Anecdotal evidence as well as formal research seems to show that the practice of trafficking in women and girls is increasing in Tanzania, and thus we should no longer hide our heads in the sand and pretend this constituency does not exist. Current interventions among women and girls who engage in the sex trade, target...
SEXUAL and Reproductive Health encompasses health and well-being in matters related to sexual health; sexual relations; pregnancies and birthing Rights. It deals with the most intimate and private aspects of people’s lives, which can be difficult to write about and discuss publicly. As a result, the public misunderstands many sexual and reproductive health matters. In...
Having the best of both worlds is what all married women who work strive for. A successful, well paid career on the one hand and a happy marriage with a well-oiled home and healthy children on the other hand. “However, since most of us are not ‘Super-women’, we fail to attain the dream and all...
“Women have the inner power to accomplish anything we set out to do. It is patriarchy which prevents women from reaching our full potential. Isn’t it time that we dismantle patriarchy and put in place a gender responsive culture” Amina Mama, Feminist Activist “Eti ngwinji atambe! Atambie kitu gain?” Siti Khadija Kopa, Diva...
TANZANIA has been ‘living with HIV/AIDS for 34 years’! There is an entire generation of young people who were born in the wake of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and this generation has not experienced a world without HIV/AIDS. To them, the two words- HIV and AIDS are a fact of life which they have had to...
Women want the complete eradication of Poverty in Tanzania! As a nation, we need to analyze poverty in the context of economic; and psychosocial; and physical well being. Poverty is not only the absence or lack of money/ finances. Poverty is a lack of Vision which blinds us from seeing the resources and opportunities we...
The Mtwara Files were compiled by this writer after conducting research in Mtwara Urban in 2009-2010 on the Impact of Intimate Partner Violence IPV on household incomes, for REPOA which was coordinated by Alice Nkhoma and Mary Rusimbi, both strong feminists and research coordination specialists Sexual Harassment and Rape From the files perused at the...
Domestic Violence is a pattern of coercive behavior which can include physical, sexual, economic, emotional and/or psychological abuse exerted by one family member over another with the goal of establishing and maintaining power and control. It is a fact that as many as 4 out of ten women have experienced spousal violence by being beaten;...
Findings in Kinondoni district, Dar es Salaam The Social Welfare Department in the Kinondoni District Commissioner’s office receive an average of 200 domestic violence cases per month. Over 45 per cent are new cases while the rest are ongoing cases. The National Muslim Council of Tanzania, BAKWATA receives an average of 16 new domestic violence cases...
Ever thought of starting your own business? Working for yourself is an attractive proposition – you decide what to do and when, and you can work in a field of your interest and in which you excel! It also means saying goodbye to a structured routine and a regular income; moreover, you’ll find yourself working...
Every year, an undisclosed number of women die of a disease that is totally preventable, and in its early stages, totally curable. Deaths from this disease in women below the age of 45 have doubled in the past 10 years. Well before the disease takes hold, doctors know how to identify those women who are...
ON OCTOBER 25, this year 2015, Tanzanians will go out to polling stations to cast their ballot. Come rain or shine, Tanzanians will go out to vote. The right to vote is the most important and fundamental in our list of Basic Rights. It bestows on us the right to elect public servants to whom...
IN TRADITIONAL AFRICAN SOCIETIES, when a boy child is born, it is a time for celebration; rejoicing; gifts for the mother; festivities; slaughtering of the goat to herald the arrival of a warrior; ululating; and songs on the prowess of the father for spawning a lion. With great pride and aplomb, the birth of a...
SEPTEMBER 21 has been designated the International Day of Peace. It was in 1981 that the UN passed a Resolution to have the International Peace Day, which was commemorated for the first time globally, on 21, September, 1982. The slogan for the 2015 World Peace Day is “Partnerships for Peace, Dignity for All”. As we...
ONE IN 8 WOMEN will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Most of those one in 8 women should be able to survive breast cancer, with early detection and treatment. However, in developing countries, specially in Southern Africa, most of those 8 women would not have the awareness or skills on self examination for unusual lumps...
Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRD) tend to be invisible and their safety is never taken in account in Tanzania, yet, we, the women human rights defenders exist and we often put our safety and sometimes, our lives at stake when we stand on the frontline to defend human rights and social justice, not knowing when...
In the photo, Retired President, Ali Hassan Mwinyi (in the center) lights a candle on World AIDS Day TUMAINI, a pretty young lady of 22, who has bright eyes, a wonderful smile, and a charming disposition, is a Person Living with HIV and AIDS (PLHIV). No, Tumaini did not get HIV infection through sexual contact....
A kanga is regular piece of cloth, which has a border running around all the four sides and has a central motif often depicting a flower. What make the kanga different from other African print cloth are the proverbs that are printed on the lower part of the cloth and which are always boxed. Kanga...
Violence against women both domestic and sexual and discrimination at work places, women’s multiple responsibilities and their poverty, are just a few of the glaring examples that are cited here and which African countries have ratified Human Rights Charters have failed to observe or have violated shamelessly. Most national development plans relegate women to a...
Despite the enactment of the Sexual Offences Special Provisions Act, 1998, Sexual Harassment continues to be most perpetrated crime against women. In the workplace, Sexual Harassment often includes threats, bullying, intimidation and emotional abuse. Tanzania has made strides in enacting SOSPA 1998 but much, much more needs to be done to protect women, especially in...
The 1950’s saw the emergence of indigenous voices on the political platform of the then Tanganyika, though the voices were predominantly male which were occasionally interspersed with a few women’s voices like that of the legendary Bibi Titi Mohamed and that of Lucy Lameck. In the photo, Bibi Titi Mohamed is seen campaigning for Independence...
* “I want you to have my baby” from a strange man with bad breath at a cocktail party. * “Is that locket made of gold?” said an office mate while delving inside her brassiere. * “I will marry you”, upon being introduced. * ”I know you are dying for IT” from the seasoned...
You’ll know your man is cheating on you when * You hear him whispering into his cell phone in the bathroom * His phone rings and when you answer they cut off and the number is not shown on the screen. * There are lipstick marks on his collar...
Photos by: Charles M. Kayoka WOMEN in the informal sector want to get training on building group dynamics; advocacy; human rights; and basic legal literacy; which would give them the skills to lobby for a gender progressive National Loans Policy. They hope this would be a Regulatory Mechanism for women to get access to soft loans...
An estimated 7 to 12 percent of married women have had an extra marital affair at least once in their married life in Tanzania. In contrast, it is estimated that between 450 and 60 percent of married men have cheated on their wives. That is to say, more men compared to women get involved in...
TRADITIONAL TANZANIAN SOCIETIES ARE SEGREGATED. The practice is more pronounced and entrenched among rural communities of Tanzania where traditionally, interaction between the two sexes is structured and limited. There are clear demarcation lines separating what is designated male and what is designated female. This includes work; socialization; and ownership of resources. Tradition in rules, norms...
In definition, sexual harassment means “unwanted sexual attention”. It can take the form of direct verbal proposition; it can be in the form of direct physical contact like groping, touching of hair, bottom or breasts. Or it can take form through crude language about women’s anatomy, backbiting with intent to defame, showing of women’s anatomy...
2006 2007 2008 – JANUARY-FEBRUARY, 2009 Interventions taken on schoolgirl pregnancies 2008-2009 SAMPLE OF SCHOOLGIRL PREGNANCIES MTWARA DISTRICT, MIKINDINI AND MANISPAA What needs to be done to reduce schoolgirl pregnancies? In consultation with CSOs working on the elimination of Gender Based Violence we need to develop a National Initiative to develop strategies to expand...
Photos by :Charles Mustapha Kayoka NEEMA was married off at age 13 to a man of 62 who has two other wives. Her father was approached by the man who became her husband, after the man saw Neema on her way to fetch firewood for her mother. That same evening, the man, whom Neema calls...
Photos by :Charles Mustapha Kayoka WE ASSUMED that violence against older persons, women mainly, is confined in Mwanza and Shinyanga regions in mainland Tanzania based on the number of elderly women killed after being accused of witchcraft practice. Witchcraft practice is defined as causing famine, drought and foot and mouth disease among cattle. It is...
Pendo is a girl of 14, a cocaine addict, and a sex worker. She ‘walks’ the streets of Dar es Salaam most nights to hook up with men so that she would pay the pimp who ‘owns’ her as well as pay for her habit of cocaine snorting. She was taken from her village in...
Witch hunts? WHEN TWO HUNDRED people assumed to be witches and warlocks were arrested three months ago and charged with witch craft practice in Tanzania, we watched askance and wondered how the prosecutors would be able to prove in court that the 200 detainees were really, and beyond reasonable doubt, practicing witchcraft. This follows reports...
Sub-Saharan Africa is home to more than 60% of the population living with HIV (24.7 million) only a little over 10% of its population. AIDS is a long-term illness, and getting treatment in poor countries is costly. It depletes household income, and families often have to cut spending on school fees to pay for medication....
The Case of Sexual Harassment against Women Food Vendors- Mama Ntilie TO EFFECTIVELY engage in the Linkages between HIV/AIDS; Gender Based Violence and Poverty in the context of advocacy and service provision, one must adopt a diverse range of strategies to bring issues which are often considered controversial and insignificant, from the periphery to the...
Bint Nanguja, we daren’t ask her first name. She is known as “daughter of Nanguja”. She is the “Kingi” of spirit societies in the Temeke district cluster. ‘Nanguja’ is not her father’s name. It is the name bestowed on her because of her powers to communicate with and to control spirits. Nanguja is her spirit...
In Tanzania’s urban areas, an estimated 87-89 per cent of domestic workers are female, ranging in age from 12 to 45. Most female domestic workers are from poor, impoverished backgrounds, mainly from rural communities. They have been put in the position of seeking employment as domestic workers because of poverty within their immediate families and...
