Send message to Authors

Paper short abstract:

Women-led development and democracy advocacies in Nigeria have been constantly met with tides of state and peer resistance. How do women activists in Nigeria navigate these challenges? How do their pushbacks mirror the ‘no gree for anybody’ (translated, let no one bully you) metaphor?

Paper long abstract:

From the Aba Women Riot of 1929 to the Bring Back our Girls campaign from 2014, to the #EndSARs protest of 2020, women have perpetually voiced against oppressive systems in Nigeria. However, their advocacies oft encounter rhythms of resistance – expressions of which are reinforced by other intersectional issues such as ethnicity, class, and religion. The handshake between the resulting experiences of discrimination and political intransigence further weakens women’s capacities to drive successful advocacies. However, modern Nigeria has witnessed the rise of new women voices. These actors have introduced new mechanics of navigating resistance. Whilst there has been significant academic devotion to the activism of black women, feminist peace activism, and women rights movements, as discussed within the bounds of critical race feminist theories, less has been documented in especially Africanist literature on how women experience resistance. Beyond exploring resistance strategies among women activists, how do they experience and navigate encountered resistance from outside and within their movements? This includes state resistance and peer or intrafeminist resistance, among others. Based on in-depth interviews with women activists and protest leaders in Nigeria, this study captures the lived experiences of women navigating attempts to suppress and factionalize their movements. It also accounts for how their strategies have evolved and been adapted across social, political, and technological developments in Nigeria. This approach refines our understanding of the multifaceted nature of women activism in Africa, and especially of critical theories by highlighting the intersectional dynamics of agency and gendered activism within repressive ecosystems.