Abeokuta Women's Revolt

[2] Located in southwest Nigeria and inhabited by the Yoruba, Abeokuta was established in 1830 and was primarily home for the Egba and Owu people.

Around 1850, the British colonial government began to extend its control into Abeokuta and negotiate treaties with the native Egba.

The treaty agreement granted the British open trade routes through the Egba territory "in exchange for the Lagos government’s recognition of the town’s independence and borders.

"[1] This treaty had given the Egba people relative autonomy over their own economics, but ultimately, the British government found a means to intervene in the autonomous structure after a political crisis in 1897.

[1] The EUG invested in the infrastructure and the economy, building roads and markets and increasing exports of items such as cocoa, palm oil, kola nuts, and indigo-dyed cloth.

It was not until the outbreak of World War I in 1914 that the colonial government gained ground in the disruption of Abeokuta's relative independence.

In order to alleviate the decline in revenue, local officials began imposing sanitary fines, which largely affected farm and market women.

The revolt consisted of thirty thousand rebels destroying much of the railway and telegraphs lines south of Abeokuta along with the murder of a European trading agent and a high-ranking Egba chief.

After the colonial government quelled the revolt, it made some minor structural and collection changes, but did not remove the tax on women.

"[4] In order to end the taxation regime, the AWU wrote "proposals to replace the flat rate tax on women, on with taxation on expatriate companies, investment in local initiatives and infrastructure including transportation, sanitation and education and the abolition of the Sole Native Authority and its replacement with a representative form of government, including women.

The situation took a turn for the worse when the Alake increased "the flat-rate tax on women, an action supported by the British resident.

"[7] The protest resulted in the government authorities promising the women that "taxation would be suspended and the final decisions on the issue communicated to them within three days."