CHANGING SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL STATUS OF ABAKALIKI WOMEN, 1929-1999

SOURCE:

Faculty: Arts
Department: History & International Studies

CONTRIBUTORS:

Enwo-Irem, I.N;
Ojiakor, N;

ABSTRACT:

This work examines the changes that occurred in the socio-economic and political status of Abakaliki women during the period 1929-1999. The thesis analyzes the status of women in traditional Abakaliki society in the economic, social and political spheres of life and the role of internal and external agents in changing their status for the better. The remarkable transformation of the status of Abakaliki women from the assigned sex roles in traditional society to active participation in public life as well as their dynamic contributions to the development of their communities had hitherto been unjustifiably neglected by scholars, particularly historians. The main objective of the study is to bring to the lime light the factors that brought about changes in the status of Abakaliki women. This study adopts a thematic and chronological approach which aims at addressing the trend of events in the society. Ii has made use of qualitative and quantitative data drawn from both primary and secondary sources. The primary data constitute the greater percentage of the research data and it involved oral tradition collated through the random sampling mode, granted directly by reliable informants. Also, among the primary sources are intelligence reports, annual reports and government documents from the National Archives, Enugu. Some of the findings and conclusions drawn from the study include; first, Abakaliki society had a dynamic past and change brought about by such sources as trade and occupational specialization was already underway, though in a very slow pace before the intrusion of external forces. Second, colonial administration, western education and Christianity impacted all aspects of the people’s traditional ways of life in diverse ways; they challenged the traditional socio-political institutions and values which hitherto had in no small measure worked against the emancipation of women in the Abakaliki area and thus opened up new challenges and opportunities to which the women responded by either outright rejections or adaptation. However, when their usefulness was realized, the women embraced them with enthusiasm. Third, colonial administration, western education and Christianity sowed the seeds of the institutions that helped to transform the status of Abakaliki women. The creation of Ebonyi State speeded up the tempo or the transformation. Finally, the study challenges the existing negative views of some scholars about Abakaliki society as backward, non – responsive and non-receptive to change, economic opportunities and development and would serve as a paradigm to scholars of gender study and social change.