What mission schooling and Christian marriage did to women's economic independence, how indirect rule removed their political channel while continuing to tax them, and the Abẹ́òkúta Women's Union revolt that brought down an Aláké.
The Yorùbá wey dem quote, the proverbs, oríkì, ẹsẹ Ifá, word list headwords, Odù names and citations dey exactly as the corpus record dem, for every language.
Colonial rule do three different things to Yoruba women, and to keep dem separate na di only way to understand dat period well. Mission school and Christian marriage change di economic foundation of married woman independence. Indirect rule remove di institutional way wey women dey use follow take political decision, but e still leave tax for ground. And di combination of all dis things produce, for 1940s, di mass political movement wey work pass among all di ones wey Nigerian women don ever organize.
Di last one na di reason why dat period dey important. Di Abẹ́òkúta Women's Union force one paramount ruler to comot for throne and dem stop di tax, and dem do am by demanding say make dem bring back wetin colonial rule don take comot, instead of to dey ask for new thing.
Di general colonial story dey inside Christianity, Islam and Colonial Conquest. Di biography of Fúnmiláyọ̀ Ransome-Kuti dey inside Women Who Shaped the Century.
Christian missions for Yorubaland begin educate girls from early time, earlier and with more readiness pass as di colonial state do am, and di result come get two sides wey cut through di whole period.
Di institutions. Di Church Missionary Society start CMS Female Institution for Lagos on 1 May 1869, ten years after dem start CMS Grammar School for boys . Abigail Macaulay, wife of di boys school headmaster and daughter of Bishop Samuel Àjàyí Crowther, push make dem build institution for girls so dat rich Lagos families no go need to send dia daughters go abroad again . Kudeti Girls School follow for Ìbàdàn for 1899, and di two school come join together for 1950 form St Anne's School, Ìbàdàn, wey dem name after di missionary Anna Hinderer .
Di stated purpose. Di local newspaper wey dey campaign for di Lagos school argue say e suppose produce ladies wey go become "good wives, good mothers, and good ornaments of society" Di history book wey di school self commission get title say The Making of Good Wives, Good Mothers, Leading Lights of Society . Di plan dey clear for record and no be by mistake: dem design mission education for girls to produce Victorian companionate wife.
Wetin e produce instead, or join am. Dis schools train di women wey lead di political movements for twentieth century. Fúnmiláyọ̀ Ransome-Kuti na di first female student for Abẹ́òkúta Grammar School and e study for Cheshire from 1919 to 1922. Stella Thomas, Elizabeth Abimbola Awoliyi and Adetowun Ogunsheye all be product of di same system, and di advantage wey southwest still get today for female literacy trace straight go back to am; see Contemporary.
Hold di two. Di curriculum target domestic life, but di graduates come organize mass movements. Di literacy, di English and di knowledge of how to write petition, use newspaper and follow committee procedure na wetin di schools really pass across, no matter wetin be dia intention, and na those things be di tools of di 1940s.
Dis na di change wey people no too quickly notice but e get di biggest effect, and Kristin Mann book Marrying Well (Cambridge University Press, 1985) na di study wey prove am .
Di precolonial baseline. Yoruba wife dey do trade for her own pocket, e dey keep her own capital, and e no dey merge money together with her husband. Custom dey divide wetin household dey spend, dem no dey put am together. Her èsùsù contribution, her goods and her profit na her own. Dis economic separation na wetin make Yoruba wife be boss of her own instead of to depend on husband, and dem discuss am inside Market Women and Economic Power and Marriage from the Woman's Side.
Wetin Christian and ordinance marriage bring come. Na different model, wey husband and wife form one single economic unit under di husband headship, wey di wife proper place dey inside house, and wey di legal system of English marriage law apply. Wetin Mann find out be say men and women respond differently to marriage because Christianity, Western education, and colonial legal and economic changes affect di roles and opportunities of women and men for different ways . Her study compare di two types of marriage wey Lagos elite dey do, Yoruba and Christian, against each other and look into dia legal rights and duties wey dey clash, dia roles inside house, and dia mindset towards polygamy and monogamy .
Di exchange. Elite Lagos woman wey dey Christian ordinance marriage gain legal monogamy, right to claim part of her husband property wey customary law no dey give widow, and social level inside di new elite. But e lose di separate economic base, and along with am, di independence wey dat base produce. Di trade-off no be say e bad clear-clear, and plenty women choose am. Na exchange e be.
Di wider legal effect. Outside di elite, di colonial courts settle marriage property matters in a way wey affect women negatively generally, as dem conclude say wife property right dey under her husband own, and dis produce official customary law wey make woman leave marriage with only her clothes and cooking utensils . Dat same court system still be di place wey several hundred Abẹ́òkúta women go file for divorce; see Marriage from the Woman's Side.
Di political mechanism dey explained inside Women's Political Offices and na only di Ẹ̀gbá sequence dey here, because Abẹ́òkúta na di case wey dem put date for every step.
1897. After one political crisis happen, di British demand say make dem reorganize Abẹ́òkúta's political structure and dem create di Ẹ̀gbá United Government. Traditionally, local councils dey always get at least one woman member. Di EUG come be only men .
1 January 1918. Dem put flat-rate tax on top women head, wey dey separate from di tax wey men dey pay. Na so taxation based on gender start .
June 1918. Di Adubi war: like 30,000 rebels destroy railway and telegraph infrastructure for south of Abẹ́òkúta, kill one European trader and one Ẹ̀gbá chief . Di tax and di riot get connection, and di 1918 uprising na di direct example of wetin go happen thirty years after.
Throughout di 1930s and 1940s. Abẹ́òkúta dey under di rule of di Aláké as Sole Native Authority, one position wey colonial administration create, wey dey exercise power wey no precolonial Aláké hold before, without any woman inside di whole structure.
Make we state di situation clearly as e be. Dem tax women as individuals, with flat rate no matter wetin dem dey earn, by government wey totalmente push dem commot, for town wey dem bin get representation before through di Ìyálóde and di hierarchy of market titles. Di main slogan wey di revolt use, say no tax without representation, no be something dem borrow from outside. E describe di exact situation wey dey ground.
Ransome-Kuti start with di Abẹ́òkúta Ladies Club, one group of Christian women wey go mission school. Di turning point happen when she link up with market women wey come meet am for adult literacy class, and tell am wetin dey happen for market: how government officials dey just seize rice and other foodstuff anyhow, and di flat tax on market women without any representation. For 1946, dem change di club name to Abẹ́òkúta Women's Union, open am give market women, dey do meeting in Yoruba, with dues wey low reach wetin traders fit pay .
Dis alliance na di main engine and person no suppose overlook am. E join di traders, wey get population and solid daily organisation along commodity lines for market, together with di mission-educated women, wey sabi book, sabi English, and get access to media, petition, and di colonial legal system. Di number of members reach tens of thousands .
Di AWU document wey dem call "Grievances" go far pass di tax matter. E demand say make foreign companies dey pay tax; make dem invest for local infrastructure like transport, sanitation and education; and make dem cancel di Sole Native Authority system, replace am with representative government wey go include women .
Dis na complete programme for colonial reform, no be just protest about tax alone. Di women dey challenge di whole structure of government.
August 1946 to May 1947. AWU send plenty petitions give di Aláké .
5 October 1946. AWU delegation meet with di Aláké. Nothing come out of am .
Mid-October 1946. Almost 1,000 women match go di palace to protest di tax increase. Colonial authorities use tear gas and beating take answer dem .
1947. AWU release their "Grievances", and protest outside di palace last for two days with pass 10,000 women wey participate .
8 December 1947. More than 10,000 women camp outside di palace and remain there until dem release di women wey dem arrest on 10 December .
3 January 1949. Di Aláké Ademọlá II step down from throne. Dem reform di Sole Native Authority system and four women get seat for di council .
AWU combine methods from two different traditions, and na wetin make am work.
New methods. Petitions to di British Crown, letters go media, and using di language of representation and taxation take confront government wey claim say e respect dat kind language .
Old methods. Gathering inside Aláké compound dey sing abusive songs to shame am, and camping to occupy di palace ground for days . Dis na di traditional Yoruba ways wey women dey use show collective anger, just like closing di market, and dem dey work because of one specific reason for Yoruba political culture: ọba wey no fit commot for im own palace without passing through crowd of women wey dey sing abuse am don clearly lose di moral authority wey di office stand on top.
Dem document di songs as important part and describe dem as satire, abuse, and something wey target di Aláké manliness and how e fit rule . Dis corpus no reproduce di line wey people dey quote often for here, because verified Yoruba original with named translator no dey available; di versions wey dey circulate for English no get translator name and no get archival reference . Di texts dey inside di Fúnmiláyọ̀ Ransome-Kuti papers, and any reader wey want di originals suppose go dat archive. Di translation rule of dis corpus require original text wey dem attribute properly, and e no go present unsourced English translation as if na original translation.
Dem cancel di flat tax on women. Di Aláké step down from throne. Dem appoint four women join di reformed administration .
Two important points dey here wey people dey usually leave out.
Di Aláké return. Ademọlá II go exile for three years and come back, and later dem bring back di tax . Di victory bin real, but e dey partial.
And dem no convert di achievement into permanent structural representation. AWU later turn to Nigerian Women's Union and after dat Federation of Nigerian Women's Societies, wey campaign for universal adult suffrage, and Ransome-Kuti national and international career follow after . But dem no create any permanent institutional channel for women collective representation inside di Nigerian state, and di numbers for Contemporary na di result of dat one.
Women for Western Region get right to vote for the 1950s as voting right spread across the south, and Yoruba women vote and contest for office from dat period. Women for Northern Region no get right to vote until 1976 . Dis difference between the regions na steady feature for Nigeria political history and na why national figures for women participation dey mix two completely different situations together.
Yoruba women enter party politics through Action Group and NCNC. HID Awólọ́wọ̀ coordinate the women wing of Action Group and hold the party western structure together when dem imprison her husband from 1963 to 1966. Wúràọlá Ẹsan become the first woman to sit for Nigerian National Assembly. Dem discuss both of dem for Women Who Shaped the Century.
Ransome-Kuti own story show the limit wey dey. Dem elect am as vice-president of Women's International Democratic Federation for 1953, she travel go Soviet Union, China and Eastern Europe, she be president of the Nigerian branch of Women's International League for Peace and Freedom from 1963, Nigerian government seize her passport for 1956 because of her connection with communists, and she receive Lenin Peace Prize for 1970 . Na her be the most prominent Nigerian woman for the whole world for her century, but she never hold any national elected office.
The Abẹ́òkúta revolt no just start from nowhere. Alimọtù Pelewura and Lagos Market Women's Association don use the same argument, with the same combination of closing market, mass protest march, petition and negotiation, during the 1932 tax protest and the 1940-41 income tax campaign, and dem make the colonial government raise the tax threshold . The Lagos ọba don make the same argument wey the Ẹgbá women go later make, say to tax women dey violate local custom . Dem explain dat sequence well for Market Women and Economic Power.
When person look the two together, the pattern dey clear. How colonial government take tax women for system wey no give dem any representation bring out organized resistance wey stand on market structures, wey use traditional sanctions join colonial-era petitioning, and wey dem present as way to defend custom against wetin colonial government bring come. Abẹ́òkúta reach furthest because AWU add leaders wey go mission school and get complete political programme join the market base.
The strongest single generalisation wey dey na from Nina Mba, wey her book Nigerian Women Mobilized (1982) start the field: for precolonial southern Nigeria "women's world was not subordinate to that of men, but rather the two worlds were complementary," and colonial rule replace dat complementary structure with one wey commot women completely .
The complex part wey the evidence dey show na say the colonial period still give Yoruba women western education, ability to read and write, printing press, courts and the vote, and na these tools dem use fight against the exclusion. The same system do the two things. Wetin e no do at all na to rebuild the institutional channel wey e don remove, and na dat particular loss the twentieth century no fit fix.
How market authority was structured, how trade wealth converted into political leverage and where that conversion was blocked, the credit system that financed women's trade, and the twentieth-century associations that turned market organisation into a political instrument.
What the century of wars did to Yoruba women: as captives and ransomed persons, as provisioners and arms dealers, as slaveholders and traders, as returnees building a new elite, and what it did to their position overall.
Where Yoruba women stand now: near-total exclusion from elected office alongside high literacy and professional attainment, the market titles absorbed into party politics, the diaspora, and the feminist scholarship Yoruba women have produced.
Fúnmiláyọ̀ Ransome-Kuti and the Abẹ́òkúta tax revolt, HID Awólọ́wọ̀, Wúràọlá Ẹsan, Fọláké Ṣólánkẹ́, Bọ́lá Kuforiji-Olubi, the Ìyálóde and Ìyálọ́jà offices in the modern state, and the Yoruba women who were first in law, medicine and the university.
The CMS mission and Crowther, how and why Yoruba people converted to two world religions, the British annexation, indirect rule and what it did to kingship, and the making of "Yoruba" as one identity.
The Ìyálóde, the Ìyálọ́jà, the Lóbùn of Ondó, the titled women inside the Ọ̀yọ́ palace, the documented cases of female ọba and regents, and what indirect rule did to all of it.