We Should All Be Feminists

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key plot points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Reading Check

1. Who was the first person to call Adichie a feminist?

2. What words from the late Kenyan Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai does Adichie summarize?

3. What assumption was made about Adichie by the guard of a fancy Nigerian hotel?

4. Which English word does Adichie strongly dislike?

5. Fill in the blank of the following quote: “The language of marriage is often a language of __________, not a language of partnership.”

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Summarize Adichie’s anecdote from primary school regarding the class monitor position. What is an aspect of the story’s outcome that Adichie finds interesting?

2. What realization did Adichie come to while visiting her friend Louis in Lagos?

3. How have Gendered Expectations changed throughout history? Link your answer with the transformation of the term “leader.”

4. Explain Adichie’s description of what it is like to be a woman in Lagos. How does this treatment make Adichie feel?

5. Explain Adichie’s comment on “bottom power” for women. Does she believe that this notion is true?

Paired Resource

TEDx Talk “We Should All Be Feminists”

• Adichie’s TEDxEuston December 2012 talk on which the text is based
• Watch Adichie’s speech after reading the essay. Does her presentation of the material change your perception of the content in any way? Why or why not?

Recommended Next Reads 

Americanah by Chimamanda Adichie

• This 2013 novel by the author discusses the intersection of race and identity in the context of a young Nigerian couple who leaves their homeland.
• Americanah on SuperSummary

Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga

• This 1988 coming-of-age novel by a Zimbabwean author explores many of the themes in Adichie’s speech, including Small Injustices, Gendered Expectations, and the concept of womanhood as a burden.
• Nervous Conditions on SuperSummary