GENDER ISSUES

People often use the terms “sex” and “gender” interchangeably, but this is incorrect. Sex and
gender are different phenomena.
Sex refers to the biological difference (s) between people who are male, female, or intersex.
Persons typically have their sex assigned at birth based on physiological characteristics,
including their genitalia and chromosome composition. This assigned sex is called a person’s
“natal sex.” Sex is a universal aspect and it cannot be changed except through hormone treatment
and surgeries.

Gender: Is a social cultural definition of girls and boys or women and men given by the society.
Our societies define what girls and boys should wear, do, being treated and what are their rights
and responsibilities. Because societies create gender, definition can vary from society to society
and from time to time. Societies can also change the definition of gender if they are not happy
with.

Gender Equity is the process of being fair to women and men. To ensure fairness, measures
must be taken to compensate for historical and social disadvantages that prevent women and men
from operating on a level playing field.

Gender Equality is the state or condition that affords women and men equal enjoyment of
human rights, socially valued goods, opportunities, and resources.

Gender roles: These are socially defined activities which could be performed by men and
women in any society. So gender roles are not uniform throughout the world. Gender roles have
been mostly based on division of labour according to sex. To many societies these divisions have
been made in a biased form. In different societies the roles of women can be seen in domestic
activities but on men play their role in political and other useful economic activities. Gender
roles change according to the environment and culture of a given society.

Gender balance can be stated as the situation whereby there is equal access to social and
economic needs between men and women. For example, in leadership, employment
opportunities, education and inheritance of natural resources.
Gender budgeting is the process that shows what percentage of a national budget benefits men
and women respectively. It shows whether allocations contribute to gender equality. It is a
strategy to achieve equality between women and men by focusing on how public resources are
collected and spent.

The government should have three questions when preparing a budget

i. Will this budget reduce gender inequality?

ii. Will it leave gender inequality the way it is?
iii. Will it increase gender inequality?

The society needs the budget that finds high quality public services accessible to everyone. This
is because women specifically rely on public services due to their responsibilities.

Gender gap is the difference between women and men as reflected in social, political,
intellectual, cultural, or economic attainments or attitudes. So the gap in economics for example,
is the difference between men and women when it comes to salaries, the number of leaders and
participation in the workplace.
Gender blindness is an ideology where a person chooses not to see the differences between
genders. Gender awareness is the opposite of gender blindness. It is the failure to recognize that
the roles and responsibilities of men and women are assigned to them in specific social, cultural,
economic, and political contexts and backgrounds. Projects, programs, policies and attitudes
which are gender blind do not take into account these different roles and diverse needs.

Gender discrimination is all about unequal treatment of an individual or group of individuals

based on gender. It describes the situation in which people are treated differently simply because
they are male or female, rather than on the basis of their individual skills or capabilities.

What exact causes the above discrimination.

 Preconception (prejudice)-This suggests that men are viewed as capable where women
are incapable. This is the root cause
 Biological cause- Men and women differ biologically and physically
  Economic cause - Women are economically depending on men, this aspect has made
many women to become servants or rather slaves in the hands of men
 Socio-Cultural cause- Some tribes when a girl gets married, automatically she becomes a
property of a husband.

All these causes can be eliminated through women empowerment. This means improvement in
their political status, financial position, occupational status and legal awareness.
If a man is educated, we educate a single person but if a woman is educated, the whole
family/society is educated.

Gender Integration refers to strategies applied in program assessment, design, implementation,

and evaluation to take gender norms into account and to compensate for gender-based
inequalities.

Gender Mainstreaming is the process of incorporating a gender perspective into policies,

strategies, programs, project activities, and administrative functions, as well as into the
institutional culture of an organization.

Gender mainstreaming was developed as a global strategy for promoting gender equality in the
Beijing Declaration and Platform Action 1975.

Ways to achieve gender mainstreaming

 Allow women to express their priorities and concerns.

 Promotion of women as decision makers and supporting women’s collective efforts to
redefine development agenda for example Tanzania Women Lawyers Association
(TAWLA) and Tanzania Gender Networking Program (TGNP) and many other
organizations are trying to influence and monitor that women are involved in decision
making.

Gender Stereotypes is the way men and women are portrayed in the society.
They are ideas that people have on masculinity and femininity: what men and women of all
generations should be and are capable of doing. (e.g. girls should be obedient and cute, are
allowed to cry, and boys are expected to be brave and should not cry, women are better
housekeepers and men are better with machines, or boys are better on science subjects and
female are better on arts subjects.

Effects of gender stereotype;-

 These stereotypes can often bleed out into school and work, where girls are less likely to
be encouraged into science and technology subjects or leadership roles, due to the
perceived ‘male nature’ of these pursuits.
 Seemingly positive stereotypes and gender roles such as men being the ‘provider’ or
‘protector’ of the family, put an unnecessary burden on men and boys that could more
positively be shared in an equal partnership.
 Perpetuates the problem of inferiority complex on women
Women should be encouraged to be confident and not consider themselves inferior before men.
Also societal beliefs and myths of that nature should be stopped.
Gender-Based Violence: This is the assault directed at a person based on his sex (male or
female). This is mostly perpetuated by men on women and girls. However men also face
violence.
Caused of Gender-Based Violence: Violence derived from
 gender norms
 Gender roles
 Unequal power relations between women and men.
Forms of Gender-Based Violence
 Physical violence- this is an intentional act causing injury on another person by way of
body contact(e.g. Beating, slapping, kicking etc)
 Sexual violence- This involves sexual harassment (through cat calls, staring, touching,
kissing etc), rape, forcing someone to have sex against his or her will or without her
consent and understanding because of his or her age, disability or the influence of alcohol
or drug. (Read SOSPA 1998)
  Psychological / Emotional violence- this occurs when a person subjects another person to
behavior that may result in stress or depression.eg Insulting or calling someone names
that she or he may not be okay with.
 Economic violence- this is negating someone’s access to his or her finances.eg husband
taking wife’s salary or money or depriving women from land and other properties’
ownership.
 Harmful traditional practices-these are practices that have negative effects on people.eg
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), Child/forced marriage and traditional markings.
Effects of Gender-Based Violence
 Unwanted pregnancies
 Family dispute
 Sexual transmitted diseases
 Dropping out from school
 Injuries
 Death
 Suicidal ideation to victims and perpetrators
 Misuse of public resources in police, hospitals and courts

Ways to Reduce Gender Based Violence

 Network against GBV
 To report GBV actions to the police
 Children should be educated on GBV actions and should also be encouraged to
speak out to their parents or any one they trust.

Empowerment refers to the expansion of people’s capacity to make and act upon decisions
(agency) and to transform those decisions into desired outcomes, affecting all aspects of their
lives, including decisions related to health. It entails overcoming socioeconomic and other power
inequalities in a context where this ability was previously denied. Programmatic interventions
often focus specifically on empowering women because of the inequalities in their
socioeconomic status.
GENDER MARGINALIZATION/ DISCRIMINATION.
There has been the so called marginalization of people on the basis of gender in a number of
perspectives as follows;-
In Property Relation
In most of today’s societies, there are great gender inequities in access to land, housing and basic
infrastructure. Equitable access to land is a human rights issue and, as the UN Economic and
Social Council Commission on the Status of Women states, “Land rights discrimination is a
violation of human rights.”
In many countries, there is still a lack of adequate provisions for women to land rights
independently of their husbands or male relatives. Pursuit of gender equality in inheritance rights
has been one of the most difficult challenges in rights based approaches due to;

 the complexity as well as well embedded patriarchal characteristics of socio-economic,

cultural and religious practices.
 In traditional or “customary” societies, women’s direct access to land through purchase
or inheritance is often limited, yet they may have greater management and use rights than
men. Women acquire indirect access to land in terms of their status as wives, mothers,
sisters, or daughters.
 Women are treated as legal minors or have unequal status or entitlement to inheritance
shares which impacts on their ability to acquire, enjoy, transfer and manage their
inheritance.
Measures to Eliminate Gender Discrimination in Property Relation

 International human rights law- This prohibits discrimination on the basis of a person’s
sex, and the recognition of equal rights between men and women.
 Platform for Action adopted at the 1995 Beijing World Conference on Women, insisted
that women’s rights to land, housing and property, including thorough inheritance, are to
be equal with those of men.
 Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW). This requires signatories to take all appropriate measures to eliminate
discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations.
 In Employment (division of labour)
Division of labour in gender refers to the way each society divides work among men and
women or girls and boys.
In most developing countries most women still retain the primary responsibility for
caring and domestic work (which is usually unpaid), and secondly women (in aggregate)
do not gain the same level of reward from participation in paid employment as men do.
Up to the middle of the twentieth century, the ‘male breadwinner’ model of employment
and family articulation was underpinned by extensive gender segregation in both the
‘public’ and ‘private’ spheres of work. Men in full-time employment received a ‘family
wage’ and related benefits; women gained benefits, often indirectly, as wives and
mothers. Since the 1950s and 1960s, however, technological changes have brought about
the transformation of production systems and other fields.

In Decision-Making :- A decision making is a situation where one can make or influence

decision to exercise authority whether in public or private sector. Every human being has the
right to participate in decisions that define her or his life. This right is the foundation of the ideal
of equal participation in decision-making among women and men. This right argues that since
women know their situation best, they should participate equally with men to have their
perspective effectively incorporated at all levels of decision-making, from the private to the
public, local to global spheres of their lives.
This is different from what is happening whereby women are under-represented in decision-
making positions worldwide. This is due to some reasons such as;-
i. Female willingness to run as candidates- This can be due to their roles of caring the kids
and lack of self-confidence.
ii. Party selection of candidates – Some parties are not ready to have women candidates
iii. Voters electoral preference – Here you find that some voters are biased, hence wish to
vote for men since they don’t wish being led by a woman.
iv. Electoral Rules for example to have an academic bachelor degree
v. Corruption
The Need for Promoting Women in Decision Making
 Promoting women into top positions would represent a dramatic change to the status quo
dominated by male representatives. As competent and talented women are abundant, this
change would produce a better selection process, yielding positive effects on the quality
of representatives.
 Women contribute to better outcomes and improved performance of institutions and
organizations.
 Women in decision-making positions may contribute to the definition of a new agenda
for the organisation, including items which are typically neglected by men. For
companies this can include a shift towards less risky decisions, or towards sustainability
and environmental policies with longer time horizons.

Need for Reducing Gender Discrimination

 Equity consideration.
 Women are less corrupted and more motivated to work in team.
 Role model for other women, hence motivating young girls to increase their seriousness
in educational maters.
 Impact in policy formulation. Women are more likely to vote on policies which benefit
women and in society as whole.

Gender Discrimination in Health Care.

Discrimination in Healthcare refers to situations where patients are assessed, diagnosed and
treated differently and at a lower quality level because of their gender than others with the same
complaints. Gender bias in healthcare can also manifest as the assumption that males and
females are the same when the sexes have differences that need to be addressed.
The health of men and women can be harmed by stereotypical standards of masculinity or
femininity. For example men are aggressive in risk taking. As a result of this behavior, men and
boys are at greater risk of injury and death from accidents and violence. The rigid rules of
masculinity may discourage men from health-seeking behavior in case they face problems which
need treatments.
Educating healthcare professionals: Outreach programs to help healthcare organizations
address the gender bias will help to make professionals more aware of bias and how it manifests.
It is also important that medical teams understand how certain health issues can present
differently in men and women.

Gender Discrimination in Education

Gender discrimination in education can be explained as the process of treating an individual
differently based upon his/her gender in academic programs, discipline, class assignments given
in a classroom, class enrolment, physical education and many other aspects related to education.
Women in the developing world still suffer from serious differences in literacy rates and school
enrolment. This can be due to;
i. Poverty
ii. Child marriage and domestic work- Every 2 seconds on earth a girl becomes a
child bride
iii. Traditional status and roles- Cultural belief, Girls do not need high education,
they will end up in being housewives after all.
Gender discrimination in education is still around us, therefore;-

 Girls deserve education since by so doing we reduce poverty

 Educated women are less likely to die in childbirth or early marriage.
 Educated women have control of their lives
 If women are educated can contribute to the National economic growth.

FEMINISM AND RELATED APPROAHES

Feminism can simply be expressed as a movement which covers all spheres of life i.e economic,
political, social and cultural aspects of the people irrespective of their sexes. Historically,
societies have prioritized the male point of view, and that women have been treated unjustly.
Efforts to change that include fighting against gender stereotypes and establishing educational,
professional, and interpersonal opportunities and outcomes for women that are equal to those for
men. Therefore feminism is a campaign for women rights including the right to;
  vote and be voted for.
 hold public offices
 work
 earn equal pay
 own property such as land
 receive education
 enter contracts
 have equal rights within marriage.
Feminists have also worked to ensure access to legal abortions and social integration, and to
protect women and girls from rape, sexual harassment, and domestic violence. Changes in
female dress standards and acceptable physical activities for females have often been part of
feminist movements in a range of socio-econimic movements and political movements. In a
nutshell feminist movement refers to a series of Social movements and Political
campaigns for reforms on women's issues created by the inequality between men and
women. Such issues are women's liberation, reproductive rights, domestic violence,
maternity leave, equal pay, women’s suffrage, sexual harassment, and sexual violence. The
movement's priorities have expanded since its beginning in the 1800s, and vary among
nations and communities.

APPROACHES

First-wave feminism (Classical perspective) is generally associated with the women’s

suffrage movements of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries (1830’s – 1960’s). First-
wave feminism was characterized by a focus on officially mandated inequalities between
men and women, such as the legal barring of women from voting, property rights,
employment, equal rights in marriage, and positions of political power and authority.

Second-wave feminism (Radical perspective) is associated with the women’s liberation

movements of the 1960s and 1970s. While seeing themselves as inheritors of the politics of
the first wave which focused primarily on legal obstacles to women’s rights, second-wave
feminists began concentrating on less “official” barriers to gender equality, addressing issues
like sexuality, reproductive rights, women’s roles and labour in the home, and patriarchal
culture.
Finally, third-wave feminism (Modern perspective) is generally associated with feminist
politics and movements that began in the 1980s to date. It emerged out of a critique of the
politics of the second wave, as many feminists felt that earlier generations had over-
generalized the experiences of white, middle-class, heterosexual women and ignored (and
even suppressed) the viewpoints of women of color, the poor, lesbian, and transgender
people, and women from the non-Western world. Third-wave feminists have critiqued
essential or universal notions of womanhood, and focus on issues of racism, homophobia,
and Eurocentrism as part of their feminist agenda. Feminist social theory has influenced and
been influenced by the agendas and struggles of each of these waves. “First-wave” theorists
like Mary Wollstonecraft and Susan B. Anthony were influential for their focus on how
women’s lack of legal rights contributed to their social demotion, exclusion, and suffering.
“Second-wave” theorists like Betty Friedan and Andrea Dworkin were prominent for their
focus on women’s sexuality, reproduction, and the social consequences of living in a
patriarchal culture.

And “third-wave” theorists like Judith Butler and Gayatri Spivak are significant for critiquing
the idea of a universal experience of womanhood and drawing attention to the sexually,
economically, and racially exclusion. Moreover, feminist social theorists in each wave have
critiqued the male biases implicit in social theory itself, helping to construct social theory
that draws on rather than excludes the experiences of women. Ultimately, if feminism,
broadly understood, is concerned with improving the conditions of women in the society,
feminist social theory is about developing ideas, concepts, philosophies, and other
intellectual programs that help meet that agenda. Feminist social theory, like any theoretical
tradition, is best seen as a continuing conversation of many voices and viewpoints.

HOW FEMINIST THEORY MATTERS TODAY

Some commentators believe that the women’s movements of the twentieth century were so
successful in combating gender inequality that we have entered a “postfeminist” era. While it
is undeniable that feminist political movements have made tremendous gains for women over
the last 100 years, social scientific evidence demonstrates that there are still large inequalities
between men and women when it comes to areas like income and wealth, political power and
 opportunities, legal rights, sexual assault, rape, domestic violence, and overall status in the
society. As long as gender inequality and oppression exists, feminism and feminist thought
will continue to matter to millions of people throughout the world. Moreover, feminist
intellectuals continue to develop cutting-edge and nuanced understandings of the social
world that enrich the power and possibilities of social theory at large.

World Conferences on Women are among the successfulness of today’s feminism (modern
feminism)

The United Nations has organized four world conferences on women. These took place
in Mexico City in 1975, Copenhagen in 1980, Nairobi in 1985 and Beijing in 1995. The last
was followed by a series of five-year reviews.
The 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing marked a significant turning point
for the global agenda for gender equality. The Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action,
adopted unanimously by 189 countries, is an agenda for women’s empowerment and considered
the key global policy document on gender equality. It sets strategic objectives and actions for the
advancement of women and the achievement of gender equality in 12 critical areas of concern:
 Women and poverty
 Education and training of women
 Women and health
 Violence against women
 Women and armed conflict
 Women and the economy
 Women in power and decision-making
 Institutional mechanism for the advancement of women
 Human rights of women
 Women and the media
 Women and the environment
 The girl-child

WID, WAD, GAD

Women in Development (WID) is understood to mean the integration of
women into global processes of economic, political and social growth and
change, The term Women in Development came into use in the early 1970s,
 after the publication of Ester Boserup's Book Women's Role in Economic
Development (1970). Boserup was the first to systematically describe on a
global level the sexual division of labour that existed in agrarian(agriculture)
economies.
She analysed the changes that occurred in traditional agricultural practices as
societies became modernized and examined the differential impact of those
changes on the work done by men and women.
She concluded that in sparsely populated regions where shifting agriculture
is practiced, women tend to do the majority of agricultural work; In more
densely populated regions, where ploughs and other simple technologies are
used, men tend to do more of the agricultural work. Finally, in areas of
intensive, irrigation-based cultivation, both men and women share in
agricultural tasks.

Boserup's research was later criticized for its over simplification of the nature of
women's work and roles.

"Women in Development" or WID again began to be articulated by American

liberal feminists who advocated legal and administrative changes to ensure that
women would be better if integrated into economic systems. They placed
Primary emphasis on egalitarianism and on the development of strategies and
action programs aimed at minimizing the disadvantages of women in the
productive sector and ending discrimination against them.

This perspective was closely linked with the modernization paradigm which
dominated mainstream thinking on international development during the 1960s and
into the 1970s which was usually equated with industrialization, aimed at
improving the standards of living of the developing countries. It was argued
that through massive expansion of education systems, stocks of well-trained
workers and managers would emerge; this in turn would enable the evolution of
agrarian societies into industrialized and modernized ones. With the growth of the
economies of these countries, the benefits of modernization, i.e. better living
conditions, wages, education, adequate health services, etc. would "trickle down"
to all segments of the society. This perspective norm of the male experience was
generalizable to female and that all would benefit equally as societies increasingly
became modernized.

By the 1970s, this view of modernization was being questioned by many

reseachers. It was argued that the relative position of women had, in fact, improved
very little. There was even evidence which suggested that the position of some
women had declined. For example, in general, women were less likely to benefit
from the surge of educational expansion. Enrolment of figures, especially at the
tertiary level, tended to be lower for females. As new technologies were introduced
into the agricultural sector, they usually were directed at men rather than women.
In the formal industrial sector, women often were relegated to the lowest-paying,
most monotonous and sometimes health-impairing jobs, a condition due in part to
their low levels of education, but also due to the role assigned to them as
supplementary rattier than principal wage earners. These criticisms led to the
formation of another concept namely Women and Development.

Women and Development (WAD). The demarcation between the WID and the
WAD approaches is not entirely clear. Historically, the WAD approach probably
emerged in the second half of the 1970s. It draws some of its theoretical base from
dependency theory. The WAD approach begins from the position that women
always have been part of development processes and that they did not suddenly
appear in the early 1970s as the result of the insights and intervention strategies of
a few scholars and agency personnel.

The WAD perspective focuses on the relationship between women and

development processes rather than purely on strategies for the integration of
women into development.
Its point of departure is that women always have been "integrated" into their
societies and that their work inside and outside the household is central to the
maintenance of development. The WAD perspective recognizes that Third World
countries men who do not have elite status also have been adversely effected by
the structure of the inequalities within and the international system, but it has
given little analytical attention to the social relations of gender within classes.
WAD offers a more critical view of women's position than does WID but it fails to
undertake a full-scale analysis of the relationship between patriarchy, differing
modes of production and women's subordination and oppression. The WAD
perspective indirectly assumes that women's position will improve if and when
international structures become more equitable.

Finally, it should be noted that there is a tension within the WAD perspective
which discourages a strict analytical focus on the problems of women independent
of those of men since both sexes are seen to be disadvantaged within oppressive
global structures based on class and capital. Since the WAD perspective does not
give detailed attention to the overriding influence of the ideology of patriarchy,
women's condition primarily is seen within the structure of international and class
inequalities.
WID/WAD intervention strategies therefore have tended to concentrate on the
development of income-generating activities without taking into account the time
burdens that such strategies place on women.
Development planers have tended to impose western biases and assumptions on the
south and the tasks performed by women in the household, including those of
social reproduction, are assigned no economic value. The labour invested on its
family maintenance, including childbearing and rearing, housework, care of the ill
and elderly, etc. has been considered to belong to the "private" domain and outside
the purview of development projects aimed at enhancing income generating
activities. In essence, this has been a reflection of the tendency of both
modernization and dependency theorists to utilize exclusively economic or
political economy analyses and to discount the insights of the so-called "softer"
social sciences, hence the formation of Gender and development context.

GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT (GAD)

The term Gender and development approach has emerged in the 1980s as an
alternative to the earlier WID focus. It finds its theoretical roots in socialist
feminism and has bridged the gap left by the modernization theorists, linking the
relations of production to the relations of reproduction and taking into account all
aspects of women's lives. Socialist feminists have identified the social construction
of production and reproduction as the basis of women's oppression and have
focused attention on the social relations of gender, questioning the validity of roles
which have been ascribed to both women and men in different societies.

The GAD approach starts from a wholistic perspective, looking at "the totality of
social organization, economic and political life in order to understand the shaping
of particular aspects of society).
GAD analyses the nature of women's contribution within the context of work done
both inside and outside the household, including non-commodity production, and
rejects the public/private dichotomy which commonly has been used as a
mechanism to undervalue family and household maintenance work performed by
women. Both the socialist/feminist and GAD approaches give special attention to
the oppression of women in the family and enter the so-called "private sphere" to
analyse the assumptions upon which conjugal relationships are based.
GAD also puts greater emphasis on the participation of the state in promoting
women's emancipation, seeing it as the duty of the state to provide some of the
social services which women in many countries have provided on a private and
individual basis.
The GAD approach sees women as agents of change rather than as passive
recipients of development and it stresses the need for women to organize
themselves for more effective political voice. It recognizes the importance of both
class solidarities and class distinctions but it argues that the ideology of patriarchy
operates within and across classes to oppress women.

HOW GENDER INEQUALITY INCREASES A WOMAN’S VULNERABILITY TO HIV/AID

AND STIs

The main drivers of the HIV epidemic are influenced by a wide range of gender
inequalities.

i. Early and forced marriage

ii. gender-based violence. Gender inequalities, including gender-based and
close partner violence, exacerbate women and girls’ physiological
vulnerability to HIV and block their access to HIV services. The fear of
intimate partner violence has been shown to be an important barrier to the
 uptake of HIV testing and counselling, to the disclosure of HIV-positive
status, and to treatment uptake and adherence including among pregnant
women who are receiving antiretroviral treatment (ART) as part of
services to prevent mother-to-child transmission

Some of the intimate partner violence experienced by young women

occurs within the context of child marriage. Girls who marry as children
are more likely to be beaten or threatened by their husbands than girls
who marry later, and are more likely to describe their first sexual
experience as forced. As minors, child brides are rarely able to assert
their wishes, such as whether to practice safer sex. These factors all
increase HIV risk.
iii. Unequal access to information, including sexual health knowledge.
Gender inequality in education and restricted social autonomy among
women is directly linked to lower access to sexual health services,
including HIV testing and treatment

iv. Lack of negotiating power and economic autonomy are among the factors
that place women and adolescent girls at increased risk of HIV infection.
Financial disparities and intimate partner violence in relationships often
hinder a woman’s ability to negotiate condom use and protect herself
from HIV. The power imbalance between genders also means that many
young women are not able to make decision about their own lives.
v. HIV disproportionately affects women and adolescent girls because of
their unequal cultural, social and economic status in society. This means
that gender inequality must be tackled in order to end the global HIV
epidemic, and achieve broader development outcomes.
 vi. Cultural and social norms. Dominant cultural and social norms about
masculinity and femininity lead to gender inequality. This results from
the patriarchal nature of many societies, especially where control of
women and male strength and power is highly valued. Hence limiting
women to have control of their health.

vii. In many places, discriminatory social and cultural norms are translated
into laws which act as barriers to HIV services for women, increasing
their vulnerability to HIV. Nine countries in 2014 reported laws that
obstruct women and girls from accessing HIV services.

viii. Poverty and gender inequality. Poverty is an overarching factor that

increases vulnerability to HIV and is further complicated by gender
inequalities. Poor women are often economically dependent on men. The
need for economic support may partly drive earlier marriage and existing
gender inequalities may make it difficult for young women to insist on
safer sexual practices.
The poorest women may have little choice but to adopt behaviours that
put them at risk of infection, including transactional and intergenerational
sex, earlier marriage, and relationships that expose them to violence and
abuse.

MEASURES TO REDUCE WOMAN’S VULNERABILITY TO HIV/AID AND STIs DUE

TO GENDER INEQUALITY
There are a number of international commitments which recognize that tackling
gender inequality is vital to ending the global HIV epidemic and achieving wider
development outcomes.

i. The education and empowerment of women and girls. This is a

fundamental to preventing intimate partner and gender-based
violence. An analysis of data from countries found that completing
secondary education significantly reduces a woman’s risk of
intimate partner violence and that a girl’s education is more
strongly associated with reduced risk of partner violence in
countries where spousal abuse is more common.
 ii. Empowering women and girls with the urgency to claim their
rights, receive a quality education, enjoy healthy lives and take
measures to protect themselves from HIV is a prerequisite.

iii. End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls
everywhere
iv. Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal
opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision making in
political, economic and the general public life. Ensure universal
access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights.
v. Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislations
for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all
women and girls at all levels.
vi. The Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV and AIDS
(GIPA) promotes the right of people living with HIV to “self-
determination and participation in decision-making processes that
affect their lives.

EFFORTS OF THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA TO PROMOTE WOMEN’S

RIGHTS.

The government’s effort in promoting human rights in Tanzania started after

Tanzania joined the UN in 1961 as the 104 th member state. It thus adopted the UN
Human Rights Declaration. Since the re establishment of multi – party system in
1992, Tanzania has become a more tolerant and open society. Women rights
organizations operate freely and are not refrained from applying for registration. It
promotes women right by;-

i. Enshrining the Bill of rights in the Constitution of The United Republic

of Tanzania -1977 and other statutes which stipulate among other things
 that “all persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any
discrimination (such as on the basis of gender) to protection and equality
before the law.
ii. On the implementations of Beijing Declaration Platform for Action, the
Tanzania government formulated policies that have increased awareness
of issues related to women’s empowerment and gender equality.
Similarly, the Government of Zanzibar formulated and adopted a Policy
on the Protection and Development of Women which provided a
framework for promoting gender equality.
iii. In implementing the CEDAW resolution, the government has enacted
laws pertaining to women’s dignity, property, criminal and sexual abuse.
For example the Sexual Offences Special Provisions Act 1998 was
enacted to protect the dignity and integrity of women and children and
the Land Act No 4 of 1999 and the Village Land Act No 5 of 1999 to
provide for the right of land ownership of land for both women and men.

iv. The same Constitution of the United Republic has been amended to
provide an increase in women’s representation on the basis of
proportional representation.

v. Existence of independent pressure groups countrywide all of which play

a significant role in enhancing gender equality. Examples are Tanzania
Gender Networking Program (TGNP), Legal and Human Rights
Center(LHRC), Tanzania Women Layers Association(TWLA), Tanzania
Media Women Association(TAMWA) etc.

Challenges in Promoting Gender Equality

 i. Cultural disparities -
ii. Religious beliefs.
iii. Lacuna/ Claw back clauses in legal frameworks- This is a gap or
contradicting laws.
iv. Corruption (leads to absence of impartiality) in the public
institutions necessary to afford human rights, such as the Police
department, hospitals and courts.
v. Impunity(exemption from punishment)
vi. Illiteracy
vii. Poverty -

UNEMPLOYMENT

The term unemployment refers to a situation when a person who is

actively searching for employment is unable to find work. Unemployment serves
as one of the indicators of a country’s economic status. The most frequent measure
of unemployment is the unemployment rate, which is the number of unemployed
people divided by the number of people in the labor force.

Types of Unemployment
There are basically four types of unemployment: (1) demand deficient, (2)
frictional, (3) structural, and (4) voluntary unemployment.
1. Demand deficient (Cyclical) unemployment
Demand deficit unemployment is the type of unemployment that occurs during
recession. Recession is the biggest cause of unemployment. When companies
experience a reduction in the demand for their products or services, they respond
by cutting back on their production, making it necessary to reduce their workforce
within the organization. In effect, workers are laid off.
Cyclical unemployment creates more unemployment. The laid-off workers have
less money to buy the goods and services they need. That further lowers demand.
2. Frictional unemployment (Search unemployment)
Frictional unemployment, also called search unemployment, occurs when workers
lose their current job and are in the process of finding another one BUT haven not
yet found new ones.
Most of the time, workers leave voluntarily, either because they need to move or
have saved enough money to allow them to look for a better job. Frictional
unemployment also occurs when students are looking for that first job or when
mothers are returning to the workforce. It also happens when workers are fired or,
in some cases, laid off due to business-specific reasons, such as a plant closure.
Frictional unemployment is short-term and a natural part of the job search process.
In fact, frictional unemployment is good for the economy, as it allows workers to
move to jobs where they can be more productive.
3. Structural unemployment; this happens when the skills set of a worker does
not match the skills demanded by the jobs available, or alternatively when workers
are available but are unable to reach the geographical location of the jobs.

4. Voluntary unemployment; this happens when a worker decides to leave a job

because it is not satisfactory. An example is a worker whose take-home pay is less
than his or her cost of living.

CAUSES OF UNEMPLOYMENT
1. Frictional unemployment. This type of unemployment is when employees leave
their job to find a better one.
2. Structural unemployment. That is when workers' skills or income requirements
no longer match the jobs available
3. Advances in technology. This is when computers or robots replace workers.
Most of these workers need more training before they can find a new job in
their field.
4. Job outsourcing. That is where a company is moved to another area, it can be to
another country. Labour costs are cheaper in countries with a lower cost of
living.
5. Fewer jobs than applicants. The technical term is demand-deficient
unemployment. This happens during the recession phase of the business cycle, it
is called cyclical unemployment. Low consumer demand creates cyclical
unemployment. Companies lose too much profit when demand falls. If they
 don't expect sales to pick up anytime soon, they must lay off workers. The
higher unemployment causes consumer demand to drop even more, which is
why it’s cyclical. It results in large-scale unemployment.

Effects
The impact of unemployment can be felt by both the workers and the national
economy and can cause a ripple effect.
Unemployment causes workers to suffer financial hardship that impacts families,
relationships, and communities. When it happens, consumer spending, which is
one of an economy’s key drivers of growth, goes down, leading to a recession or
even a depression when left unaddressed.
Unemployment results in reduced demand, consumption, and buying power, which
in turn causes lower profits for businesses and leads to budget cuts and workforce
reductions. It creates a cycle that goes on and on that is difficult to reverse without
some types of intervention.

POVERTY

This refers to the situation whereby people are experiencing scarcity of the most
basic needs such as food, shelter, clothes and other necessities that are required
for the lives of human being. It is a state or condition in which a person or
community lacks the financial resources and essentials for a minimum standard of
living. Poverty means that the income level from employment is so low that basic
human needs can't be met. Poverty-stricken people and families might go without
proper housing, clean water, healthy food, and medical attention. Each nation may
have its own threshold that determines how many of its people are living in
poverty.

Types of poverty

1. Absolute poverty (extreme or abject poverty): This involves the scarcity of

basic requirements such as food, clean water, health, shelter, education and
information. Those who belong to absolute poverty tend to struggle to live and
experience a lot of child deaths from preventable diseases like malaria, cholera and
water-contamination related diseases. Absolute Poverty is usually common in
developing countries.

It was first introduced in 1990, the “dollar a day” poverty line measured absolute
poverty by the standards of the world's poorest countries. Despite being
controversial among different countries the World Bank in October 2015, reset it
to $1.90 a day as an absolute poverty line.

2. Relative Poverty: It is defined from the social perspective that is living standard
compared to the economic standards of population living in surroundings. Hence it
is a measure of income inequality. For example, a family can be considered poor if
it cannot afford vacations, or cannot buy presents for children at Christmas, or
cannot send its young to the university.

3. Situational Poverty: It is a temporary type of poverty based on occurrence of

an adverse event like environmental disaster, job loss and severe health problem.

4. Generational Poverty: It is the one which is handed over to individual and

families from one generation to the one. This is more complicated as there is no
escape because the people are trapped in its cause and unable to access the tools
required getting out of it.

5. Rural Poverty: This one occurs in rural areas where we experience low
population. It is the area where there are less job opportunities, less access to
services, less support for disabilities and quality education opportunities. People
are tending to live mostly on the farming and other menial work available to the
surroundings.

CAUSEA OF POVERTY

1. Inequality and marginalization

For a population to escape poverty, all groups must be involved in economic,

social and political spheres. Example equal involvement in a decision-making
and education
Gender inequality based on race or tribal affiliations are all economic and social
inequalities that mean the same thing: Little to no access to the resources needed
to live a full, productive life. When combined with different combinations of
vulnerability and hazards which comprise the rest of this list — a marginalized
community may become even more vulnerable to the cycle of poverty.

2. Conflict

Conflict is one of the today’s cause of poverty. Large-scale, prolonged violence,

as we’ve seen in areas like Libya and Syria can grind society to a halt, destroying
infrastructure and causing people to flee (often with nothing but the clothes on
their backs). In its tenth year of conflict, Syria’s middle class has been all
destroyed, and over 80% of the population now lives below the poverty line.

But even short periods of violence can have huge impacts on communities that
are already struggling. For example, if farmers are worried about their crops
being stolen, they won’t invest in planting. (Development is a function of
peace, inter alia.)

3. Hunger, malnutrition, and stunting

You might think that poverty causes hunger (and you would be right), but hunger
is also a cause and maintainer of poverty. If a people don’t get enough food,
they’ll lack the strength and energy needed to work and leave them more
susceptible to illness that prevents them from getting to work.

5. Little or no access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene..

Many societies especially in underdeveloped countries don’t have access to clean
water at home. This means that people (women and girls) collectively spend
many hours every day walking long distances to fetch water. That precious time
could be used working, or getting an education to help secure a job later in life.

Contaminated water can also lead to a host of waterborne diseases, ranging from
the chronic to the life-threatening. Poor water infrastructure such as sanitation
and hygiene facilities can compound this, or create other barriers to escaping
poverty, such as keeping girls out of school during menstrual periods.
6. Climate Change
Climate change creates hunger, whether through too little water (drought) or too
much (flooding), and its effects contribute to the cycle of poverty in several
other ways including disproportionately affecting women, creating refugees, and
even influencing conflict. Once the World Bank estimateed that climate
change has the power to push more than 100 million people into poverty over the
next decade.

Many of the world’s poorest populations rely on farming or hunting and

gathering to eat and earn a living; for example in Tanzania 80% is basically
agrarian. They often have only just enough food and assets to last through the
next season, and not enough reserves to fall back on in the event of a poor
harvest. So when climate changes or natural disasters leave millions of people
without food, it pushes them further into poverty, and can make recovery even
more difficult

7. Lack of Education
Not every person without an education is living in extreme poverty. But most of
the extremely poor don’t have an education. There are many barriers to
education around the world, including a lack of money for uniforms and books, a
bias against girls’ education, or many of the other causes of poverty mentioned
here.

8. Poor Public Works and Infrastructure

Imagine that you have to go to work, but there are no roads to get you there. Or
heavy rains have flooded your route and made it impossible to travel. A lack of
infrastructure such as roads, bridges, airports and many others can isolate
communities living in rural areas and keeping families in poverty.

EFFECTS OF POVERTY
Poverty stretches across the globe affecting almost half of the world’s population.
The effects of poverty are revolving one result leading to another consequence. To
fully understand the effects of poverty, the causes have to be rooted out to develop
strategies to end hunger and starvation.
1. Crime, it is unquestionable that crime ranks high among the effects of
poverty. There’s an old proverb that says, “If a man doesn’t work, he doesn’t
eat.” That’s not the case for a large number of people living in poverty. Lack
of economic opportunity leads to impoverishment which then leads to crime.

2. Unemployment and very low incomes create an environment where kids

can't simply go to school. As for those who can actually go to school, they
simply don't see how hard work can improve their life as they see their
parents fail to meet their requirements.

3. Poor health; Globally, millions suffer from poverty-related health

conditions as infectious diseases ravage the lives of an estimated 14 million
people a year and are of the top effects of poverty. These diseases are
contracted through sources like contaminated water, the absence of water
and sanitation, and lack of access to proper healthcare.

4. Lack of Education; there is a direct correlation between low academic

performance and poverty. Children who are exposed to extreme levels of
poverty have difficulty with cognitive development, speech, and managing
stress, which leads to adverse behavior. In some areas children have to leave
school to work to help provide additional income for their families.
Where there’s poverty, there’s lack of education, joblessness, poor health etc.
“…???Think on how can we get rid of the top effects of poverty in our societies???....”