Veteran Nollywood actor, Pete Edochie, has blamed feminism for the increasing cases of domestic violence women suffer in marriage.

Speaking to BBC Igbo, the actor said women are at fault in most of the incidents of domestic violence.

He lamented that today’s women do not know how to do basic things which women ought to know how to do to keep their husband.

“Feminism isn’t something black people are known for. Once a woman leaves her parents to meet her husband and take his surname, she is to be submissive to him. If she wasn’t married, she can do whatever she wants."

“Women walk and show off their behinds, it’s so that men would find them. If you see such a woman and express your marriage interest, then she starts walking properly. Our women now plunge into feminism nowadays," he said.

Pete Edochie stated that it is unfortunate some women now do not keep their husbands name neither do some of them know how to cook.

“My mother was not educated but she would cook all sorts of soups, including bitter leaf, Oha, Ogbono, Okro, Egusi, Ukwa, and what have you. My father would always get back home hurriedly to eat what his wife had cooked. Today, our wives can’t even cook anymore. Women who can’t cook aren’t supposed to call themselves women. And feminism is what causes women to be beaten up in marriages."

"You complain to a woman and she retorts. It becomes unbearable, so you stretch your arm and deal her a slap. Domestic violence starts. I don’t like seeing women crying because it hurts me deeply. But it is the fault of the woman herself a lot of times.”

Edochie added that feminism has no place in Nigeria’s culture adding men do not worship women as the whites do.

“To be honest, the understanding of women is low. I’m not a misogynist but I’ve associated with them a lot, even at work. In the west, women could join forces and accuse a male colleague of assault. The man resigns. This can’t happen in our culture. As a young woman, if pedestrians don’t admire you, you’d weep for fear of not being beautiful,” the 74-year-old added.

Opening up on some foreign cultures he does not conform to, Pete Edochie stated that kneeling to put a ring on a woman’s hands is wrong.

He explained that any man who does that transfers the headship of his family to the woman.

“I’m a strong adherent of culture. It’s just like kneeling down on entering a church because there’s a higher being to whom you’re paying respect. Men climb trees to tap palm wine. How does it look if women do the same? Today women dictate to me."

“It wasn’t like that in our days. How women talk to men nowadays isn’t how we were raised. My mother was never beaten. My wife and I have been married for 52 years. I never beat her. My five married sons don’t beat their wives.”