Feminism In The Ted Talk Given By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Speech

The term “We are all created equal” backs a very idealistic perception of the world, but what is ideal is not always reality. Feminism is a term that is used to promote equality of the sexes in contrast to the patriarchal society there is today. Feminism is often thought of with a negative connotation, and even a great number of women do not agree with it, however in the Ted Talk given by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie conveys a message to get all people to change the way they think about the concept. Adichie makes many arguments throughout her speech on the points and traits of feminism, she includes a series of emotional and personal anecdotes, among other strategies to try and get the audience to follow her and her views on the topic. She incorporates

There is a point in the speech where she starts an anecdote and states, “I wrote a novel...” (Adichie). This is a very important piece of information that she made sure to add into the speech because it establishes that her views on feminism have been published and that she is very serious about this topic. The audience’s knowledge of her being an author creates an undeniable sense of intelligence in regards to Adichie, they will more than likely take what she says more seriously now that they know this about her career background. Later on in the speech she starts another story and begins with, “Now, not long ago I wrote an article about what it means to be young and female in Lagos…” (Adichie). She once again used ethos as a way to establish that herself and her opinions are highly regarded. Adichie’s statement also tells the audience that she grew up in Africa, it gives her even more credibility that she is from a part of the world where women are not treated in the best ways, because it shows that she has firsthand experience with the issues she talks about. It is essential that any presentational speaker establishes this sense of credibility with the audience, it sets them apart from others and adds a sense of importance to what they have to

The stories Adichie tells are mostly about her misfortunes she has faced due to the fact that she is a female. “I got the highest score on the test. Then to my surprise my teacher said that the monitor had to be a boy.” (Adichie). This type of story is used to pull at the hearts’ of the people watching. It creates a sort of stigma that if someone does not agree with her, then they support the things in the story that hurt her. By making the audience feel her sadness, it makes them empathize for her and ultimately take her side.. Later in the speech she starts to get a very powerful tone to her voice and says, “I am angry. Gender as it functions today is a grave injustice. We should all be angry.” This is a very bold thing that she says, it conveys her strong emotions about the topic to the crowd in an attempt to get them angry as well. Adichie adds in these emotional stories and points to make emotions rise in the audience, they heel her misfortune and anger about the subject through her and it makes for a very easy way to drive home her points and examples of gender