Female Agency

Female agency is nothing new in Africa. On the contrary, as forcefully pointed out by Kolawole (this volume), not only are notions of ’universal female subordina­tion’ misplaced in Africa, but there is also a long tradition of women’s struggles against colonial domination, and resisting traditional rulers’ oppression. Howev­er, with social and economic transformation, female agency takes on new forms. A rather novel phenomenon is that of women choosing not to marry.