The history of women in the Ibo society of Nigeria contains two conflicting images. One is of the vibrant, fearless precolonial woman who knew herself and her worth and often claimed equality with men in the community; the other is of the subordinate, confused, but still active, modern woman struggling to define herself in an ever-changing world. Both oral and written accounts by natives as well as nonnatives who visited precolonial Ibo society describe Ibo women as strong, independent-minded people who took full part in the economic, religious, and political lives of their communities. "They have intense vigor and vitality for life," writes Sylvia Leith-Ross, one of the earliest visitors to Iboland. "The women are hard-headed and move fearlessly through the complexities of life." Lord Frederick Lugard, one of Britain's colonial administrators in Nigeria, describes precolonial Ibo women as "ambitious, courageous, self-reliant, hard-working, and...