Abstract Book of the 7th Global Conference on Women’s Studies
Year: 2025
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Reproductive Rights in Nigeria: Telling Our Stories, Reclaiming Our Power
Onyinyechi Okoye
ABSTRACT:
In the face of persistent stigma, legal restrictions, and structural violence surrounding reproductive rights in Nigeria, young feminists and community-led movements are leveraging digital platforms to reclaim narratives and demand justice. This paper explores how Generation Initiative for Women and Youth Network (GIWYN), a non-governmental feminist organization based in Nigeria, uses blogs, zines, digital platforms and social media as tools for resistance, education, and healing within the broader framework of cyber feminism. Drawing on GIWYN’s work and collaborations, the paper highlights how grassroots actors are creating safe digital spaces for people, especially women and girls, to access information on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). It documents how anonymous, multilingual, and community-curated blogs and zines have become powerful platforms for women and girls to share lived experiences. Through a feminist lens, this paper uses a narrative analysis of interviews with women and young girls from hard-to-reach communities in Nigeria. It argues that these digital interventions are not merely reactive strategies, but radical acts of resistance. They are rooted in community knowledge, solidarity, and care. In contexts where SRHR is criminalized or culturally silenced, cyber feminist tools allow us to document harm, mobilize action, and reimagine bodily autonomy on our own terms. As Nigerian feminists continue to innovate, disrupt, and build across borders, this paper calls for greater recognition of the power
of grassroots digital storytelling and the urgent need to invest in digital safety, visibility, and sustainability for SRHR activism.
Keywords: grassroots actors; hard-to-reach; harm; high-priority, SRHR