The Abeokuta Women's Revolt: Subverting Systems of Violence

By Kirthi Jayakumar

Abeokuta Women’s Union. [Women in African History: an E-Learning Tool; CC-BY-SA UNESCO.]

Under Nigerian colonial rule, the economic lives of women took a beating: their economic roles were on the decline, and they were subject to heavy taxation (Byfield 2003). Women were given no place to participate in local government or public life, but were expected to be individual tax paying citizens. Responding to this with protests, the women subverted colonial economic dominance and made their way into local government through the Abeokuta Women’s Revolt, or the Egba Women’s Tax Riot. The resistance movement was spearheaded and led by the Abeokuta Women’s Union (AWU) in the late 1940s. The movement resisted the unfair imposition of taxes by the colonial government in Nigeria.

The Origins

Abeokuta was established in 1830, in the southwest of Nigeria. It was home to the Egba and Owu people. Local councils traditionally included at least one woman (Byfield 2003). In around 1850, the British colonial government expanded into the region and took control of Abeokuta, and began to negotiate treaties with the native Egba. Their treaty agreement gave the British open trade routes through the Egba territory, in exchange for the recognition of the town’s independence and borders by the Lagos government (Byfield 2003).

Originally, the treaty accorded the Egba people relative autonomy over their economy. However, the British colonial government began to intervene shortly after a political crisis in 1897. At this point, the British colonial government reorganized the town’s political structure, creating the Egba United Government in the process. The new structure excluded women, and began to build the political and economic infrastructure of the region, focusing on agriculture, road construction, and expanding exports of agricultural produce. By the end of the 1800s, Abeokuta emerged as an economic centre in colonial Nigeria.

By the time World War I broke out in 1914, the colonial government had broken Abeokuta’s relative autonomy, and incorporated it fully into the colonial state. There was a major economic downturn following this. The war led to an increase in import duties to offset the cost of the government’s newly increased export duties. When it came to light that the revenues were still low, the local officials imposed sanitary fines, targeting women engaged in farming and work at the market (Byfield 2003). The fines were subsequently abolished, and a flat tax on women was introduced to extract economic revenue from women (Byfield 2003).

Women were taxed separately from men, following a model that fell outside the scope of the standard model of taxation used by the colonial government in the north. The Egba United Government had no women within it – so the tax was effectively a patriarchal imposition that did not take into account the women’s voices (Alanamu 2018). Six months after that, a revolt of 30,000 people destroyed the railway and telegraph infrastructure in southern Abeokuta. In response, after quelling the revolt, the British colonial government made very minor changes while still retaining the tax on women (Mcalpine 2012). Women in other parts of Nigeria, however, did not have to pay taxes – effectively reinforcing patriarchy (Byfield 2003).     

Subverting Exploitative Taxation

The Abeokuta Women’s Union was founded by Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, a head teacher at a local school, upon recognizing the challenges faced by the market women. Along with her niece-in-law, Grace Eniola Soyinka, she set up AWU as a means to unite working class market women and middle class women to challenge the colonial rule, patriarchal system, and oppressive taxation (McAlpine 2012).

The AWU began by writing proposals for substituting the flat tax on women, calling for taxation on expatriate companies, he investment in local infrastructure, and the abolition and replacement of the Sole Native Authority with a representative government with women included (McAlpine 2012). Furthering their resistance, several women refused to pay the taxes outright, and were punished for it. The AWU kept up its stream of petitions.

However, the government increased the rate of the flat tax. In response, the women went on protest marches outside the King’s palace (i.e., the paramount king of Egbaland), demanding the abolition of direct taxes altogether. In response, the colonial government used tear gas and beat up the women (Johnson-Odim and Emma 1998). The AWU kept up its protest, however, and released a document detailing its grievances in 1947. Following this, 10,000 women then held a demonstration for two days outside the palace (Mcalpine 2012). The women sang songs to ridicule the patriarchy for its regressive policies. Several women were arrested at this protest.

By the end of it, the government promised that the taxation would be suspended, and asked for three days to communicate further decisions. However, nothing happened. The women returned to protest, refusing to leave until all women who had been arrested were released. They eventually left after the arrested women were released – but continued issuing petitions to the British administration.

Finally, on January 3, 1949, the king abdicated, the Sole Native Authority was reformed, and four women gained positions in the new system. The tax was abolished – albeit temporarily, only to be restored later (Byfield 2003).

Lessons for Feminist Foreign Policy

The Abeokuta Women’s Union and its journey serves as a major example of women resisting colonialism through peaceful means in history. The group was one of the early proto-nationalist feminist activist groups in Nigeria (Byfield 2012), given that it sought to push for reforms and inclusion of native participation in the colonial administration instead of immediate self-government.

Despite being protonationalist, the movement achieved significant social and political change. The movement successfully transformed Nigeria (Glaser 2017). It toppled the king and changed British policy – in effect, it paved the way for the transformation of the political structure in Abeokuta, and of women’s politics, as well (Glaser 2017).

Further, the revolt brought together modern and traditional forms of protest, and remained one of the longest, self-sustaining protests by women – lasting nine months in all (Byfield 2003). This was a powerful assertion of agency and demonstration of community action to resist colonial dominance - making the most of multiple avenues for engagement to resist colonial dominance.

 References

• Alanamu, Temilola (7 June 2018). "Church Missionary Society evangelists and women's labour in nineteenth-century Abéọ̀ kúta". Africa: Journal of the International African Institute. 88 (2): 291–311.

• Byfield, Judith A. (2003) "Taxation, Women, and the Colonial State: Egba Women's Revolt." Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, 3.2 (2003): 250–77.

• Byfield, Judith (2012). "Gender, Justice, and the Environment: Connecting the Dots". African Studies Review. 55 (1): 1–12.

• Glaser, B. L. (2017). "Women's revolt transformed Nigeria, says historian." https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2017/03/womens-revolt-transformed-nigeria-says-historian

• Johnson-Odim, Cheryl, and Nina Emma MBA (1997). For Women and the Nation: Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti. N.p.: University of Illinois.

• Mcalpine, Mhairi (2012). "Women on the Left: Funmilayo Anikulapo-Kuti." International Socialist Group.