Background
Wuraola Adepeju Esan was born in 1909 in Calabar.
Wuraola Adepeju Esan was born in 1909 in Calabar.
Esan attended Idi Aba Baptist Girls School, Abeokuta before proceeding to the United Missionary College to earn a teachers training diploma.
She also combined her political ambitions with that of a traditional noblewoman by becoming the Iyalode of Ibadan. Early life and education
From 1930 to 1934, she was a domestic science teacher at a missionary training school in Akure. A few years later she moved back to her hometown of Ibadan.
Although educational facilities available to women during the colonial era were limited.
In 1944, she established the Ibadan People"s Girls Grammar School in Molete, to educate women in different subjects including domestic science. In 1975 she took the title of Iyalode when she took the rank of a chief in Ibadan.
Political career
However, her views and subsequent political ideas did not advocate a much more expanded vision of women"s place in a broader society. In the 1950s, she entered partisan politics and was a member of the women"s wing of the Action Group. Though the women were important instruments to garner votes, few were accorded official power and party-wide responsibility.
However, Esan was able to rise through the ranks to become the first female member of the Nigerian National Assembly, as a nominated senator from Ibadan West. She was also a founding member of the National Council of Women Societies.