Women's War of 1929

Bibliographic Data

ID11722661
AuthorsLorna Lueker Zukas (0000-0002-4270-8184, corresponding author)
Year2009
Pages1-2
Publication date2009-04-20
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeOTHER
VenueThe International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest (JOURNAL)
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/9781405198073.wbierp1604
OpenAlexW3098295662
ISBN9781405198073
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited3

The Aba Women's Riot of 1929, as it was named in British colonial records, is more aptly considered a strategically executed anti‐colonial revolt organized by women to redress social, political, and economic grievances. The protest encompassed women from six ethnic groups (Ibibio, Andoni, Ogoni, Bonny, Opobo, and Igbo) of southeastern Nigeria and was named by locals Ogu Umunwanyi (in Igbo) or Ekong Iban (in Ibibio), the “women's war.” The confluence of global events in southeastern Nigeria in the late 1920s gave rise to women's dissatisfaction and ultimate action. A worldwide economic depression caused a reduction in the price of palm oil (a chief export of the Nigerian economy), rising unemployment, and increased school fees and prices for goods. The unceasing British demand for forced labor, increased taxation on the local population, corruption by local administrators, trade restrictions, and newly assessed levies and other fees on women, without corresponding benefits, gave rise to frustration and hostility among women's groups. Having no place within the colonial structure to air their grievances, they took to the roads, utilizing precolonial practices and political structures to demand a hearing before a colonial administration that ignored them

Colonialism · Development economics · Economic growth · Economic history · Economics · Economy · Igbo · Language change · Political science · Politics · Population · Redress · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Unemployment · African history and culture studies · Demography · Law