Gender roles in Nigeria’s non-violent oil resistance movement

ABSTRACT

Since the 1980s, Nigerians have engaged in non-violent protests against oil exploitation polluting their lands. This qualitative case study asks why Niger Delta women came to engage in seemingly separate, all-female protests starting in 2002, mobilizing in a long-standing resistance previously led by men. Using grounded theory methods, this multi-site ethnography draws on one-on-one interviews, participant observations, and university and non-governmental organization archival data. It finds that although women were indeed aggrieved by oil, their protests from 2002 to 2012 did not emerge autonomously from those of men, as described in scholarship elsewhere. Rather, these findings indicate that male elites may have had a role in initiating women’s collective action in response to their own failed prior negotiations, to increase the number of protesters, and to bolster men’s dialogue. This study provides a nuanced corrective to the Niger Delta narrative and expands our understanding of gender dynamics in social movements.

RÉSUMÉ

Depuis les années 80, les nigérians se sont engagés dans des protestations non-violentes contre l’exploitation pétrolière qui pollue leurs terres. Cette étude de cas qualitative examine pourquoi les femmes du delta du Niger en sont venues, à partir de 2002, à s’engager dans des protestations apparemment distinctes, entièrement féminines, en se mobilisant dans une résistance de longue date menée par des hommes auparavant. Fondée sur des méthodes de théorie ancrée, cette ethnographie multi-sites s’appuie sur des entretiens individuels, des observations participantes et des données d’archives universitaires et d’organisations non-gouvernementales. Elle révèle que si les femmes ont effectivement été lésées par l’exploitation pétrolière, leurs protestations de 2002 à 2012 n’ont pas émergé de celles des hommes de manière autonome, comme l’a décrit une autre étude. Ces résultats indiquent plutôt que les élites masculines ont peut-être joué un rôle dans le lancement de l’action collective des femmes, en réaction à l’échec de leurs propres négociations préalables, pour augmenter le nombre de manifestants et renforcer le dialogue entre hommes. Cette étude apporte une correction nuancée au récit du delta du Niger et élargit notre compréhension de la dynamique des genres dans les mouvements sociaux.

KEYWORDS:

• women
• protest
• Nigeria
• environmental conflict
• grounded theory

MOTS-CLÉS:

• femmes
• protestation
• Nigeria
• conflit environnemental
• théorie ancrée

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Emem Okon interview, 18 February 2012.

2. The exposure of bare female bodies, particularly by married and elderly women, is a form of shaming men. There is a belief that the bared bodies of such women, the revered “naked mother,” cause madness or impotence in the men who see them (Stevens 2006; Ekeh 2007, 510–511).

3. Irene interview, 28 February 2012.

4. Interviews with Joy, 7 February 2012; Azuka, 11 February 2012; Jennifer, 4 June 2012. Observations of women’s protests outside an oil company-sponsored health clinic in the Ikebiri Kingdom on 30 January 2012 (organized by Environmental Rights Action), and outside the Shell Residential Area in Port Harcourt on 8 March 2012 (organized by Social Action).

5. Ndidi interview, 9 February 2012.

6. Caroline interview, 28 February 2012.

7. Mercy interview, 13 February 2012; Comfort interview, 17 March 2012.

8. Chevron employee interview, 23 November 2011; also interviews with Celestine Akpobari, 10 February 2012; Azuka, 11 February 2012; Ekanim, 18 May 2012.

9. Favour interview, 16 March 2012.

10. Celestine Akpobari interview, 10 February 2012.

11. Fyneface D. Fyneface interview, 20 February 2012.

12. Thankgod interview, 17 March 2012.

13. Barine interview, 15 March 2012.

14. Deemua interview, 15 March 2012; Joy interview, 25 March 2012.

15. Less than one-third of interviewees described men’s efforts as effective.

16. Irene interview, 28 February 2012.

17. Ndidi interview, 9 Februrary 2012; Baridakora interview, 25 March 2012.

18. Emem Okon interview, 18 February 2012.

19. Celestine Akpobari interview, 9 February 2012.

20. Cecilia interview, 17 March 2012.

21. Ndidi interview, 9 February 2012.

22. During focused coding in Atlas.it, the two most grounded and dense codes were related to responding to chiefs’ calls to demonstrate.

23. Emem Okon interview, 18 February 2012.

24. Celestine Akpobari interview, 9 February 2012, italicised by author.

25. Joy interview, 7 February 2012.

26. Charity interview, 14 March 2012; Comfort interview, 17 March 2012.

27. Nuania interview, 17 March 2012.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the NYU Africa House [Robert Holmes Travel/Research Award for African Sc]; National Security Education Program [Boren Fellowship (2011-2012)].

Notes on contributors

Laine Munir

Laine Munir is a Senior Research Fellow in the social sciences at the University of Rwanda’s Center of Excellence in Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management. She composed this article while serving as a Research Fellow at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University Korea. She completed her interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Law and Society at New York University (2015).