Powerful ideas from top nonfiction
Try Blinkist to get the key ideas from 5,500+ bestselling nonfiction titles and podcasts. Listen or read in just 15 minutes.
Start your free trial
Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
We Should All Be Feminists summary
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Why Feminism is the key to a better world
Listen to the first key idea
Key idea 1 of 5
4.2 (99 ratings)
12 mins
5 key ideas
Audio & text
What is We Should All Be Feminists about?
In We Should All Be Feminists (2014), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie expands on her much admired TEDx talk to address our deepest misconceptions about feminism. By masterfully interweaving personal anecdotes, philosophy and her talent for prose, she explains how men and women are far from being equal, how women are systematically discriminated against and what we can do about it.
About the Author
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian writer and recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. She won the Orange Prize for her novel Half of a Yellow Sun, and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Americanah.
Table of Contents
Key idea 1 of 5
The are many common misconceptions surrounding the word “feminism.”
Have you ever witnessed an argument when someone used the word “feminism”? Did you notice how people reacted?
Like many other -isms, feminism is a word that provokes a wide range of reactions in people – and many of them are negative. In fact, feminism can often evoke aggression and condescension.
The author experienced this when she was still a teenager – and didn’t even know what a feminist was. When she was fourteen, she had a vigorous argument with a close male family friend. As the argument heated up, he called her a feminist in a way that sounded like feminists were akin to criminals.
And this wasn’t her last encounter with this attitude. At an interview to promote her first book, Purple Hibiscus, the journalist interviewing her advised her not to call herself a feminist.
Why?
Because, he said, women who called themselves feminists were jealous, unhappy and incapable of finding a man. The author has many other similar stories, like a time when she was told by a female Nigerian academic that feminism was a Western indulgence, incompatible with African tradition.
But feminism is not only dismissed by people who are against it. Many people believe that men and women should be equal, but that feminism is no longer necessary because the sexes are already equal. These people believe that women used to be oppressed but now have all the same freedoms that men do.
One of the author’s friends had demonstrated exactly this kind of attitude. He couldn’t understand how exactly women were treated differently – until he witnessed it firsthand.
One night, he and the author went out for dinner. A valet parked their car, and she gave him a tip. But instead of thanking the author, the valet looked at her male friend and said “thank you, sir.” In that moment, her male friend caught a glimpse into the everyday oppression of women.
Want to see all full key ideas from We Should All Be Feminists?
Key ideas in We Should All Be Feminists
More knowledge in less time
Read or listen
Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.
Find your next read
Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.
Shortcasts New
We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.
Who should read We Should All Be Feminists
- Anyone who doesn’t see the need for feminism
- Feminists looking for more arguments and reasoning to strengthen their positions
- Anyone on the fence about the role feminism can play in modern-day society
Categories with We Should All Be Feminists
Books like We Should All Be Feminists
What our members say
Sven O.
It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.
Thi Viet Quynh N.
Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.
Jonathan A.
Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.
Renee D.
Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.
Start growing with Blinkist now
25 Million
Downloads on all platforms
4.7 Stars
Average ratings on iOS and Google Play
91%
Of Blinkist members create a better reading habit*
*Based on survey data from Blinkist customers