LAGOS MARKET WOMEN DURING THE INTER-WAR YEARS
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2016
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria
Abstract
The involvement of women in anti-colonial movements in the twentieth century and the parts they played in the social, economic and political domains still require further investigation. This paper, based mostly on archival sources, explores women’s responses to the threat of colonialism on their social status. The paper focuses on women’s opposition to direct and indirect taxation, paying attention to those involved in the protests and how they were received by both the colonial authorities and the traditional leaders. Indeed, although women played significant public roles in pre-colonial times, colonialism altered their positions through economic and political disenfranchisement. British colonial government’s introduction of new economic policies, which altered the economic climate led to unmitigated hardship for women resulting in their vociferous demands for justice and fair play during the inter-war years, from 1932 to 1941. The agitation became officially known as the “women palaver against taxation”. The paper concludes that apart from the global economic depression, predatory leadership, gross opportunism, insincerity and ineptitude on the part of tax administrators, were responsible for the “women palaver” in colonial South-western Nigeria during the inter-war years.
Description
Journal
Keywords
Inter War, Lagos, Market, Women