Colonial Education and Women of the Cross River Region of Nigeria, 1900 – 1960: An Appraisal

Abstract

Evidence abounds that women of the Cross River area braved all odds against their acquisition of Western education and, in the process, became agents of change and development. Unfortunately, this important aspect of the history of the area has not been researched and documented by historians. As a result, there is a gap to be filled in this respect, in the historiography of the Cross River region. This is the concern of this paper. The paper reveals that the women of present-day Cross River State contributed to the educational development of their communities in cash and kind. Even of greater importance is that a few of the women joined their male counterparts in nation building, and in rooting out British colonialists. But, prior to the above development, these women had laid a solid foundation on which subsequent generations of educated women such as medical doctors, teachers, pharmacists and politicians, among others, have built. The paper concludes that more attention should
be given to the education of women, because they are the foundation of any nation.

Keywords: Administration; colonialism; education; discrimination; development.