#IWD2019: Chimamanda says women should be allowed to wear anything they want

Celebrated Nigerian author and activist, Chimamanda Ngozi-Adichie spoke with CNN Africa in a video released on Friday, March 8, 2019. It was to commemorate the huge event of that day, the International Women’s Day 2019 or #IWD2019. At Pulse, we asked 12 incredible women to speak on what it means to be a woman in Nigeria.

The idea of masculine entitlement to the entire of women’s bodies has always been a topical conversation across contemporary circles, with women expressing their discontent at the issue. It even spread to the entire conversation that sprung up around transactional sex and sex work this year. Women have been taking the power back.

ALSO READ: 12 women tell Pulse what it means to be a woman in Nigeria

But now, while speaking to CNN Africa, Chimamanda spoke about how she felt women should wear whatever they want to wear in the world. Now 41, she then gleaned the experiences of her youth to charge Nigerian women to express their inclinations.

She said, “Wear what you want to wear. I say that as kind of a joke. But in a larger sense, I think it would be, don't think you have to do what people want you to do.

"Increasingly, in part of growing older for me, I'm 41, and when I was 30, when I was 27, I think I was a lot more invested in kind of thinking about what people expected and what people wanted. And I think it's mentally exhausting to do that. And, you take away from yourself, the energy that you could have used to do things that are actually meaningful to you.

"Now, I feel old and wise and I would say to that younger version of myself, and actually I'll say also to young women all over the world to, it's so important not to think that you have to perform for somebody else. It's really important to, what I like to call own yourself."

The video is also intersected with sections of the Everett M. Rogers award-winner in different outfits.