Collaborators, Patriots, and Resistance : Wolaita Women’s Struggle Against Exclusion Under Repressive Policies (1941–1974)

This study examines the socio-economic and political experiences of Wolaita women in Ethiopia’s post-liberation imperial era (1941–1974), focusing on their responses to land reforms, political exclusion, cultural suppression, and gender discrimination. Conducted in the Wolaita Zone between 2024 and 2025, the research uses archival materials, travel accounts, and oral interviews selected through purposive sampling. Analysis through narrative and interpretive methods reconstructs Wolaita women’s lived experiences. Findings show that women faced systemic marginalization across economic, cultural, and political spheres. Although many ordinary women mounted strong resistance, segments of the elite occasionally supported these policies. Some women achieved limited progress in education, land rights, and local politics via connections with state actors and missionaries, but none attained parliamentary representation before 1974 due to the absence of pre-colonial indigenous African knowledge systems, such as parallel gender institutions. The study concludes that Wolaita women’s struggles reveal a complex interplay of oppression and agency. Their collective resistance challenged state control and contributed to social change; however, structural and institutional barriers limited their political empowerment during this period.