Warrior Woman: Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti

Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti
 on her 70th birthday 

      The woman in the photo to the left is activist and educator Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti who was a Warrior Woman in every sense of the phrase.  She made enormous moves for women in the early 20th century, creating a movement that more than 20,000 women identified with and raising awareness on women's issues, racial equality, and imperialism in a time and place that was most unexpected that has had a lasting impact on the world.  
      Funmilayo was born on October 25, 1900 in what was then called Abeokuta, Egbaland and in what is now known as Ogun State, Nigeria.  Her parents encouraged her to go on to get a higher education in a time where many women, especially African women, were being encouraged to stay home and raise children. Because her parents were converted Christians, Funmilayo was born with the name Frances Abigail Olufunmilayo Thomas which she dropped during her time studying in England to clap back at the racial injustices she experienced and witnessed while in school. 
      Funmilayo  wasn't just the first woman to ride a bike or drive a car in Nigeria, she was also the first female student of Abeokuta Grammar School, a high school where she went on to teach at for a while before moving on to college.  After finishing her studies in England in 1923, she went back to Abeokuta to continue to teach where she organized the Abeokuta Women’s Union (AWU) - originally the Abeokuta Ladies Club (ALC) - an organization that started as an exclusive club for educated Christian women that quickly turned its focus to political issues regarding women with feminist values.  With this turn came expansion of membership to include market women and women who've been taken advantage of my the imperialistic society around them.  

Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti,
the graduate

      Over the course of her life, Funmilayo fought tirelessly for African women to become educated, voters, and fully capable of standing on their own.  She traveled the world to gain perspective as well as to share her own views with the world on how women needed a seat at the table in order for the world to continue to progress as a whole.  Some of her biggest accomplishments include: overseeing the end of men and women being taxed separately, being appointed to the Native House of Chiefs, and being a winner of the Lenin Peace Prize. 
      Funmilayo went on to have children who's activism went on to outshine her, children that I'm sure she was wholly proud to call her own.  She died a tragic death in April of 1978; she was dragged by her hair and thrown out of a window by soldiers who stormed the commune of one of her sons.  She fell into a coma and died soon after.      
      I know I need to do more reading now that I know who Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti is.  Women activists need much more attention, especially ones like Funmilayo, who went up against some of the toughest opponents, both social and physical, in order to see the fundamental changes she made.  It's women like her who make me excited to continue with the work I'm doing, to continue calling myself an activist, and to continue looking towards a brighter future for women.  Funmilayo should be a figure that is celebrated by women for the steps she took to better the lives of African women, no matter how little impact it looks to have made from an outside perspective. Her taking the lead in a time where little to no one else was in regards to feminism is what makes her so great, not just the titles she earned on her way to fame.










Works Cited:

Bhutia, T. K., Duignan, B., Lotha, G., & Sampaolo, M. "Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti: Nigerian Feminist and Political Leader." Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2015.

Johnson-Odim, C. "‘For their freedoms’: The anti-imperialist and international feminist activity of Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti of Nigeria." Women's Studies International Forum, vol. 32, 2009, 51-59.

Icha, E. "Pioneers of Change: Funmilayo Ransome Kuti." The Communicator, vol. 6, no. 3, 2013.