Historical Narratives of Women’s Contributions to Education in Northern Nigeria

Abstract

From time immemorial, women have made tremendous contributions to the development of their respective societies. These vary greatly with each successive stage of human development. Northern Nigeria is patriarchal in nature which is a major feature of a traditional society where powerful cultural traditions undermine the rights of women. They are therefore discriminated upon from, in most cases, acquiring formal education. Girl’s educational opportunities tend to be circumscribed by patriarchy, parent’s preference of education of boys than girls. In spite of the social pressures on women such as early marriage, and other extraneous factors as well as practices, many women are breaking glass ceiling and contributed greatly in educational development in Northern Nigeria. This paper used a historical analysis to discuss women’s contributions to education. The paper examined these contributions in tripartite structures: Pre-colonial, Colonial and Post-colonial and argued that Nana Asma’u bin Fodio’s scholarly position and intellectual contributions to the development of women education were the major factors for the solid foundation of women education.

Key words: Northern Nigeria, Women, Education, Pre-colonial, Colonial, Post-colonial