Urbanization and Women in Awka Town, 1904–2014

Abstract

This paper explores the influence of urbanization on the lives and activities of urban women, and most specifically, women in Awka community. It essentially pinpoints the various sectors of women’s lives that urbanization has impacted, such as health, politics, religion, social, etc. Urbanization involves the concentration of population in a particular territory as a result of infrastructure development, the growth of science and technology, and industries which facilitated better living standard and overall development for the people and, on the other hand, contributed to the negative effects experienced by the people especially the women. The consequences presented by urbanization affected both the individual lives and group activities of women in Awka community. Its negative effect on the women can be seen in the women’s group loss of identity, decadence in the autonomy of elders, high rate of divorce, violence, tussle in the religion sector of the community, local language extinction, prostitution, weakness in the women's protective support system, decline in the traditional health sector of women, etc. This research study employed a thematic and chronological approach, which aims at addressing the trend of events in the Awka town over time. It adopted analytical and descriptive methods in accessing the historical data and presenting the available information for the study. The present study specifically aims to examine the consequences of urbanization on women individually and collectively. The study examines the medical, cultural, political, and religious lives of Awka women and the theoretical framework in relation to this research can be analyzed from modernization theory, Jass theory of change and feminist urbanism theory.