feminist activists in Nigeria and regarded as a driving force in Nigeria ’ s feminist movement as it provides a common and easily accessible ground for dialogue , support and education in addition to bridging the geographic and socio-economic gap that has long stunted the growth of the movement . The paper concludes by proposing strategies to enhance the use of social media for feminist activism . By exploring social media as the game changer in Nigeria ’ s feminist activism , this paper contributes to a deeper knowledge of digital activism as a potential tool for driving social change in the country .
Introduction Social media has transformed activism on a global scale , including in developing countries like Nigeria . In the past decade , Facebook , Twitter ( now X ) 1 , TikTok and Instagram have become crucial spaces for feminist discourse and for articulating feminist demands . 2 It is a shift in the landscape of historically practised feminist activism as it provides new sites for activism and offers a new space for influence and engagement . As social media becomes the dominant mode for transnational feminist activism , it provides both inhibiting challenges and enabling opportunities , especially in societies where patriarchy operates resolutely and where gender inequality is structural .
Evidence suggests that feminism in Nigeria in its current form - coherent , structured , with defined goals and ideology - began in 1983 , following the establishment of Women in Nigeria ( WIN ), an organization which was formed in response to the 1982 national conference on women 3 . WIN was a direct result of the national conference which is largely regarded as a feminist movement 4 . Members of the group articulated a groundbreaking discourse emphasising the significance of delving into the subtle interactions between entry barriers and various power dynamics to understand the oppression that women suffer in the country 5 .
Activism by feminists in Nigeria had , before the invention of social media , been burdened with many challenges wrought by colonialism and
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