The labor of our Sheroes.
Recently, as I read about women's wins across a diverse spectrum of society, specifically in sports, I have reflected on the word "labor." I think about what it costs for these women to be who they are, especially in a field that is stereotyped as a male industry. Working on something that is really cooking (watch out for my panel at LSA 2023), I stumbled upon something. "Lesbianism kills teams," says Nigerian Football Federation Vice-President Seyi Akinwunmi. This suggests more than I can condense into this post.
At Lagos Studies Association’s Annual Gender and Academy, one term that has been popularized is "invisible labor ." What does women's labor mean not just in the private and professional life, which is equally important, but what is its value and cost in the nation's service?
When I think about a line from the Nigerian national anthem, "the labor of our heroes past," I take a breath and tell myself the author cannot be blamed in a sense. I blamed the insidiousness of the English language, its exclusionary proclivity, or propensity to masculinize words and undermine the Other. But then, when I think about history in general and her silences to borrow Michel-Rolph Trouillot, I remind myself it is not about language. I reflect on the silences of women's contribution to history and the recent recourse to Herstory by people who felt marginalized.
As Professor Aderinto and many others have argued, it this need to read and write against the grains that women's history has emerged not just to write women into account that they have been written out but to advance history beyond the history of the state (men) to other histories(economic, social and non-human). Again, what does the labor of women means? What is the cost of this labor, and what honor comes from it? What do we think of the thirty-nine women who died from gunshots and thirty-one wounded by gunfire during the 1929 Women's war? Thanks to the commission of inquiry, we may not have known as Prof Aderinto argues. Remember that the number may be more because if you know, Trouillot moments that silences enter history/archives, the moment of fact creation (the making of sources); the moment of fact assembly (the making of archives); are some of them. That is why casualties even in Nigeria continue to be underreported or contested. Please, have we resolved if anyone died at the Lekki Tollgate?
While scholarship about the Women's War of 1929 continues to expand, Professor Saheed Aderinto is one of the few men in gender and women scholarship that I don't eye differently for many reasons I can't compress into this post. But it seems his scholarship is not performative or political correctness for men trying to be feminists for grants, awards, and benefits. It is one drawn from a conviction that needs no label(feminist, humanist, or another). Read this from one of his masterpieces," the Women's War of 1929 was more fatal than the Enugu colliery shooting in terms of casualties. What we know about gun violence—its impact and intensity—is largely shaped by the circumstances and category of people involved and the time." (p.177).
As I think about women's labor, I think about how the history of nationalism was so masculinized that throughout my secondary school, I almost did not know that women played a part in nationalism, except for my mother. Mum bought books whether she knew what it was about or not( one of the "demerits" of having a mother who is not lettered in the Western sense). When mum visits the market, she goes to bookshops and sees books that people are making an order for; if she assesses you and thinks that you are learned and asks you a question about why you are buying a book, that woman is going to buy it for her daughter that wants to study law. (sadly, I did not study law). I read more about our sheroes through personal studies. Also, thanks to Professor Aderinto, who gave me a hard copy of “For Women and the Nation” by Cheryl Johnson and Nina Mba that I only read in patches until He gave me books that I only read partly due to the question of affordability and access. In Cameroon, people like Professor Jacqueline-Mougoué is producing works that unsilenced women's role in history, nationalism, and the separatist movement.
Again, I ask what honor and value come from sacrifice for the nation. I think about the fiery activist Joe Odumakin, who was severally locked up for seeking to advance the cause of this nation, and the many women dragged like generators during the EndSARs protest. I ponder on a feminist organization that funded and provided necessities for the protesters that were labeled and attacked by people I chose not to give honor to by mentioning their names. I reflect upon women across all fields(arts, science, entertainment, business, politics) who receive nothing but insult from men( and women) who will not have known except they have been invited to participate in national decadence and some who are willfully ignorant. From someone who raised a question on the aesthetic value of Nigerian Amazon Oby Ezekwesili to another who used the overused catchphrase of bottom power as the reason for her accomplishment, I asked again, what is the value, honor, and cost of women's labor for this country? To those who query Nollywood Director and Actress Omotola Jalade for speaking about our country's realities to those who derided Ace Actress and Media Mogul Funke Akindele, and more women who are some of the reasons, we are still given a modicum of respect beyond our shore.
As a woman who works extra hard to be in academia, a field where you are supposed to have enlightened men ( and women), but if only you pay attention to the history and archaeology of knowledge, you know better. I know the cost and labor of being in my field.
So, today I thought to honor every woman whose labor is counted and uncounted in private, public, national, and internationally. To every woman who stayed in fields where we are seen as threats, ridiculed, infantilized.
Thank you for your resilience. Even if you left, we thank you for your labor before leaving. While some "woke' people say your competence and other jargon that extol the myth of merit tell others your gender is irrelevant, it is your competence and other stuff they say. My response is that it will be great to hear your ringtones (cries) when the monster you think you are protecting wants to devour you.
As I honor the labor of all women across space and time. I acknowledge the labor of my sister-mum Florence Ajokeade Johnson-Solomon. It is partly in honoring your labor that I fight to live every day.
