Ouidah: The Displaced Ogoni Asylum Seekers and Refugees (DOAR) staying in a makeshift refugee camp in Ouidah, Benin Republic, recently held a one day workshop on the 1st of August 2009. The workshop analyzed and contextualizes the dynamics of feminism and gender equality within the ambit of Ogoni cultural practices and the struggle for ecological rights and indigenousness of the Ogonis. The workshop was organized as a collective or community participatory, organic research and appraisal session. There were more than 90 Ogoni asylees/refugees and activists in attendance.

The participants resolved that feminism is about the projection of gender equality by both men and women to empower the womenfolk, and same should be enshrined in the framework of policies and governance structures. This should be done as a fundamental for the achievement of a balanced developmental agenda of any given society.

Objectives: The programme has the following as aims and objectives:

(1) An overview of gender inequality in Ogoniland.
(2) To analyze the possibilities and prospects to address gender inequality.
(3) To start the prospect of change from amongst Ogonis in exiled and activists.
(4) To develop and capacitate Ogoni activists to become agents of change in Ogoniland.
(5) To connect and expand a feminist component into the Ogoni liberation struggle.
(6) To empower Ogoni women to become like their counterparts in the wider world.
(7) To address the perennial imbalances in Ogoni leadership structures?
(8) To understand how the structural imbalances got enshrined?
(9) What are the means and mechanisms to address leadership imbalances in Ogoniland?
(10) What are the effective methods to encourage women liberation in Ogoniland?
 
Situation Overview:
In responding to the above questions the participants did a retrospect and agreed that Ogoni women played very vital roles in both the socio-cultural settings of Ogoniland, and in the struggle for economic empowerment and political liberation of the Ogoni ethnic nationality.  It was agreed that Ogoni women through their main occupation, which is subsistence farming, contributed in no small measure socio-economically and this contribution most be recognized.

It is important to acknowledge that every Ogoni woman, be her most educated or the most miserably poor is a farmer to a good degree. The Ogoni women farm crops like melon, cassava, yams, maize; pumpkin etc from which they support household needs like foods. It was stressed that parts of the produce are also sold at different local markets to get money to support the children schooling needs.
And this close connection between the life of Ogoni women and their agrarian pattern of the people is an important indigenous and endogenous agricultural education, which is a major bridge between the comprehension of the impact of environmental pollution and degradation on account of the oil explorations on Ogoni farmlands, “when the environment is destroyed, we are faced with food scarcity which means our children are not in school. In addition to the effects of a devastated environment, women suffered most in the actual struggle.” Dorathy Barry, the representative of Gbene Ogoni Women Association (GOWA) in South Africa.

The Ogoni women were neither absent at the formation of the soul of the Ogoni struggle, nor were they silent at the peak of battles against Shell. The formation of the Federation of Ogoni Women Associations (FOWA), the apex women organ that coordinated women activism, FOWA was one of the strong arms of Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP). FOWA ensured that Ogoni women played very significant role during the time and even in the post-Ken Saro-Wiwa era to keep the legacy of struggle – the post-Saro-Wiwa era, is an era where the local politicians and leaders colluded with Shell and the Nigerian government to eradicate the radical elements of the struggle and to bring back Shell that was ostracized from the land in 1993.

The greatest success of the Ogoni struggle – being the stoppage of SHELL for 16 years now, could not have been achieved if women did not mobilized their ranks and file to always troop to oilfields  whenever Shell and their allies tried to re-enter Ogoniland.
 
Women had had their share of persecution and sacrifices for the liberation of Ogoniland. It is women who were raped by the armies. It is women who are forced to cook for the military which occupied Ogoniland.  It is women who become widows and bear the pain of caring for children whose fathers are killed by soldiers.  It is the girl-child who has to sacrifice her schooling for the boy when a family’s source of income is destroyed by oil companies and their agents.

That a girl-child education is the least on the ladder of priorities has been largely accepted because it has always been assumed that the education of the female ends in the kitchen. The numerous sacrifices that Ogoni women made to the educational development and the empowerment of the male folk and resource development of the Ogoniland and the advancement of the struggle are undermined. This is especially pathetic in leadership positions and influence in the community. This predicament of the women is propelled by the limited classroom education of women.

Therefore, the Ogoni women like their counterparts from other African tribes have several layers of struggle. The first challenge that Ogoni feminists faces is the barriers posed by oppressive cultural practices. For example, the belief that a woman is not supposed to talk in front of a man; hence women naturally concede leadership positions to men, not necessarily on the basis of merits.  And this has propelled the negative axiom that women are not supposed to speak in society or women are not supposed to know or demonstrate that they have more knowledge than the men. The Ogoni feminists would also have to contend with the reduction of the woman’s body to the sole purpose of reproduction.

Interactive Questions:
The workshop was broken into small groups and sessions to facilitate detail exposition of the various trajectories and dynamic of the issue of patriarchy and gender inequality and other related issues, this was followed with a plenary session.

Chaired by Comrade Barry Wugale, the workshop was conducted in a self facilitating manner, in that way, after laying out the aims and objectives based on the expectations of the participants.  Wugale guided the workshop discussions and debates by giving a brief presentation that defined and explained what the different types of feminism are and how patriarchy operates. Having exposed the participants to the meaning and concepts of feminism and patriarchy, the forum was broken into women, men and joint (plenary) sessions. At the various sessions, participants used a list of questions generated by the workshop chairperson to interrogate debate, make general contributions, analyze, and interpret, as well as consider the application of the concept and practice of gender equality.

• How do you feel about gender equality?
• What do you understand by women liberation from male domination? 
• What are some of the possible fears of men in respect of women liberation or gender equality?
• What are the impacts do literate or illiterate mothers plays in the life of an individual?
• Having considered the benefits of women that are illiterate as mothers, how do you see yourself having an uneducated (illiterate) wife?
• Do you have any woman that you respect or admire because of her career or professional achievements?
• How do you balance gender equality in relation to family values as Christians and Ogonis.

Responses/Findings:
If the argument for gender equality is viewed from a core African cultural angle and conservative religious perspective it would always be difficult to have gender equality in our societies. It is equally important to state that advancing gender equality by attacking peoples’ way of life, their belief and value system would neither assist to promote the fight for the enthronement of gender balance, therefore, the struggle for gender equality require both male and female collaboration to highlight the mutual benefits.

The first challenge, the Ogoni activists saw as a major obstacle is that, the socio-cultural background of Ogoni people is such that majority of the women has accepted male domination as the norm, in such setting, gender equality would encounter some difficulties. But with the increasing awareness amongst the activists, it was agreed that feminism should be ingrained into mainstream of the Ogoni struggle. In that way, the need for women empowerment and gender balance would not be seen as an isolated struggle apart from broader demands for economic empowerment and political liberation.

The message of feminism would spread faster when activists are able to make the broader society to buy into the understanding that gender equality is worthwhile because it gives women the opportunity to contribute adequately in the society. In this light, the feminists should effectively communicate that balanced contribution by both sexes equals balanced family, community and the nation, and women would not play their parts if they are prejudiced and being oppressed.

Therefore, women in rural areas like the Ogoni territories and even refugee women shouldn't be deprived of comprehensive political education, adequate social awareness in the community and exposure that would capacitate them to connect with trends in the globe. No matter how politically informed a people maybe, liberation cannot be attained if women are not given the proper environment, facilities and education so that they are able to partake substantially in almost all human endeavors that pertain to the modern world. The Ogoni struggle must therefore consider as a matter of urgency the need for proper educational background for the women, an educational platform that would guarantee open-doors and developmental prospects in the community in particular and the nation at large.