Chimamanda Adichie, an award-winning writer, says she was “a little bit upset” to discover that Hillary Clinton’s Twitter bio starts with the word “wife”.
During the PEN World Voices Festival on Sunday, Adichie spoke with Clinton after the latter had delivered the Arthur Miller Freedom To Write Lecture.
Adichie, who said she was honoured to interview Clinton, asked the former US first lady why “wife” comes first on her Twitter bio.
The Twitter bio reads, “Wife, mom, grandma, women+kids advocate, FLOTUS, Senator, SecState, hair icon, pantsuit aficionado, 2016 presidential candidate”.
Commenting on it, Adichie said to Clinton: “In your Twitter account, the first word that describes you is ‘wife’. And when I saw that, I have to confess that I felt just a little bit upset.
“And then I went and I looked at your husband’s Twitter account, and the first word was not ‘husband’.”
Taking the criticism as constructive, Clinton replied, “When you put it like that, I’m going to change it”.
Speaking further, the former US presidential aspirant said: “It shouldn’t be either/or. It should be that if you are someone who is defining yourself by what you do and what you accomplish, and that is satisfying, then more power to you.
“That is how you should be thinking about your life, and living it.
“If you are someone who primarily defines your life in relationship to others, then more power to you, and live that life the way Barbara Bush lived that life, and how proud she was to do it.
“But I think most of us as women in today’s world end up in the middle. Wanting to have relationships, wanting to invest in them, nurture them, but also pursuing our own interests.”
Adichie recently revealed that she was sexually assaulted by a powerful media man when she was 17.
Chimamanda Adichie ‘upset’ over Hillary Clinton’s use of ‘wife’ in Twitter bio
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