba filed an appeal but the appeal failed because the record of proceedings, which are indispensable materials for the determination of the appeal, could not be presented. Abba then appealed to the Supreme Court. In a lead judgment, Paul Adamu Galumje referred to the disappearance of the records and asked both parties to go back to the state high court and ‘sort out the mess.’

So Abba went back to file suit in state court, where the case is currently ongoing.

“Do court records just get up and walk away?” a spokesperson for Abba said. “We all know Prince Arthur Eze paid people to destroy the records. We don’t have money but we will fight him with the truth in court.”

But before the case could proceed in court, the siege of Abba began.

On June 19, 2019, Oye Abba market was full of people trading in vegetables and yams when police vans screeched in and policemen leapt out, shooting tear gas canisters, pushing and hitting traders and buyers, asking everyone to leave the market immediately. People ran. Children cried. Two weeks later, more policemen arrived at the market, destroying the wares of innocent people. And again a few days later. The terrorized traders then abandoned the market and set up on a busy intersection at the center of Abba, a less than ideal site, but the only option left to them.

While visiting my elderly parents in my hometown in August 2019, I saw the makeshift market at this intersection, some traders sitting on the bare earth, in the sun’s harsh glare. Something about that scene broke my heart – the smallness and sadness of it, villagers determined to keep on going, even though their market had been forcefully and illegally taken from them.

I began to ask questions and soon learned that it wasn’t just mass harassment of market traders, there was also a more targeted harassment of individuals who had spoken up for Abba in the land dispute.

On July 3, 2019 policemen from the Force Criminal Investigation Department, Area 10, Garki Abuja arrived early in the morning and arrested three people from Abba. A woman was about to unlock her shop on the main road in Abba when policemen jumped on her and arrested her. A man was about to leave home for his construction work site when policemen barged through his door, scaring his family, and bundled him away. They were detained first at the State CID for one week and then were moved to Abuja where they were detained for two weeks.

“On what charges?” I asked a young man, a member of the Abba Youth, who has witnessed the events from the beginning.
‘They had a long list of charges, including conspiracy and attempted murder,” he said.

“Attempted murder of whom?”

“It’s all nonsense. They fabricated charges, based on zero evidence, and took them to Abuja just to intimidate them and make them give up our land.”

The point of these illegal arrests is indeed intimidation. But many in Abba were not cowed. The Abba town union organized a peaceful protest along the Enugu-Onitsha expressway, on the spot where the signboards were torn down, to raise awareness about what was happening. They had no weapons, only their voices. Shortly after the protest began, the police arrived in large numbers. Some witnesses said there were at least 100 policemen, which in a small protest in a small town is akin to a hostile invasion by state machinery. The police fired tear gas to disperse the protest. The young man I spoke to was there, and told me how his eyes burned for days afterwards.

“There were so many tear gas canisters, up to 300, and they were brand new. We all know the police in this area don’t have that much. Who paid for the tear gas? Arthur Eze,” he said.

Abba Women also organized a protest to appeal to the governor for help. Hundreds of women gathered at the government house, all dressed in somber black, carrying signs, and singing mournful songs. Watching the video, one cannot help but be moved by these women, by their determination, their orderliness, their commitment to peaceful means of protest. They wanted the governor to step in and stop the police harassment of Abba indigenes. One of the cardboard signs they carried read: Stop police harassment of Abba. Another, to my surprise, read: Arthur Eze, emulate Alhaji Aliko Dangote. He does not use his money to intimidate people. He uses his money to invest wisely.

The Abba town union wrote detailed letters of complaint to the DSS, the state governor and the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. An excerpt from the letter to the President reads: “It is no secret that the I. G. P. Adamu Mohammed is being used by a known moneybag in Ukpo, Prince Arthur Eze, to intimidate and silence Abba people like he did to their neighbouring Abagana community.”

As a child I was often skeptical of historical stories in which the homeland of the storyteller was always in the right. And so my natural skepticism made me ask why Prince Arthur Eze would engage in this violent campaign of intimidation, and whether perhaps he was being unfairly maligned. Where was the evidence? How could we be sure that Prince Arthur Eze was indeed responsible?

“Arthur Eze wants to build a university named after him, and Ukpo doesn’t have any land big enough and so he wants to take our land,” the young man said.

Prince Arthur Eze has a documented history of muscling his way into contested land – in the past few years he has used the police to terrorize another nearby town, Abagana, after which he annexed their land. But perhaps the clearest evidence that Prince Arthur Eze is the mastermind of the harassment in the Abba-Ukpo case comes from his own words. After the Supreme Court judgment, Prince Arthur Eze called the traditional ruler of Abba, Igwe LN Ezeh and asked for a meeting on May 21, 2019 at the Geneva Hotel in Okpuno, a town near Awka. There, Prince Eze made a proposal: if Abba agreed to abandon the court case and share the land with Ukpo, he would call off the police. Igwe LN Ezeh told him that Abba people wanted to conclude the case in court. There are witnesses to this meeting. It was after this meeting that the police harassment of Abba indigenes went into full force.

Today in Abba people live in fear. Rumours swirl every day. Somebody says there is a list of Abba people to be arrested. Another says the police are coming from Abuja to arrest the town union members. Another says the community school, partly located on the disputed land, will be completely demolished. Some fearful parents keep their children home from school. When a big car with tinted windows drives through Abba, the people worry. Some men skulk away. Who will be arrested today? Who will be harassed? Who will sleep in a cell tonight?

My 87-year-old father, a retired university professor, is bewildered. He is from a passing generation of principled Nigerians who do not understand how a single individual can buy and control the Nigerian police force. After my father heard of an Abba man abducted while driving through Ukpo, his empty car left abandoned by the roadside, he asked my brother to take a longer route to a Pharmacy rather than drive through Ukpo. He feared for my brother’s safety. I fear for my parents’ safety. I fear for my hometown now unfairly living in distress.

Most recently, on September 6, 2019, Abba people woke up to see a Caterpillar demolishing the structures of Oye Abba market, while armed policemen and mobile policemen stood guard. Abba people watched, helpless and hapless, as the economic center of their small community was destroyed. The Caterpillar also demolished the walls of the nearby community secondary school, only days before students are supposed to return to school. Now the school walls and the market stalls are
a jumble of broken wood and cement, and a symbol of a brokenness in our system. Abba-Ukpo might well be a provincial land dispute, but it speaks to larger issues in Nigeria. A wealthy individual has turned the Nigerian police into his private terror group. Those deemed protectors of the people have become their attackers. Those supposed to uphold the law are now the practitioners of a particular kind of lawlessness lubricated by crass wealth.

Not all members of the police seem to be so shamefully on sale — the Anambra State Commissioner of Police, and the Divisional Police Officers of Ukpo and Abagana refused to harass Abba because they believed it to be illegal. But the consequences for them were swift: they were unceremoniously transferred to other states.

I don’t know who has a legitimate claim to the land – it has for decades been known as Agu Abba and farmed by Abba people in the often-unwritten rules that govern customary land ownership. But that is what the courts should determine, in a process free from meddling. Court records should not disappear. No community in Nigeria should be terrorized by state machinery. No private citizen should have the power to turn the police on an entire community. Injustice is stalking Anambra state and the rights of every citizen should be protected. It is in protecting the rights of others that we protect our own rights, because we create a system of rights from which all can potentially benefit.

As I ended my conversation with the young man, he said, “Please don’t use my name. The police will come and abduct me and take me to Abuja. My family is poor. I don’t have anybody to bring me food in Abuja, not to talk of bailing me out.”

I was struck by his use of the word ‘abduct.’ Some members of the Nigerian police have soiled its name and its legitimacy. The Nigerian police has been used to cause great harm in Abba. The Nigerian police must now refuse to be used any longer. The Nigerian police must show that it is not for sale. The Nigerian police must stand up for justice and fair play. Stop the harassment of innocent Abba citizens, and let the courts decide.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

Women Haters, Mediocre Men Dominate Nigeria’s Political Space — Chimamanda

VANGUARD INTERVIEW

BY EMMANUEL OKOGBA

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Image via Vanguard

World-renowned writer, Chimamanda Adichie, in this exclusive conversation with Sunday Vanguard, discusses politics, belief system, identity and, of course, her obsession with feminism. This chat, which also covers other subjects, is an informative exploration through the mind of one of Africa’s greatest writers.

Aside racism, if it counts in this case, what has been your greatest challenge as an internationally recognised, award-winning African creative writer based in the US? 

When my first novel was published, American readers often said they were surprised by how relatable the Nigerian characters were. An early challenge for me was getting readers to see that African stories are valid as literature as any other stories. Not that Africa is the same as anywhere else, because obviously, every place is unique, but that African stories are human stories in the way that literature is about human stories. I grew up reading books from all over the world and I was able to identify with characters from Russia to India.

Globalisation fosters cultural imperialism such that Nigerian youths do not wish to be identified with their origins but would rather be associated with the trends of the Western nations. Your books portray strong ties to African culture especially Igbo, even, in Americanah where the protagonist grew up in the West. How do you think the love for African roots can be re-established or sustained among the youths? 

My protagonist in Americanah did not grow up in the West. I think parents and guardians have a major role to play. You can’t speak only English to your children, act as if everything traditional is evil, not teach them to be proud of their history, and then turn around and complain that they are now ‘globalized.’ By the way, there is no such thing as a globalised identity; even the most cosmopolitan people have a core sense of identity. I consider myself a person who is very comfortable in the world and I love many diverse places in the world but it is because of my sense of self. It is my comfort in my skin as an Igbo woman, a Nigerian, an African, that makes this possible. My daughter speaks Igbo and I find it curious how many fellow Igbo and fellow Nigerians are shocked by this. I want to raise her bilingual as I was also raised bilingual. To give a child the language of her people is a gift that will serve her for the rest of her life. It gives her a sense of who she is. And it’s doable because we all did it. Most Nigerians of my generation are bilingual, so why can’t our children be?

Females all over the world are beginning to speak, recognise and take a stance on their places in the society yet this is being abused by some. What are the core differences between feminism and misandry? 

 Every movement has its extremist side. Look at history, the fight for independence in different countries always had a militant side but we don’t usually say that the militant side represents the movement. I often feel that this question of feminism being misandry is a question of bad faith. It is also used as a way of closing down important conversations. Feminism is about justice. Any thinking person who observes the world and is honest knows that women have historically been excluded, reduced, oppressed in different ways. Feminism is about trying to right that wrong. If a person is pointing out ways in which men have benefited socially or politically in ways that women have not, it does not mean that person hates men. If a person talks about the alarming rate of male violence against women, it is not hating men; it is simply stating facts, facts that we should all want to change. Women may be speaking up more but that doesn’t mean that the cultural, systemic, religious and traditional norms that reduce women have changed. I believe men are part of the solution. Men have to be feminists as well. Men have to speak up about this injustice.

This is a follow-up. Can you also point out the differences between feminism and chivalry?

Chivalry is really a form of noblesse oblige. It is the idea that men treat women well, help them, etc, because men are more powerful. But the problem is that if you think of a group of people as people you help it means you will never think of them as your equals or even as people who can be in a position higher than you. Most men who think of themselves as chivalrous are the same who cannot imagine a female president or who don’t want a female boss or who believe that women become powerful only be sleeping with men. Of course, being protective of the women in your private life is perfectly fine and very different from viewing women in general as people you have to protect. We should protect people who need protection. Some women need protection. Some men also need protection. 

You are being featured in the National Geographic Magazine Landmark: Portraits of Power alongside other great women like Oprah Winfrey, and Melinda Gates among others. Is your being a symbol of power a result of the impact of your writing or feminism stance? 

It is everything I represent. My fiction writing gave me a platform that I chose to use to speak about what I care about. One of the things I care about is feminism. But it is not the only thing I care about. In my experience, my greatest fans are those who have read all my books and I deeply appreciate them. 

Buchi Emecheta, the most successful female black writer in the UK refused to be tagged a feminist even though the bulk of her works has the theme of woman, gender role-play and inequality. Being a feminist icon and an internationally recognised African female writer, what is your take on this? 

Ms. Emecheta was an icon and a great inspiration for me. The Joys of Motherhood is a novel everyone should read. She rejected the word feminist because at the time it was a politically loaded word that often referred to the concerns of middle-class white women and excluded many black women. I have chosen to use the word feminist based on the dictionary definition, because we need to reclaim that word and because we need a word to rally around in order to address sexism. By those standards, Ms. Emecheta was definitely a feminist. She stood for equality for women. 

What is your view on the portrayal of women in Nigerian politics and what are your suggestions as regards this?

 It is important for women to be seen as equally capable and as equal actors in the political space. Nigerian politics is about access, patronage and money. Unfortunately, because women have traditionally not been allowed into these spaces, it is hard for women to compete, hard for them to get ‘godfathers’ and hard for them to be taken seriously. Which is why the few women who actually run for powerful offices have to be exceptional, have to work much harder, and have to deal with a lot more backlash, while mediocre men can sail through on the wings of a godfather and on the assumption that being male means you should be a leader. I do not support the idea of a ‘women’s wing’ of political parties because it suggests that women are slightly lower on the totem pole of ability, and it casts women as people who occupy supportive roles rather than those who should compete for real power. Political parties have to support women more in real positions of power, not token positions. But the fundamental problem is how we think of women in this culture. There are still too many men and women who do not believe that women are capable of being good political leaders. So women are not groomed or encouraged to become politicians. A relative once told me that a woman cannot be governor in Nigeria. I asked why and he simply said, ‘because she’s a woman.’ But we should be asking: who is qualified? Who will not steal state money? Who will use security vote wisely? Who will care about education and healthcare? Whose policies will focus on human beings rather than the personal egos of the politician? We need to be more open-minded in our conception of political leadership. 

Women who seek power

 Studies have shown that people, both men and women, do not like women who seek power. If you observe carefully, women who seek power are scrutinized more, criticized more and their ability is doubted more. They are also often assumed not to be competent. Somebody told me some time ago that Bianca Ojukwu was not ‘qualified’ to run for Senate because she was merely the wife of a leader. Mrs. Ojukwu is an intelligent lawyer. I asked this person what qualification the men he supported had. Many of those men were barely literate. The point is that we as citizens have to constantly question our assumptions and identify our blind spots and the places where we do not think critically. 

You are an avid supporter of LGBTQ which is a practice that is being frowned upon in Africa. How do you still maintain your African/homophobic audience? 

I believe in ‘live and let live.’ I also know that not all Africans are homophobic. African societies have had gay people for centuries. If we look back at our childhoods, there was always the girl or boy who we knew was ‘different’ but we took it in stride. The problem now is that it has become politicised. We have decided to fight political battles invented by western evangelicals. Ask yourself when exactly homophobia became such a big issue in Africa. Gay people cause no harm and Nigerians say they should be killed. But we have leaders who steal and lie, who do not pay elderly pensioners, and we don’t say they should be killed, even though these leaders are responsible for the deaths of fellow citizens. To be clear I don’t support violence and don’t think anybody should be killed but I am making a point about our prejudice and misplaced priorities. How exactly does our society benefit from harassing and attacking gay people? How can we say that a fellow citizen should be killed when that citizen has equal rights as we do and has done nothing to harm anyone? If your religion says you should avoid something then please avoid it for yourself, and do not force others to live by your faith. I am sure Christians don’t want to be made to abide by Sharia and Muslims don’t want to say the Lord’s Prayer. Ancient African societies were accepting of diversity. Let’s live and let live. 

Are you considering depicting LGBTQ in any of your upcoming books? 

People are people. Gay people are people. Please read my short story ‘Apollo’ in the New Yorker. Also, read ‘The Shivering’ in my collection The Thing Around Your Neck. 

With your busy schedule, how do you balance living in two countries? 

I feel very grateful that I can live in both Nigeria and the US and so I don’t mind the challenges involved in achieving a balance. I don’t think I would be fully happy if I had to live exclusively in either place. I am private about my private life, especially because my work as a writer requires being so public. At home, I love to spend time with family and friends. I love quality time with loved ones. I love laughter, conversation and healthy food. I am not very keen on going out. My life in the US and Nigeria is focused on that.