Stories are the pulse of human connection, transporting our memories, our struggles, our dreams.
As we trade stories like currency, we learn who we are and who we could become. But within every narrative also lies the power to define, to erase, to reinvent. That is to say, not every story is heard, and not every voice is given space to express itself.
And when certain stories are left untold, or told from a skewed, dominant angle that does not truly reflect what it actually stands for, that power becomes uneven, shaping not just perception but identity itself. When society reduces a person, especially a woman, to a single story, it limits her humanity and distorts our collective understanding. The consequences are not just personal; they are societal, cultural, and political.
The Tyranny of a Single Story
A single story can never hold the fullness of truth because two contradictory truths can exist within the same experience, and still be valid. A woman can therefore be both strong and afraid, both survivor and vulnerable, both angry and tender.
Acclaimed Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie famously warns against the dangers of the single story in her 2009 TED Talk. When a person is defined by only one narrative, complexity is erased. The single story flattens identity, reduces human experience to stereotypes, and validates prejudice.
Women, and in particular, African women, are often subject to this reduction. Media, literature, workplace dynamics, and cultural norms frequently portray women through narrow lenses that rarely allow them to inhabit the full spectrum of human complexity.
The danger of society’s insistence on the single, simplified version of a woman’s story lies not just in invisibility and misrepresentation, but in the erasure of that complexity and flattening of her humanity. When women are portrayed solely as sexual objects (not subjects, for women are rarely the subject of sexual desire), intellect and agency are dismissed.
One-dimensional portrayals teach society what to expect from women, as well as shape policies, workplace practices, and social interactions in ways that reinforce inequality. The greatest danger of a single story lies not just in what it tells, but in the contradictions, the nuance, the messy, beautiful reality of humanity that it leaves out.
Societal Consequences
Seeing people through the lens of a single story is not just a personal misconception but a systemic issue. Take the workplace, for example. Women are often confined to limited, entry-level roles that exclude them from leadership, innovation, and high-stakes decision-making.
Their ideas may be dismissed, their authority questioned, and even their contributions ignored. And when they do advance in the corporate world, female leaders are scrutinised for their appearance, demeanour, and emotional expressions rather than their values and vision, with female voices in public conversations often being either sensationalised or silenced.
Internalised Impact
When women are continually exposed to one-dimensional portrayals, those images can begin to shape their sense of identity and possibility. The repetition of limited roles can lead to the internalisation of restrictive norms, where young women start to believe that ambition should be moderated by deference, that intellect is best concealed behind charm, or that success must come at the expense of authenticity.
Such internalisation sustains patterns of self-doubt and imposter syndrome, reinforcing conformity and narrowing the scope of expression and leadership available to women in society.
Beyond Women: A Human Imperative
While women are often disproportionately affected, the danger of the one-story thinking extends to all people. Reducing any individual or group to a single narrative reinforces structural inequality and limits collective imagination.
When society accepts oversimplified stories, it becomes easier to justify discrimination, maintain hierarchies, and ignore systemic injustices.
True social progress requires complexity, nuance, and empathy. To see a person in all their dimensions is to recognise their capacity for both strength and vulnerability, intellect and emotion, tradition and innovation.
It is to embrace the fullness of human experience rather than the convenience of stereotype.
Toward a Multi-Dimensional Society
Breaking free from one-dimensional thinking demands deliberate effort. The media must diversify representations of women, reflecting varied experiences, identities, and achievements. Representation informs perception, perception influences behaviour, and behaviour reinforces the very stereotypes from which it emerged.
Society must therefore encourage questioning of simplistic narratives, as individuals develop empathy, challenge assumptions, and seek out the stories that are missing.
A society that sees people in full dimension is a society that can govern more fairly, create more inclusively, and live more authentically. By refusing to flatten women—and indeed all people—into a single story, we enrich not only their lives but the collective fabric of our communities.
To break the cycle, we must recognise that literature, media, and cultural narratives are not mere reflections of society but active forces that shape it. This awareness is essential to understanding how meaning is constructed — and how identity, particularly women’s identity, is continuously negotiated through language and representation.
A society that sees people in full dimension is a society that can govern more fairly, create more inclusively, and live more authentically. By refusing to flatten women—and indeed all people—into a single story, we enrich not only their lives but the collective fabric of our communities.
