Women have always been central to liberation struggles, even though history may not readily offer up that crucial information as it overwhelmingly privileges male revolutionaries while marginalizing the contributions of women. In Nigeria, women fought not only against colonial and postcolonial oppression but also against entrenched patriarchal structures that sought to exclude them from political, economic, and cultural life. While many male revolutionaries heavily resisted colonial rule, few addressed gender oppression as a pertinent concern. With rare exceptions like Ousmane Sembène, Patrice Lumumba, Thomas Sankara, and a scant few, most male-led movements viewed women’s struggles as secondary to nationalist objectives, or even unnecessary, which was quite ironic considering these were males directly acquainted with and deeply sensitive to oppressive powers.

The erasure of women’s contributions distorts the history of liberation struggles. When liberation movements are remembered primarily through the actions of men, it reinforces the idea that political resistance, leadership, and revolutionary thought are inherently male domains. Continued discussion serves to rectify this systemic bias, ensuring that women’s agency and impact are recognized and integrated into established narratives. This process of recuperation is essential for constructing a more equitable and representative historical framework. Many of these women were imprisoned, exiled, injured, or assassinated. Some led political revolutions, others wielded the power of the pen, and many worked within their communities to dismantle oppressive structures. This article highlights ten remarkable Nigerian women whose efforts should never be forgotten.

Elizabeth Adekogbe (1919–1968)

Chief Elizabeth Adekogbe was a prominent nationalist and women’s rights leader. Born into a royal family, she pursued education at St Agnes Catholic Training School and Yaba College of Technology. Adekogbe joined the civil service, rising to the position of Assistant Inspector of Prices during World War II. In 1952, she founded the Women’s Movement in Ibadan, advocating for universal suffrage, women’s admission to Native Authority councils, and increased educational opportunities for girls. Her leadership played a crucial role in advancing women’s rights in Nigeria.

Bilikisu Yusuf (1947–2015)

Bilikisu Yusuf was a journalist and activist dedicated to women’s rights and social justice. She co-founded several organizations, including Women in Nigeria (WIN) and the Federation of Muslim Women’s Associations in Nigeria (FOMWAN), advocating for women’s education and empowerment. Yusuf’s work bridged the gap between secular and religious communities, promoting unity and progress. She tragically lost her life during the 2015 Hajj stampede in Mecca.

Kehinde Lijadu (1948 – 2019) and Taiwo Lijadu (1948 – Present) 

When the history of Nigerian music is discussed, the focus is often on male pioneers, Fela Kuti, King Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey, and others, whose contributions to Afrobeat, juju, and highlife are well-documented and celebrated. Yet, the women who played equally vital roles in shaping Nigeria’s musical foundation remain largely unacknowledged.

Emerging in the 1970s, the Lijadu Sisters defied the conventions that restricted women to roles as backup singers or supporting vocalists under male bandleaders. They not only performed but wrote, composed, and arranged their own music, a rarity for women in Nigerian music at the time. Their sound was a sophisticated fusion of highlife, Afrobeat, reggae, and funk. Their lyrics were politically conscious and deeply feminist, addressing themes of corruption, inequality, and social justice. Albums like Danger (1976), Sunshine (1978), and Horizon Unlimited (1979) validated their reputation as cultural commentators and activists.

Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti (1900–1978)

One of the most influential feminist and nationalist on the list, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti was a force in Nigeria’s anti-colonial and women’s rights movements. In the 1940s, she founded the Abeokuta Women’s Union (AWU), which became one of the most influential women’s organizations in Nigeria. The AWU led a series of protests against unfair taxation and arbitrary governance by the colonial authorities and traditional rulers, notably resulting in the temporary abdication of the Alake of Abeokuta. Ransome-Kuti’s activism extended to advocating for women’s education and political representation, earning her recognition as the “Lioness of Lisabi.”

Buchi Emecheta (1944–2017)

Emecheta was an author of exceptional intellectual rigor. She systematically deconstructed the patriarchal whitewashing of domestic labor and gendered oppression in her literary works. Her seminal novel Second-Class Citizen (1974) functions as both an autobiographical and sociological critique of gendered subjugation within diasporic and postcolonial contexts. Emecheta unveiled the insidious ways in which patriarchy sought to render female labor invisible while simultaneously exploiting it as an economic and social necessity. Her magnum opus, The Joys of Motherhood (1979), further interrogates the paradoxes of motherhood as both a revered institution and a mechanism of female confinement.

Flora Nwapa (1931–1993)

Flora Nwapa, often heralded as the progenitor of African feminist literature, disrupted the male-dominated literary canon by publishing Efuru in 1966, thus inaugurating a feminist literary revolution. Her female protagonists exhibit a radical self-sufficiency, embodying a departure from the Eurocentric archetypes of African womanhood that emphasized passivity and subordination. Beyond her literary interventions, Nwapa institutionalized feminist publishing in Africa through the establishment of Tana Press in 1974, an enterprise that sought to amplify the narratives of African women and foreground their intellectual contributions to global feminist thought. In so doing, she created a space for African women’s literary production but also positioned African feminism as an autonomous intellectual tradition, distinct from Western feminist paradigms.

Elizabeth Abimbola Awoliyi (1910–1971)

Dr. Elizabeth Abimbola Awoliyi was West Africa’s first female physician and a pioneering gynecologist in Nigeria. She pursued medical studies at Trinity College Dublin, graduating in 1938 with first-class honors, including a medal in Medicine and distinction in Anatomy. She became the first West African woman to earn a licentiate from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Her leadership in the Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria foregrounded reproductive autonomy as a political issue, advocating for contraception and maternal health services in defiance of both colonial neglect and indigenous pronatalist expectations. As President of the National Council of Women’s Societies (NCWS), she mobilized women’s political participation and economic empowerment, ensuring that independence movements did not sideline gender justice.

Madam Nwanyeruwa

While men in Nigeria’s history books are praised for their roles in anti-colonial resistance, few recognize that the first major uprising against British rule was led by women. The Aba Women’s War of 1929, also called the Women’s Tax Revolt, was an organized, radical feminist rebellion. A widow and market trader in Oloko, Eastern Nigeria, Nwanyeruwa was approached by a colonial Warrant Chief, Okugo, who demanded that she register for taxation. This was a direct attack on the economic autonomy of Igbo women, who had never been subject to individual taxation. Nwanyeruwa refused, sparking an argument that led her to mobilize the thousands of women who would soon shut down the colonial administration.
The rebellion spread across the Eastern Region, with women organizing massive protests against British-imposed taxes and the corruption of Warrant Chiefs.

The protests involved sitting-on-a-man, a traditional form of nonviolent resistance where women would gather outside a chief’s home, sing protest songs, and publicly shame male leaders who had betrayed the community. However, the British response was brutal. At least 50 women were killed by colonial police, and many more were arrested or beaten.

Nevertheless, the results of the protest included:

1. British colonial officers were forced to abandon the tax scheme, marking one of the rare instances of successful resistance to colonial economic policies.

2. Warrant Chiefs lost significant power, leading to reforms in local governance.

3. Women’s political influence expanded, setting the stage for greater female participation in leadership roles.

Nwazuluwa Onuekwuke “Zulu” Sofola (1935–1995) 

Zulu Sofola owns a formidable space in Nigerian theatrical history and performing arts as its first female playwright, dramatist, as well as the first Professor of Theater Arts in Africa and the first female Head of the Theatre Department at the University of Ilorin.

As exemplified by Wedlock of the Gods (1973), The Sweet Trap (1977), and King Emene: Tragedy of a Rebellion (1974), her dramaturgy subverted Eurocentric theatrical conventions as they deeply engaged indigenous epistemologies, integrating African cosmology, oral traditions, and ritualistic performances as vehicles. Although while immersed in African storytelling traditions, they functioned as an insurgent discourse against the masculinist underpinnings of both Nigerian theater and broader societal structures.

Oyinkansola Abayomi (1897–1990)

Oyinkansola Abayomi understood that the subjugation of women was a structural design, enforced through politics, education, and culture. She dedicated her life to dismantling these structures, becoming one of Nigeria’s foremost feminists and nationalists. At a time when women were discouraged from political engagement, she founded the Nigerian Women’s Party (NWP), an organization that fought for women’s right to education, political participation, and economic independence.

As one of the founders of Queen’s College, Yaba, her work extended to education, where she fiercely advocated for the empowerment of young girls. As the first Nigerian woman to serve as Chief Commissioner of the Nigerian Girl Guides, she used the platform to instill leadership and self-sufficiency in young women, challenging the patriarchal norms that sought to confine them to domestic roles.