Popular Nollywood actress Kate Henshaw has spoken out against the way many Nigerian men perceive and treat women, criticizing the widespread belief that women are inferior to men.
In an interview on Arise TV, Henshaw addressed gender inequality in Nigeria, calling out both religious institutions and the legal system for perpetuating discriminatory attitudes toward women.
She argued that the biblical creation story does not support the notion of female inferiority, yet many religious leaders continue to preach such ideas.
These were her own words:
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“God created man and woman—yes, the man was created first, but the woman was taken from his side, not from his head to be above him, nor from his feet to be beneath him. She was created to stand beside him, to grow, multiply, raise children, and build together. But Nigerian men often see women as less than human. That’s why, when you leave Nigeria and go abroad, people show you just how wrong that thinking is.”
Henshaw also criticized the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act, arguing that it still provides loopholes that allow men to mistreat their wives under the guise of discipline.
“They treat us like objects,” she said. “Even our laws, like the VAPP Act, still favour men. A man is still legally allowed to ‘reasonably’ chastise his wife.”
Celebrating 32 years in Nollywood, Henshaw further condemned Nigeria’s discriminatory citizenship laws, which grant automatic citizenship to foreign women who marry Nigerian men but deny the same right to foreign men who marry Nigerian women.
