GENDER Issues In TANZANIA:

Gender is a developmental issue in that the existing gender imbalances and inequalities in the society prevent the society from realizing its full potential in all the activities of development in economic, social, and political dimensions. The government is in the process of making sure that gender issues are integrated in planning and budgeting, in order to strengthen the relationship between men and women, which the main thrust in development. Thus, without a strong relationship on both sides that will reduce the pace of development. The Tanzania development vision 2025 aims at achieving a high quality livelihood for its People attain good governance through the rule of law and develop a strong and competitive economy. In order to attain that gender equality and the empowerment of women in all socio-economic and political relations and culture are considered. Gender is Mainstreamed in all aspects of Development to promote National economy, political, socio and culture. In Tanzania it is estimated that women especially rural women provide 80 percent of labour force in rural area and producing 60 percent of food production. Though, they are the main producers of cash crops, the environment does not allow them to own their own wealth. Women do not have decision on the reproductive issues for example most women cannot decide on the number of children in the family though they are the ones playing a big role in child rearing. Gender patterns in employment, in farm and non farm activities has changed in Tanzania during the last ten years, as an increasing number of women have become active in market-oriented activities, and more responsible for providing cash needs of the household. Women are in the forefront in expanding micro and small enterprises in what is often referred to as the informal sector. Gender and Employment Women and men have been found to enter the labour force in different ways, and on different terms, not only in Tanzania, but worldwide. Differences are found between women and men, as well as among different groups of women (rural-urban; rich-poor; educated - noneducated) and men. Certain kinds of work have been stereotyped as being male or female, because of the socialization process on the division of labour which stipulates different roles for men and women. Most rural women carry water, firewood and farm produce on their heads, take care of children, cook and farm. Gendered assumptions, however, contribute to a process whereby most women are allocated low paying, unskilled or lesser skilled work in both the formal and the informal sectors of the money economy. The terms upon which women and men compete for employment are set by wider social relations, including cultural, economic and political arenas. These include the assumption that a womans primary commitment is to care for a family at home, in the reproductive sphere of life; and that each woman depends on a male provider for cash needs. The skills label itself is usually arbitrary, and culturally defined. Skills associated with women tend to be undervalued, and defined as unskilled, even when they entail complex actions and thought processes, such as child care, subsistence farming, agro-processing and the like.

Legal Capacity In Tanzania womens legal and human rights were constrained by inadequate legal literacy among women. The main reason being that the existing legal system does not reach the majority of women who live in rural areas. There is also discriminatory application of statutory laws, inadequate legislative protective mechanism such as protection orders, baring orders and safety orders in the legal system and insensitive investigations and prosecution of cases involving violence against women and children. Like many societies in Africa, customary laws and practices remain discriminatory against women on issues of property inheritance particularly on land, as well as institutionalised violence against women e.g. wife battering, rape, female genital mutilation and the existence, side by side, of a multitude of statutory, religious and customary laws that might be conflicting. To get away with the situation, the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania committed itself to improve womens legal capacity through legal literacy schemes and mass campaigns to educate women and men on womens human rights. The objective was to enhance the status of women through increased knowledge of their legal and human rights. The Government also put in place a mechanism within the legal system that intends to protect women and children. This incorporates human rights teaching in school as well as in adult education programmes. Emphasis on para-legal training so as to offer women extra help at their first point of call in issues affecting their legal rights since the existed legal system did not reach many women especially in the rural areas. The Government in collaboration with NGOs has been working to remove discriminatory provisions in existing laws, which do not grant the rights and freedom of women. The Government planned to redraft inheritance Laws, the Marriage Act and follows up the convention on the rights of the child. The Government is in the process currently establishing a Commission on Human Rights in Tanzania. The objective of starting this commission was to co-ordinate the strategies for promoting ways of fighting against violation of human rights. The Government has passed several laws in favour of women i.e. Sexual Offences Special Provisions Act of 1998, the Land Law Act of 1999 and Village Land Act of 1999. The first Law protects women, girls and children from sexual harassment and abuse. The last two laws repeal and replace previous legislations on land matters thus enabling women to enjoy equal rights with men in access, ownership and control of land. To complement all the above activities, publicity was promoted by using Mass Media in sensitising and making the public aware of the Legal System. The Government and a number of NGOs have identified and spoken on several areas where womens rights are still violated. They have also worked to sensitise the public as well as women issues of gender violence. However, the Government has encountered some constraints in the efforts to enhance legal capacity to grassroots women. These include financial incapability to sensitize the grassroot women on their rights and to provide legal assistance in front of the courts of law.

Economic Empowerment of Women and Poverty Eradication In Tanzania about 60 percent of women in Tanzania live in absolute poverty. This is a result of the increasing poverty among the rural and urban population generally, the growing gap between the rich and poor; women and men; and among women themselves. In the rural sector and the poor urban suburbs, women carry a heavier burden because by tradition, women lack property rights and they also lack adequate knowledge on existing credit facilities. Due to their low education level, their knowledge

and skills on how to manage their work is generally low. Most of women also depend on poor technology, which consume their time and energy. To overcome this situation, the United Republic of Tanzania committed itself to enhance womens economic capacity through making credit facilities available to a majority of women. Building and supporting women entrepreneurial skill, improving their management capabilities, increase training and access to technology. NGOs for credit to women have increased since the 4th World Women Conference in Beijing. A number of NGOs and donor agencies have made serious efforts to advance credit to women at the village level. Women have been trained on credit management in general. These efforts have increased participation of women in income generation projects. On constraint is lack of financial resources for monitoring utilisation of funds. The other constraint is the large number of the credit needy groups which the available funds, cannot suffice. What still has to be done is to strengthen NGOs so that they are able to provide credit to more beneficiaries and also to find ways that NGOs can be selfsustaining. The Government has advised and urged private financial institutions to give credit to women. More opportunities have been provided for entrepreneurial skills training and in simple technology such as food processing and textiles. Most of the beneficiaries of the credit funds are urban based and the credit processing is cumbersome. The Government will put extra effort so that more women can take part in productive economic activities by way of credit facilitation. It will for example work harder to encourage private financiers to give credit to women by acting as one of their guarantors. The Government will also intensify efforts to look for markets for womens produce. Moreover, the Government in collaboration with NGOs is embarking on gender mainstreaming the planning and budgetary process in all sectors. The Government will intensify efforts to encourage women to participate in International Trade Fairs so that a wider audience sees their products. The number of women participating in International Trade Fairs has been increasing from 100 in 1996 to 200 in 1999 and the quality of their products has improved. Efforts to mobilise women to participate in International Trade Fair have been done by the Government and NGOs dealing with poverty alleviation and businesswomen association. However, the Government and NGOs still need to conduct training on production of quality products and marketing skills; sensitise women on involvement of women in International Trade Fairs; open showrooms for agricultural produce and manufacturing products at all levels. The Government needs to conduct studies on investment opportunities for women and what the obstacles to credit are; promote the establishment of a womens bank that will give women investors the required priority in credit. The Government need as well to educate women on available credit facilities; encourage more women to participate in savings schemes; encourage urban women entrepreneur to invest in rural poverty alleviation programmes and; prepare and disseminate credit information for women in the informal sector To implement the Beijing platform for Action the Government worked also at identification of women entrepreneurs for training in skills for entrepreneurial and business management skills in the informal sector. The Government aimed at training 20 percent of women entrepreneurs each year. The number of women entrepreneurs trained has been increasing but has not reached the planned 20 percent. One of the constraints is the lack of data on the number of women involved in this scheme, making it hard to gauge the impact of Governments efforts. However, the Government still

needs to increase its efforts to train more entrepreneurial women to reach the 20 percent goal it had set. The Government needs to embark on research so as to get data on the number of women who are trained and assess the impact this has had on their skills. Since income generating activities increase womens work, individual and private institutions are encouraged to develop and promote appropriate and affordable technology, that will ease the womens work load particularly those directed at making domestic and farm labour less strenuous. The Government has used several strategies to improve the economic empowerment of women. The first strategy was to make access and equitable control of means of production possible for women. The Government therefore revised the National Land Policy of 1995 and enacted the Land Law Act of 1999 as well as the Village Act of 1999. This has enabled women to own clan and family land on equal rights with men. The Government working with NGOs and international donor agencies have made a step to educating men and women on the importance of women owning land and other means of production. The role of women and their contributions at the family and community levels in the development process have been emphasised. The other constraint still to be addressed is educating the society about these changes and how women can benefit from these changes. The major constraint lies in the traditional norms and culture. It is hard to change attitudes in the society. The main thrust is to embark on gender sensitisation to influence change attitude of the society. The Government plans to conduct research with the view to identify NGOs and strengthen their management and outreach capacities. There has been technical support in agriculture. The Government has called for and encouraged donors to support research on the use of natural and traditional pesticides. Women are now more involved in the fish and bee keeping business, both increasing access to natural resources. The constraint is the traditional beliefs that women cannot carry commercial activities. Efforts still need to be intensified so that women have better access to natural resources. It is important that the public be gender sensitised on resources mobilisation, ownership and management so as to eradicate poverty. Women Political Empowerment and Decision Making Traditionally the position of women in Tanzania has been low compared to men. Women were not expected to influence the decision-making processes from domestic level to the national level. In the family attitudes, which consider men as heads of households, exists. These attitudes are rigidly based on patriarchal structures, which limit women voices from influencing allocation of domestic resources. At national level, the existing attitudes influence the election and appointment of women to high profile positions and hence limit womens voices from impacting decision making and the planning process. The Government of Tanzania recognises that womens advancement and achievement of gender equality are a matter of human rights and a condition to social justice. The Government of Tanzania reaffirms its commitment to enhancement of womens rights for national and world progress. The Government has rectified the convention on the elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Furthermore, the Government of Tanzania reaffirms its commitment to the Beijing Platform for Action that upholds the Convention for total elimination of all kinds of discrimination against women and all other international human rights instruments calling for gender equality. Promotion of women participation in politics and decision making is among the four critical areas of concern for Tanzania.

The Government has changed regulations and taken affirmative action to include women in decision making. The Parliament passed a Bill in 200 to increase the seats. In the local Government councils where women are assured of 33 percent of seats while in the Union Parliament women are assured of 20 percent of the seats. The Government has planned to increase the participation of women in politics to 30 percent by the year 2005.In the 2000 elections women were mobilised to contest for both constituency seats and special seats for women within the 30 percent set aside in parliament. Extra efforts were to be made to ensure that as large as possible proportion of women register for the elections both as voters and candidates. Media campaigns and public meetings for awareness creation were part of the strategy to achieve this. The second thrust was on increasing the number of women in decision making positions and this was to be achieved through Government appointments and other public structures. The Cabinet Decision no 23 of 1996 among other issues endorsed for implementation the increase of women in all decision making levels such as Board of Directors, Heads of Institutions, and Commissioners and in national delegations. The other strategy was gender mainstreaming the civil service and creation of a database on women and their qualifications for use by appointing authorities. Several activities were embarked on in order to make 30 percent of leadership women. Activities included conducting mass media campaigns, workshops and seminars to motivate women to contest for leadership positions; development of womens database and directorate of women advancement in key ministries and women units in the regions and districts within Government structure. Also monitoring implementation of the 1996 Cabinet decision on appointment of women into political and public services Gender mainstreaming the civil service; and review the civic subject syllabus at all levels of education to incorporate skill development in leadership. The multiparty democracy existing in Tanzania in the period of implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action also strengthened the conducive environment for establishment of civil organisations. Numerous women NGOs and CBOs have been established alongside women wings in all political parties registered in the country. These women NGOs and women wings in the political parties provide for a forum to women to address not only social and economic issues but also political issues. The constitutional reform exercise going on in the country provides yet another opportunity to include womens rights in the supreme law of the land. The advent of political pluralism in Tanzania increased in the political arena in line with the provisions of the constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania as amended from time to time. The constitution recognises womens capacity and the right to participate in politics, social and economic life of the country. The right to vote and the right to stand for election are provided equally for men and women. This was practised successfully in the 2000 general elections. This is a clear indication that there is a conducive environment for women to participate freely and equally with men in politics and decision making in Tanzania. Improve Womens Access to Education, Training and Employment Education is a key to liberation and an important tool to alleviate socio-economic problems. Women face numerous constraints to access education and training at all levels. The problems include the unfriendly pedagogy especially in the teaching of mathematics, technical and science subjects, which require competitiveness and some degree of assertiveness which girls often lack. Truancy, pregnancy, economic hardships and early marriages constrain girls from completing their schooling. Existing social attitudes favour and promote boys education and pay less interest in the education of girls.

The Government committed to increase women access to education in order to narrow the gap between boys and girls in primary and secondary schools. For example while the enrolment of girls in primary schools is 50 percent, in secondary schools girls are 46 percent of the total enrolment. Less and less girls are enrolled in higher learning institutions (at the university girls are 17 percent of the total enrolment). One of the major constraints facing women in gainful employment is low education inadequate economically productive skills. The focus of the Government has been to increase women enrolment into vocational, tertiary and higher education. The Government also restructured education and training at this level so that it relates to employment creation. Several actions has been taken by the Government as follows: i.Establishment of girls vocational, training centres and technical secondary schools. ii.Increase of female trainers in vocational and technical schools. iii.Carry out-skills and labour market survey. iv.Identify and remove gender stereotyping in textbooks and in other learning materials. v.Train instructors to be gender sensitive. vi.Sensitise parents to encourage and facilitate girls to join technical institutions vii.Expose aspiring girls to successful professional women role models and study tours. viii.Introduction of courses and training in skills potentially for providing gainful employment to women. ix.Increase boarding facilities for girls. x.Reform of curriculum to include a wider range of skills, technical entrepreneurship skills and cross cutting issues. xi.Adoption of target oriented curricula with special focus on women and girls. xii.Introduction of short courses, open collages at flexible hours and location so as to meet the employment promotion demands of women who have time constraints. xiii.Establishment of training nurseries and or workshops so as to offer apprenticeship facilities for women. xiv.Establishment of training fund for women to increase their managerial and decision making capabilities. It is a fact that girls and women including those who complete schooling and training do not get equal access to employment opportunities. Constraints facing women in employment include lack of child care facilities both day care and nursery schools. Specific health and industrial safety provisions tailored to the realisation of the womens practical gender needs. To alleviate these problems, the Government intends to: Improve and monitor sanitation facilities in working places with a gender perspective. Facilitate and support establishment of Day Care Centres for working mothers. Induce private sector employers to allow breast-feeding breaks. Intensify the sensitisation of employers on women development issues. Intensify womens education in informal sector on relevant governing rules and regulations. Enforce safety regulations at places of work for both men and women. Review the current rules and regulations, which are unfavourable to women in the informal sector. Review Labour law and other related laws Research on patterns and characteristics of women employment both in the formal and informal sectors as well as dissemination of gender disagregated data in employment. Educate the civil servants on the schemes of service, rules and regulations; improvement of job opportunities.

OPPORTUNITIES Gender mainstreaming and balancing is ought to consider supportive and negative forces in the national social, political and cultural environment. Four positive forces are worth mentioned. First, Tanzania has formed a Legal Reform Commission to investigate and recommend to government oppressive and discriminative laws for deletion or reform. Secondly, Tanzania has in place a government structure, which has a national, regional, local government, ward, and village levels that can facilitate mass gender awareness sensitization. Thirdly, Tanzania currently enjoys a conducive political environment, which recognizes and practices gender equality. Finally, Tanzania is a signatory to the Beijing Platform of Action, and the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and an active implementer of the two conventions.