Assessing Representation and Learning About Women’s History in Two Museums in Osun State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study focused on the different types of documentation about women’s history in museums in Osun State, Nigeria. It identified the types of documentation available about women in the museums; assessed how women were represented in museums documentation; examined how museum visitors considered the representation and
identified the types of learning that took place among museum visitors. The population for this study consisted of all museum workers and visitors to the two Federal Museums in Osun State namely: Natural History Museum, Ile-Ife and National Commission for Museums and Monuments, in Osogbo, Osun State Nigeria.
Convenient sampling technique was used to select 16 curators and 14 museum visitors from the two museums. Data for this study were collected using interview guide. Findings revealed that there were several documentations about women’s history in museums in Osun State that presented women as women of substance and some that detailed the achievements of heroines in Nigerian societies. Findings also showed that some women were presented as weak, some were viewed as traitors, some as wicked and others as helpers/subordinates to men. The study recommends among others, that as museums hold a significant potential in showcasing the significance of women in history and promoting gender equality, curators should present historical women carefully in order to shape discourse around women representation versus their achievements, and thus foreground the value of their heroic contributions to human history.