Adichie Sweeden gender equality

Yesterday, Sweden’s largest publishing house Albert Bonniers Förlag released the Swedish translation of We Should All Be Feminists.

Titled Alla Borde Vara Feminister, the translation represents yet another win for a book that has become the go-to document of global feminism.

To launch the new translation, Albert Bonniers Förlag partnered with The Swedish Women’s Lobby and a host of other organizations to run a gender equality campaign targeted at high school students.

Clara Berglund, Chairman of the Swedish Women’s Lobby, says that, as a book that promotes feminism as a concern for everyone, We Should All Be Feminists is a gift for future generations.

At the launch event, which took place at Norra Real High school in Stockholm, it was announced that copies of the book will be given as gifts to high school students across the country. Organizers of the campaign also asked readers to use the #allafeminiser hashtag to post images of the book.

We Should All Be Feminists started out as a Ted Talk [watch here]. It snowballed into global prominence after Beyonce sampled it in her “Flawless” track. From being recommended by the British actor Simon Pegg to setting off an epic Twitter hashtag calling attention to women’s plight in Nigerian, the book has attracted the attention of readers interested in feminist writings.

The Swedish Women’s Lobby said, in a statement on their website, that they hope the book “will work as a stepping stone for a discussion about gender equality and feminism.”

Adichie who could not make it to the launch participated via a lovely video message in which she talks about why she thinks of herself as a feminist.

For me, feminism is about justice. I am a feminist because I want to live in a world that is more just. I am a feminist because I want to live in a world where a woman is never told that she can or cannot or should not do anything because she is a woman. I want to live in a world where men and women are happier, where they are not constrained by gender roles. I want to live in a world where men and women are truly equal. That’s why I’m a feminist. When I was 16 I don’t think I knew what feminism meant. I don’t think I knew the word at all, but I was a feminist. And I hope that the 16 year olds who’d read this book in Sweeden would also decide to be feminists. And mostly I hope that very soon that one day we would not need to be feminists because we would live in a world that is truly just and equal.

Congrats to Adichie for the Swedish translation of her work!

It is such a delight that her feminist writings and politics are inspiring a generation of young girls and boys around the world to take a stand for gender equality.