Aba women's riots
The Aba women's revolts ( Igbo : Ogu Umunwanyi ; English Aba Women's Riots , Aba Riots or Women's War ) were a revolt by women of different ethnicities ( Igbo , Ibibio , Andoni , Ogoni ) in southeastern Nigeria in November and December 1929. It took place against the tax policy of British colonial rule .
In 1929 the British wanted to introduce a new tax on market women who provided food for the growing urban population. The women wanted to defend themselves against this tax.
After months of preparation, the uprisings began on November 23, 1929. Women blocked the road from Ikot Abasi to Aba . In the ensuing uprisings in Calabar , Owerri and smaller towns, thousands of women gathered at administrative and court buildings to protest the planned new taxes. The women used a tactic called "sitting on a man," where offensive songs were sung and various other attempts were made to humiliate men. They broke into prisons in various locations and freed prisoners, attacked European shops and banks, and burned native courts . The British shot into the crowd of women demonstrating on two occasions, killing more than 50 of them. Another 50 or so women were injured; there were no wounded on the British side. Up to 25,000 women participated in the two-month protests.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Judith van Allen: 'Aba Riots' or 'Igbo Women's War'? Ideology, Stratification, and the Invisibility of Women . In: Women in Africa: Studies in Social and Economic Change . 1976, p. 59 ff .
- ↑ a b c Kathleen Sheldon : Historical Dictionary of Women in Sub-Saharan Africa . 2016, p. 13 .
- ↑ a b Lorna Lueker Zukas: Women's War of 1929. In: Revolution protest Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 29, 2017 .
- ↑ a b c Aba Women's Riots (November-December 1929). In: BlackPast.org. Retrieved March 29, 2017 .