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COOU Journal of Arts and Humanities (CJAH) Vol. 5 No. 3, 2020

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UJUBONU JULIET OKIDE, Ph.D.
Department of Linguistics, African and Asian Studies

University of Lagos, Akoka, Yaba, Lagos
Tel: 08034004320, 08023024067

Email: ujuokide@yahoo.co.uk

Abstract
With the advent of the Feminist Movement in the contemporary West and its ripples across the 
world, it appears as if that marks the beginning of all women's enlightenment and struggles for 
equality with men. But this is not true, for prior to it or simultaneously, women in some other 
supposed male-dominated climes had already been involved in such struggles. Indeed, Igbo 
women's experience makes a viable case for this claim – as they have always had their 
indigenous feminist ways of persuading their menfolk for recognition, respect, and 
empowerment. This is why leadership of their communities used to feature gender-inclusive 
governance, especially prior to colonialism. It is also the reason for the women's resistance of 
the colonial system of governance, which sought to disempower, subjugate, and oppress them. 
This essay is motivated by a desire and need to disabuse the contemporary thought that, 
Western Feminist Movement stimulated the feminist tendencies to overwhelm the world and, 
particularly, Igbo society. It seeks to deploy expository method of literary discourses to render 
a thesis within the theoretical framework of Feminism, which avers that Igbo women have 
always considered themselves to be equal with their men even in matters of communal 
governance. And they play vital roles to that end. The essay concludes that, it is the feminist 
approach to life that provides the basis for women's continued empowerment in society as they 
are also considered by their men to be elemental in decision and policy-making processes.

Keywords: Feminism, Women Struggles, Women Empowerment, Igbo women, Igbo society.

Introduction
In the contemporary world, most women seem to unite over one cause, namely, resistance to 
men's domination in society. This is evident in women's private and public lives. It can be seen 
in the home where wives now refuse to be left behind as children's primary care givers while 
their husbands go off to work since they nowadays agitate for their husbands to participate in 
domestic chores. One can find it in heterosexual social gatherings where women who hitherto 
never used to participate in discussions now participate. It also features in heterosexual 
groups, organisations or associations where women-members who used to be denied of 
leadership roles and benefits now clamour for and are awarded leadership positions, 
responsibilities and benefits. The resistance expresses both a presumption and actual 
confessions from women that they had endured for a long time various forms of social, 
economic and political inequality, suppression and subjugation by men, which they now 
decide to end or, at least, curb.

IGBO FEMINIST CONSCIOUSNESS 
ORIGINATED FROM WESTERN FEMINISM:

DEBUNKING THE FALSEHOOD



Intellectually, the women's decision to stem or curb the men's domination by agitating 
for equal rights of the sexes is called 'Feminism,' It holds the theoretical view that men and 
women ought to and should be treated equally socially, politically, and economically (Hooks, 
2000). From the intellectual conceptualisation, it is clear that feminism is associated with 
socio-political and economic activism. That is why it is also conceived as a “political, cultural, 
or economic movement aimed at establishing equal rights and legal protection for women” 
(Gwanet, 2020). Hooks explains this more technically by averring that it is a movement that 
“aims at ending sexism, sexist exploitation and oppression”. With this, therefore, “Feminism 
involves political and sociological theories and philosophies concerned with issues of gender 
difference, as well as a movement that advocates gender equality for women and campaigns 
for women's rights and interests” (Gwanet, 2020:1).

According to Tomaselli (2018), feminist movement and tendencies in society are often 
historically traced to literary works and socio-political activities of Western crusaders, with its 
motherhood generally credited to the Briton, Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797). This is 
because Wollstonecraft's most important literature, Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792), 
and her other works which, together, analyse the oppressed condition of women in modern 
society are believed to be the original recurrent theme that sparked feminist radicalism. But 
Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) disagrees with this. According to Gwanet (2020:1), de 
Beauvoir wrote that “the first time we see a woman take up her pen in defence of her sex” was 
the Italian, Christine de Pizan (1364 to 1430), who wrote Epitre au Dieu d'Amour (Epistle to 
the God of Love) in the 15th century. This means that de Beauvoir recognises de Pizan rather 
than Wollstonecraft as the mother of the feminist movement. 

Yet, Rampton (2015), – a specialist in early medieval social history and women's 
activities and roles – also disagrees with de Beauvoir and traces the motherhood to individuals 
who lived and struggled for women's rights even earlier. According to her, the roots of 
feminism lies either in ancient Greece with Sappho (610-570 BCE), or the medieval world 
with Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179). It was after the two activists that Rampton says 
Christine de Pizan emerged. Then, after the three, Rampton mentions Olympes de Gouge 
(1748-1793), as having emerged before Mary Wollstonecraft. And following Wollstonecraft, 
according to Rampton, was Jane Austen (1775-1817), who is rarely mentioned by history as 
being one of the foremothers of the women's movement.

Since the individuals credited with the motherhood by both de Beauvoir and Rampton 
are rarely accorded the honour by the general history of feminism, we celebrate Wollstonecraft 
as the mother which the history honours. But beyond Wollstonecraft and apart from Jane 
Austen, other Western European and North American feminist leaders abound. There were 
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486-1535), and Modesta di Pozzo di Forzi (1555–1592), who 
worked in the 16th century (Gwanet, 2020). There were also Marie Le Jars de Gournay (1565-
1645), Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672), and Francois Poullain de la Barre (1618-1672), who 
wrote catalytic pieces during the 17th century (Gwanet, 2020). With a deviation from literature 
to speech-making, there was Sojourner Truth (1797-1883), whose 1851 extemporaneous 
speech on racial inequalities, which was titled “Ain't I a Woman?” addressed American 
feminists at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention and a feminist movement in North America. 
There were also activists like Betty Freidan (1921-2006), and Simone de Beauvoir who 
contributed immensely to the gender-equality consciousness now inundating the world.  

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However, all these do not disclose in any way that African nations and, particularly, Igbo 
people, had any trace of feminist tendencies or practised and experienced such socio-political 
activism early enough in history. Indeed, the sort of history that informs the above celebration 
of the West also records, according to Rampton (2015), that the first feminist gathering in the 
world, which was solely devoted to agitating for women's rights, was held in the Seneca Falls, 
New York, the United States of America in 1848. And the organisers of the gathering were 
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902), (a New Yorker and mother of four children) and 
Lucretia Mott (1793-1880), (the Quaker abolitionist). Such history also avers that it was only 
since the Truth's 1851 speech that women of other races began to propose alternative 
feminisms (Gwanet, 2020). Then the feminist trend is recorded by Gwanet (2020), to have 
accelerated in the 1960s due to the Civil Rights movement in the United States and the collapse 
of European colonialism in Africa, the Caribbean, parts of Latin America, and Southeast Asia. 
It was, therefore, since that time that women in former European colonies and the Third World, 
started to propose for “Post-colonial” and “Third World” feminisms (Gwanet, 2020). This 
means that, according to this kind of history, feminist consciousness and socio-political 
activism began in Igbo nation only in the 1960s – after Nigeria's Independence. Yet, alternative 
historical evidence shows that such a claim is false, for feminist consciousness had been part of 
Igbo women's culture long before the time. This essay is motivated by our knowledge of this 
falsehood and intention to decry it and expose the truth. 

Before the exposition, though, we find it expedient to delineate Western features of 
women's struggles that constitute or characterise feminist activism. This is discussed, albeit 
briefly, with reference to the three 'waves' that Western feminist history is classified, and the 
understanding is applied to rationalise our claim of Igbo women having engaged in the 
struggle prior to Nigeria's Independence.  Also, as a way of charting the theoretical framework 
of this essay, we distinguish various kinds of feminism to aptly contextualise our position. This 
is because feminism has classes or character-distinctions that make this essay unconcerned 
with all of them, even though their general thrust is plausibly covered by its view. 

A Brief History of Western Feminist 'Waves'
Scholarly periodisation of feminist activisms in history divides the movement into three main 
phases and aims, with each technically referred to as a 'wave.' Each 'wave' is distinguished 
from others by the quality of inequalities wrestled and the historical time frame that the 
struggle took place. Thus, according to Drucker (2018), and other historians of Western 
feminism, the first wave took place in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and 
promoted equal contract and property rights for women while, opposing possessive ownership 
of married women by their husbands. By the late 19th century, feminist activism added to that 
struggle another concern of denial. This was enfranchisement, for they had been 
disenfranchised before then. Hence, women sought to be awarded the right to vote in general 
elections as they are also human beings, with intelligence and dignity. In United States of 
America, therefore, first-wave feminism ended with the passage of the 19th Amendment to the 
US Constitution in 1919 which grants women voting rights.

The second wave started in the 1960s and was concerned with ideas and actions 
associated with campaigns for the legal and social rights of women (Gwanet, 2020). It went by 
the slogan “The Personal is Political,” identified women's cultural and political inequalities as 
inextricably linked and encouraged women to understand how their personal lives reflected 
sexist power structures (Drucker, 2018). Betty Friedan was a key player in second-wave 

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feminism, for in her 1963 book, The Feminine Mystique, she criticised the idea that women 
could find fulfilment only through childrearing and homemaking (Drucker, 2018). 
Furthermore, Drucker (2018:1) avers that Friedan's New York Times obituary “ignited the 
contemporary women's movement in 1963 and as a result, permanently transformed the social 
fabric of the United States and countries around the world” and “is widely regarded as one of 
the most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century.” Indeed, Friedan hypothesises that 
women are victims of false beliefs requiring them to find identity in their lives through 
husbands and children (Drucker, 2018). “This causes women to lose their own identities in that 
of their family” (Drucker, 2018:1).

The third wave began in the 1990s and is concerned with a continuation of, and a 
reaction to the perceived failures of second wave (Gwanet, 2020). It began in the early 1990s 
and sought to challenge the definitions of feminity that grew out of the ideas of the second 
wave, arguing that the second wave over-emphasized experiences of upper-middle-class white 
women (Drucker, 2018). “The third-wave sees women's lives as intersectional, demonstrating 
how race, ethnicity, class, religion, gender, and nationality are all significant factors when 
discussing feminism. It examines issues related to women's lives on an international basis” 
(Drucker, 2018:1).

Theoretical Framework: Towards Igbo-kind of Feminism
In struggling against men's oppression, domination, suppression, discrimination, and 
subjugation in virtually all facets of life, women and their apologists have had to approach the 
situations differently.  This underpins the reason for availability of various kinds of Feminism, 
with varying objectives, nuances and perspectives. In that regard, Castle (2004), avers that 
there are cultural feminism, eco-feminism, libertarian feminism, material feminism, moderate 
feminism, gender Feminism, separatist feminism, amazon feminism, and radical feminism.

Cultural feminism is the theory that seeks to overcome sexism by celebrating women's special 
qualities, women's ways, and women's experiences, often believing that the “woman's way” is 
the better way.  Eco-feminism (Castle, 2004: 2), on the other hand, “Is the theory which 
emphasises the basic principle that patriarchal philosophies are harmful to women, children, 
and other living things.” This is because the theory believes that patriarchy emphasises the 
need to dominate and control women. Libertarian Feminism, which is based on individualism, 
minimum government or anarcho-capitalist philosophies, focuses on individual autonomy, 
rights, liberty, independence and diversity. Individualist Feminism also encompasses men and 
focuses on barriers that both men and women face due to their gender. Material Feminism is a 
movement that focuses on liberating women by improving their material condition. The 
movement revolves around taking the “burden” off women regarding housework, cooking, 
and other traditional female domestic jobs.  

Moderate Feminism, “is populated mostly by younger women or women who perceive that 
they have not directly experienced discrimination. They often believe that the ideals of the 
feminist movement are no longer viable, and therefore question the need for further efforts” 
(Castle, 2004: 2). Moderate feminists, therefore, view feminism as overbearing and too overt 
and, although they participate in espousing feminist ideas, they do not accept or want to be 
labelled as 'feminists'. Gender Feminism, which is otherwise known as the National 

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Organisation for Women (N.O.W.) Feminism, is the theory that states that equality of men and 
women rests on women being granted some special privileges while men cease to be the 
central issue or 'barrier' in feminism.  Castle (2004: pp. 2-3), says that “N.O.W feminism 
encompasses only women and fights to offer special privileges to women with the intent of 
making women equal to men.” There is yet Separatist feminism which is often depicted as a 
group of lesbians. These are feminists who advocate separation from men; sometimes total, 
sometimes partial. The core idea underpinning this movement is that “separating” from men 
(by various means), is perceived as that which enables women to see themselves in a different 
context. Many feminists, whether they separatists or not, think that this is a necessary “first 
step” of personal growth. However, they do not necessarily endorse permanent separation. 

Amazon feminism focuses on physical equality and is opposed to gender role stereotypes and 
discrimination against women based on assumptions that women are supposed to be, look, or 
behave as if they are passive, weak and physically helpless. This movement rejects the idea 
that certain human characteristics or interests are inherently masculine (or feminine) and 
upholds and explores a vision of heroic womanhood. “Amazon feminists tend to view that all 
women are as physically capable as all men” (Castle 2004:3). Radical feminism is the breeding 
ground for many of the popularly feminist ideas. Even though currently its ideas are no longer 
as universally accepted as they used to be and, it no longer serves to solely define the term 
“feminism.” It used to be the cutting-edge feminist theory between 1967 and 1975. This is 
because the movement views the oppression of women as the most fundamental form of 
oppression – one that cuts across boundaries of race, culture, and economic class. Hence, its 
main intent is on social change (change of rather revolutionary proportions).  Radical 
feminism questions why women must adopt certain roles based on their biology, just as it 
questions why men adopt certain other roles based on gender. It attempts to draw lines between 
biologically determined behaviour and culturally determined behavior in order to free both 
men and women as much as possible from their previous narrow gender roles.

From Castle's insight, we submit that it is the joint views of radical, amazon and eco-
feminisms that this essay is particularly concerned with. That is because the views represent 
the sort of crusade against men's oppression of women that the essay seeks to expose its 
primordial existence among Igbo women right from recorded history. Despite that, the essay 
specifically views Igbo kind of feminism as 'Womanism.' This is because womanism, though 
is a feminist ideology, it is slightly different from the mainstream feminist theories described 
above – especially in objective and approach to activism – for while it (womanism) is not only 
concerned with oppressions from sexism but also racism and classism. Feminism is only 
concerned with oppression from sexism (Odoemene, 2008). Since oppression based on 
sexism predominates the West, Western feminist crusaders thought and still think that it is the 
only oppression for women to struggle against. 

But in Africa and, particularly, Igbo society, the struggle is slightly different. Black 
women experience a different and more intense kind of oppression expressed as racism and 
classism (Odoemene, 2008). Since most of them are married from another clime, they are 
usually regarded as strangers by both their immediate in-laws and in-law community. That is 
racism. Also, since Igbo men seem to arrogate to themselves a class in society which women 
are culturally and ritually subordinated, not because they (women) are not as rational as men 

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(like mainstream feminism would wish to rationalise), but because women are just not men, 
the men practise classism. Hence, women are denied certain rights due to both their 
strangeness in marriage and non-belongingness to men's class. Womanism, therefore, “brings 
a racialised and often class-located experience to the gender experience suggested by Western 
feminism which includes an active opposition of separatist ideologies in gender relations” 
(Odoemene, 2008:5). Furthermore, it

…seeks to improve the relationship between the sexes by constantly putting the 
menfolk in perspective in the scheme of things. In other words, it includes the 
word 'man', recognizing that black men are an integral part of black women's 
lives as their children, lovers, and family members. Gender complementarity, 
instead of distancing and altercation, has been one of the strongest and central 
foci of Womanism theory. Womanist refrains from bitterness in her 
confrontation and relationship with men. In this arrangement, Womanism 
seeks to identify with the African man who is considered a partner in progress 
and in the struggle for social and political freedom and development. It 
accommodates and seeks male support rather than negate men, since they are 
central to women's lives, not just merely as husbands (Odoemene. 2008:5). 

Chidam'modzi adds, “womanism prizes and praises the positive aspects of what was seen as 
the 'female character' or 'feminism personality' – womanhood, wifehood or motherhood: the 
promotion and preservation of the pride of being a female human being” (1995:46). Thus, it 
seeks to revalidate undervalued female attributes.

As a term, Womanism was adapted from the notable work of the Pulitzer Prize winning 
author, Alice Walker, whose 'In Search of Our Mother's Garden: Womanist Prose', used the 
word to describe the perspectives and experiences of “women of colour”. Beyond Walker, one 
of the scholars who most clearly articulated Womanist consciousness was Maggie Lena 
Walker (1867-1934).

Igbo Women's Womanist Activism and its Empowering Effect in History
While keeping in mind the general meaning of feminism, its entailments of Western waves, the 
kinds of Western feminist activism that identify with Igbo women's kind of struggles as well as 
their Womanist denotation, we move to expose how feminist consciousness had been part of 
Igbo women's socio-political culture before Nigeria's Independence and how that formed the 
basis for the women's empowerment, even in the colonial society. To achieve that purpose, we 
establish for a fact that the historical Igbo culture recounted in this essay is principally that of 
the pre-colonial times (i.e. between the years 1800 and 1900) and colonial times (i.e. between 
the years 1900 and 1960). 

Following this, we observe that in the pre-colonial Igbo society, men and women 
shared socio-political authority and power (although in differing degrees) (Chuku, 2009). 
Indeed, at the time, Igbo socio-political society was as matriarchal as it was patriarchal. 
Leadership positions existed in each community, managing different groups of people which 
oversaw vital purposes that contributed to general advancement, security, peace and unity of 
the community (van Allen, 1972). Apart from men's groups, there were women's groups 

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(market women group, titled women association, spiritual women group, farmers, dancers, 
etc.) which, held meetings and dialogues among women, just as men's groups did. Their 
meetings were focused on the establishment and operation of just institutions, protection of the 
dignity of women and men, welfare of their members and the good of everyone. Women's 
groups had as one of their constituents, the Umuada or Umuokpu (as it was called in some 
places) which, comprised daughters of lineages. There was a general leader of women who, of 
course, was a woman and managing women affairs. There was also a leader of youths, who 
could be either a male or a female and managing youth affairs; a leader of farmers who could 
be either a male or a female; council chiefs comprising both genders who served as advisers to 
the village head, etc. 

Title system played a very crucial role in the pre-colonial Igbo political system. It 
signified wealth and power and was open to both men and women. Among Western Igbo, for 
instance, when a woman distinguished herself in conduct, and ability, measured in wealth, she 
was conferred with the title of Omu which offered a monarchical authority of leading women 
(Chuku, 2005). 

Just as men, status was achieved and not ascribed to Igbo women. Van Allen (1972), 
avers that a woman's status was determined more by her achievements than by her husband's 
achievements. Women who symbolised Nnobi concept of womanhood, which is derived from 
the worship of goddesses were, for instance, given the title of Agba Ekwe (Amadiume, 1987). 
These women, seen as earthly representatives of the goddess Idemili, controlled the Women's 
Council (Amadiume, 2002). Acting as something like a queen, the women had the most central 
political relevance in all Nnobi and held the vetoing right in the village and general town 
assembly (Amadiume, 1987). This title was one of the most prestigious ones a woman could 
earn and gave Agba Ekwe women significant power, especially in the Women's Council.

Yet, the main political body was the village assembly where any adult, including titled 
individuals, who had anything to say on a matter under discussion was given the chance to 
speak, insofar as others considered the speech worth listening to (Van Allen, 1972). Women 
used to speak, especially on matters that directly concerned them (van Allen, 1972). And their 
views were always considered critical and relevant because they offered special insights 
arising from their spiritual, market, trade and maternal roles (Nzegwu, 1995). For Igbo 
women, social justices raised powerful images of creating equal opportunities, rectifying the 
wrong and restitution.

All of these indicate that political power in Igbo society was diffused (van Allen, 
1972). Both men and women, elders and youths (insofar as they were adults), participated in 
various leadership positions to manage the affairs of their communities. In some parts of the 
society, women were in control of inheritance rights of landed and other immovable property. 
Women, particularly, wielded a lot of political powers and influences (Chuku, 2005). And the 
base of that power lay in their gatherings (van Allen, 1972). 

In spite of this, women's exercise of power and influence was never meant for 
competing with men, for rather than compete with men, women's organisations or gatherings 
acted as parallel authority structures that function within the arenas that were perceived as a 
female province (Chuku, 2005). To buttress this point, Uchem (2001:2), avers, “Women were 
not marginalized in traditional Igbo society…because of their relatively high socio-economic 
status.” Although they were culturally and ritually subordinated, they were neither powerless 

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nor marginalised. Men's acceptance of their judgement and rules offered powerful checks and 
balances to the society (Nzegwu, 1995). Any discrimination, especially against a woman by a 
man or even a fellow woman, was frowned at where it was pronounced. Women used to exhibit 
high degrees of interest in such matters, whether they were invited into them (the matters) or 
not. 

One way in which Igbo women wielded power recognisable by their men was, through 
the display of collective anger. Amadiume (1987), avers that women's collective anger used to 
be feared and avoided by men. This is because, although women had their interpersonal and 
intra-organisational problems, they were united against discriminations from the menfolk and 
men knew that confronting one Igbo woman meant confronting their organisations. Hence, 
they were anxious to avoid that. This does not mean that the men were timid and passive. It is 
just that Igbo traditions valued female assertiveness, collectivity and independence. Igbo men 
were accustomed to their women being in positions of power and influence and had developed 
respect for their administrative skills.

Another way was through the idea of “sitting on” a man. According to Nzegwu (1995), 
in pre-colonial Igbo society, any trouble-making man who discriminated against or devalued a 
woman, risked being “sat on” or shunned by women. Van Allen (1972), explains that a man 
could be “sat on” for mistreating his wife, violating women's market rules or letting his cows 
eat women's crops. The “sitting on” took various forms. Sometimes, women could besiege a 
man in his house and sing vulgar and obscene songs that taunted his manliness. At other times, 
they could physically assault the man by collectively beating him in public and making his 
main female victim (who is one of them), to literally sit on him – as a way of disgracing him and 
showing him weak before the woman that he once mistreated and thought to be weak. Still, 
they could destroy a man's prized possessions or chant war songs, dance around him with the 
intention of making his life miserable until he met the women's demand. When these 
happened, other men hardly attempted to rescue the man involved because they feared they 
could extend the calamity to themselves too. They considered that such a man brought the 
wrath on himself as he ought to have known the women's traditional rules better as a member of 
the community and, thus, avoided it (Nzegwu, 1995). Being part of a society where women's 
power and significance were a fact of life, Igbo men accepted women's judgement and abided 
by their rules without shame (Nzegwu, 1995).

These then were some of the feminist/womanist strategies indigenously generated by 
the women before their contact with the West and, applied for fights against any form of 
mistreatment deemed as discrimination from men.  And the strategies worked for them as they 
(the strategies) made them (the women) feel assured of their views being heard and adequately 
factored into policy decisions (Nzegwu, 1995). Hence, pre-colonial Igbo society was 
structured and based on gender equality and social non-discrimination (unlike any society that 
the Europeans had ever seen).

It was colonialism that brought about serious alterations in Igbo indigenous political 
system, a lot of which negatively impacted on women. It eroded or, at best, drastically 
minimised the power, status and authority that they enjoyed in pre-colonial times. It 
diminished their dominant roles in village politics, village religious life and notions of lineage. 

The Europeans arrived in Igbo territory to find a political system that was at variance 
with the system that they were familiar with in their countries. Coming from a rigidly 

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patrilineal socio-political system (Kies, 2013), they found in Igbo society a matrilineal system 
that was difficult to understand and administer for the optimum realisation of their 
colonisation purposes. The idea that a female could hold and wield political authority and 
power, equal to or surpassing that of male officials (as obtained in Igboland), was strange, 
nauseating and unacceptable to the colonialists (Farrar, 1997). Matrilineal society, to 
Europeans, manifests chaos and disorder (Matera, 2011). It is a culture that creates a world that 
is completely upside down, where women were ruthless petty dictators (Farrar, 1997). Hence, 
to set to their tasks successfully, they had to proscribe such culture and change it to the 
patrilineal society that they understood. 

To achieve that, the British imposed on the people their Western concept of state, 
education, family and gender roles (Chuku, 2009). They started a socio-economic order that 
favoured men. This was because, for them, masculine leadership establishes moral order in the 
world (Matera, 2011). Hence, in Igbo world of the time: 

Men and boys were trained in skills needed to manage newly introduced 
technologies and also were employed in the Native Courts, the transport 
industry, in the mines, the Christian missions and expatriate trading centres. 
Women's access to Western education – the gateway to modern employment – 
was limited … (to) domestic science training for girls (while) leadership and 
technical instructions (was) for boys.  Access to the newly introduced British 
money also favoured men more than women through the male-dominated cash 
crop economy and the colonial gendered employment policy that 
discriminated against women. Colonial economic policy favoured men in 
access to land, extension services, high-yielding palm seedlings, fertilisers, 
demonstration farms, oil presses, kernel crackers, pioneer oil mills, cassava 
graters, loans, and other innovations and new technologies that put men in a 
position to dominate the export and local economies of the region (Chuku, 
2009:89).

This completely scuttled the existing political culture of diffused authority, fluid and informal 
leadership, gender-shared rights of enforcement, and a fairly stable balance of male and 
female powers in Igboland. Women were pushed to the informal and petty sector of the 
colonial economy (Chuku, 2005). With Southern Nigeria declared a protectorate in 1900 and 
the British gaining firm control of the territory, Igbo society was divided into Native Court 
Areas through Native Courts Proclamation No. 9. This did not only completely violate the 
autonomous political way of governance once enjoyed in each village by fussing many 
independent villages into one and different Court Areas, it also turned out to be unfair to the 
women and their participation in politics as only men were recruited for the role of “native 
administrators” or Warrant Chiefs (WCs) (Agu, 1989; Kies, 2013). Also, all consultation of 
women prior to political decisions was abolished through the Native Ordinances Act of 1901 
and, the function (i.e. consultations and decisions) vested only on the Native Courts (Chuku, 
2009).

Women were oppressed in the arbitrary rule of the WCs as they (the WCs) wilfully 
disrespected customs and traditions that protected the women. The WCs, for instance, 
forcefully took women for marriage without following due customary processes. They paid no 

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attention to existing women's right to reject a suitor. They wilfully harvested women's farm 
products and carted away their domestic animals (Onwuteaka, 1965). In fact, Uchem 
(2001:31), summarises that all the traditional structures which formerly protected women 
were undermined by colonialism and Western Christianity such that they (the women) no 
longer had a collective political bargaining power for defending themselves.

Hence, right from the 1920s, having endured several years of socio-political 
relegation, oppression, suppression and subjugation arising from the British sexist political 
system and with low prices of agricultural produce arising from the global economic 
depression of the time, Igbo women could not bear an additional threat of direct tax imposition 
on them, particularly, in 1929. Accordingly, on November 23, 1929, they staged a massive 
protest that lasted for a month to collectively resist the tax regime, oppressions of the WC-
Indirect Rule system and low prices of agricultural produces. It should be noted that prior to the 
1929 riot, there were some other protests that women staged against the British system of rule. 
These included, for instance, “the 1916 demonstrations over colonial control of market places, 
the 1925 Nwaobiala Movement for societal order and preservation of Igbo heritage, and the 
1929 Water Rate Demonstrations” (Chuku, 2009, p. 89). And “sitting on” a man, along with 
boycotts and strikes, used to be the women's main weapons and effective tools for restoring 
normalcy (van Allen, 1972).

Even though the colonial authorities usually responded harshly to the uprisings, the 
women never gave up (Chuku, 2009). Consequently, the British were eventually forced to start 
factoring in women's interests and representation in governance. The local administrative 
system had to be reorganized to appoint women among them (Chuku, 2009). Women could 
also participate in selecting new chiefs that would head the local administration (Chuku, 
2009). The first known Igbo woman to be appointed in the local administration, for instance, 
was Madam Okwei (1872-1943), who was made to be a member of the Onitsha Native Court in 
1912 (Chuku, 2009). Others were appointed in different Court Areas. And the trend of 
empowering the women and recognising them politically due to their womanist struggles 
continued until Nigeria's Independence in 1960. Even the Independence would not have been 
as successful as it was without women's active individual and collective participation in the 
decolonisation years (i.e. between 1940s and 1950s).

Conclusion
This essay was motivated by a desire and need to disabuse the thought that feminist 
consciousness and women's socio-political activism began in Igbo nation only from the 1960s 
– after Nigeria's Independence – and, thus, that Western feminist movement which is bandied 
to have commenced before that time contributed in stimulating the Igbo women's 
enlightenment and struggle for equality with their men. It deployed the expository method of 
literary discourses to disclose that such thinking is false, for historical evidence shows that 
Igbo women had been involved in similar struggles either before Western feminist 
consciousness or simultaneous to it. Womanism had been part of Igbo women's culture long 
before Nigeria's Independence. Igbo women had always been equals with their men even in 
matters of communal governance until colonialism came to marginalise them. The 
marginalisation was also strongly resisted by the women until they were politically 
recognised, included and re-empowered by the colonialists.

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