WOMEN AND THE PUBLIC DRINKING PLACE - A CASE-STUDY OF ADO-EKITI, NIGERIA

This paper uses the bars of Ado-Ekiti as a site to explore the use of urban space by women and men. Ado-Ekiti is a Yoruba city of 150,000 pe ople in southwestern Nigeria. Feminist and political economy perspecti ves are used in developing the three-part theme of the way that gender intersects with the relations between bars and production, bars and r eproduction, and bars and consumption. A look at the history of alcoho l in Nigeria and of Yoruba women as traders and their cultural role pr ovides context. Survey results and personal observations connect empir ical findings to the tripartite theme. Women own and run three fourths of Ado-Ekiti's two hundred plus bars, but men control the upscale bar s. Many of Ado's female bar owners are on the receiving end of an expl oitative relationship with the global economy via the brewing industry , in a patriarchal society that assigns them a heavy reproductive burd en.