Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s slim book, We Should All Be Feminists, is based on a TED speech she gave a couple years ago. Adichie writes about the sexism in her home country of Nigeria but finds some of the same disturbing behaviors when she visits the United States. My favorite story in this book is when Adichie is 9-years-old and her teacher told the class that whoever received the highest grade on a test would become the Classroom Monitor for the day. Adichie yearned to be the Classroom Monitor (a Big Deal in Nigerian classrooms). And Adichie studied hard and scored the highest grade on the test. But when the time came to claim her prize, the teacher told Adichie, “Only boys can be the Classroom Monitor.” That launched Adichie’s feminism because she thought what happened to her was so unfair. I found We Should All Be Feminists profound and moving. GRADE: A
Well, yes. Or at least pro-feminist, for those who think a man can’t be a feminist.
Todd, I grew up with three sisters (and a brother) so I was a feminist years before it was cool to be a feminist.
And…classroom monitor can/could be a Big Thing for kids in the US, too. (I’ve been more on the anarchist side of the spectrum from way back, but enjoyed stopping vehicular adults as a kid crossing guard. And, yes, in suburban New England in the ’70s some school/police districts apparently though kids doing that gig was good idea. Ah, the irresponsibility of the ’70s…some of it all to the good, some not so much.)
Todd, you’re right. I was selected to be on the Safety Patrol back in Sixth Grade. It was a heady moment.
I suppose one must add that there isn’t just one sort of feminism, and for obvious reasons I’m more comfortable with libertarian (older, broader sense) humanist feminism than, say, LEAN IN corporatist feminism, or Mary Daly’s sort of Only Separation can allow true feminism praxis.
Todd, my interpretation of feminism centers around equality and fairness.
True story: one afternoon when I was in 6th grade (1969), my math/science teacher (a woman and a good teacher) dismissed the boys to go to recess and kept all the girls behind. Once there were only girls in the room, the teacher said, ” If you girls keep making better grades than the boys on your science tests, the boys aren’t going to like you and won’t marry you when you get older.” I suspect most women of a certain age have stories like this.
Deb, when my wife was a senior in High School, she was called down to the Guidance Counselor’s Office. The Guidance Counselor told Diane, “You have very good grades. Do you plan to go to College.” Diane said, “Yes.” “Do you want to be a nurse or a teacher?” he asked. That was 1967.
“But you don’t need college to be a secretary! Just learn some shorthand! And get yourself some protection…”
Argh.
In jr. high, mid sixties, girls had to take home ec (sewing and cooking) boys had to take shop (wood) and at some point car mechanics. I wanted to take mechanics in high school but wasn’t allowed to (though I would have hated to get my hands greasy in hindsight)
True. I took woodworking. Jackie had home ec. She had to sew an apron. She remembers cooking corn fritters.
Jeff, corn fritters sound yummy!
Maggie, I wanted to take Home Economics to learn how to cook and sew. But, instead, I had to take Print Shop (and learn how to set movable type–an obsolete skill today).
“Only boys can be classroom monitors.” Wow. And Deb’s story is even more incredible.
Jackie had a similar story. As the second tallest girl in her class she was chosen as a Guard, but as a girl she could only be the Lieutenant. Yes, the Captain had to be a boy. I was a guard/monitor too, and made good use of my list-making skills as part of my job consisted of sorting and delivering milk daily to the younger kids. This was big for me as I was painfully shy and normally didn’t speak out in class at all.
I know, hard to believe now.
And George, I’m with you. I’ve always considered myself a feminist. It’s how we were brought up.
Jeff, when Diane and I were setting up our Wills and Health Care Proxies, we stipulated that our estate be evenly divided between Patrick and Katie. Our lawyer told us, “About 80% of my clients leave more to the son than the daughter.”
Again, argh. And when was That, I hate to ask.
Wow. You’d think it would be the other way around,. My parents (after thinking about cutting out one of my sisters for personal reasons) divided everything four ways. When we went to the house to divide up the stuff after my father died, my brother and I took almost nothing (our choice!) while my sisters took almost everything. My younger sister’s house must look like a furniture warehouse now.
Jeff, we have always tried to treat Patrick and Katie equally. To give the bulk of an estate to the son over a daughter is Just Wrong to me. But our lawyer assured us that was very common among his clients.
My story will curl your hair. My middle school social studies teacher told me if I worked hard I could be head of the hall monitors. (Why I wanted to do this, I don’t know). When I finally won my position as head, the treat was I got to sit on his lap every Friday and give him a report. This aspect had not been mentioned but I went along with it.
The head of the stair monitors followed me into his office. It was years later when I realized I’d been had.
Jackie is appalled.
Patti, that’s a very scary story!
Another selfless educator at work.
In Muriel Spark’s autobiography, Curriculum Vitae, she writes of a male teacher who always had her sit at the front of the class so he could stroke her hair while lecturing. Spark says no one at the time found anything odd about that.
Again, I suspect lots of women (and men) of a certain age have stories of this nature.
That also helps to explain a bit of Spark’s worldview. There’s a memoir I need to pick up…thanks.
wow. I was just going to write that wouldn’t happen today, but I realized it still could happen, though I’m hoping it would be a lot less likely.
George, Jackie had a similar story to Diane’s. Her choices were: nurse, teacher, or secretary. Her mother was a teacher as were both of her sisters. She really wanted to be a journalist (as did her mother). She read a lot of “career girl” books as a girl.
“Oh. Well, society pages or advice column?”
Jeff In the 7th grade for the sewing semester we made an apron. I think my mom still has it. for 8th grade we made a gathered/full skirt. We had a fashion show, and as I was the shortest in my grade, I went first. Since I’m moderately tall now, the reason for the short stature was that I graduated high school at 16.
for the cooking part, the only thing I remember making was jelly or jam.
Jeff, Katie and Patrick gave WE SHOULD ALL BE FEMINISTS to me for my Birthday. It’s a great present!
Jackie said they had to make gym suits and sew their names on them.
Jeff, back then I wanted to learn how to sew a button on.
In my New Hampshire town in 1977, one 8th Grade boy managed to get into Home Ec instead of Shop (he was rather effeminate and “read gay” at the time, and was toughing out other “excuses” for hostility more than which “practical skills” course he opted for). I think most schools these days offer both to everyone, or mandate both for everyone, if they even bother to have such programs any longer (unless supported by grants from household products or hardware concerns, I imagine these tend to go the way of arts education in most more-strapped and smaller school districts).
Todd, art and music programs continue to be cut or eliminated. It’s a sad time for public education.