By Komene Famaa, MA., Equality Studies[ucd, Dublin]
INTRODUCTION
Feminist explanations have explicitly identified women and the environment as victims, focusing upon the interconnection between economic exploitation and political oppression inherent in the concept of patriarchy.
Thus it is argued that contemporary models of economic growth and development are founded on the domination and exploitation both of the natural world and of women, whilst the contribution of each to human well being has been undervalued precisely because they are without a price.
I will briefly look at who are the Ogoni people. I will examine the roles of women in the pre and post-oil eras and examine how the Nigerian oil industry has impacted on the Ogoni environment and women.
I will attempt to define the concept of exploitation and identify its layers with reference to the Ogoni women – why, how and who exploited the Ogoni women and why they are victims of oil extraction in the region.
Finally, I will draw a logical conclusion.
Who are the Ogonis?
The Ogoni people are a minority ethnic group that inhabits the south-eastern part of the oil rich Niger Delta of southern Nigeria. They are approximately 800,000 people in population, about 0.8 per cent of the total Nigerian population and they live on about 1050 square kilometers. These sub-groups are administratively and traditionally divided into six kingdoms namely Babbe, Eleme, Gokana, Ken Khana, NyoKhana and Tai. A traditional ruler, the Gbenemene, heads each of the kingdoms. They are predominantly subsistence farmers and fisher women and fishermen.
Ogoniland joined Nigeria as an unequal partner having been defeated by the British forces in 1901.
Oil was first struck in commercial quantities in 1958 in the area. Project Underground (1996:5) noted that “over the last 39 years Shell has extracted an estimated US$30 billion worth of oil from Ogoniland. ” Human Rights Watch (1999) also shows that Shell Oil produced “28,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) compared to Nigeria’s 200,000 bpd.”
The Role of Ogoni women
The role of women in Ogoniland is examined in two separate phases:
i) Ogoni women in the pre-oil era [petroleum].
Women’s role before the advent of oil exploration in 1958 could be likened to what Moser(1989) called the “triple role” model – i.e. reproduction, production and community participation. Ogoni women were predominantly farmers with a close and dependent relationship with the environment. They were the chief managers of natural resources such as water, land and the forests. Women had access to land but they did not own it.
According to Waring (1988) “the women in labour – the producer, sustainer and nurturer of human life – does not “produce” anything. Similarly, all the other productive work that women do is widely viewed as unproductive e.g. growing and processing food, nurturing, educating and running a household are unacknowledged as part of the productive system.”
Another exception in Ogoniland was the “Sira” culture where unmarried first daughters had limited opportunities to gain access and control of property as well as taking part in decision-making within the Ogoni traditional system.
ii) Ogoni women in the post-Oil era [petroleum]
The discovery of oil brought about several significant changes in women’s roles and new challenges. Men migrated to the Oil city of Port Harcourt in search of wages, thus increasing women’s workload and responsibility for agricultural production in the rural Ogoni. Women assumed new roles as household heads. Some women also migrated to the cities in search of wage labour though women lacked the skills necessary to participate equally in the changing oil economy. Oil pipelines were laid on farmlands, reducing land availability and decreasing fallow periods.
Poverty and land degradation set in as population increased.
Layers of exploitation
In a recent study of the oppression of the Ogoni women, Kirwan (1999) identified four distinctive areas of disadvantage:
1) Gender,
2) Oil producing community,
3) Population Growth and
4) Ethnic minority.
I have identified another layer of exploitation- patriarchy and class- which affected the Ogoni women.
The concept of patriarchy as defined by (Mies:1986) is “the rule of the fathers.” but a critical view of male dominance goes beyond the rule of the fathers, it includes the rule of the husbands, or male bosses, of ruling men in most societal institutions, in politics and economics, Mies further argued that patriarchy as a concept expresses the totality and character of oppressive and exploitative relations, which affect women. Its usefulness lies in the fact that it denotes “the historical and societal dimensions of women’s exploitation and oppression and is thus less open to biologistic interpretation”.
Marion Woodman’s definition is more apt to the Ogoni women as she includes “the depth , pervasiveness and interconnectedness of different aspects of women’s subordination” and taking “account of different forms of gender inequality over time , class and ethnic group”.
Anikpo and Ifeanacho (1998:193) noted that patriarchy ensures that inheritance is by men ensuring male dominance in the ownership of property. The problem is how to redress this in a social formation where patriarchy is a significant aspect of the ideology of the ruling class.
Returning to Kirwan’s 4 Layer’s of disadvantage (but which I liken it to exploitation) :-
i) Gender
Male children get priority in education.
Early marriages of girls because of poverty
Women in polygamous homes face disharmony and quarrels.
Women are discriminated against in employment especially in the oil-related industries in Ogoniland.
ii) Oil- producing community.
As an oil producing community, the Ogoni (especially women) are exploited by the majority tribes. Ukiwo (1999:33) noted that the Ogoni people are not only angry about the degradation of the environment, but also their alienation from the Nigerian political system. They resent domination and exploitation by other ethnic groups.
Naanen (1995:46-78) developed a theoretical framework of internal colonialism to explain the Ogoni situation. He argued that internal colonialism started in Nigeria not “through economic domination but through political”. penetration deriving from a skillful pursuit of political control , aided crucially by numerical preponderance” He further argued that “transfer of resources from the numerically weaker groups to dominate the dominant areas, creating in the process an economically advantaged and powerful core and an impoverished and weak periphery.”
iii) Population Growth.
Kirwan showed that population growth has further exploited Ogoni women.
Greater pressure on women (especially “Siras” or “biake” for the training and education of children.
More mouths to feed
Decrease arable farmlands (land lost to oil pipe lines)
iv) Ethnic Minority.
Is there a grand design amongst the majority tribes in Nigeria to deprive the Ogoni people and other minorities of their rights , access and control of their natural resources? Such fears were expressed to the 1957 Henry Willink Commission, which was to look at means of allaying them.
Saro-Wiwa (1992:89-90) capture the situation in these words
“Political structuring and revenue allocation have been used to completely marginalized the Ogoni, grossly abusing their rights and veritably consigning them to extinction. Beyond political structuring and revenue allocation, the very administration of the Nigerian nation has worked against the Ogoni people because the wielders of power- the ethnic majority operate by cheating. Appointments to plum jobs in the military, the civil service and the parasatals are not based on merit but on jobbery, favouritism and chicanery. Jobs are not advertised; they go to tribesmen, family members and friends, whether they have the qualification or not.”
Kirwan points out that Ogoni women have few opportunities for education, jobs and political offices; that Ogoni women traders are exploited by other tribes at the market. They also suffered greatly during the army’s occupation of their area from 1993 to 1998.
Women’s Exploitation
Pollock (1991) noted that “women’s matrilineal status was traditionally circumscribed by their limited access to positions of political leadership and patriarchal controls of their sexuality in relation to marriage.”
The level of poverty that existed in the area contributed immensely to the exploitation to women. Few parents could afford to pay for their children’s education. As a result girls were given out into early marriages( Tere ip komaa concept) often against their will.
But how does this occur?
Lack of access to and control of power, education, capital (land and finance) affects Ogoni women, like women around the world. Men have both access and control of and over the above. Men’s dominance and manipulation of women in language, at work, institutions, on streets, sexual relations, law( customs and traditions) assists in their exploitation. Women lacked the ability to challenge and overcome the existing male dominated institutions and structures.
Exploitation by whom?
I feel the main culprits or perpetrators in the exploitation of Ogoni women are:
1) The Family- Husbands, Fathers, partners.
Family relations are hierarchical and exploitative. Husbands or male partners are always at the helm, women do the unpaid work, which includes the practical, symbolic, emotional, sexual, procreative, cultural and social. The men owned most of the valued resources, which comes into the family. They are also the main beneficiaries of women’s unpaid labour.
Most husbands and partners treat their women exploitatively.
2) The State -State violence.
The Nigerian state is one of the major culprits in the exploitation of Ogoni women. This was peak during the military occupation of the Ogoni region from 1993 to May 1999. During the period, Ogoni women experienced constant sexual harassment, abuse, rape, torture and looting of property at the hands of the Nigerian army (The Internal Security Task Force). Through the 1978 Land Use Decree, the Nigerian military government also brought about major changes in land ownership and the mineral resources acquisition in an area all of which adds further to the exploitation of women.
3)Multi-national Corporations (MNCs)
MNCs have exploited Ogoniland generally and the women in particular. Scott(1999:475-476) identified two types of involvement namely
( i) Direct Corporate Involvement that is actions directly taken by transnational corporations. The Anglo-Dutch oil company, “Shell” confiscated land of Ogoni farmers for pipelines. He went further to say that they also bought fire arms and used the company’s speedboats and helicopters to transport soldiers who attacked Ogoni villages and cities and raped Ogoni women. The company also supply other logistics in form of money to mobilized the soldiers.
(ii) Closely Linked Corporate Involvement. These were actions that subsequently that led to security threats against local population by agents of the state. Shell assisted the military, which led to security threats for the Ogoni people.
Environmental problems
“The poorest are the hardest hit. The principal victims of environmental degradation are the under privileged peoples and the majority of them are the women.”(Senghor, 1985)
The oil producing areas of Nigeria emit some 35million tons of carbon dioxide and 12million tons of methane a year. Pollution causes respiratory diseases such as bronchitis, asthma while polluted drinking water causes miscarriages in Ogoni women. Oil spills, seepage and dumping of non-degradable hydrocarbons means death of marine life: fish, prawn and periwinkle.
The World Council of Churches (1996:28) points out that between 1982-1992 about 1,1600,000 million gallons of spills were recorded in 27 separate incidents without adequate compensation to the affected communities.
Economic dependence on oil is detrimental to agriculture and fishing.
Ogoni culture has also suffered. Shrines and other sacred places are destroyed without consideration. Oil extraction firms destroy forests, trees and roots originally used for carvings, drums, medicine and beautification by women.
Wendy Carson(1999) described the situation of Ogoni women as the “embattled minority”. Trocaire (1997:16) noted that the European Parliament described the suffering of the Ogoni people as “an environmental nightmare”.
Conclusion
For any change to occur for the Ogoni women there is need to challenge the existing inadequacies and inequalities between men and women in the areas of work in the family, in the community and amongst MNCs.
The needs of Ogoni women, who are facing continuous structural barriers and discriminations because of poverty, gender, ethnicity, sexual abuse, educational disadvantage and disability, must be integrated into the development paradigm for the development of the Ogoni region.
This project was submitted by Komene Famaa on Friday, August 24, 2012. You too can submit your own article, project for publication on our site. We accept all forms of article, provided they serve the best interest of our readers/audience.
Komene Famaa is also a poet. He has submitted many poems to HURAC publication, click on the links below to read his awesome and inspiring poems:
1. Kugba: Our Sacred Land By Komene Famaa
2. The Executioner By Komene Famaa
3. Poem: Ogonibird By Komene Famaa
4. Poem: The Caged Virgin By Komene Famaa
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