Colonial transformation of women's economic roles in Okpella, Edo State, 1904–1960

Abstract

Nigerian colonial history vis-à-vis women's studies has attracted scholarly attention. These studies range from women’s roles in the textile industry in Abeokuta, women’s riots in Egba land and the Aba women's riot. Historians and anthropologists have also interrogated women and taxation in Ijebu Province, as well as their leading roles in the decolonisation process. However, none of these studies has adequately addressed how colonialism transformed the economic role of women in Okpella from 1904, when Iddo-Okpella was designated as the administrative district of Etsako land by the British, to 1960, the year of Nigeria’s independence. This neglect reduces our comprehensive understanding of the workings of the colonial economy, despite the monumental contributions of Okpella women. This study examines the colonial transformation of women's economic roles in Okpella, Edo State, Nigeria. Drawing on archival records from the National Archives, Ibadan, colonial correspondence, and oral interviews with women, which reveal women's participation and displacement in the mining industry, it traces the shift from pre-colonial subsistence agriculture, food crop production, and periodic market trading to broader proto-industrial activities under British rule. Key policies—monetisation, cash crop promotion, taxation, market stall rentals, and extractive industries—initially expanded opportunities in crafts, retail trade, and mining labour, particularly gold prospecting (1940s) and limestone extraction post-1955. However, patriarchal assumptions, mechanisation, and discriminatory labour practices marginalised women in mining by 1960, prompting a return to agriculture and crafts. The paper, in its conclusion, highlights how colonial exploitation, despite rhetorical development aims, ultimately positioned Okpella women to contribute significantly to the colonial economy in Nigeria, thereby intensifying the incorporation of the Nigerian economy into the global market.