ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with the impact on women in one Yoruba community, Igboho in Oyo State, of the introduction of tobacco cultivation which is a labour-intensive system, dependent, in large part, on family labour. It deals with the wives of tobacco farmers and the demands by their husbands on their labour. The chapter analyzes the process through which tobacco cultivation was introduced into Igboho and is managed, particularly with regard to the part played by women in its production. Igboho women find themselves with a dilemma that places in conflict their own economic needs with those of their husbands. The Yoruba are a very large ethnic group living in five present Nigerian states located in the southwestern region. Women were affected differently by capitalist penetration and the colonial administration, and were differentially incorporated into the political economy of present day Nigeria.
