International Women’s Day: 5 Nollywood Films with Leading Female Characters Challenging Societal Expectations

There’s no higher time than now to beget an very excellent time the evolution of the movie industry in Nigeria. While it’s no secret that the industry is male-dominated, we are witnessing the emergence of main female characters from varied ages, ethnicities, tribes, and professions. These characters are portrayed with worthy performances that resonate with Nigerian females, with relatable on-cowl representations.
In honour of Global Women folks’s Day, a day dedicated to celebrating females and highlighting gender inequalities, we’ve put together a list of Nigerian motion pictures that consists of brilliantly written main female characters that we not excellent like however additionally lend a hand as a supply of inspiration to many females.
These motion pictures beget an very excellent time the achievements of females and additionally region the societal expectations that usually hinder females’s progression
Awarun (Sola Sobowale) – “Anikulapo”
In an uncommon interview with BellaNaija, when Sola Sobowale was once asked which allotment of the character, Awarun, she associated to basically the most, she stated, “Her independence.”
Build in an aged generation where females were usually dependent on males for sustenance and anticipated to prefer marriage and be married, Awarun’s character defied the norms and cultural expectations. She embraced self-sufficiency – operating a ceramics manufacturing facility, proudly owning a thriving industry, maintaining a first-rate title and setting boundaries in her relationships with males. Awarun’s choice to prick her route in a closely patriarchal setting sends a worthy message of empowerment and resilience.
Look her portray Awarun here
Adire (Kehinde Bankole) – Adire
In Adire, females’s empowerment takes centre stage. Adire tells the memoir of Adire, a retired intercourse worker became entrepreneur, who moves into a limited city and launches her win lingerie industry. Adire has had an unhappy background, yet, she isn’t panicked to originate a sleek begin, fleeing from the shackles of her past, relocating to a distant city, taking again herself and turning into industrious.
Now not excellent that, we view her encouraging diversified females in the city to comprise entrepreneurship too and clutch cost of their sensuality.
Adaeze Obiagu (Genevieve Nnaji) – “Lionheart”
Adaeze Obiagu is an heroic woman, and she isn’t delicate about it. In “Lionheart,” a movie directed by Genevieve Nnaji, who additionally performed the function, Adaeze is the daughter of a correctly to place Igbo businessman and she has deepest aspirations to clutch over the company from her father when he retires. Her aspirations were so sturdy that she already had plans to usher the family industry into a recent know-how.
Nonetheless she’s not with out challenges. Debt, opposition, competition from competitors, and the specter of takeover by her brother all stand in her manner. Yet, in the male-dominated transportation industry, Adaeze challenges the function quo. With grit, resilience and an unwavering focal level, she manoeuvres by technique of challenges, maintaining her family, industry, and profession intact.
Derin (Meg Otanwa) – “For Maria: Ẹ̀bùn Pàtàkì”
The core theme of “For Maria: Ẹ̀bùn Pàtàkì” is postpartum depression. Derin, a important-time mother, experiences a anxious labour all over the transport of her youngster, main to region in bonding along with her recent child. Misunderstood by the folk spherical her, she withdraws to herself, sinking extra into depression. While she battles this, she additionally has her partner’s mother who verbally abuses her to take care of.
The movie sheds gentle on postpartum depression, a serious problem that is seldom talked about in society and customarily impacts females following childbirth.
Dr Zara Robinson (Stephanie Okereke Linus) – “Dry”
Build in Kastina, Northern Nigeria, “Dry” tells the memoir of a Nigerian woman, Dr Zara Robinson, a gynaecologist in the UK, who was once raped, trafficked, abused, and deserted in Nigeria sooner than being adopted by a British doctor. Nonetheless Dry isn’t about Dr Zara, it is far about Halima, a 13-one year-extinct woman compelled into marriage with a 60-one year-extinct man. After enduring abuse and getting pregnant, Halima suffers from Vesico Vaginal Fistula, a situation inflicting staunch urine leakage attributable to a connection between the bladder and vagina. As a result of this, Halima is rejected by her husband, family and society – facing discrimination in consequence.
“Dry” is impressed by a honest existence memoir, and it’s centred on diminutive one marriage, specifically addressing the map in which it contributes to the occurrence of Vesico Vaginal Fistula specifically areas of Nigeria.