“Ambitious women work twice as hard to prove ourselves” – Uche Jombo

Popular Nollywood actress Uche Jombohas stated that ambitious women put in almost twice as much work to achieve and reach the top of a sector dominated by men.

In an interview with Saturday Beats, she discussed the difficulties faced by women who want to succeed as trailblazers and stay relevant in their field.

The filmmaker claims that whereas many of her male colleagues who began their careers earlier than her have moved on to other pursuits, she is still putting in long hours into filmmaking.

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She said,

“Women are very serious-minded people. I remember when I started producing movies, there were a lot of my male colleagues who started producing at the same time.

Some of them started doing other things and are no longer interested in filmmaking as of today. But I am still here toughening things out. In essence, when women put their minds to something, they do it because normally, women would work twice as hard to prove themselves.”

She explained that it can be traced back to Nollywood’s early days when asked why women in the industry need to put in extra effort to show their worth.

The actress noted that because the profession was formerly a boys’ club, it took a while for men to respect and accept her because she was a woman.

She explained, “When Nollywood started, it was a boys club. As a woman coming to produce your film, it takes a while to be taken seriously. I think the film that made people take me seriously was ‘Damaged’. But I had done three films before ‘Damaged’ as an executive producer and producer. That film did well. It was an advocacy film.”