INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY 2021
Murphy Browne © March 2-2021
On March 8, 2021, people around the world will be celebrating the achievements of women on International Women's Day (IWD) 2021. In 1945, the Charter of the United Nations became the first international agreement to affirm the principle of equality between women and men. The United Nations (UN) website provides this information: “The UN celebrated its first official International Women's Day on 8 March during International Women’s Year in 1975. Two years later, in December 1977, the General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming a United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace to be observed on any day of the year by Member States, in accordance with their historical and national traditions.” In North America and various other places, in the 21st century, it is mostly taken for granted that a woman’s place is wherever she wants it to be. When the UN affirmed “the principle of equality between women and men” in 1945, much of the world was emerging from WWII and coming to terms with women at war and women working in factories, making ammunition, airplanes etc., supporting the “war effort.”
The popular narrative of IWD is that it emerged from the activities of European women revolutionaries in the labour movement at the beginning of the twentieth century, across North America and Europe, however, racialized women have been leading revolutions for generations. During every struggle for equality and freedom from enslavement, colonization and occupation by foreign entities, women have been at the forefront. This too should be celebrated/recognized on IWD. Many of those women remain nameless but some of the names are well known in their respective communities/countries, including Nanny Grigg (Barbados,) Marie Joseph Angelique and Chloe Cooley (Canada,) Carlota and Fermina (Cuba,) Nana Yaa Asantewaa (Ghana,) Solitude (Guadeloupe,) Amelia (Guyana,) Sanite Belair and Marie-Jeanne Lamartiniere (Haiti) and Mbuya Nehanda (Zimbabwe.) A recent clip of Queen Latifa discussing her role on the new television series, “The Equalizer” where she commented “Women have been equalizing for eternity” reminded me of the women of Buxton Village on the East Coast of Demerara in Guyana and the Igbo and Ibibio women of Calabar and Owerri in southeastern Nigeria. Both groups of women revolted against unfair tax laws imposed by British colonizers.
Following the August 1, 1838 end of the “Apprenticeship system” in Guyana, groups of formerly enslaved Africans pooled their money together, bought abandoned plantations and established villages throughout the Guyanese coastland during the “Village Movement.” Of the more than 100 villages established by Africans in Guyana, Buxton Village on the East Coast of Demerara is one of the most well-known African villages. With the establishment of Buxton Village, the White people who had formerly dictated every area of the lives of Africans tried every underhanded trick to continue that system, including sabotaging the growth of the recently established village. The Buxtonians survived the deliberate flooding of their farms and other attempts to dislodge them from their homes. The final straw was an unfair taxation of their land by the colonial government. Several attempts to dialogue with the British governor were rebuffed. When news reached the villagers that the governor would be passing by their village as he inspected the recently laid train tracks, it was an ideal opportunity to dialogue with the governor. As the train approached Buxton, the women of Buxton strode onto the train tracks putting their lives on the line. The men followed when the train was forced to stop and supported the women in immobilizing the train by applying chains and locks to its wheels. The Governor was forced to meet with the villagers who demanded that he repeal the exorbitant, unfair taxation of their land. Following that impromptu meeting at the train line, surprisingly, the governor did repeal the tax law. Buxtonians are famous throughout Guyana for their resistance to British colonization; every Guyanese knows “Buxton women stop train.”
In the Calabar and Owerri provinces in southeastern Nigeria, thousands of Igbo and Ibibio women organized in 1929, to resist the policies imposed by British colonial administrators. The women called their campaign the Ogu Umunwanye (Women’s War) and forced the colonial authorities to drop their plans to impose a tax on women. The “Women’s War” in Nigeria was considered the most serious challenge to British rule in the history of colonized Nigeria. It took months (November and December 1929,) for the British colonizers to suppress the “Women’s War” and by mid-December, British police and military were sent out to deal with the protesters. The British police and soldiers reportedly killed 100 women before the protest was suppressed. The “Women’s War” sparked changes beyond the rescinding of unfair tax laws; it inspired the tax protests of 1938, the Oil Mill Protests of the 1940s and the Tax revolt of 1956.
As we celebrate/recognize the struggles and achievements of women on International Women's Day (IWD) 2021, remember to include those women who are not usually recognized. The African Proverb: “Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter” makes a profound statement about the lack of widespread knowledge of our African sheroes.
Murphy Browne © March 2-2021
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