The End SARS Women’s Coalition: Exploring the Persistence of Women’s Movements through Feminist Generations

Abstract

This article situates the #EndSARS women’s activism within the broader context  of Nigeria’s transgenerational feminist struggles against  State repression. We draw on the actions of the Abeokuta Women’s Union (AWU) of 1947, led by Funmilayo Ransome Kuti, to  explore continuities evident in the work of feminists in Nigeria’s protest against police brutality (and other social vices), popularly known  as the End SARS Movement in 2020. Using in-depth interviews, a close feminist reading of activists’ documentation, and data from  Twitter, which was the major site of #EndSARS digital activism, we explore contemporary feminist activists’ inadvertent or concerted  actions that point to transgenerational continuities in Nigerian feminist activism. In doing so, we transcend studies that have investigated  differences through the class/gender/generation divide in feminist movements, particularly as we tease out the points of  convergence and tensions that have evolved over time in persistent efforts to break the cycle of similar oppressions.