Abimbola Fashola Condemns Nollywood's Image of Women

The First Lady of Lagos State, Mrs. Abimbola Fashola, has joined other Nigerians to condemn the exploitation of women in Nollywood. She therefore wants an improvement on the prevalent themes in our movies.
Mrs. Fashola’s call to "do something about this in the near future" set the pace for the series of sessions at the first African Women in Film Forum (WIFF), at the Colonades Hotel, in Ikoyi, Lagos on the 17th of June, 2010.

Convened by the African Women Development Fund (AWDF) and organized by the Lufodo Academy of the Performing Arts (LAPA), the two-day event brought together practitioners from within the industry and members of the academia as discussants in various sessions of the programme.

Zimbabwean film maker and writer, Tsitsi Dangarembga, a highly anticipated discussant at the forum, was unavoidably absent.
Other foreign based speakers in attendance were Dr. Abena Busia who delivered the lead presentation; Akin Omotoso South (Africa based filmmaker); as well as Bunmi Oyinsan and Nollywood scholar Onookome Okome (both based in Canada).

The various discussants during the two- day forum included Tunde Kelani, Mahmoud Ali-Balogun, Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, Emem Isong, Amaka Igwe, Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, Biodun Ibitola, Omoni Oboli, Dakore Egbuson, Reuben Abati, Funmi Iyanda, Iretiola Doyle and Emma Isikaku.
Also in attendance were Nollywood stars such as Chioma Chukwuka, Bimbo Manuel, Uche Mac-Auley, Monalisa Chinda, Saheed Balogun, Rose Odika, Carol King, Ego Boyo and Dupe Jaiyesimi.

In a paper titled 'Women and the Dynamics of Representation', Dr. Abena Busia called for proper representation of women in Nigerian movies saying, "There is a need to redress the discrepancies about how we are seen.

We should never underestimate the differences between how we are seen and how we see ourselves because when it becomes abuse, we fight."

mouthpiece

There is Mrs. Michelle Obama, the First Lady of the United States, as she is simply called. And then there is Her Excellency, the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dame Patience Goodluck Jonathan. One protects the dignity of her office with substantive policy work, while the other seems to revel in a caricature. Mrs. Obama goes to an elementary school to have a genuine conversation about the perils of childhood obesity and manages to spark a national conversation about immigration. The other apparently sparks a conversation about visiting Dubai of all places and buying gold. We have our work cut out for us.

from 234next

the portrayal of women in Nollywood is a true reflection of women in our society; not entirely but not far off either!