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The Abeokuta Women’s Revolt was a resistance movement led by the Abeokuta Women’s Union (AWU) in the late 1940s against the imposition of unfair taxation by the Nigerian colonial government. ==Origin and nature of colonial taxation in Abeokuta== 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.”〔Byfield, Judith A. "Taxation, Women, and the Colonial State: Egba Women's Revolt." Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, 3.2 (2003): 250-77. Web. 4 Mar. 2013.〕 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 1897. The British government demanded a reorganization of the town’s political structure, and thus, the Egba United Government (EUG) was created. Under the new structure, the former councils and kings that rule each township in Abeokuta were incorporated into one dominant council that was headed by the Alake, the senior oba (king).The new government structure, the EUG, began developing Abeokuta political and economic infrastructure and invested in the building of roads and markets. Abeokuta produced and exported several items for the international economy: palm oil, palm kernels, cocoa and the regional economy: kola nuts and indigo-dyed cloth. It also imported items such as cloth and spirits. By the late 1800s, Abeokuta had emerged as economic center in colonial Nigeria and remained relatively independent. It was not until the outbreak of World War I in 1914 that the colonial government gained really grounds in the disruption of Abeokuta’s relative independence. The town became fully incorporated into the colonial state. After the incorporation of Abeokuta, colonial officials faced difficulties with a significant decline in revenue. The war spurred the increase of import duties so to offset the cost the government increased export duties. After a while, the export duties became insufficient so colonial official requested the colonial office to allow the imposition of direct taxation but they refused. In order to alleviate decline revenue, local official began imposing sanitary fines, which largely affected farm and market women. Eventually, the fines were abolished and replaced by taxes on women. On January 1, 1918, Abeokuta residents began paying taxes. From the tax proposal’s inception, Egba women were considered separately from the men. The taxation of women was not within the standard model of taxation first used by the colonial government in the Northern region. But this model of taxation was very much informed “by Yoruba cultural practice that expected women to work and have independent incomes. Since most women were involved in trade of manufactured goods or foodstuffs and predominated in the markets across Yorubaland, Yoruba and European men shared the perception that women often had money.”〔 In Abeokuta, colonial taxation emerged as an unfair practice that predominantly targeted women. Six months after the imposition of the tax, a revolt occurred in Abeokuta known as the Adubi war. 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, “although some compromises were made to the governance structure and methods of collection, the tax on women remained in place. By the late 1940s, the burden of the taxation was becoming unbearable as the colonial authorities squeezed more and more from its protectorates in the aftermath of the Second European War”〔Mcalpine, Mhairi. "Women on the Left: Funmilayo Anikulapo-Kuti." International Socialist Group. N.p., 8 June 2012. Web. 4 March 2013.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Abeokuta Women's Revolt」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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