Chimamanda Adichie believes Nigerians are Antifeminist for criticizing former minister of Petroleum, Diezani Allison Madueke

Foremost Novelist, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has stated that the harsh criticisms being faced by Nigeria’s former minister of Petroleum, Diezani Allison Madueke, from Nigerians over her corruption trial is because she is a ‘woman’.

Adichie believes that if Madueke was a man she wouldn’t face this much ridicule from Nigerians. She says that Diezani’s case would not be capitalised on if she was a man because stealing money was normal for Nigerian politicians. Speaking at the University of Edinburgh recently, Adichie said;

“We shouldn’t assume, that because a person is born a woman, that person is somehow is just one step lower than an angel.

I find it quite dehumanizing for women because what is means is that women cannot be judged on the same terms as men.

I remember once a politician in Nigeria who was a woman had stolen money which is an exercise most Nigerian politicians are very adept at. she was pilloried, I remember a journalist saying and she’ s a woman.

Somehow the assumption was it will be better if she was a man because then Nigerians would not judge her harshly since we expect men to steal.

I think the idea of women being another specie of angel is bad for both women and men because it makes the standards uneven. I dream of a world in which women are seen as women where women are allowed to be many things.”