No young woman should be forced into marriage, according to award-winning Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi-Adichie, who also noted that women should be able to take their time when deciding on the guy they want to spend the rest of their lives with.
She added that young women who were supposed to get married at a certain age often failed to do so simply because they did not select the man they want.
She delivered the keynote address on Friday at the 21st Annual Conference of the Women in Management, Business, and Public Service. The Eko Convention Center on Victoria Island in Lagos served as the venue for the event.
NOVELIST CHIMAMANDA ADICHIE JOINS TWITTER
Speaking during the Question and Answer session after her address, Adichie said it was wrong for older women to ‘keep watch’ on younger women, questioning them on when they would get married.
Adichie said, “I find that many young women here have this obsession about getting married. You’ll hear things like, ‘Is she married?’ ‘When is she getting married?’ ‘Who is she getting married to?’I think it is disastrous for us to have this kind of obsession. It puts young women under so much pressure.
“So, for the big aunties, please, don’t do it to young women. They too want to be happy. So, if they are not yet married, it just means they haven’t found the right guy to be happy with.
“It is not as if being single is anything bad. They simply want to be happy. It is so much pressure. I have spoken to many young women about this to find this out. It is not just for the individual young women, but the participation of women in society.
“If we weigh them down by culture, judgment and pressure, they are not going to go out there and change the world, and we want women to conquer the world.”
The Executive Director of WIMBIZ, in her address, thanked the founders and the newly-inaugurated members of the Board of Trustees of the organisation for their support as well as past conference chairpersons for their immense support.
“They have made my life so easy serving as Executive Director. There are a lot of programmes that I couldn’t be a part of this year but were done even in my absence.
“What made me join an organisation like WIMBIZ was because of the presence of very strong women in the room, which were the founders that started the organisation. In many ways, I would say, “WIMBIZ women are alpha women.”
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