Before British colonialism, Igbo society had a matrilineal, matriarchal structure. Women oversaw the trade sector, could divorce, marry each other, and had developed practices to resist male violence. In 1884, it was a woman named Nwagboka, the omu of Onitsha, also known as the ‘mother of society’, who signed the treaty with the British colonisers.

In Igbo mythology, feminine power is associated with the mystical and sacred ability to create life. The symbolism of mother earth, culminating in the figure of the earth goddess Ala, is expressed through Uli/Uri art, which is applied to both houses and the body, particularly through the scarifications known as mbudu.

The headdress worn by the statue corresponds to those worn by Igbo women, and the body displays the ritual mbudu scarification with the typical cross on the forehead, symbolising fertility.