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Nigeria Women's Organizations
Nigeria had several women's organizations, most of them
professional and social clubs. The umbrella organization,
recognized as the voice of women on national issues, was
the
National Council of Women's Societies (NCWS). Many of the
women's
groups were affiliated with the NCWS, which tended to be
elitist
in organization, membership, and orientation. Another
major
women's association was Women in Nigeria, composed
primarily of
university women and inclined toward Western feminist
views.
Conservative Nigerian Muslim women in the late 1970s began
to
indicate discontent with the liberal trends of these two
organizations and in the mid-1980s created the Federation
of
Muslim Women's Associations of Nigeria, which had about
400
member bodies throughout the country. In the 1980s, women
from
lower social strata in the towns, represented mainly by
the
market women's associations, became militant and organized
mass
protests and demonstrations in several states. Their major
grievances ranged from narrow concerns such as allocation
of
market stalls to broader issues such as increased school
fees.
Data as of June 1991
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