Wuraola Esan

Wuraola Esan
Wuraola Esan
Born	1909; Calabar
Died	1985
Nationality	Nigeria
Occupation(s)	Educator, politician
Known for	National Council of Women Societies
Title	Iyalode of Ibadan
Parent	Thomas Ade-Ojo

Chief Wuraola Adepeju Esan (1909–1985) was a Nigerian teacher, feminist and politician. She combined her political ambitions with those of a traditional noblewoman by serving as the Iyalode of Ibadan.^[1]

Biography

Early life and education

Wuraola Adepeju Esan was born in 1909 in Calabar.^[2] Her parents were not western trained although they promoted a western educative course for their children. Esan attended Baptist Girls College, Idi Aba, Abeokuta before proceeding to the United Missionary College to earn a teachers training diploma. From 1930 to 1934, she was a domestic science teacher at a missionary training school in Akure. She later married Victor Esan in 1934 and they briefly lived in Lagos. A few years later she moved back to her hometown of Ibadan.^[3]

Political career

Although educational facilities available to women during the colonial era were limited. In 1944, she established the Ibadan People's Girls Grammar School in Molete,^[4] to educate women in different subjects including domestic science. However, her views and subsequent political ideas did not advocate a much more expanded vision of women's place in a broader society.^[5]

In the 1950s, she entered partisan politics and was a member of the women's wing of the Action Group. Though the women were important instruments to garner votes, few were accorded official power and party-wide responsibility. However, Esan was able to rise through the ranks to become the first female member of the Nigerian National Assembly, as a nominated senator from Ibadan West. She was also a founding member of the National Council of Women Societies. In 1975, she took the title of Iyalode and thus acquired the rank of a high chief in Ibadan.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b Roberta Ann Dunbar. Reviewed Work(s): "People and Empires in African History: Essays in Memory of Michael Crowder" by J. F. Ade Ajayi; J. D. Y. Peel; Michael Crowder, The Journal of African History, Vol. 34, No. 3, 1993.
^ Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.; Professor Emmanuel Akyeampong; Mr. Steven J. Niven (2 February 2012). Dictionary of African Biography. OUP USA. pp. 311–. ISBN 978-0-19-538207-5.
^ Kathleen E. Sheldon. Historical Dictionary of Women In Sub-Saharan Africa, Scarecrow Press, 2005, p 74. ISBN 0-8108-5331-0
^ Cheryl Johnson-Odim. For Women and the Nation: Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti of Nigeria, University of Illinois Press, 1997, p 48. ISBN 0-252-06613-8
^ Karen Tranberg Hansen. African Encounters with Domesticity, Rutgers University Press, 1992, p 133.

[afhist-1] Roberta Ann Dunbar. Reviewed Work(s): "People and Empires in African History: Essays in Memory of Michael Crowder" by J. F. Ade Ajayi; J. D. Y. Peel; Michael Crowder, The Journal of African History, Vol. 34, No. 3, 1993.

[Jr.Akyeampong2012-2] Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.; Professor Emmanuel Akyeampong; Mr. Steven J. Niven (2 February 2012). Dictionary of African Biography. OUP USA. pp. 311–. ISBN 978-0-19-538207-5.

[3] Kathleen E. Sheldon. Historical Dictionary of Women In Sub-Saharan Africa, Scarecrow Press, 2005, p 74. ISBN 0-8108-5331-0

[4] Cheryl Johnson-Odim. For Women and the Nation: Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti of Nigeria, University of Illinois Press, 1997, p 48. ISBN 0-252-06613-8

[5] Karen Tranberg Hansen. African Encounters with Domesticity, Rutgers University Press, 1992, p 133.

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