Portrayal of Women in Nigerian Home Video Films:

The article starts from the premise that empowerment is needed where weakness and subjugation are apparent. Poverty, illiteracy, religion, cultural prejudices, male chauvinistic tendencies manifested in diverse patrilineal practices against women are some of the formidable forces that relegate women to the background. Portrayal of women in the media is examined through their portrayal in selected Igbo language films. The image of women in these films is found to be very bad and capable of negatively influencing the perception of women among the large audience of video films in Nigeria. The article shows that the technology of video has been effectively used for the empowerment of severely marginalised social groups like poor and illiterate women in some rural Third World countries. It is advocated that women actors should reject roles that relegate them to second fiddle. The domination of male producers in the home video industry is decried, and women are encouraged to seek more positive and active roles