Feminist, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie queries Hillary Clinton
By Temitope Ojo
Nigerian born writer, Chimamanda Adichie has queried former US first lady, Hillary Clinton on her Twitter bio.
The former presidential aspirant was speaking with Chimamanda at the PEN World Voices Festival lecture held at the Cooper Union in Manhattan over the weekend, when the question about why her Twitter bio begins with ‘wife’ popped up.
“In your Twitter account, the first word that describes you is ‘Wife.’ And then I think it’s ‘Mom,’ and then it’s ‘Grandmother,’” Adichie said. “And when I saw that, I have to confess that I felt just a little bit upset. And then I went and I looked at your husband’s Twitter account, and the first word was not ‘husband’.”
It is worthy to note that Bill Clinton’s Twitter bio leads with, “Founder, Clinton Foundation and 42nd President of the United States.”
This is what Hillary Clinton answered her with: “When you put it like that, I’m going to change it,” she said, before adding that it is okay for women to celebrate their personal and professional achievements whichever way they want it.
She continued, quoting the late former First Lady Barbara Bush, who said: “At the end of the day, it won’t matter if you got a raise, it won’t matter if you wrote a great book, if you are not also someone who values relationships.”
“It shouldn’t be either/or. It should be that if you are someone who is defining yourself by what you do and what you accomplish, and that is satisfying, then more power to you. That is how you should be thinking about your life, and living it,” Hilary Clinton said. “If you are someone who primarily defines your life in relationship to others, then more power to you, and live that life the way Barbara Bush lived that life, and how proud she was to do it.
“But I think most of us as women in today’s world end up in the middle. Wanting to have relationships, wanting to invest in them, nurture them, but also pursuing our own interests.”