Women and Political Participation in Nigeria: Lessons from Women’s Political Activism during the Colonial Era
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Date
2011
Authors
Eshiet I.
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Publisher
Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lagos
Abstract
Politics is the process by which resources and values (human, material, and spiritual) are allocated within a social unit (nation, region, town, or village), for the purpose of meeting the needs and desires of its members. In pre-colonial Africa, women were active participants in this process. However, the advent of colonialism did lead to a disruption of this order. The ‘Victorian ideology’ practiced by the colonial government, excluded women from the public sphere, nevertheless women through the auspices of their associations resisted the colonialists. This study assessed two of the women’s protest against the colonial government – the Aba and Egba protests, analyzing their strategies to serve as lessons for today’s Nigerian women who have been marginalized and excluded from the political space.
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Citation
Eshiet, I. (2011) Women and Political Participation in Nigeria: Lessons from Women’s Political Activism during the Colonial Era in Akinboye, S. O. and Lai’ Olurode (eds). Learning from the Past: The Roadmap to 2007 General Elections. Lagos: Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lagos. Pp165 – 181