Nigerian frontline novelist, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, has taken a
swipe at Nigerians for criticising former Minister of Petroleum
Resources, Dieziani Alison-Madueke over fraud allegations.
According to her, Dieziani’s case would not be capitalised if she was
a man because stealing money is a norm practised by Nigerian
politicians.
While speaking at the university of Edinburgh, Chimamanda stated that
assumptions that men are expected to steal and women should be like
angels aggravated the former Minister’s fraud case.
She said:
“We shouldn’t assume, that because a person is born a woman, that person is somehow is just one step lower than 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 ploitician in nigerian who was a woman had stolen
money which is an exercise most nigerian politicians are very adept at.“she was pilloride, i remember a jounalist 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.”
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