The original idea for this piece was to write a short essay on Nigerian Feminism over the past 50 years. However there are still those who feel that “feminism” is unAfrican and I feel there needs to be a discussion on what Nigerian Feminism is before one can begin to name Nigerian feminists. I give an example. Earlier this year I was at a workshop on Gender and Militarization and we were working through ideas around “feminist methodology”. One of the participants asked for clarification on the term ‘feminist’. From the discussion it soon became clear that many of those present were reluctant to use the term which they associated with “lesbianism” or “man-hating” which were “unAfrican” and feminism was a western idea and as such not something they wished to be a part of. Some consensus was reached but anything to do with same-sex desire was dismissed by all but two women including myself. What should have come next was a discussion on whom or what can be said to be authentically African? Who is the holder of this power to define who or what is African which assumes a static or fixed condition? How can they do so given, for example, the cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversity in a geographical entity of nearly 1 billion people? Even to say it is “unNigerian” is equally problematic.
My understanding of African / Nigerian feminism lies somewhere between indigeious feminisms which have always existed in the sense that Nigerian women have always fought against local oppressive conditions as well as more recently colonialism; and contemporary feminism which is relatively new and although it has its foundations in Europe, Africa / Nigeria has developed it’s own contemporary indigenous feminisms which struggle against fundamentalist and oppressive conditions such as female genital mutilation, forced marriages, widowhood rites, same sex relationships and so on. The point is that feminism is not just about women, its about creating a new form of social relationships based on equality, mutual respect and justice.
So instead I am going to focus on some of the Nigerian women (some may identify as feminists, some may not) who have taken action towards achieving justice and social, economic, environmental and political change. Women who I consider to be progressive and who have challenged and resisted oppressive conditions and or laws by taking action either individually or collectively. The women mentioned largely remain nameless but their actions have not been forgotten. They have much to teach us with their courage and tenacity. I hope that those who read the piece can add to it and possibly we can begin the discussion around what we mean by ‘Nigerian FeminismS”. The list of women is not definitive – it is my list and I invite readers to share the names of their role models and heroines.
Pre-Independence;
Although pre-independence, it would be impossible and inappropriate not to mention to two important acts of resistance in Nigeria’s history. The Women’s War of 1929 [also known as the Aba Women’s Riots] and the Abeokuta market women protests of the early 1940s. Both protests centered on market women, the colonial imposition of unfair taxation and indirect rule in southern Nigeria. In the Women’s War, which lasted nearly two months, market women gathered at the “Native Administration” centers in Owerri, Calabar and towns across South Eastern Nigeria to protest against taxes imposed by Warrant Chiefs who were seen as bullies on the payroll the colonial masters. The women, some 25,000 strong in places, attacked the colonial system – prisons, courts, European owned shops as well as the Warrant Officers themselves. The women were able to force the colonial authorities to drop the taxes and curb the Warrant Officers. Their actions were mportant because this was a Women’s ‘revolt’ against injustice and also because it was the first notable challenge to colonial authority. This show of resistance must have influenced the movement for independence which was largely led by men. [For more on the Aba Women’s Riot see Igbo Kwenu]
The Abeokuta market women protests came almost a decade later but again the women revolted against colonial taxes and the failure of the traditional rulers to defend their demands and challenge the colonial masters. Instead under indirect rule, the Alake of Abeokuta was the person ultimately responsible for tax collection.
The issue of taxation was a particularly sore issue for the women of Abeokuta who were amongst the first females to be subjected to tax by the colonial government. Girls were taxed at age 15 whilst boys 16 and wives were taxed separately from their husbands irrespective of their income. The women considered the tax as “foreign, unfair and excessive” but they also objected to the method of collection. The educator and feminist Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti [FRK] who was at that time headteacher at Abeokuta Grammar School learned of the women’s struggle and formed the Abeokuta Women’s Union [AWU] in which the ‘elite” Abeokuta ‘ladies’ joined in solidarity with the market women of Egbaland.
The AWU became a huge due-paying organisation with some 20,000 women as members and they were able to organise huge demonstrations. It was a highly disciplined organisation and everyone was expected to follow the rules. The anti-tax protest action was a long and protracted one in which FRK was at the head leading the women in the struggle which eventually resulted in the temporary abdication of the Alake of Abeokuta. The protest consisted of mass demonstrations and refusals to pay the tax. FRK apparently led training sessions in her compound for these demonstrations where she explained to the women how to cover their eyes, noses and mouths with cloth when tear gas was thrown. She also instructed them to pick up the canisters of tear gas and throw them back at the police. The demonstrations were called “picnics” or “festivals” by the women as they were unable to get permits. The women were utterly fearless and even challenged the “ORO”, an entirely male “thing or ritual” said to have supernatural powers. At one point FRK seizes the ORO which resembles a stick and displayed it in her home. The anti-tax protests took a large toll on FRK and the women but they stuck with it and eventually succeeded in their demands.
Political actvists in the early women’s movement;
Madam Margaret Expo, Oyinkan Abayomi – founder of the Nigerian Women’s Party, Lady Ademola and Folayegbe Akintunde-Ighodalo are just a few of the pioneers in the formation of the Nigerian Women’s movement concerned with capacity building, employment, suffrage and increasing women’s political participation. What was common to all these women was the belief that women are not and should not be subordinate to men. There was a recognition of the contradiction between women’s role in the public sphere and that of the private which needed to be challenged.
Post Independence;
The last 50 years have seen very few protests equal to those in the post independence era other than those by women of the Niger Delta. I will return to this later but first I would like to mention a number of individual Nigerian women who have made a difference in the struggle for social justice and who I consider to be women of action and feminists.
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Women and the Nation
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