Celebrating the Nigerian Feminists of the pre-colonial and colonial eras.
The fight to put women in the political and socio-economic activities and nation-building in Nigeria has been on for centuries. Women are most times, erroneously regarded as properties to be inherited or owned like land or furniture. Culture, traditions, and some religious stand have helped to enhance such inhumane practices. The experiences women and girls face range from exclusion from politics, child marriage, genital mutilation, slavery, money wives, to all forms of abuse. In this fight to break free from all of these, women have been showing up, speaking up, and demanding seats at every table. women have been advocating to put an end to all forms of discriminatory and misogynistic practices.
This piece celebrates five Nigerian women whose activism shook and broke the cores of the patriarchal system. These five women dared and challenged the norm in the pre-colonial and colonial eras. and whose lives were by the government. I titled this piece unknown soldiers in my first draft. However, after further research, I discovered that these women amongst other powerful women were not unknown. They were known. They are known. They are not just celebrated enough. Their stories are not just told enough.
The women celebrated here bluntly refused to succumb to chauvinism in their time. Their uncommon courage and radical work made it possible for first-wave feminism to happen in Nigeria and on whose legacies young feminists like myself get to ride on.
- Lady Oyinkan Abayomi
When I heard about Lady Oyinkan Abayomi I thought to myself what a woman! Her story like many other women activists in the past is not been told enough. Lady Oyinkansola Abayomi (1897–1990) was a Feminist and Nationalist Who Campaigned for the Education of Nigerian Women. Lady Oyinkan founded the Nigerian Women’s Party, which fought for equal opportunities for women. She was also honored with several traditional chieftaincy titles including being the Iya Abiye of Egbaland. Lady Oyinkansola Abayomi became the chief commissioner for the Girl Guides. She joined the Nigerian Youth Movement in 1935. She wrote an article in the organization’s journal that year, demanding that wealthy women of Nigeria needed to fight for women’s rights and willing to work with women of middle and lower classes for those rights. On May 10, 1944, she founded the Nigerian Women’s Party; at a meeting at her home with twelve women. The organization sought equal rights for women.
What stood out for me is that she understood power, influence, and its intersectionality. Wherever there is money, there is a level of power and influence attached to it which is why she demanded particularly, the participation of wealthy women in the fight for women’s rights knowing also that the struggles of poor Nigerian women are quite different from the struggles of rich Nigerian women. In 1982, Lady Oyinkan Abayomi retired from the Girl Guides and was given the honorary title Life President. She died in 1990 at the age of 93.
2. Hajia Gambo Sawaba
Reading Hajia Gambo Sawaba’s story inspired and saddened me. That woman was something! If I could, I would ask what motivated her to do so much, to be jailed 16 times and not give up the fight. To have her hair shove publicly with broken bottles and not remain silent. Hajiya Gambo Sawaba was one of northern Nigeria’s most important female political activists, born on 15 February 1933. In 1943, when she was 10 years old, her father died. Her mother died three years later and, soon after, at the age of 13, Sawaba was married to a Second World War veteran named Abubakar Dan Sarkin. At 16, she gave birth to her only child, Bilikisu. She openly advocated against child marriage, forced and unpaid labor, and unfair taxes, and canvassed for jobs for women, education for girls, and full voting rights. As many women in the north followed the practice of purdah, a form of social seclusion, Sawaba went from house-to-house to speak to them. This displeased the Native Authority in Kano and, in 1952, she was hauled before the conservative Alkali (Magistrates) Court, on charges of “drawing out women who were in purdah”. The court sentenced her to three months in prison.
It was the first of 16 prison sentences she would serve during her lifetime. She was arrested so often, in fact, that she always kept a blanket with the words ‘Prison Yard’ inscribed on it nearby so that she could take it with her whenever the police came for her. She died at the age of 71 in October 2001.
3. Margret Ekpo
Margaret Ekpo just like other Nigerian women activists in her time advocated for women's inclusion in politics. She was a women leader, a pioneer parliamentarian, and a human rights activist who contributed immensely to the political development of Nigeria during the colonial and pre-Civil War eras. She was actively involved in the struggle for Nigerian independence, and agitations for women’s inclusion in policies and programs of government. In 1949, Margret Ekpo joined Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti in protesting the killings of leaders protesting colonial practices at an Enugu coal mine. They organized a day of mourning for the victims and were able to draw international attention to the incident. She made a speech at the event and was subsequently arrested and threatened with deportation. The women of Aba were outraged and threatened to set the town ablaze, leading to her release. During their time together, Margret Ekpo and Ransome-Kuti discussed the need for women’s involvement in politics, and together they went on to tour the South Eastern region to encourage women to engage with politics. Margaret Ekpo died on Thursday, September 21, 2006, at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital at age of 92.
4. Participants of the Ibo Women’s War
The story of the Ibo women’s war in 1929 reminds me of the phrase “Little drops of water make a mighty ocean” — In this case, little gatherings in solidarity of women make a mighty army of fearless women. The story started in late October of 1929 when an elderly woman named Nwanyeruwa was approached by a census taker. He demanded that she count her animals and her family members. She responded by saying angrily, “Was your mother counted?” Nwanyeruwa was referring to the fact that women were not required to answer census questions, and were not taxed. She left and went to retell her story to the women’s network in her city of Oloko. Shocked and angered, the three women leaders of this network — Ikonnia, Mwannedia, and Nwugo — decided to organize a campaign to ensure that they would not be taxed. The women sat outside the district office for several days, when, finally, the British offices above the Warrant Chief ordered him to give the women a written assurance that they were not to be taxed. Whether or not the British had ever been planning on taxing the women is unclear, but that they even responded to the women’s demands was a huge victory for the women. Since the British arrival, women had been ignored and abused. The massive congregation of women outside the district office had taken the officers by surprise, and they were not sure how to handle the women. The Warrant Chief, however, disliked having to respond to the women’s demands. After handing over the written assurance, he re-asserted his power by taking several women protesters hostage and harassing them. News of the harassment spread, and the protest swelled. The campaigners decided to continue their protest outside the district office, now demanding that the Warrant Chief be removed. After two days, the British again acquiesced. Not only was the Warrant Chief removed, but he was also sentenced to two years imprisonment. The women could barely believe their success. After years of being ignored, the British had been forced to listen to their demands.
5. Olufunmilayo Ransom-Kuti
The story of Funmi Ransom-Kuti has always stopped at being the first woman to drive a car. However from history books and the recent expansion of her story by feminists, historians, and writers, you will discover that Ms. Ransom-Kuti drove more than a car, she drove a movement. Olufunmilayo Ransome Kuti was a Nigerian feminist and political leader who was the leading advocate of women’s rights in her country during the first half of the 20th century. She led Abeokuta women to oust the Alake-(King/traditional ruler) from power. She also spearheaded the founding of a nationwide women’s organization and participated in negotiations preceding Nigeria’s independence from British colonialism. Instead of being treated as a national treasure, she was mostly ignored in her older years and was finally murdered by the state. In 1944, she founded the Abeokuta Ladies’ Club (later, the Abeokuta Women’s Union), committed to defending women’s political, social, and economic rights, which became one of the most important women’s movements of the twentieth century. Her unwavering commitment to cooperation, solidarity, and unity led her to play an active role in politics, notably in the pre-independence constitutional negotiations of 1946. In 1977 some soldiers stormed the family property in Lagos, during the assault, soldiers dragged Funmilayo by her hair and threw her out a second-story window. She died of complications from her injuries the following year.
I hope you find some inspiration from these women in your activism in or outside Nigeria. For a Nigerian activist, the impunity, patriarchy, and corruption are deepened in the 21st century but just like these women refused to succumb, we won’t either.
