In Marriage is a Private Affair, in examining Nene and her reaction to her father-in-law, how can she be similar to women of today's generation?

Nene is a very progressive woman.  We understand this from
her position as a teacher and the practical attitudes she shows at the start of the
story when she indicates that there is little rationale for why Nnaemeka's father would
display such antipathy towards their marriage plans.  It is this progressivism that does
not cause her to begrudge her husband, even at the most painful of times.  When she
receives the mutilated photograph, she weeps while her husband essentially explains how
the father is a "good natured man."  She does not spit venom at him for trying to
justify Okeke in the face of such inhumanity.  Her progressivism is evident in the
letter when she pleads for the grandfather to see his son and grandchildren.  Yet, where
she is really distinctive is that she refuses to partake in any
form:

I shall
remain here in Lagos.

That
single line is powerful.  It is powerful enough to be block quoted because it might be
where the most amount of insight can be offered into Nene and the modern woman.  On one
hand, the line could be seen as her understanding that her father-in-law has been
nothing but inhospitable and rude to her, and she, in not wanting to make him angrier,
seeks to take a back seat to his son and grandsons.  Yet, I don't see her like
that.

I see her as dignified enough to write to the
father-in-law in trying to bridge the gulf between father, son, and grandsons.  Yet, I
see her statement to "remain here in Lagos" as a stand of dignified defiance.  She has
already learned to live without a father, as we learn early on that her father died. 
She refuses to indulge this man who has said and done some fairly horrific things to
her.  Her stand of dignity does not trade off with what she sees as her obligation to
her husband and her children.  Essentially, this is part of her character in that she
recognizes injustice and unfairness, and is not deterred by it.  The Ibo in Lagos judge
her, but she does not acquiesce to it, rather forcing them to admit that she tends
better house than they do.

I think that this progressive
attitude is where Nene is very similar to modern women, who recognize that there might
be barriers carved out against them, but do not see these as opportunities for
oppression.  Nene's willingness to transcend these are where Achebe sees the
opportunities for African women who are emerging out of Colonial control.  He sees her
as a model for them, in that they cannot structurally change the discrimination that is
against them.  Yet, their spirit of progressive resiliency and defiance are key
ingredients in making them not become victims to it.  It is here where Achebe might be
seeking an opportunity to use Nene as a moment of education, a teachable moment for
women in 1952 (when the story was written) and now, a time when globalization has made
more women seek to overcome that which might block them from pursuing paths of happiness
and contentment.