0:01

Hello from Wonder Media Network.

0:04

I'm Jenny Kaplan and this is Encyclopedia

0:06

Womanica Today's Feminist

0:09

was a legendary Nigerian political

0:11

leader and activist who served as

0:13

the leading advocate for women's rights in Nigeria

0:16

during the first half of the twentieth century.

0:19

Please welcome fun Malayo Ransom

0:21

Kuti. Francis

0:26

Abigail Olufun Malayo Thomas

0:29

was born on October twenty fifth, nineteen

0:31

hundred, in Nigeria to a relatively

0:33

prosperous family. Her father

0:36

was a farmer and traitor from an aristocratic

0:38

family of Christian Yoruba descent, and

0:40

her mother was a dressmaker. At

0:43

the time, it was highly unusual,

0:45

even for wealthy families to invest much

0:47

money in educating their daughters, but Francis's

0:50

parents were dead set on providing her with a

0:52

good education. Starting in nineteen

0:55

fourteen, Francis was one of the first

0:57

six female students to attend the prestige

1:00

just Abyokuta Grammar School. After

1:03

graduating in nineteen seventeen, Francis

1:05

taught at her alma mater for two years.

1:08

In nineteen nineteen, she moved

1:10

to Cheshire, England to attend a finishing

1:12

school for young women. While

1:15

there, she experienced significant

1:17

racism. Based

1:19

on these experiences and a desire to

1:22

lean into her African heritage, after such

1:24

disconcerting interactions, she

1:26

decided to change her name from the English

1:28

Francis to a shortened form

1:30

of her Yoruba name, Funmillayo.

1:34

Upon her graduation from finishing school

1:36

in nineteen twenty two, Funmilayo

1:38

returned home and took up her old teaching

1:41

job at the Abbeokuta Grammar School.

1:44

Three years later, on January twentieth,

1:46

nineteen twenty five, Funmilayo

1:48

married the Reverend Israel Ransom Kuti,

1:51

a member of a well known Nigerian political

1:53

family. Though the two were

1:55

not in the same high school class, they

1:58

had become friends around that time many years

2:00

ago and had maintained a courtship. Israel

2:03

also worked in education, and the

2:05

couple shared a love of teaching. Israel

2:08

was a school principal an education activist

2:10

who co founded both the Nigerian

2:12

Union of Teachers and the Nigerian

2:15

Union of Students. Israel and Funmialayo

2:17

were married for more than thirty years until

2:19

Israel's death, and had a famously happy

2:22

and equal marriage. They also

2:24

had four children together, including the renowned

2:26

Nigerian musician and activist Fela

2:28

Kuti. After their wedding,

2:31

Funmilayo left her teaching job to take

2:33

up other pursuits, including starting one

2:35

of the first preschools in Nigeria.

2:37

In nineteen thirty two, she helped

2:40

to found the Abbeokuta Ladies Club,

2:42

a group of mostly middle and upper middle

2:44

class Christian women with Western educations.

2:47

Initially, the club was primarily

2:50

focused on charitable work, continuing

2:52

education for adult women, sewing,

2:54

and club social gatherings, but

2:57

by the nineteen forties, the club

2:59

had become decidedly more political and

3:01

also more feminist. Funmilayo

3:03

began setting up literacy workshops for women

3:06

throughout the club. She particularly

3:08

focused on bringing in women working in

3:10

the markets. Those women tended

3:12

to be very poor, with little opportunity,

3:14

if any, for education. Working

3:16

with the market women gave Funmilayo new

3:19

insight into the major social and political

3:21

inequalities that they, like

3:23

most poor women in Nigeria, experienced

3:26

on a daily basis. In nineteen

3:28

forty four, the club officially

3:30

opened its doors to any woman who wanted

3:33

to join, with a focus on bringing

3:35

in the disenfranchised market women. With

3:38

its new mission in mind, the club changed

3:40

its name in nineteen forty six to the Abiokuta

3:43

Women's Union or a WU. The

3:45

AWU grew quickly and

3:48

soon had more than twenty thousand members

3:50

across Nigeria and many thousands

3:52

more supporters. In nineteen

3:54

forty nine, it changed its name

3:56

again to the Nigerian Women's Union

3:58

to better represent its membership. Off

4:01

the bat, the Union, with Funmialayo

4:03

as president, took up the fight against

4:05

absurd taxes and price controls

4:07

that were specifically imposed on market women.

4:10

These measures significantly limited the market

4:12

women's possible incomes and were wildly

4:15

sexist. Starting in nineteen

4:17

forty seven, Funmialayo led

4:19

the union and organized protests against

4:21

these unfair policies and against

4:24

the local government support of the exploitation

4:26

of market women and lower class women generally.

4:29

The local ruler temporarily abdicated

4:32

as a result of the protests in nineteen

4:34

forty nine. Funmialayo's

4:37

larger goals for the union over time

4:39

were focused on ways to raise the standard

4:42

of living for Nigerian women. These

4:45

initiatives included, among other things,

4:48

much better and easier access to education,

4:51

better healthcare, better and more

4:53

fair opportunities for working women to earn

4:55

money, and improved social services.

4:59

In the nineteen seventies, following

5:01

the example of her famous musician activist

5:04

son, Fella, Funmialayo

5:06

officially changed her last name to Anni

5:08

Kupolo Kuti to better embrace

5:11

her Uruban heritage. This

5:13

was also seen as an act of defiance

5:15

against Nigeria's military government of

5:17

the time. Funmalayo and her son

5:20

were both well known critics. On

5:22

February eighteenth, nineteen seventy

5:24

seven, while Funmialaya was visiting

5:26

Fellah at his compound and Lagos, a

5:29

thousand Nigerian soldiers stormed

5:31

the property. At some point during

5:33

the raid, soldiers grabbed

5:35

Funmalayo by her hair and threw her

5:37

out of a second story window. She

5:40

suffered serious injuries from the fall.

5:43

Funmalayo died of complications

5:45

from her injuries the following year, on April

5:47

thirteenth, nineteen seventy eight. All

5:52

month we're talking about feminists. We've

5:54

covered feminists in every theme so far.

5:57

What differentiates this month is that we're looking

5:59

at wimmen, who are particularly important

6:01

to the women's rights. Movement, the suffrage

6:03

movement, and or a modern feminism and

6:06

feminist theory. On Saturdays,

6:08

we're talking about modern feminists, brought

6:10

to you by this month's sponsor, Fiver. On

6:13

Sundays, we're highlighting favorite

6:15

feminists from past months, chosen

6:18

by other podcast hosts we love. For

6:21

more on why we're doing what we're doing, check

6:23

out our new Encyclopedia Womanica

6:25

newsletter. You can also follow

6:28

us on Facebook and Instagram at

6:30

Encyclopedia Womanica, and you

6:32

can follow me directly on Twitter at Jenny

6:35

M. Kaplan. This

6:38

month of Encyclopedia Womanica is

6:40

brought to you by Fiver, an online

6:42

digital services marketplace connecting

6:44

businesses with women who are creating, designing,

6:47

copyrighting, programming, editing and more.

6:50

Fiver is here to support the world's freelance

6:52

community during these challenging and uncertain

6:54

times when businesses need to adapt

6:57

in the face of the Corona pandemic. Women

6:59

are to girl part of Fiver's platform,

7:02

many having worked with some of the most influential

7:04

brands in the world. Fiver is here to

7:06

support all freelancers, entrepreneurs

7:09

and businesses. At this time, five

7:11

Er operates in over one hundred and sixty countries

7:13

and offers digital services across three

7:15

hundred categories, so there are clearly

7:18

lots of opportunities to change how the world

7:20

works together with five in these unprecedented

7:22

times. Head to five

7:25

earr dot com to see

7:27

how fiver might be able to support you or

7:29

your business. That's five arr

7:32

dot com special thanks to Liz Kaplan,

7:35

my favorite sister and co creator. Talk

7:37

to you tomorrow.