The early 1950s marked a defining period in Nigerian history. Constitutional reforms were under negotiation, regional political parties were consolidating influence, and newspapers became central arenas for shaping public opinion. Questions of citizenship, representation, and political power dominated public discussion.
In this charged atmosphere, women’s political rights were far from guaranteed. While nationalist leaders pressed for self government, many constitutional discussions did not automatically translate into equal political inclusion for women. It was within this moment that Elizabeth Adekogbe emerged as a determined advocate for women’s full participation in Nigeria’s political future.
Her contribution lay in her refusal to allow women’s rights to be treated as secondary to national independence. For Adekogbe, the struggle for self rule had to include women as active political citizens.
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Entering the Public Arena Through Print
Newspapers in mid twentieth century Nigeria were more than information sheets. They were battlegrounds of ideas. Political arguments unfolded in editorials, opinion columns, and letters to the editor. These pages shaped how readers understood power, responsibility, and belonging.
In 1952, Elizabeth Adekogbe authored an article titled “Nigerian Women and the New Constitution” in the Nigerian Tribune of Ibadan. In that piece, she addressed the constitutional debates of the period and argued that Nigerian women must not be excluded from political reforms that would shape the nation’s future.
By engaging constitutional questions directly in print, Adekogbe placed women’s political claims at the heart of national discussion. She did not frame women’s concerns as private matters. She presented them as issues of citizenship, representation, and justice.
Her intervention showed that constitutional change without women’s inclusion would leave the promise of independence incomplete.
Founding the Women’s Movement of Nigeria
Writing was only one part of Adekogbe’s activism. In December 1952, the Women’s Movement of Nigeria was founded in Ibadan. Elizabeth Adekogbe served as its president, and the movement positioned itself as a political force rather than merely a social association.
The Women’s Movement of Nigeria sought to organise women collectively around political demands. Its objectives included advocating for greater political participation and ensuring that electoral and constitutional reforms reflected women’s interests.
Under Adekogbe’s leadership, the movement treated women not as symbolic supporters of male politicians, but as citizens with their own political claims. Organising women into a structured political body strengthened their voice during a period when Nigeria’s constitutional framework was being reshaped.
Campaigning for Political Inclusion
The 1950s were marked by complex electoral arrangements and evolving regional political systems. Women’s access to political participation varied and remained contested. Within this landscape, Adekogbe and her colleagues insisted that women’s rights must be recognised within constitutional and electoral structures.
The Women’s Movement of Nigeria presented women’s participation as essential to national development. The movement rejected the idea that women’s concerns should wait until after independence. Instead, it demanded that the framework of the emerging nation reflect women’s citizenship from the outset.
This approach linked constitutional reform to social justice. Political freedom, in Adekogbe’s vision, required inclusion, not partial recognition.
The Press and Women’s Public Voice
During the 1940s and 1950s, Nigerian newspapers frequently carried debates about women’s education, employment, public conduct, and social expectations. Women’s pages and letters to the editor became spaces where gender roles were questioned and defended.
Adekogbe’s participation in constitutional debate through the press demonstrated that women could shape national political discourse directly. By writing on constitutional reform rather than limiting herself to social commentary, she asserted that women belonged in discussions about power and governance.
Her work illustrated how print culture allowed women to challenge assumptions about their place in public life. Through disciplined argument and organised mobilisation, she helped expand the boundaries of political conversation.
Ibadan as a Centre of Women’s Activism
Ibadan in the 1950s was a dynamic political environment. Women were active in markets, associations, and community networks. These structures provided a foundation for organised political action.
The Women’s Movement of Nigeria operated within this context, drawing strength from women’s collective experience and civic engagement. Adekogbe’s leadership connected constitutional advocacy with grassroots organisation, reinforcing the idea that women’s political rights were grounded in lived realities.
Her work contributed to a broader tradition of Nigerian women’s activism that sought to align national progress with gender inclusion.
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A Legacy of Citizenship
Elizabeth Adekogbe’s legacy rests in her commitment to embedding women’s political rights within Nigeria’s constitutional transformation. Through public writing and organisational leadership, she insisted that women must be recognised as full participants in the nation’s political life.
She stood at a pivotal historical moment and declared that independence would ring hollow if women remained on the margins of power. Her voice, amplified through print and collective action, helped ensure that women’s citizenship became part of Nigeria’s evolving democratic conversation.
Author’s Note
Elizabeth Adekogbe reminds us that national freedom is incomplete without equal citizenship. By writing into constitutional debates and leading organised women’s political action in Ibadan, she affirmed that women’s rights were not an afterthought to independence but a foundation for it.
References
Elizabeth Adekogbe, “Nigerian Women and the New Constitution,” Nigerian Tribune, Ibadan, May 5, 1952, p. 2.
Sara Panata, “Campaigning for Political Rights in Nigeria, the Women Movement in the 1950s,” Clio, Women, Gender, History, 2016, No. 43.
Sara Panata, “‘Dear Readers…’, Women’s Rights and Duties through Letters to the Editor in the Nigerian Press, 1940s to 1950s,” Sources, Materials and Fieldwork in African Studies, 2020.
Nina Emma Mba, Nigerian Women Mobilized, Women’s Political Activity in Southern Nigeria, 1900 to 1965, Institute of International Studies, University of California, 1982.
Women in Government Service in Colonial Nigeria, 1862 to 1945, scholarly study on gender and public sector employment.
