A FEMINIST ANALYSIS OF GENDER ROLES IN ‘WE SHOULD ALL BE FEMINIST’ BOOK BY CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE

Dian ayu Sarjawan; Ana Mariana; Dahlia Husain; Syarifin Anunu Maunty

A FEMINIST ANALYSIS OF GENDER ROLES IN ‘WE SHOULD ALL BE FEMINIST’ BOOK BY CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE

Dian ayu Sarjawan, Ana Mariana, Dahlia Husain, Syarifin Anunu Maunty

Abstract

This study examines the representation and social implications of gender roles in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s We Should All Be Feminists. It addresses the continuing normalization of gender-based restrictions in education, employment, marriage, domestic work, leadership, and self-expression. Using a qualitative descriptive design, the study applies content and narrative analysis to the 2014 Fourth Estate edition of the book, with liberal feminist thought—particularly the emphasis on equal rights, autonomy, education, and personal freedom—as its interpretive framework. The primary data consist of nine textual excerpts selected because they directly represent women’s agency or gender discrimination. The findings are organized into two interrelated themes: freedom of choice and freedom from discrimination. Adichie’s narrative presents women’s anger, professional ambition, marital decisions, family resistance, and self-affirmation as legitimate expressions of agency. It also exposes discrimination through restrictive expectations after marriage, the feminization of domestic labor, and social pressure to minimize or apologize for femininity. These findings indicate that gender equality requires more than formal rights; it also depends on transforming everyday norms that regulate women’s choices and identities. Adichie’s work therefore functions both as literary testimony and as public feminist intervention, encouraging readers to recognize, question, and reconstruct unequal gender relations.

Keywords

gender roles; gender equality; liberal feminism; women’s agency; Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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