GENDER AND ECONOMIC AUTONOMY: REVISITING THE DOMESTIC ECONOMY OF THE MUSLIM ARMY WIVES IN LAGOS, NIGERIA

Abstract

Abstract:

This article examines the domestic economy of Muslim army wives in colonial and post-colonial Lagos. It is an important aspect of women’s history that has not yet been dissected or documented in scholarly production. The oversight is due to military bureaucracy and restrictions, religion and sex stereotypes. This paper argues that Muslim army wives have been active in the barracks economy and national development. They also played a significant role in the home and women-centred projects in the barracks. Unarguably, the manifesto of the United Nations Decade for Women (1975-1985) and the Better Life for Rural Women (1987-1993) opened new opportunities for women’s economic participation, self-reliance, and space. Consequently, Muslim army wives navigated the cultural norms, the trappings of religion, and domesticity for skill acquisition and small-scale industries in the barracks. They reconfigured their status from “dependants” to “interdependence.” Using primary and secondary sources, oral sources, internet materials, government publications, military literature, and the theories of culture and gender roles to substantiate its claim, this paper reveals that women can transform their status through government empowerment and loans, women-centred entrepreneurship, and a social investment programme. It concludes that religious and cultural barriers cannot impede women’s economic development and self-reliance.

 Keywords: Culture, Domestic Economy, Economic Autonomy, Muslim Army Wives, Lagos.