Women Power and Women’s Rights

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Wellesley’s Commencement Speaker in May

Adichie To Speak At Wellesley

I learned today that Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie will be the commencement speaker at Wellesley. I wish it were Mount Holyoke, but I’m glad it’s a women’s college.

I read the info on Ainehi Edoro’s blog Brittle Paper, and then went to the news source where she found it. Their announcement said, “An award-winning author whose work was sampled by singer Beyoncé for the Grammy-nominated song ‘Flawless,’ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie will speak at Wellesley College’s Commencement Exercises on Friday, May 29, at 10:30 a.m.”

Ainehi relayed a comment on the selection from Wellesley’s President, H. Kim Bottomly. “Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is…an unabashed feminist whose thought-provoking work has inspired a generation…She is the perfect choice to send off our graduating seniors as they get ready to make their mark on the world. We can’t wait to welcome her to Wellesley.”

This will be Wellesley’s 137th commencement. I just have to note that Wellesley was founded in 1875, whereas Mount Holyoke, the oldest continuing college for women, began in 1837. And not to be outdone Mount Holyoke has just revealed that the common read for the incoming freshmen in the fall is Adichie’s novel Americanah.

And She Speaks On the Oba’s Remark

Oba Rilwan Akiolu, traditional ruler of Lagos

Oba Rilwan Akiolu, traditional ruler of Lagos, photo credit  newsexpressngr

April 11 is election day again in Nigeria, this time for the governors of the thirty six states. Again the PDP, Goodluck Jonathan’s party, and APC, Buhari’s, are the main contestants. The Oba, the traditional ruler of Lagos, said last week that Igbos in Lagos should vote for the APC, the party he favors. If they didn’t, he would throw them into the Lagos lagoon.

Some people said his remark shouldn’t be taken seriously, he was just making a joke. He’s not a party official after all. But others believed his remark had serious potential. It is after all only a few decades since Igbos in Lagos did flee the city in the lead-up to the Biafran War.

Chimamanda just issued a statement on the remarks made by the Oba. “His words said, in effect: I think so little of you that I don’t have to cajole you but will just threaten you and, by the way, your safety in Lagos is not assured, it is negotiable,” she wrote. Her piece is very thoughtful and to me, convincing.

I read in Sahara Reporters that Igbo leaders have called on the National Human Rights Commission in Lagos to protect them against the Oba’s threat. They wrote, “Sequel to a widely publicized write-up in almost all the national newspapers on the 6th of April . . we on behalf of the entire Ndigbo [Igbo people] resident in Lagos State solicit  your intervention to avert a carnage that might follow the Kabiesi’s [traditional ruler’s] threat as Ndigbo have always been targets of such threats in the past.”

Another article in Sahara Reporters said that Tinubu, the recognized power behind Buhari in Lagos, apologized to Igbos in Lagos. But the APC is still encouraging votes for their party. President-elect Buhari told people at a rally in Lagos, “It is in your interest to vote APC this Saturday. Tell your neighbours, family members and friends that APC is the party that can bring desired development.”

Will there be a sweep of a majority of the governors coming from APC? We’ll know soon, maybe even tomorrow.

I Will Speak at Conference on Igbo Women

I’m finishing my remarks for the conference in London next week. I’ll be talking about widows’ inheritance rights and women’s right to own land in Nigeria, particularly among the Igbo.

I already knew that when an Igbo man had no sons, he could assign a daughter to remain on his land to protect it for future generations. I’ve learned that she was regarded as a female son, and when she had children she was called a female father.

She had to be regarded as the father, because the actual father or fathers of her children had no rights to those children.

I’ve also learned about widows’ lack of rights to keep property that she shared with her deceased husband in some parts of Igbo land.

One of the writers whose work I’ve been studying makes a strong case against some of the traditional practices that are harmful to women.

He says that since Nigeria is a signatory to international conventions and agreements, including CEDAW, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, it should not permit the practices that do discriminate.

But is there a case for preserving traditional practices that are part of the fabric of the society? Or do human rights trump tradition?

He makes the point that there was a time in parts of Nigeria when twins were regarded as evil and were killed at birth. This traditional practice has been abandoned.

More to come!

Author: Catherine Onyemelukwe

Author, blogger, speaker. Born in New York, grew up in mid west United States, lived in Nigeria for 24 years, back in U.S. since 1986. Advocate for racial justice.