The Lagos Market Women during the Inter-War Years: Revisiting the Water Rate Agitation, 1932 - 1941
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Date
2016
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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.
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Citation
8. Afolabi, A. S. (2016): The Lagos Market Women during the Inter-War Years: Revisiting the Water Rate Agitation, 1932 - 1941. Journal of The Historical Society of Nigeria, 25: (3): 102 - 118. Published by the Historical Society of Nigeria, Nigeria