FROM PRE-COLONIAL AGENCY TO POST-COLONIAL RESILIENCE: A DISSECTION OF ADVANCED FEMINIST THEORIES IN THE NIGERIAN CONTEXT

ABSTRACT The pre-colonial Nigerian societies- Igbo, Hausa, and Yoruba, operated a system where women exercised autonomy and agency across the political, social, and economic terrain. These structures were not formalities; they gave women access to resources and power, a factor that defies modern-day society. This narrative changed following the advent of colonialism, which brought the Victorian era's high-handedness that required women to take the back seat and relinquish all their control and agency, including economic and reproductive rights. At this instance, view gender as one of the colonial achievements, while being a symbol of oppression. This paper argues that colonialism brought with it a paradigm shift by creating a void in rights protection, thereby categorizing the “woman” as second-class. To address this challenge, this paper will undertake a comparative analysis of the advanced feminist theories, questioning their relevance within the Nigerian socio-legal landscape, including the gaps in the Nigerian context, such as the rejection of the Gender Bills, and the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act (2015). It argues that while the Western frameworks are vital, they are insufficient to address multi-layered inequalities. Hence, it proposes a model that merges Western frameworks and the indigenous agency to breed a transformative reform.