The SIGI Tanzania shows that women and girls in Tanzania face high levels of discrimination in social institutions – the established set of formal and/or informal norms and practices that govern behaviour in society. SIGI Tanzania’s average score is 35.1 Furthermore, results show that discrimination in social institutions is higher in Zanzibar, with a score of 44 than in Mainland Tanzania, which has a score of 35. Similarly, women and girls encounter higher levels of discrimination in social institutions in rural areas (38) than in urban ones (32). Across Tanzania’s 31 regions, there are large variations in levels of discrimination among social institutions (Figure 1). This variation reflects the persistence of certain discriminatory social norms and practices in certain areas of the country, an understanding of which should guide the design and implementation of policies to promote women’s and girls’ empowerment in different regions.
SIGI Country Report for Tanzania
Assessment and recommendations
SIGI Tanzania reveals high levels of discrimination in social institutions
Figure 1. Discrimination in social institutions vary across Tanzania's regions
Note: SIGI scores range from 0 to 100, 0 indicating no discrimination and 100 indicating absolute discrimination.
Source: (OECD, 2021[1]), SIGI Tanzania database, https://stats.oecd.org.
The SIGI Tanzania findings show that certain discriminatory social norms and practices are more salient in the country. The most acute levels of discrimination were found in the “Discrimination in the family” and the “Restricted civil liberties” dimensions (Figure 2). At a more granular level, some of SIGI Tanzania’s 17 indicators reveal higher levels of discrimination: these pertain to intra-household dynamics, the practice of bride price, violence against women, women’s reproductive autonomy and freedom of movement.
Figure 2. Discrimination in social institutions in Tanzania is more acute in the family sphere
Note: SIGI scores range from 0 to 100, 0 indicating no discrimination and 100 indicating absolute discrimination.
Source: (OECD, 2021[1]), SIGI Tanzania database, https://stats.oecd.org.
High scores for indicators in the family sphere – specifically, “Decision-making”, “Household responsibilities” and “Bride price”– are the product of discriminatory practices and social norms. Across Tanzania, men remain the primary decision makers within the household including decisions related to children’s health and education, household spending and purchase and household income. 37% of Tanzania’s population identifies the male household head as the sole decision maker for basic consumption spending, such as buying food or clothes, and 74% of the population agrees that men should have the final word on important decisions in the home. Regarding household responsibilities, women in Tanzania spend on average more than three times as much time as men on unpaid care and domestic work, with the majority (more than 60%) of the population believing that tasks such as cooking for the household, cleaning the household, cleaning the bathroom/toilet and washing clothes are exclusively women’s responsibilities. Finally, the practice of bride price remains widespread: for 90% of married women in Tanzania, marriage negotiations involved the payment of a bride price. While the practice of bride price may not directly disfavour women, the view that paying a bride price entails a degree of ownership negatively affects women’s status in society and the family. Indeed, three-quarters of the population in Tanzania agree that a man gains ownership of his wife by paying the bride price.
High levels of discrimination are also found in regard to women’s physical autonomy – specifically concerning the indicators for “Violence against women” and “Reproductive autonomy” – and women’s freedom of movement. Gender-based violence against women is widespread in Tanzania with half of all Tanzanian women having survived some form of violence at least once in their lives. The findings of the SIGI Tanzania show that 48% of women in Tanzania have survived intimate partner violence (IPV) over their lifetime, and one in four women has experienced IPV over the past 12 months (23%). This violence is encouraged by the widely held belief that IPV against women can be justified. Half of Tanzania’s population agreed with the view that a husband is justified in hitting or beating his wife if she burns food, goes out without telling him, neglects the children or argues with him. Women in Tanzania also face restrictions on their freedom of movement, a social prescription with strong link with violence. Half of Tanzania’s women do not feel safe when walking alone at night in the neighbourhood where they live, and more than 90% of the population agrees that a woman should ask her husband or partner for permission if she wants to go to public places.2 Finally, women’s control over their bodies, notably their fertility, is constrained. In Tanzania, 38% of women who are not trying to have a child with their partner are not using any method of contraceptive to avoid or delay pregnancy, and 32% of the population disagrees or strongly disagrees that a woman should have the right to decide whether to use contraception.
Discriminatory social institutions have a profound impact on women’s empowerment in Tanzania
Despite impressive progress over the last 20 years, Tanzania still faces significant barriers to the achievement of the SDGs and its gender equality-related targets. Among these challenges are discriminatory social institutions – formal and informal laws, social norms and practices – that restrict women’s and girls’ empowerment and access to rights and opportunities. Such discriminatory social institutions underpin unequal outcomes across all spheres of life including employment, entrepreneurship, health and education.
Women’s economic empowerment is constrained in Tanzania by discriminatory social norms, attitudes and stereotypes
Women’s economic status in Tanzania is characterised by marginalisation in the labour market, lower job status compared to men, and limited ownership of agricultural land and financial assets. In Tanzania, women’s labour force participation rate3 stands at 65%, with 58% of women employed. In comparison, 78% of working-age men are in the labour force and 71% are employed. A significant proportion of women work as unpaid family workers or own-account workers. Such vulnerable and informal employment leaves many women with limited social protection, poor contract stability and diminished access to benefits such as maternity leave. Furthermore, the labour force is segregated along gendered lines. Women are overrepresented in the wholesale and retail sector and accommodation and food services, while men are overrepresented and significantly more likely to work in the manufacturing, construction and transportation sectors. Women are also marginalised in the agricultural sector, which accounts for one-third of Tanzania’s GDP and two-thirds of all employment. Women’s rates of ownership of agricultural land remain significantly lower than those of men, especially in rural areas and regions where the agricultural sector is dominant.
Discriminatory social norms, barriers to education and traditional views of gender roles all undermine women’s status and position in the labour market. Social norms positioning men as the main decision makers over women’s economic activities hinder women’s autonomy in the economic sphere and may affect their choice of economic activities. For instance, 88% of the population agrees with the view that women should ask for their husband’s permission to have a paid job outside the home. Such traditional practices and beliefs also reinforce women’s responsibilities for unpaid care and domestic work in addition to paid labour, which limits their ability to pursue economic and educational activities aimed at advancement. Discriminatory social norms are also at the root of serious inequalities in land ownership. In particular, customs stipulating that land must be owned and controlled by men shape persistent inheritance practices by favouring sons over daughters and other men in the family over widows, while social norms simultaneously establish men as the primary decision makers in families (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Discriminatory social norms undermine women’s inheritance rights and limit their ownership of agricultural land
Note: Panel A and B present fitted values from two OLS regressions performed at the regional level on the share of women who own agricultural land. The main independent variables are the share of the population holding discriminatory attitudes towards the equal inheritance rights of daughters (Panel A) and the share of the population holding discriminatory attitudes towards the equal inheritance rights of widows (Panel B). Control variables include urbanisation rate and localisation in Mainland or Zanzibar. Coefficients and marginal effects of discriminatory attitudes towards the equal inheritance rights of widows of daughters are significant at 10%.
Source: (OECD, 2021[1]), SIGI Tanzania database, https://stats.oecd.org.
Discriminatory social norms in the private sphere uphold imbalances between women and men and girls and boys within the household
The domestic sphere is characterised by deeply embedded inequalities between women and men and girls and boys. High rates of girl child marriage, gendered divisions of unpaid care and domestic work, and unequal decision-making practices reveal the extent of these inequalities. Although the prevalence of girl child marriage has declined over the last 50 years, the practice remains an acute problem in Tanzania, especially in rural areas. On average, 19% of women aged 15 years and older have been married before the age of 18 years. In regard to unpaid care and domestic work, women in Tanzania spend 4.4 hours per day on unpaid care and domestic work, compared to just 1.4 hours for men. While this work ensures women play a key role in household functioning, they remain marginalised from critical decisions concerning the household, its members and its finances.
Regarding girl child marriage, high rates of social acceptance of child marriage and bride price contribute to the persistence of this practice (Figure 4). At the national level, 19% of the population believe that it is appropriate for a girl to marry before the age of 18 years, while only 6% of the population consider this custom appropriate for boys of the same age. Moreover, the practice of bride price, which is widespread in Tanzania, may encourage the practice of girl child marriage, especially in contexts where economic resources are limited, as girl child marriage may be perceived as a means to alleviate a family’s economic burden. Furthermore, social norms guiding decision-making around marriage marginalise both women and girls, placing the authority and final say in the hands of men. These decision-making norms extend across all household decisions and are widely supported in Tanzania: about three-quarters of the population agree with the view that men should have the final word on important decisions in the home. Finally, there is also wide support for gendered concepts of unpaid care and domestic work, ensuring that these critical tasks fall mainly on the shoulders of women and girls. More than 60% of the population believes that tasks such as cooking and cleaning should be the responsibility of women, and not men, within the household.
Figure 4. Girl child marriage is perpetuated by social acceptance of the practice
Note: In Panel A, social acceptance of girl marriage is calculated as the share of the population considering that the minimum age at which a girl should be allowed to marry is below 18 years. Panel B shows the correlation between social acceptance of girl child marriage and girl child marriage rates. Data presented are fitted values from an OLS regression at the regional level with social acceptance of girl child marriage as the dependent variable and child marriage rates as the main independent variable. Child marriage rates are calculated as the share of all women aged 15 years and older who have been married before the age of 18 years. Coefficient and marginal effects are significant at 10%. Control variables include urbanisation rate, localisation in Mainland or Zanzibar, levels of education and wealth levels.
Source: (OECD, 2021[1]), SIGI Tanzania database, https://stats.oecd.org.
Discriminatory social norms are at the root of restrictions on women’s and girls’ physical autonomy
Violence against women and girls is widespread in Tanzania. More than half of all women in the country have suffered from at least one form of violence in their lifetime. Over the past year, 23% of ever-partnered women in Tanzania have experienced some form of IPV, and 48% of women have experienced this form of violence at least once in their lifetime. Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is a specific form of gender-based violence used against women and girls which is being progressively abandoned in Tanzania but remains prevalent in some of the country’s regions. More than 2 million Tanzanian women report having experienced FGM/C. In six regions,4 the prevalence rate of FGM/C exceeds 30%. Finally, rates of unmet needs for family planning as well as adolescent pregnancy remain high in Tanzania reflecting limitations on women’s reproductive autonomy. On average, 38% of women of reproductive age report having an unmet need for family planning in Tanzania, and among women who have at least one child, 33% had their first child before they were 20 years of age.
At the root of violence against women and girls are social norms and practices promoting the acceptance of this violence as well as power imbalances between women and men. Indeed, IPV is seen as acceptable under various circumstances5 by half of the population. This wide social acceptance of violence against women perpetuates violence and is strongly associated with higher prevalence rates of IPV (Figure 5). Also underpinning violence is wide acceptance of restrictive masculine norms that promote men’s control over women and women’s bodies. These norms also extend to reproductive choices – 37% of the population declared that women should not have the right to decide whether to use contraception. In the face of limited decision-making power and spousal opposition, many women in Tanzania use contraceptives covertly.
Figure 5. Attitudes justifying IPV are closely related to higher rates of violence against women
Note: Attitudes justifying IPV are calculated as the share of the population who strongly agrees or agrees that a man is justified in hitting or beating his wife for at least one of the following circumstances: if she burns the food, if she goes out with telling him, if she neglects the children or if she argues with him. IPV is defined as the share of women aged 15 years and above who have survived intimate partner violence over their lifetime. Data presented are predicted values from OLS regression performed, at the regional level, on the share of women who have survived intimate partner violence over their lifetime. The share of the population justifying the use of intimate partner violence is the main independent variable. Control variables include urbanisation rate, average age of the population, average number of children, several variables on marriage status and type of marriage, variables on educational level and variables on level of wealth in the regions. Coefficients and marginal effects of attitudes justifying violence against women are significant at 1%.
Source: (OECD, 2021[1]), SIGI Tanzania database, https://stats.oecd.org.
Policy recommendations to address gender inequalities and promote women’s empowerment in Tanzania
Despite important progress made by Tanzania on various fronts – for example, on girl child marriage and female genital mutilation/cutting – gender equality is still far from being achieved. Since 2000, the country has made great strides and has strengthened its policy framework, notably through dedicated national development plans that prioritise women’s empowerment and take a gender-sensitive approach. Yet, significant structural challenges continue to negatively affect women’s and girls’ opportunities and rights and constrain their empowerment. To address current gender gaps and inequalities, Tanzanian policy makers, in co‑ordination with all stakeholders, need to reinforce efforts to harness the potential of women and girls across three thematic areas: women’s economic empowerment, intra-household dynamics and women’s physical autonomy. The thematic analysis developed in Chapters 2, 3 and 4 provide specific recommendations for the Government of Tanzania to address current gender gaps and inequalities in these three areas. The thematic chapters also provide specific actions organised around three foundational pillars and eight objectives (Figure 6).
Figure 6. Thematic policy recommendations
Beyond these thematic recommendations, the SIGI Country Report for Tanzania highlights the key role played by discriminatory social norms and practices in perpetuating women’s inferior position. To address these deeply embedded discriminatory norms, the present report proposes four high‑level and long‑term actions to guide Tanzania’s policy design.
Update laws and eliminate legal provisions that discriminate against women and girls.
Design, implement and support initiatives that seek to transform discriminatory social norms into gender-equitable ones.
Integrate a gender perspective across all government ministries and sectors, including gender-responsive budgeting.
Continue investment in sex-disaggregated data collection to identify gender gaps and gain a better understanding of how social norms evolve.
Update laws and eliminate legal provisions that discriminate against women and girls
Discriminatory social institutions are rooted in and upheld by formal laws that establish unequal conditions for women and men. Ensuring that legal frameworks do not create inequalities between men and women and do not erect formal barriers to women’s empowerment is therefore a fundamental prerequisite to addressing deeply entrenched discriminatory social norms. Analysis of the SIGI Country Report for Tanzania reveals that legislative action is required across specific indicators. Legislators and policy makers in Tanzania should focus in particular on laws covered by the following indicators:
Access to agricultural land. Ensure that legal provisions in favour of gender equality established by the Land Act and the Village Land Act are not undermined by other policies such as the National Land Policy.
Inheritance. Consider a full review of inheritance laws and regimes to enact uniform legislation that protects the equal rights of women, especially widows and daughters, to inherit assets, in particular agricultural land.
Girl child marriage. Revise Education Act No. 25 (1978) to prohibit child marriage while at school, and amend the Law of Marriage Act to increase the age of marriage of girls from 14 to 18 to align it with the minimum age for boys (18 years). Consider enacting legislation in Zanzibar to legally introduce a minimum age for marriage of 18 years for boys and girls in alignment with international standards.
Violence against women. Enact legislation to amend the definition of domestic violence to cover physical, sexual, psychological and economic abuse, and ensure that the legal definition of rape provides protection from marital rape. Consider expanding the statute of limitations on sexual harassment beyond 60 days to allow victims/survivors more time to file complaints and to access justice. To address school-related violence, enact legislation to ban all corporal punishment in schools.
Female genital mutilation/cutting. Consider expanding current legislation prohibiting the practice of FGM/C on girls aged less than 18 years to cover women over the age of 18 years.
Abortion. Align the national legal framework on abortion with the Maputo Protocol.
Design, implement and support initiatives that seek to transform discriminatory social norms into gender-equitable ones
Addressing the root causes of gender inequality requires the transformation of social norms and the creation of an environment supportive of gender-equitable norms. In particular, the goal should be to promote gender-equitable norms of masculinities and a shift in girls’ and women’s status and roles within society. Particular attention should be paid to domains where women and girls in Tanzania face the strongest barriers, such as the priority areas identified in Chapter 1. However, regardless of the area of concern, all policies and programmes that seek to address discriminatory social norms and to induce transformative change share some common design and implementation features. These characteristics are essential preconditions for ensuring the progressive elimination of persistent discriminatory social norms:
Recognise that the transformation of social norms takes time and consistent commitment.
Prioritise multisectoral programmes alongside structural interventions.
Leverage opportunities for engagement within existing educational structures such as schools and health centres.
Engage with all relevant stakeholders at all levels – including gatekeepers – beyond specific target groups.
Include multiple programme components ranging from workshops and training to campaigns and so forth.
Ensure that programmes, activities and/or components are delivered by trained facilitators in the local language.
Recognise that the transformation of social norms takes time and consistent commitment
Realising gender equality through the transformation of discriminatory norms and attitudes requires time and consistent commitment. Funders of programmes and initiatives – notably the international donor community as well as private sector entities – must work closely with the entities in charge of designing and implementing specific interventions to allow for long-term programming over several years. This includes close co-operation not only with governmental structures but also civil society organisations. From the outset, any programme should budget for follow-up phases once the intervention has ended in order to monitor changes in attitudes and behaviours to ensure they are sustained over time.
Since 2015, i.e. for over five years, the “Land Tenure Activity” program has been implemented in Tanzania’s southern agricultural region with the aim to create stronger customary land rights and address the documentation gap on land. With the help of a digital mobile application, the participating district land offices demarcated land parcels and registered land certificates (certificates of customary right of occupancy). Results of the program evaluation show success in increasing women’s tenure security, alongside with decreased concerns about land grabbing and land boundary disputes (Persha and Patterson-Stein, 2021[2]).
Prioritise multisectoral programmes alongside structural interventions
Discriminatory social norms and practices have multidimensional impacts that often cut across different sectors – education, health, politics, the economy, etc. – requiring co-ordinated and multisectoral responses. To create positive synergies, Tanzania, alongside donors and development partners, should prioritise funding and implement interventions that address the shared drivers of discrimination. For instance, interventions aimed at addressing social norms that perpetuate girl child marriage may also yield benefits for and positive spill overs on women’s health and education given the intertwined nature of these issues (see Chapters 3 and 4).
At the same time, policies and programmes that seek to transform discriminatory social norms and promote gender-equitable norms should be complemented with structural programmes designed to ensure that shifts in attitudes result in changes in practice. For example, changes in the attitudes of parents regarding the importance of schooling for girls compared to boys, while important, would not be sufficient unless complemented by structural programmes to improve access to, and the affordability of, secondary schools across the country (Girls Not Brides, n.d.[3]).
The “Berhane Hewan” intervention was first implemented in Ethiopia and later scaled up in rural Tanzania, in the region of Tabora, as well as in Burkina Faso. Recognising the intertwined nature of girl child marriage and educational attainment, the objectives of the programme were two-fold: to delay girls’ age at marriage and to increase their secondary school attainment. The success of the programme was primarily attributable to community dialogues, the provision of free school material, the creation of school clubs and the implementation of a conditional asset transfer component whereby a goat was distributed to the participating family after the completion of the programme (Erulkar et al., 2020[4]).
Leverage opportunities for engagement within existing educational structures such as schools and health centres
Successful programme delivery requires effective partnerships. Stakeholders involved in designing and implementing programmes and policies that seek to sustainably change rigid gender norms and power imbalances should seek effective co-operation with existing educational structures and facilities including schools, health centres, community centres and more. These structures, which are already geared to provide knowledge, are well-positioned to offer gender-transformative programmes and services with adequate support and resources. Equipping schools, health centres and other community structures with knowledge on discriminatory social norms and gender transformative approaches, including through capacity building of teachers, school administrators, health care providers, and more, can be a key element in promoting a whole-of-society approach.
Launched in 2020, the “Scaling Up Family Planning Programme” will be implemented over five years in Zanzibar and Mainland Tanzania to strengthen existing structures’ capacity to provide integrated sexual and reproductive health services. To this end, the implementing NGO EngenderHealth partners with the Tanzanian Government to provide training to public healthcare providers, train healthcare workers on post-abortion care services, support health facilities to effectively allocate resources and train service providers on gender-transformative approaches (EngenderHealth, 2020[5]).
Engage with all relevant stakeholders at all levels – including gatekeepers – and beyond target groups
Both men and women in equal proportions adhere to discriminatory social norms that constrain women’s empowerment. Transforming attitudes, therefore, requires a whole-of-society approach that targets all individuals at all levels – from individuals and communities to national structures. In this regard, programmes and interventions designed to transform discriminatory social norms into gender-equitable ones should be carefully crafted to ensure all relevant stakeholders are taken into account and included from the outset. Among potential stakeholders, it is critical to engage systematically with both men and boys as well as women and girls, either together or separately. In addition, interventions should be aware of the key role played by gatekeepers such as traditional and/or religious leaders, teachers, health care providers and youth leaders. The social status of these individuals places them in a position to promote changes in social norms or maintain the status quo. Because social norms are collectively enforced, programmes limited to working with a single target group will be insufficient to achieve transformative change.
Since 2009, Uzikwasa, a civil society organisation, implements behaviour change campaigns in coastal Tanzania to reduce intimate partner violence. An evaluation of the programme showed that the awareness-raising campaigns, workshops and training for community leaders resulted in behaviour change at the individual level as well as the community level. The intervention provoked a change in attitudes and behaviour among women and girls, mostly with respect to knowledge about their rights and that violence is not justified, while men reported lower levels of use of violence as they learnt about what is classified as violence and its harmful effects. A general change of mind from blaming the victim towards blaming the perpetrator was reported. Community leaders played an important role in encouraging the reporting of violent incidents and providing support to victims/survivors (Lees, Marchant and Desmond, 2019[6]).
Engaging with men and boys as allies is particularly critical for the success of any policy or programme aiming to transform deeply entrenched discriminatory social norms. It is essential to delineate the benefits that gender equality may yield, not only for women and girls but for society as a whole, including men and boys. In this regard, it is critical to focus on norms of restrictive masculinities in order to transform them into gender-equitable masculine norms that promote healthy models of manhood. This approach requires the collection of specific data and the integration of these norms into the design of programmes and policies (OECD, 2021[7]).
MenEngage Africa (MEA), a regional network of the MenEngage Global Alliance, is comprised of 22 country networks spread across Africa, representing more than 300 NGOs working at the grassroots, national and regional levels. MEA members including MenEngage Tanzania work to promote positive masculinities and women’s and children’s rights while addressing issues such as gender-based violence, sexual abuse and child abuse by working directly with men and boys. MenEngage Tanzania creates an important community of practice and space for exchange among its 29 member groups and organisations (MenEngage, n.d.[8])
Include multiple programme components ranging from workshops and training to campaigns and so forth
Policies and programmes that seek to transform discriminatory norms and behaviours need to combine an array of different interventions to be effective. Intervention packages consisting of multiple components, including example workshops, leadership training, mentorship programmes, theatre, group discussions, communications campaigns and more, have proven effective in introducing more gender-equitable norms at both the community and individual levels (Lees, Marchant and Desmond, 2019[6]). Approaches that offer participants multiple ways to engage with gender-transformative learning sound be prioritised, whether undertaken by the public sector, civil society, the private sector and/or in partnership with these actors.
The “Lake Zone Youth Empowerment” programme supports marginalised young people, especially adolescent girls and young mothers, to improve their access to employment opportunities. The programme seeks to address and challenge negative attitudes towards adolescent mothers to reduce stigma and social isolation within communities. During focus group discussions, participants are encouraged to identify their “life aspirations”. Capacity development programmes, workshops, seminars, apprenticeships and outreach schemes are implemented to help the participants develop relevant skills, gain confidence and become valued members of their community (VSO, n.d.[9]).
Ensure that programmes, activities and components are delivered by trained facilitators in the local language
Activities and programmes that seek to transform social norms should be delivered by trained facilitators familiar with the material at hand and who understand the implications of the attitudes they are working to address. Capacity building in this regard is critical and will require strong partnerships with organisations or entities with proven experience in the field of interest. Moreover, it is essential that, when using pre-existing toolkits or procedures, they are adequately translated into Swahili or the local language and are adapted to the Tanzanian context.
The WARIDI project (2016–2021) was a five-year project implemented in the Wami-Ruvu and Rufiji river basins in Tanzania which aimed to promote, among other things, women's participation in water-related decision making. The project’s Uplifting Women’s Participation in Water-Related Decision-Making initiative specifically aimed to change social norms in this area and included the training of Community Facilitation Teams (CFTs) composed of three women and three men. The training of these CFTs was critical as they were tasked with facilitating sessions with community leaders and with community groups as well as community-wide sessions on topics related to gendered social norms to change these and support women’s voice in water-related governance (Eaton et al., 2021[10]).
Integrate a gender perspective across all government ministries and sectors, including gender-responsive budgeting
Tanzania’s government should maintain its efforts to systematically incorporate a gender perspective into national development strategies. Existing strategies and implementation plans such as Tanzania’s National Development Vision 2025 and the Zanzibar Development Vision 2050 already integrate gender equality as part of their core objectives but as a stand-alone objective, and thus fail to establish meaningful connections between gender equality and other objectives or priorities. Gender equality should be embedded into future strategies and plans from the outset as a fundamental cross-cutting element that feeds into each objective and policy priority, whether concerning the national economy, the environment, employment, natural resources or social services.
To guarantee effective implementation of gender-related objectives and priorities, each structure, branch and ministry of Tanzania’s different levels of government (national and local) should be responsible and accountable for women’s rights and gender issues within the range of its mandate. In order to efficiently account for the multi-dimensional aspect of gender inequality, including interconnections with social, environmental and economic factors, it is essential to ensure collaboration across multiple policy areas (health, education, social, economic) and different sectors (public and private), with the involvement of local and religious leaders. Line ministries in charge of specific areas (e.g. the workplace environment for the Ministry of Labour and education for the Ministry of Education) should work with local governments, civil society organisations, unions, associations, private companies and others to strengthen gender equality in their respective area of responsibilities, and address specific barriers that women and girls face. They should also collaborate closely with other line ministries to address multidimensional challenges or issues that fall under the purview of several ministries and stakeholders. For instance, it is essential that Tanzania’s Ministry of Health work closely with the Ministry of Education on the issue of adolescent pregnancies and school dropout rates as they are closely intertwined (see Chapter 3). This approach requires a clear division of responsibilities at the technical as well as the managerial level, encompassing planning, resource allocation, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, reporting and dissemination.
To guide and co-ordinate these efforts, a national technical advisory group on gender could be established with a mandate to provide support on women’s rights, capacity development, research and policy advice to line ministries and government bodies. Line ministries and bodies in charge of co-ordinating Tanzania’s gender mainstreaming efforts may not necessarily possess the adequate capacities, experience or knowledge to fully accomplish these tasks. For example, Tanzania’s National Economic Empowerment Council (NEEC) has put in place Gender Mainstreaming Guidelines, but these are limited to women’s economic empowerment – as gender mainstreaming is not NEEC’s core mandate. To overcome the potential weaknesses of line ministries, a national technical advisory group on gender placed under the umbrella of the NEEC, but focusing exclusively on gender mainstreaming, could provide direct advice to line ministries and other bodies. In particular, the group could leverage a network of appointed focal points in each of these structures to take charge of mainstreaming gender and ensure that a gender perspective is incorporated. Such a mechanism would allow for efficient assessment of the needs and objectives of different ministries and government structures with a view to developing comprehensive capacity-building plans and strategies with clear roles and responsibilities.
Tanzania should reinforce its commitments and efforts related to gender budgeting to effectively support gender mainstreaming across all levels of government – from national to local. The country has been a pioneer in East Africa and Africa as a whole in implementing gender-responsive budgeting and initiatives (OECD, 2021[11]). Since 2000, significant progress has been made with the establishment of a core gender budgeting team within the Ministry of Finance, the provision of gender-specific instructions to national and local government agencies in developing their budget, and the earmarking of funds by the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Labour to pilot the implementation of gender budgeting. Yet, assessment of Tanzania’s progress shows that gender budgeting has not been fully embedded in the government budget and that progress made by Zanzibar in adopting any kind of gender budgeting is limited (Stotsky, Kolovich and Kebhaj, 2016[12]). Renewed efforts involving all levels of government are therefore required.
Maintain investment in sex-disaggregated data collection to identify gender gaps and gain a better understanding of how social norms evolve
Tanzania must continue and strengthen ongoing efforts to produce more and better sex-disaggregated and gender data. Since 2008 and the development of the Tanzania Statistical Master Plan 2009/10 - 2013/14, Tanzania has recognised the importance of producing sex-disaggregated statistics that capture and measure gender-related issues and concerns in the country. The country’s national statistical system has made great progress in embedding and mainstreaming gender data within its main surveys and in generating regular key sex-disaggregated indicators, notably through Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), Household Budget Surveys (HBS) and/or Labour Force Surveys (LFS). These efforts should be continued, and additional human and financial support should be provided to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Office of the Chief Government Statistician (OCGS) to ensure that the quality of data produced remains high.
Integrating social norms and tracking their evolution over time is also critical. The SIGI Tanzania constitutes a first attempt from NBS and OCGS to measure discrimination in social norms and identify the deeply rooted barriers that constrain women’s empowerment. To monitor the changes emerging from interventions and policies aimed at addressing these discriminatory social norms and to ensure that efforts are sustained over the long term, NBS and OCGS should start integrating certain indicators collected for by the SIGI Tanzania on a systematic basis. This would allow for time-series analysis and comparison between different years. Collection of certain thematic social norms could also be embedded into certain specific surveys. For instance, Labour Force Surveys conducted by NBS and OCGS could incorporate a specific module dedicated to attitudes and social norms regarding women’s access to the labour market.
References
[10] Eaton, J. et al. (2021), “Gendered social norms change in water governance structures through community facilitation: Evaluation of the UPWARD intervention in Tanzania”, Frontiers in Sociology, Vol. 6/672989, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8287258.
[5] EngenderHealth (2020), EngenderHealth Launches UK-Supported Family Planning Programme with Tanzanian Government, http://www.engenderhealth.org/2020/03/13/engenderhealth-launches-uk-supported-family-planning-programme-with-tanzanian-government (accessed on 26 November 2021).
[4] Erulkar, A. et al. (2020), “Designing and Evaluating Scalable Child Marriage Prevention Programs in Burkina Faso and Tanzania: A Quasi-Experiment and Costing Study”, Global Health: Science and Practice, Vol. 8/1, pp. 68-81, https://doi.org/10.9745/ghsp-d-19-00132.
[3] Girls Not Brides (n.d.), Transform Social Sorms, http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/take-action/power-to-girls-campaign/transform-social-norms (accessed on 25 November 2021).
[13] ILO (n.d.), Indicator description: Labour force participation rate, https://ilostat.ilo.org/resources/concepts-and-definitions/description-labour-force-participation-rate.
[6] Lees, S., M. Marchant and N. Desmond (2019), “Addressing Intimate Partner Violence Using Gender-Transformative Approaches at a Community Level in Rural Tanzania: The UZIKWASA program”, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Vol. 36/13-14, pp. NP7791-NP7812, https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260519831373.
[8] MenEngage (n.d.), MenEngage Tanzania, http://menengage.org/regions/africa/tanzania.
[7] OECD (2021), Man Enough? Measuring Masculine Norms to Promote Women’s Empowerment, Social Institutions and Gender Index, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/6ffd1936-en.
[11] OECD (2021), SIGI 2021 Regional Report for Africa, Social Institutions and Gender Index, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/a6d95d90-en.
[1] OECD (2021), SIGI Tanzania database, https://stats.oecd.org.
[2] Persha, L. and J. Patterson-Stein (2021), Strengthening Women’s Land Rights in Rural Tanzania: Results from an Impact Evaluation of USAID’s Land Tenure Assistance Activity, http://www.land-links.org/2021/04/strengthening-womens-land-rights-in-rural-tanzania-results-from-an-impact-evaluation-of-usaids-land-tenure-assistance-activity (accessed on 26 November 2021).
[12] Stotsky, J., L. Kolovich and S. Kebhaj (2016), “Sub-Saharan Africa: A survey of gender budgeting efforts”, IMF Working Papers, No. WP/16/152, International Monetary Fund, Washington DC, http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2016/wp16152.pdf.
[9] VSO (n.d.), Empowering Tanzanian Girls and Young Mothers, http://www.vsointernational.org/our-work/resilient-livelihoods/employment-and-entrepreneurship/empowering-tanzanian-girls-and-young-mothers (accessed on 26 November 2021).
Notes
← 1. SIGI scores range from 0 to 100, with 0 indicating no discrimination and 100 indicating absolute discrimination.
← 2. Including a market place, a cinema, a restaurant, a bar, a hospital or health centre, a sports field, a religious place or a community meeting.
← 3. The labour force participation rate is calculated as the labour force divided by the total working-age population. The labour force refers to both employed and unemployed individuals. The working-age population refers to people aged 15 to 64 (ILO, n.d.[13]).
← 4. Arusha, Dodoma, Kilimanjaro, Manyara, Mara and Singida.
← 5. Specifically that a man can be justified in hitting or beating his wife if she burns the food, if she goes out without telling him, if she neglects the children or if she argues with him.