The Aba Women’s War (1929): Gender, Colonialism, and African Political Resistance

The Aba Women’s War of 1929—also known as the Women’s War or Ogu Umunwanyi—stands as one of the most significant anti-colonial uprisings in African history. Far from being a spontaneous riot, it was a coordinated, ideologically grounded, and gendered resistance movement led by Igbo and Ibibio women in southeastern Nigeria against British colonial administration. The uprising challenged colonial taxation, political marginalization, and the systematic erosion of women’s authority within indigenous governance structures.

As historian Judith Van Allen famously argues, the Women’s War was not a reactionary disturbance but “a logical extension of precolonial political practice under radically altered circumstances” (Van Allen, 1972).

 

Precolonial Igbo Women and Political Power

Before colonial intervention, Igbo society operated through decentralized and complementary political systems in which women exercised substantial authority. Women’s institutions such as mikiri (women’s assemblies), market networks, and lineage-based councils enabled collective decision-making and political mobilization.

Crucially, Igbo women possessed a traditional protest mechanism known as “sitting on a man” (iku n’ulo or ogbunigwe umunwanyi), a non-violent yet socially devastating sanction involving song, ridicule, and public shaming. This method functioned as a legitimate form of political accountability.

Anthropologist Ifi Amadiume notes:

“Igbo women were not marginal to political life; they constituted a parallel political system whose authority was recognized and enforceable.”
— Ifi Amadiume, Male Daughters, Female Husbands (1987)

 

Colonial Disruption and the Erosion of Women’s Authority

British colonial administration radically disrupted these systems through indirect rule, imposing male warrant chiefs in societies that traditionally resisted centralized kingship. Women were excluded from colonial courts, native authorities, and formal political representation.

The colonial state also introduced direct taxation, first on men and later proposing to extend it to women—an unprecedented move in Igboland.

According to colonial logic, taxation was a tool of governance. For Igbo women, it represented economic dispossession and political silencing.

As Frederick Lugard’s system of indirect rule expanded, women’s political institutions were ignored or dismantled. Historian Toyin Falola observes:

“Colonial rule did not merely conquer territory; it reordered gender relations by institutionalizing male dominance where none had previously existed.”
— Toyin Falola, Colonialism and Violence in Nigeria (2009)

 

The Immediate Trigger: Census and Taxation

In 1929, colonial authorities ordered a census to assess women’s property, livestock, and income—widely understood as a precursor to taxation. When a warrant chief reportedly attempted to count a widow’s possessions in Oloko, the act ignited widespread outrage.

Word spread rapidly through women’s market networks, and what followed was one of the largest mass mobilizations in African colonial history.

Within weeks, more than 10,000 women across Aba, Owerri, and Calabar provinces coordinated protests.

Van Allen explains:

“The women perceived taxation not simply as economic exploitation but as an assault on their moral economy and political autonomy.”
— Judith Van Allen, “Sitting on a Man,” Canadian Journal of African Studies (1972)

 

Methods of Protest: Indigenous Political Technology

The Aba Women’s War was notable for its use of indigenous political techniques, not imported ideologies. Protesters employed:

• “Sitting on” warrant chiefs
• Mock funerals and satirical songs
• Occupation of administrative buildings
• Mass marches and blockades

Women surrounded courts and prisons, demanding the removal of corrupt chiefs and the end of taxation.

These actions were highly disciplined, ritualized, and symbolic—rooted in precolonial norms of justice.

Anthropologist Kamene Okonjo emphasizes:

“What colonial officials dismissed as disorder was, in fact, a structured political language they refused to understand.”
— Kamene Okonjo, “The Dual-Sex Political System in Operation,” 1976

 

Colonial Violence and Massacre

British authorities responded with military force, opening fire on unarmed women in several locations. At least 50 women were killed, and many more wounded—though African casualties were deliberately underreported in colonial records.

The violence revealed the colonial state’s limits of tolerance for indigenous political agency, particularly when exercised by women.

Historian Susan Martin notes:

“The colonial response exposed the fundamental contradiction of empire: order was maintained not by consent but by violence.”
— Susan Martin, Palm Oil and Protest (1988)

 

Outcomes and Reforms

Despite the repression, the Aba Women’s War achieved tangible results:

• Abolition or reform of the warrant chief system
• Greater oversight of colonial courts
• Cancellation of proposed women’s taxation
• Recognition (though limited) of women’s political concerns

More importantly, it forced colonial administrators to confront the failures of indirect rule.

British official reports reluctantly admitted governance errors, though they framed women’s resistance as irrational—a common colonial trope.

 

Gender, Power, and Historical Misrepresentation

For decades, colonial and postcolonial narratives labeled the uprising a “riot,” minimizing its political sophistication. Feminist historians have since challenged this framing.

As Van Allen asserts:

“To call the Women’s War a riot is to deny African women both rationality and political consciousness.”
— Judith Van Allen (1972)

The uprising represents an early form of African feminism, though rooted in indigenous values rather than Western gender theory.

Ifi Amadiume argues:

“African women’s resistance movements emerged not from gender antagonism but from the defense of balanced social systems destroyed by colonialism.”
— Ifi Amadiume (1987)

 

Legacy and Contemporary Relevance

The Aba Women’s War remains profoundly relevant today. It illuminates:

• The colonial origins of gender inequality
• The power of grassroots mobilization
• Indigenous African political thought
• Women’s leadership in anti-imperial struggles

Modern Nigerian women’s movements—from market protests to political advocacy—trace a historical lineage back to 1929.

As historian Nkiru Nzegwu concludes:

“The Aba Women’s War stands as a testament to African women’s capacity to define justice, power, and resistance on their own terms.”
— Nkiru Nzegwu, Family Matters (2006)

 

The Aba Women’s War was not a footnote in colonial history but a transformative political confrontation that exposed the fragility of imperial authority. It demonstrated that African women were not passive victims of colonialism but strategists, organizers, and theorists of resistance.

By reclaiming the Women’s War as a legitimate political revolution rather than a colonial “disturbance,” African history regains one of its most powerful narratives of agency, dignity, and collective action.

 

Selected Academic References

• Van Allen, Judith. “Sitting on a Man.” Canadian Journal of African Studies, 1972
• Amadiume, Ifi. Male Daughters, Female Husbands. Zed Books, 1987
• Falola, Toyin. Colonialism and Violence in Nigeria. Indiana University Press, 2009
• Martin, Susan. Palm Oil and Protest. Cambridge University Press, 1988
• Okonjo, Kamene. “The Dual-Sex Political System in Operation.” 1976
• Nzegwu, Nkiru. Family Matters. SUNY Press, 2006