Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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       Introduction

      When a couple of years ago a friend of mine from childhood, who’d grown into a brilliant, strong, kind woman, asked me to tell her how to raise her baby girl a feminist, my first thought was that I did not know.

      It felt like too huge a task.

      But I had spoken publicly about feminism and perhaps that made her feel I was an expert on the subject. I had over the years also helped care for many babies of loved ones; I had worked as a babysitter and helped raise my nephews and nieces. I had done a lot of watching and listening, and I had done even more thinking.

      In response to my friend’s request, I decided to write her a letter, which I hoped would be honest and practical, while also serving as a map of sorts for my own feminist thinking. This book is a version of that letter, with some details changed.

      Now that I, too, am the mother of a delightful baby girl, I realize how easy it is to dispense advice about raising a child when you are not facing the enormously complex reality of it yourself.

      Still, I think it is morally urgent to have honest conversations about raising children differently, about trying to create a fairer world for women and men.

      My friend sent me a reply saying she would ‘try’ to follow my suggestions.

      And in rereading these as a mother, I too am determined to try.