Historicizing Gender and Images: Women Visibility, Visuality and Gender Roles in Historical Perspectives in Africa

The anti-colonial narratives in Africa tend to overshadow the contributions of the womenfolk. This paper takes a different approach to the history of the struggle against colonialism in Africa. The narratives from parts of the continent is replete with several roles played by women ranging from offering financial and moral support to freedom fighters, to taking part in the war front and also risking their lives to resupply and even hide freedom fighters from the colonial authorities seeking to arrest them. For these roles, those among them who were captured suffered the same fate as their male counterparts. After the attainment of independence however, the women were relegated to the background, with most of them winding into oblivion. The gendered roles of women which enabled them to part-take in the struggle to overthrow colonial rule in Africa need to be told.