Funmilayo Ransome Kuti
Funmilayo Ransome Kuti, AKA ‘Lioness of Lisabi’
I meannn you have to have done something pretty spectacular to earn a nickname as tough as that. Funmilayo Ransom Kuti definitely did that!
Abigail Olufunmilayo Thomas was born on 25th October, 1900 in Abeokuta, South-Western Nigeria (now Abeokuta, Ogun State). She was the first female student at the Abeokuta Grammar School (a secondary school), which she attended from 1914 to 1917. She later left for Wincham Hall School for Girls, Cheshire, England, to further her studies and then returned to Abeokuta to teach at her alma-mater. While in Abeokuta, she married Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, an Anglican clergyman and teacher in 1925.
While she was teaching at the Abeokuta Grammar School, she organized the Abeokuta Ladies Club (ALC), in 1932. Initially a civic and charitable group of mostly Western-educated Christian women, the organization gradually became more political and feminist in its orientation. In 1944 it formally admitted market women (women vendors in Abeokuta’s open-air markets), who were generally impoverished, illiterate, and exploited by colonial authorities. In that year, the club was renamed the ‘Abeokuta Women’s Union’. The Union resolved to fight for women’s rights and demanded better representation of women in local governing bodies, as well as an end to unfair taxes on market women. The organization also created educational opportunities for women and girls, enforced sanitary regulations, and the provision of health care and other social services for women. Their efforts helped improve the living standards of women in Nigeria and became one of the most important women’s movements of the 20th century.
Ransom-Kuti’s unwavering commitment to cooperation, solidarity and unity led her to play an active role in politics, notably in the pre-independence constitutional negotiations of 1946.
She later earned the title "Lioness of Lisabi", a nickname given to her by the press for her relentless activism.
Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti also participated in the Nigerian independence movement, attending conferences and joining overseas delegations to discuss proposed national constitutions. Additionally, she led the Nigerian Women’s Union and the Federation of Nigerian Women’s Societies, advocating for Nigerian women’s right to vote.
Icon begets icon?
Her children Beko, Olikoye and Fela, would all go on to play important roles in education, healthcare, the arts and political activism.
Funmilayo Ranome-Kuti died aged 77 after being wounded in a military raid on her family property. She received the Lenin Peace Prize and was awarded membership in the Order of the Niger for her work.
Cited:
UNESCO. (2019). Biography. Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti biography | Women. Retrieved January 12, 2023, from https://en.unesco.org/womeninafrica/funmilayo-ransome-kuti/biography
Recommended reading:
Wole Soyinka’s memoir, ‘Ake’ details the women’s tax revolt in his hometown of Abeokuta
Another historic example of feminist and anti-colonial protest: Aba women’s riot was held in 1929. See painting and summary here