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First published online May 10, 2011
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From Traders to Teachers: A History of Elite Women in Onitsha, Nigeria, 1928—1940

Anene EjikemeView all authors and affiliations
Volume 46, Issue 3
https://doi.org/10.1177/0021909610396157

Abstract

In Onitsha, an important commercial center in Nigeria, success as a merchant was the usual route for women who aspired to elite status in the period before the 1930s. In 1928, a school for girls was opened by the Holy Rosary Sisters, a Catholic order created especially by the bishop in charge of Onitsha Diocese. The opening of this convent school in Onitsha heralded a major transformation in the lives of Onitsha women, marking the transition between two epochs with regard to how women achieved elite status. From the mid-1930s a new class of elite women began to appear in Onitsha, all products of mission education; this transition from traders to teachers marks a major shift in the lives and roles of elite women. The colonial government contributed to this transformation with policies that undermined women’s ascendancy in the market by placing men in leadership positions there.

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1.
1. Sister Tracey, ‘Holy Rosary Sisters in Southern Nigeria’, 10, Archives of the Congregation of the Holy Rosary Sisters, Black Rock, Dublin, hereafter HRC. See also Forristal, 1990: 154; Koren, 1983: 392—393.
2.
2. Phyllis Martin (2009) and Tabitha Kanogo (2005) are exceptions. Carol Summers (1996) recounts the history of a girls’ school, Hope Fountain, founded in 1916 by Rachel Masinga.
3.
3. Estelle Pagnon (1994, 1997) has written about the Cluny Sisters in Calabar as well as Onitsha.
4.
4. Inspection Report of Immaculata School, 10—13 May 1936, Call No 406 — Unit Ref. 2.17, HRC; Sister Mary Brigid Ryan, 1977: 107—108; Tracey, ‘Holy Rosary Sisters in Southern Nigeria’, 10. See also ‘Holy Rosary Convent, Onitsha, S. Nigeria. Founded 11th February 1928’, Call No. 667(b) — Unit Ref. 1.1, HRC.
5.
5. The Training College was first sited in Onitsha; after four years in Onitsha, in 1939, it was transferred to Ihiala. HRC RF74 Call No. 667(b) — Unit Ref. 1.1. ‘Holy Rosary Convent, Onitsha, S. Nigeria. Founded 11th February 1928’, typescript; HRC RF 1 Call No. 200 — Unit Ref. 12.2 (7); Inspection Report of Holy Rosary Convent School, 13 March 1929, 4pp.; ‘Annual Report Holy Rosary Convent Onitsha 1938’, Call No. 641 — Unit Ref. 12.2 (17); Holy Rosary Convent, Onitsha. Statistics 1944’, Call No. 760 — Unit Ref. 12.2 (17); Inspection Report of Holy Rosary Training College, Onitsha, 22nd June 1936, Call No. 406 — Unit Ref. 2.17, HRC.
6.
6. The Training College was moved in 1939 to Ihiala, a few miles from Onitsha. The school population in 1944 included students at the Inland Town convent school which was opened in 1941 by popular demand (Pagnon, 1994: 204).
7.
7. The Training College was moved in 1939 to Ihiala, a few miles from Onitsha. The school population in 1944 included students at the Inland Town convent school which was opened in 1941 by popular demand (Omenka, 1989: 204; Pagnon, 1994).
8.
8. Mrs J Analo, Onitsha, 4 August 1997; ‘Holy Rosary Convent, S. Nigeria. Founded 11th February 1928’, typescript, Call No. 667(b) — Unit Ref. 1.1, HRC.
9.
9. Miss Christiana Affar, Onitsha, 11 June 1998; Miss Vicky Odukwe, Onitsha, 17 June 1998; Inspection Report of Immaculata Girls School, Onitsha, 21—23 April 1934, Unit Ref. 2.2 (17) CN 30. RF 2, HRC.
10.
10. Patricia Mgbodo Okala, Onitsha, 22 April 1997; Mrs Analo, Onitsha, 4 August 1997.
11.
11. Mrs Onuora, Onitsha, 5 June 1998; Mrs Nneka Obianwu, Onitsha, 29 July 1997; Mrs Rose Tagbo, Onitsha, 11 June 1998. See also Missionary Annals 1935: 171; Tracey, ‘Holy Rosary Sisters in Southern Nigeria’, 10.
12.
12. Inspection Report of Holy Rosary Convent School, 13 March 1929, 4 pp., RF 1, Call No. 200 — Unit Ref. 12.2 (7), HRC.
13.
13. Cecilia Obiageli Nwabulue, Onitsha, 5 March 1997.
14.
14. Before water pumps were installed in Onitsha in 1929 residents fetched water at a local stream. Women demonstrated against the water pumps, or, rather, the rates they would have to pay, but the pumps quickly grew in popularity. Agegbu Achebe, Onitsha, 24 May 1997; Ezennia Oro Asika, Onitsha, 13 April 1997.
15.
15. Barbara A Yates finds the same pattern in the education for girls in the Belgian Congo (see Yates, 1983: 133).
16.
16. The 1936 report of Immaculata school noted that ‘there are clusters of older and backward girls who are too big to be left in the infants department’, Call No. 406 — Unit Ref. 2.17, HRC. See also the Inspection Report of Immaculata School, 21—23 April 1934, Unit Ref. 12.2. (17) CN 303 — 2 pp. RF 2, HRC; Inspection Report of Holy Rosary Convent School, 13 March 1929, RF 1, Call No. 200 — Unit Ref. 12.2 (7), HRC.
17.
17. Inspection Report of Immaculata School, 10—13 May 1936, Call No. 406 — Unit Ref. 2.17, HRC; Inspection Report on Immaculata Girls’ School Onitsha, 1938, Call No. 641 — Unit Ref. 12.2 (17), HRC; Inspection Report of Holy Rosary Convent School, 13 March 1929, RF 1 Call No. 200 — Unit Ref. 12.2 (7), HRC.
18.
18. As noted above, the term infants in this usage was not, obviously, reserved for those who were actually infants.
19.
19. Inspection Report of Immaculata School, 10—13 May 1936, Call No. 406 — Unit Ref. 2.17, HRC.
20.
20. Inspection report of Immaculata School, 10—13 May 1936, Call No. 406 — Unit Ref. 2.17, HRC. See also Inspection Report on Immaculata Girls’ School Onitsha, 1938, Call No. 641 — Unit Ref. 12.2 (17), HRC.
21.
21. As reported, ‘Standards I and II have been divided according to ability. Some of the work in these classes is definitely below standard but a better level is reached in Standard III’, Inspection Report of Immaculata School, 10—13 May 1936, Call No. 406 — Unit Ref. 2.17, HRC. See also Inspection Report on Immaculata Girls’ School Onitsha, 1938, Call No. 641 — Unit Ref. 12.2 (17).
22.
22. Inspection Report on Immaculata Girls’ School Onitsha, 1938, Call No 641 — Unit Ref. 12.2 (17), HRC.
23.
23. ‘Lower middle. Domestic science’, MINED 6/1/131, Nigerian National Archives, Enugu branch, hereafter NAE.
24.
24. ‘Lower middle. Domestic science’, MINED 6/1/131, NAE.
25.
25. Sister Philomena Fox, Philadelphia, 19 October 1997; Crowther and Taylor, 1968: 322, 371; Congregation of the Holy Ghost (CSSp) Bulletin Général XVII (1893—1896), 418; ‘More brave Irish nuns for Africa’, Missionary Annals (1935), 171.
26.
26. ‘Lower middle. Domestic science’, MINED 6/1/131, NAE.
27.
27. Cecilia Obiageli Nwabulue, Onitsha, 26 Feburary 1997; Sister Dynan, Enugu, 29 December 1997.
28.
28. Inspection Report on Immaculata Girls’ School Onitsha, 1938, Call No. 641 — Unit Ref. 12.2 (17), HRC.
29.
29. Inspection Report on Immaculata Girls’ School, Onitsha, 1938, Call No. 641 — Unit Ref. 12.2 (17), HRC.
30.
30. [Plummer?] ‘Girls’ Education in Southern Nigeria’ [date?] MINED 6/1/131, NAE.
31.
31. Plummer, ‘Report on Girls’ Education … [illegible], 1932’, MINED 6/1/131, NAE.
32.
32. The Principal of the Anglican St Monica’s, the arch-rival of Holy Rosary and a Church Missionary Society (CMS) institution, was the only school principal in Eastern Nigeria who did not welcome the innovation. In her opinion, ‘while … the new arrangement will be better suited to some pupils, it is possible that the majority of [Saint Monica] girls will continue to take the examination as set for boys’. The Lady Superintendent of Education noted that ‘The standard of literary work is very high in this school [St Monica’s].’ Plummer, ‘Report on Girls’ Education … [illegible], 1932’, MINED 6/1/131, NAE.
33.
33. See also Inspection Report of Immaculata Girls School, Onitsha, 21—23 April 1934, Unit Ref. 2.2 (17) CN 30. RF 2, HRC; Plummer, ‘Report on Girls’ Education … [illegible], 1932’, MINED 6/1/131, NAE; Plummer, ‘Education of Girls in Government Schools’, 1943, ON 361, ONED 5/1/437, NAE; ‘The Training of Women Teachers in Southern Nigeria’ [by Plummer], Plummer to Asst. Director of Education, 26 February 1934 and Hussey to Asst. Director of Education, 14 February 1934, all in MINED 6/1/131 — DDE 3816 (1) Vol. I, NAE.
34.
34. Plummer, ‘Report on Girls’ Education … [illegible], 1932’, MINED 6/1/131, NAE.
35.
35. Inspection Report of Immaculata School, 21—23 April 1934, Unit Ref. 12.2. (17) CN 303 — 2 pp. RF 2, HRC.
36.
36. Inspection Report of Immaculata School, 21—23 April 1934, Unit Ref. 12.2. (17) CN 303 — 2pp. RF 2, HRC.
37.
37. Mrs B Anwunah, Awka, 24 June 1998; Mrs SI Bosah, Onitsha, 26 February 1997.
38.
38. Mrs B Anwunah, Awka, 24 June 1998; Inspection Report on Holy Rosary School, Ihiala, 20 January 1940, Ihiala Folder, Education Room, ASON; Report of Visitation of Holy Rosary Convent, Onitsha, 7—11 March 1939, Call No. 493 — Unit Ref. 12.2 (17), HRC.
39.
39. Cecilia Obiageli Nwabulue, Onitsha, 26 February 1997.
40.
40. Inspection Report of Immaculata School, 10—13 May 1936, Call No 406 — Unit Ref. 2.17, HRC.
41.
41. Plummer, ‘Report on Girls’ Education … [illegible], 1932’, MINED 6/1/131, NAE.
42.
42. Plummer, ‘Report on Girls’ Education … [illegible], 1932’, MINED 6/1/131, NAE.
43.
43. Plummer, ‘Report on Girls’ Education … [illegible], 1932’, MINED 6/1/131, NAE.
44.
44. Plummer, ‘Report on Girls’ Education … [illegible], 1932’, MINED 6/1/131, NAE.
45.
45. Mrs Analo, Onitsha, 4 August 1997. Ex-convent school pupils readily recall the importance of sports in the curriculum. See also the recollections of a priest, in Denis J Slattery, My Life History (1996: 94, and the photographs throughout the book). Sport is the dominant theme in the book.
46.
46. [Plummer?] ‘Girls’ Education in Southern Nigeria’ [193?], MINED 6/1/131, NAE.
47.
47. [Plummer?] ‘Girls’ Education in Southern Nigeria’ [193?], MINED 6/1/131, NAE.
48.
48. Chinyelugo (Mrs Ugbo), Onitsha, 13 May 1997; Mrs Analo, Onitsha, 4 August 1997; Mrs Okolonji, Onitsha, 14 April 1998.
49.
49. This is not the place to enter into a discussion of the psychological ramifications of being colonized.
50.
50. Standard Three had many other designations through the years. It was the third year in primary school. Primary school was preceded by a year or two in pre-primary, which also went by a variety of names. The basic structure of education (pre-primary, primary and secondary) remained throughout the period under study; appellations changed. In primary and secondary school each stage corresponded to an academic year. Pre-primary classes — styled at various times ‘A, B, C’, ‘Babies’ and ‘Infants’— were of shorter duration.
51.
51. Mrs Obiamaka Bosah, Onitsha, 22 July 1997.
52.
52. ‘Minutes of the Fifth Meeting of the Board of Education ... (Colony and Southern Provinces) ... held at King’s College, Lagos, on Friday, 31st of January, 1936’, TTC File, Education Archives, ASON. See also Christiana Affar, Onitsha, 11 June 1998; Vicky Odukwe, Onitsha, 17 June 1998.
53.
53. Mrs Onuora, Onitsha, 5 June 1998; Mrs Rose Tagbo, Onitsha, 11 June 1998.
54.
54. Of course, the Mother Superior is an exception.
55.
55. A contemporary website makes this point very clear. In an article bemoaning the familiarity with which religious men and women are addressed nowadays, the author notes, ‘Like the simple brothers, the sisters are not distinguished by any special titles’. This follows a long passage describing the proper way to address priests. Marian Therese Horvat, ‘How to address priests and religious: Titles and signs of respect’, http://www.traditioninaction.org/religious/d003rpHowToAddressClergy.html (accessed 13 May 2008).
56.
56. Chike Akosa, Onitsha, 18 June 1997; Akunnia Egwuatu, Onitsha, 11 June 1998. See also Forristal, 1990: 96.
57.
57. Today in Igboland, education, to the alarm of some, is increasingly ‘for girls,’ while young men who want to aspire to be breadwinners leave school early to pursue careers in trade. Higher education is no longer (seen as) the most rewarding means to earn a livelihood.

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