Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, has queried former US First Lady, Hillary Clinton, for beginning her Twitter bio with ‘wife’, rather than her career achievements.
The two met as speakers at a PEN World Voices Festival lecture at the Cooper Union in Manhattan, New York on Sunday.
“In your Twitter account, the first word that describes you is ‘Wife.’ And then I think it’s ‘Mom,’ and then it’s ‘Grandmother,’” Chimamanda said. “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’.”
Former President Bill Clinton’s Twitter bio leads with “Founder, Clinton Foundation and 42nd President of the United States.”
Mrs Clinton, 70, was, however, unfazed by the words coming from the woman 30 years younger than her.
“When you put it like that, I’m going to change it,” the former Democratic presidential candidate laughed, before adding that women should be able to celebrate both their personal and professional achievements.
Quoting the late former First Lady Barbara Bush, Clinton said: “At the end of the day, it won’t matter if you got a raise, it won’t matter if you wrote a great book, if you are not also someone who values relationships.”
Speaking in her own words, Clinton added: “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,” she said. “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.”
