Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions

Dear Ijeawele is an epistolary manifesto composed of 15 suggestions. It’s intended audience is parents who want to raise their daughters as feminists. The book functions both as a parenting guide for raising girls to be empowered, independent women, and as a sort of field guide for feminism that anyone can use to live a more feminist life.

Written by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the work is the product of a correspondence between Adichie and her friend Ijeawele. Ijeawele just gave birth to a baby girl, Chizalum, and asked Adichie for advice on how to raise her to be a feminist. Adichie’s response forms the basis of this manifesto, which was first published by Knopf Publishers in 2017.

The book addresses the dual context of both Adichie and Ijeawele’s home country of Nigeria and Adichie’s adopted home country of the United States. The book references ongoing gender inequality in both countries and draws comparisons between the two cultures.

The purpose of the manifesto is to undo this gender inequality by raising girls to reject traditional gender roles and expectations. As Adichie characterizes it, gender roles are like a straitjacket designed to restrict women’s freedom and limit their potential.