Resisting Colonialism: The Aba Women’s Story
Source: BlackPast
The Aba Women’s War of 1929 refers to a period of unrest in colonial Nigeria, where thousands of Igbo, Ibibio, Andoni, Ogoni, Efik, and Ijaw women travelled from all parts of Nigeria to the town of Oloko to protest against the Warrant Chiefs, whom they accused of restricting the role of women in government. Organized entirely by rural women in Owerri and Calabar, the protests involved a sit-in, and pushed many Warrant Chiefs to resign. This was the first major revolt by women in West Africa, and took on a colonial institution.
The beginning
Nigerian women were no strangers to engaging in organized action. Their commitment to collective action had made historical impacts. For instance, in 1910, the women in Abaja stayed away from their homes to protest men who had been killing pregnant women. This moved the village elders to take action and address their concerns, as their collective absence affected life in the village. In 1924, women in Calabar protested a market toll imposed by the colonial rulers and successfully had it rolled back. Women across Nigeri established and ran market networks that they used to communicate information and coordinate during their protests.
Colonial rule reordered the position of women in Nigerian society. Women were originally free to participate in governance and market engagements, and participated equally in the household and political arena as well. However, colonial rule considered these “a manifestation of chaos and disorder" and sought to create political institutions that commanded authority and monopolized force in the hands of men they appointed. They shut women out from positions of leadership and power. The catalyst, however, for the women’s protest, was the imposition of direct taxation. In 1927, the Native Revenue (Amendment) Ordinance was enforced, and in 1928, direct taxation was imposed. At first, direct taxes were imposed on men. Following the reworking of the nominal rolls for taxation, women were subject to direct taxation as well. Women were burdened by the taxation imposed on their husbands, and did not have any political or economic power within the system. Thus, they relied on collective action to push for change.
On December 2, 1929, over 10,000 women demonstrated at Oloko, Bende, in resistance to the enumeration of women, men, and livestock in the nominal roll, toward the imposition of taxes. Under the leadership of Madame Nwanyeruwa, the protest originally remained non-violent, and the women relied on song and dance and "sitting" on the Warrant Chiefs until they resigned. Their protest endured, and the women continued to avoid paying taxes. Women gathered and surrounded the compound of the man question, and sing, dance, and detail their grievances against them.
In other parts, women tooted factories, and destroyed the Native Court buildings and other properties, including those of the members of the Native Court. The taxation regime emerged against the backdrop of mounting inflation. However, these journeys were not easy. Several women were shot and killed in repression of their protests. The Women’s War is a powerful movement that struck at the roots of colonial rule, and shifted power out of colonial rule and its control over Nigerian people, society, and territory, and arrived on the backs of women in entirely.
Lessons for Feminist Foreign Policy
The women were very successful at mobilizing, organizing, and relying on collective action to achieve their goals. Their protests took place at an unprecedented level and scale, and took the colonial rulers by surprise. Rather than look at the colonial policies of taxation as isolated, the women situated their activism at the cohesive nexus of overt and covert violence. The women recognized the colonial approach to society on ground - where reordering gender relations was foundational to their entrenchment of colonial dominance. They also recognized that the imposition of direct taxation was a way to augment this social division through economic imperialism. They not only subverted the colonial restructuring of Nigerian society, but also paved the way for women who were not married to the elites to engage in social actions without restraint. Their approach to meaningful representation rather than tokenized participation is powerful: Women replaced Warrant Chiefs, and were appointed to the Native Courts, and participated in revising the structure of the native administration.
References
Geiger, Susan (1990). "Women and African Nationalism". Journal of Women's History. 2: 229.
Johnson, Cheryl D (1981). "Grassroots Organizing: Women in Anti-Colonial Activity in Southwestern Nigeria". African Studies Association. 25: 138–148.
Judith Van Allen, "Aba Riots or the Igbo Women's War?-Ideology, Stratification and the Invisibility of Women." Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies 6.1 (1975).
Lorna Lueker Zukas, "Women's War of 1929." in The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest (2009): 1-2.
Matera, Marc; Bastia, Misty; Kingsley Kent, Susan (2011). The Women's War of 1929: Gender and Violence in Colonial Nigeria.
