The Colonial Context

In the early decades of the 20th century, British colonial rule in Nigeria was tightening its grip through indirect rule, taxation, and economic exploitation. In Eastern Nigeria, particularly among the Igbo, Ibibio, and other groups, the colonial system disrupted traditional structures where women had held considerable influence in local governance and markets.

British administrators, misunderstanding indigenous political systems, imposed warrant chiefs—often men selected arbitrarily—who wielded unprecedented powers over taxation, justice, and land. For women who had long exerted authority through market councils, kinship networks, and ritual protest traditions, this colonial reordering was an attack on both livelihood and dignity.

The Spark of Resistance

The immediate cause of the uprising came in November 1929, when rumors spread that the colonial government intended to impose new taxes on women. This was a direct threat to women traders and farmers, who already bore the burden of rising prices and declining profits under colonial economic policies.

The rumor ignited outrage in Oloko (now in Abia State), when women confronted a local warrant chief, demanding accountability. From this flashpoint, the protests spread rapidly across southeastern Nigeria.

The Methods of Protest

The women employed powerful traditional tactics of collective resistance. They used a practice known as “sitting on a man”—a form of public shaming involving singing, dancing, and encircling the homes or offices of corrupt leaders until grievances were addressed.

Their strategies were not violent at the outset but highly organized. Women communicated across villages through market networks, drums, and songs. Tens of thousands mobilized, demonstrating the strength of women’s solidarity in defending economic and political rights.

The Colonial Backlash

The scale of the protests shocked the colonial government. By December 1929, over 25,000 women across the provinces of Owerri, Calabar, Aba, and beyond were participating in demonstrations. They demanded an end to taxation, the removal of corrupt warrant chiefs, and a recognition of women’s voices in governance.

British officials responded with force. In clashes between colonial police and protesters, at least 50 women were killed and many more injured. The violence exposed the brutality of colonial rule and the state’s refusal to engage with legitimate grievances.

Transformative Impact

Though suppressed, the Aba Women’s War left a profound legacy:

• It forced the British to abandon their plans for taxing women.

• It exposed the failures of indirect rule, particularly the imposition of warrant chiefs who had no basis in local legitimacy.

• It strengthened women’s role in Nigerian political activism, laying the groundwork for later movements against colonialism and, eventually, post-independence struggles for gender equality.

Remembering the Women’s War

The Aba Women’s War of 1929 is often described as “the first major anti-colonial revolt in Nigeria.” More importantly, it was one of the largest and most effective mass mobilizations of women in African history.

It revealed that women were not passive bystanders under colonial domination but active shapers of resistance. The courage of those who sang, marched, and stood against colonial taxation continues to inspire feminist and nationalist struggles across Africa and beyond.