Abstract
A tax regime is a mechanism of tax rates, regulations, and scope that comprise the taxation approach or philosophy of a government. Existing historical studies have engaged the dynamics of women and tax revolts in some parts of Southern Nigeria, with particular emphasis on Aba and Egba women. Historical studies have also robustly recognised the socio-economic significance of Ijebu women to economic growth in Southwestern Nigeria. Despite Ijebu women’s contributions, studies have not adequately documented the dynamics of Ijebu women and the tax regime during the period under review. The paucity of historical engagement of Ijebu women’s tax regime experience has prevented an understanding of the numerous factors that informed women’s taxation, the dimensions of the tax receipt regime against Ijebu women and the attendant gender implications. The study adopts a historical research methodology. It uses primary and secondary sources. For primary data, Archival materials on Ijebu women and taxation during the colonial period were sourced from the National Archives, Ibadan. Archival documentations were complemented with oral interviews. The secondary sources includes published materials on women and taxation in Southern Nigeria in libraries and internet sources. The data were subjected to thematic and descriptive analysis. Findings reveal that the prominence of Ijebu Women in the marketplace, coupled with their unwavering financial exploits in the 19th century, provoked draconian taxation against them. On the dimensions of taxes levied against women, Ijebu women were compelled to pay flat rate alongside their male counterparts. Besides, the women faced harrowing experiences of the tax receipt regime. The tax regime in colonial Ijebu has implications on gender. Apart from inducing physical, economic, and psychological pains on Ijebu women, the tax regime forced some women to stage a revolution against the colonial government and its representatives. This study suggests that subsequent historical interrogations could engage ideologies in Ijebu women’s petitions against the colonial government.
References
ADEBAYO, A. G. (1995) Jangali: Fulani Pastoralists and Colonial Taxation in Northern Nigeria. The International Journal of African Historical Studies. 28, 1. Pp. 113–150
AFOLABI, A. (2010) The colonial taxation policy among Yoruba of Southwestern Nigeria and its implication on socio-economic development. Journal of Historical Society of Nigeria. 19. Pp. 63–92
AREWA, G. O. (1962) Taxation in western Nigeria: the problems of an emergent state. Ibadan (NISER): Oxford University Press
AUSMAN, J. L. (1971) Disturbances in Abeokuta in 1918. Canadian Journal of African Studies. 5, 1. Pp. 45–60
AYANDELE, E. A. (1983) ‘Ijebuland, 1800–1891: Era of splendid isolation’. In: Olusanya, G. O. (ed.) Studies in Yoruba history and culture. Ibadan: University Press
AYANDELE, E. A. (1992) The Ijebu of Yorubaland 1850–1950, politics, economy & society. Ibadan: Heinemann Educational Books
AYANTUGA, O. O. (1965) Ijebu and its Neighbours, 1851–1914. Thesis presented for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, University of London
BAUER, P. T. (1954) West African Trade. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul
BYFIELD, J. A. (2003) Taxation, women, and the colonial state: Egba women’s tax revolt. Meridians. 3, 2. Pp. 250–277
CHUKU, G. I. (2002) Women and nationalist movements in the end of colonial rule: Nationalism and decolonization. Falola Toyin (ed.) USA: Carolina Academic Press
COLLINS ENGLISH DICTIONARY. (1979) Glasgow: Harper Collins
FADIPE, N. A. (1970) The sociology of Yoruba. Ibadan: University Press
FORDE, D. (1946) “The rural economics” in the native economies of Nigeria. Perham, M. (ed.). London: Faber and Faber
IKIME, O.(1965) The anti-tax riots in Warri Province, 1927–1928. Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria. 3, 3. Pp. 559–573
IKIME, O. (1966) Chief Dogho: The Lugardian system in Warri, 1917–1932. Journal of Historical Society of Nigeria. 3, 2. Pp. 313–333
LLOYD, P. (1962) Yoruba land law. Published for the Nigerian Institute Of Social And Economic Research (NISER). Ibadan: London University Press, First Edition
LUGARD, F. D. (1965) The dual mandate in British tropical Africa. London: Frank Cass Co. Limited
MABOGUNJE, A. (1961) The market woman. Ibadan: University Press
MBA, N. (1978) Nigerian women mobilized: women’s political activity in Southern Nigeria, 1900–1965. California: Berkeley Institute of International Studies
MBA, N. (1982) Nigerian women mobilized: Women’s political activity in southern Nigeria. 1900–1965. Ibadan: Intec Press. 2–4
MBA, N. (2001) Olufunmilayo Ransome-Kuti. Nigerian women: A historical perspective. Bolanle Awe (ed.). Ibadan: Sankore Publishers
ODUWOBI, T. (2003) Deposed rulers under the colonial regime in Nigeria: The Careers of Akarigbo and Awujale Adenuga. Cahiers d’etudes africaines. XLIII, 3, 171, Varia
ODUWOBI, T. (2004) Ijebu under colonial rule 1892–1960: An administrative and political analysis. Lagos: First Academic Publishers
OGUNKOYA, T. O. (1956) The early history of Ijebu. Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria of Nigeria. 1, 1. Pp. 48–58
OGUNTOMISIN, G. O. (ed.). (2002) Studies in Ijebu history and culture. Ibadan: John Archers (Publications) Limited
OKOME, M. O. (2000) Women, the state and the travails of decentralizing the Nigerian Federation. West African Review. 2, 1
OLAWOYIN, O. T. (2015) African women in informal economy in the twentieth century in women and power in Africa, Eno Blackson Ikpe (ed.). Supero Academic Publishers, Lagos
OLUBOMEHIN, O. O. (2001) “The early history of Ejinrin lagoon port and market, 1832–1859” In: Olubomehin, O. O. (ed.). The Ijebu of western Nigeria. Ibadan: College Press and Publishers. Pp. 34–35
OLUKOJU, A. (2000) Self-help criminality as resistance: Currency counterfeiting in colonial Nigeria. International Review of Social History. 45, 3
OLUWATOSIN, A. A. (2013) Powerful and powerless: Women in religious and culture in the traditional Ijebu society in south-west Nigeria. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences. 3, 22
OREWA, G. O. (1962) Taxation in western Nigeria: The problems of an emergent state. Ibadan (NISER): Oxford University Press
PERHAM, M. (1963) Native administration in Nigeria. London: Oxford University Press
PIM, A. (1940) The financial and economic history of the African tropical territories. Oxford: Clarendon Press
PIM, A. W. (1945) Public Finance in Mining, Commerce, and Finance in Nigeria. Perham, M. (Ed.). London: Faber and Faber Limited, 225
SHIELDS, F. (1997) “Palm Oil and power: Women in an era of economic and social transition in 19th century.” UNESCO/SSHRC Summer Institute on Identifying Enslaved Africans, York University, Toronto. Pp. 260–271
SMITH, R. S. (1988) Kingdoms of the Yoruba, (3rd ed.). London: Methuen & Co. Ltd
TALBOT, P. A. & AMAURY, P.(1921) 1877–1945: The peoples of southern Nigeria; a sketch of their history, ethnology and languages, with an abstract of the 1921 census. London: Oxford University Press
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Titilope Olusegun Olalere
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Journal of Gender and Power is an Open Access Journal. Copyright of the article published in the Journal of Gender and Power is retained by the authors with first publication rights granted to the Adam Mickiewicz University Press.