Professor Bolanle Awe is considered a pioneering driving force in the comprehensive study of women’s history in Nigeria. She became the first female lecturer in the University of Ibadan’s History Department, where she integrated oral traditions into historical research, reshaping narratives on pre-colonial Nigeria.

In the 1980s, recognising the erasure of women in historical discourse, she co-founded the Women’s Research and Documentation Centre (WORDOC), an important resource hub for women’s studies.

A recipient of the Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) national award, she later served as Pro-Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Through decades of scholarship, advocacy, and policy influence, Professor Awe has profoundly shaped historical methodology, institutional reform, and gender discourse in Nigeria, ensuring that women’s contributions are recognised in national history.