Women played significant economic, political, social, religious, and cultural roles in precolonial African societies.
Their responsibilities varied across regions, ethnic groups, and historical periods, but women were far more than wives and mothers. They were farmers, traders, rulers, political advisers, spiritual leaders, craftworkers, and custodians of knowledge.
To understand women’s position before colonialism, it is important to recognise the diversity of African societies. Some were matrilineal, some patrilineal, some had powerful female rulers, and others restricted women’s access to particular offices. Nevertheless, women contributed substantially to the survival, organisation, and development of their communities.
1. Economic roles
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Women were central to Africa’s precolonial economies.
* Agriculture: Women cultivated crops, planted and harvested food, processed agricultural produce, and helped feed their families and communities. In many societies, they were responsible for particular crops or stages of production.
Trade and commerce: Women sold food, textiles, pottery, fish, and other goods in local and long-distance markets. Some accumulated considerable wealth and developed extensive trading networks.
Craft production: Women participated in pottery, weaving, dyeing, food processing, basket-making, and other crafts, depending on the society.
Household economic management: Women managed food supplies, preserved produce, and allocated resources to sustain their households.
Entrepreneurship: Successful female traders could employ others, finance commercial activities, and acquire influence within their communities.
Women’s economic contributions were not merely supplementary. In many communities, they formed an essential part of agricultural production, market exchange, and household prosperity.
2. Political and leadership role
Women could exercise political authority through kingship, queen-mother institutions, councils, lineage leadership, and other traditional structures.
Female rulers: Some women ruled kingdoms or states in their own right. Queen Amina of Zazzau, in present-day northern Nigeria, is remembered in historical traditions as a powerful ruler and military leader.
Queen mothers: In some societies, particularly among the Akan, queen mothers held recognised political positions. They could advise rulers, nominate or help select chiefs, and represent community interests.
Political advisers: Senior women sometimes advised kings, chiefs, and other leaders on succession, disputes, diplomacy, and community affairs.
Community leadership: Women could lead families, lineages, market associations, and other social institutions.
Checks on authority: Certain societies had established ways for women to challenge rulers or collectively protest decisions they considered unjust.
For example, Nana Yaa Asantewaa, the queen mother of Ejisu in the Asante Empire, led resistance against British colonial forces in 1900. Her example illustrates women’s political and military leadership at the colonial transition, although it should not be treated as representative of every precolonial African society.
3. Religious and spiritual roles
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4. Social and family roles
Women were central to family life and the continuity of African societies.
* Childbearing and child-rearing: They raised children and transmitted family values, languages, customs, and traditions.
Education and socialisation: Mothers, grandmothers, and other senior women taught children practical skills, social responsibilities, and community expectations.
Marriage and kinship: Women helped maintain relationships between families and lineages through marriage, kinship obligations, and family networks.
Conflict resolution: Senior women sometimes mediated family disputes and helped restore peace within their communities.
Community solidarity: Women organised collective activities, mutual assistance, and support for families during difficult periods.
The importance attached to motherhood and seniority meant that older women could command considerable respect. However, respect for motherhood did not automatically mean that every woman enjoyed equal rights or freedom.
5. Women’s organisations and collective power
One important feature of some African societies was the existence of organised women’s associations.
Among the Igbo of southeastern Nigeria, for example, women had institutions through which they addressed shared concerns, protected their interests, and participated in community affairs.
These organisations could:
Settle disputes among women.
Regulate aspects of markets and commercial activities.
Mobilise women to challenge unpopular decisions.
Enforce community customs and social rules.
Present women’s concerns to male authorities.
Women’s collective action is particularly important because it demonstrates that their influence did not depend solely on being married to a powerful man or belonging to a royal family. Some women exercised authority through institutions of their own.
6. Military and defence roles
Women also contributed to warfare and the defence of African states.
Some served as military leaders, helped organise resistance, supported armies through food production and supplies, or exercised political authority during conflicts.
Queen Amina of Zazzau is remembered for her association with military expansion and leadership. In the Kingdom of Dahomey, women also became part of the kingdom’s military forces.
These examples challenge the assumption that warfare and defence were exclusively male responsibilities, although women’s direct participation in combat varied considerably across societies.
7. Land, inheritance and family property
Women’s rights to land and property depended on local customs and kinship systems.
In some matrilineal societies, descent and inheritance were traced through the mother’s line. Women could therefore occupy important positions in determining family membership, succession, and the transmission of property.
In other societies, men held greater formal authority over land, even when women performed much of the agricultural labour.
It is important to distinguish matrilineality from matriarchy. Matrilineality means tracing descent through the mother’s line; it does not necessarily mean that women controlled every aspect of society
What does this tell us about African women before colonialism?
The historical evidence challenges the simplistic portrayal of precolonial African women as passive, powerless, or confined entirely to domestic life.
Women participated in production, trade, governance, religious institutions, family affairs, and community decision-making. Some exercised authority alongside men, while others held independent positions of leadership.
However, we should not romanticise the past. Women’s experiences differed by region, class, age, marital status, social position, and whether they were free or enslaved. Some societies imposed substantial restrictions on women.
Colonial rule also transformed existing gender relations in different ways. In some places, colonial administrations recognised male authorities as the principal representatives of communities, undermining women’s established political institutions. In others, change was more complex and interacted with older inequalities and economic transformations.
The central lesson is that African women were active participants in making African history, not merely observers of events shaped by men.
Given your interest in African women’s status before colonialism, this history provides a strong foundation for exploring how colonial administrations changed women’s economic and political positions, particularly in Nigeria.
For further reading, see Christine Saidi’s Women in Precolonial Africa in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History and the University of Ghana’s scholarly chapter, [Women in Pre-colonial Africa: West Africa](https://pure.ug.edu.gh/en/publications/women-in-pre-colonial-africa-west-africa-3/?utm_source=chatgpt.com).
