Ensuring that females have the same opportunities as males helps everyone progress. 45% of all Tanzanian women ages 15-49 report that they have ever experienced physical or sexual violence, or both. One in four girls ages 15-17 have experienced either or both forms of violence.
Ensuring that females have the same opportunities as males helps everyone progress. 45% of all Tanzanian women ages 15-49 report that they have ever experienced physical or sexual violence, or both. One in four girls ages 15-17 have experienced either or both forms of violence.
Ensuring that females have the same opportunities as males helps everyone progress. 45% of all Tanzanian women ages 15-49 report that they have ever experienced physical or sexual violence, or both. One in four girls ages 15-17 have experienced either or both forms of violence.
Ensuring that females have the same opportunities as males helps everyone progress. 45% of all Tanzanian women ages 15-49 report that they have ever experienced physical or sexual violence, or both. One in four girls ages 15-17 have experienced either or both forms of violence.
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RAPID
Tanzania Enabling Women and Girls to Advance Three in five Tanzanian women live in absolute poverty, with limited access to education, credit, and other opportunities for self-advancement.1 Their options in life are constrained not only by poverty but also by social norms that devalue females and discriminatory laws that limit their ability to own and inherit property, build a business, and control their own money. Many women and girls are unable to make independent decisions about life choices such as attending school, acquiring job skills, protecting their health, and postponing marriage and parenthood until they are ready. Ensuring that females have the same opportunities as males helps everyone to progress. Investing in programs for girls and women pays off in greater productivity and prosperity for society. Two key actions can improve the well-being of women and girls: 1. Protect women and girls from violence 2. Discourage early marriage Thirty percent of the married women who had experienced one or both forms of violence in the past 12 months said that it occurred often.5 Cultural and gender norms condone violence. Many men, women, and communities accept gender-based violence as a normal part of life. Given these attitudes, those who commit violence are seldom punished. Women and girls rarely report gender-based violence to authorities or seek other kinds of treatment or support. Violence directly affects the physical and psychological health of women and girls. Health outcomes include unintended pregnancy, maternal mortality, death, sexually-transmitted infections, depression and anxiety, poor self-esteem, posttraumatic stress disorder, and suicide.6
WomEn
Protect Women and Girls from Violence
Nearly half (45%) of all Tanzanian women ages 1549 report that they have ever experienced physical or sexual violence, or both, according to a 2010 national survey.2 This violence often starts at a young age. One in four girls ages 1517 have experienced either or both forms of violence.3 Violence by an intimate partner occurs frequently. More than two in three women who ever experienced physical and/or sexual violence said that the perpetrator was their husband or partner.4 Photos on this page: David Dennis (top) and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundations (bottom)
November 2012
RAPID WomEn Tanzania: Enabling Women and Girls to Advance
Discourage Early marriage
Among teenage girls ages 1519, nearly one in five (18%) are already married.7 Early marriage, which is often followed by early childbearing, often marks the end of a girls education and her opportunities to acquire job-related skills that could improve her life situation. The Law of Marriage Act of 1971 allows girls to marry at age 15 with parental consent and allows exceptions for girls age 14 under justifiable circumstances, whereas boys cannot marry before age 18. Raising the legal age of marriage for girls to 18 would help to create public awareness of the issue and would protect girls from forced marriage.
What Can Be Done
Government agencies should take the following actions to improve womens and girls status:
Allocate funds to implement women-centred programmes Implement community programmes to prevent violence against females, punish perpetrators, and offer medical and psychological support to victims of violence Empower women to participate in decisions regarding their own health and well-being Protect girls from abuse and promote their physical and mental development Raise the legal age of marriage for girls to 18 by amending the Law of Marriage Act Expand in-school education on sexual and reproductive health and scale up training for teachers Integrate sexual and reproductive health education in the teacher training curriculum Increase womens access to opportunities for income generation and credit, especially in rural areas Change laws that discriminate against women and girls
Supportive Policies The Government of Tanzania has made the advancement of women and girls a priority, evident by the appointment of gender focal points in each ministry and the enactment of several policies and plans:
National Plan of Action for the Prevention and Eradication of Violence Against Women and Children (20102015) Policy Guidelines towards Response and Prevention of Gender-based Violence National Guidelines for the Management of Gender-based Violence Tanzania Police Female Network (to respond to violence against women)
These key actions would help women and girls to advance, which would benefit families and communities throughout Tanzania.
1 2
Government of Tanzania. 2012. Gender. Accessed on August 28, 2012 at: http://www.tanzania.go.tz/gender.html.
Tanzania National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and ICF Macro. 2011. Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey 2010. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: NBS and ICF Macro. 3, 4, 5 6
NBS and ICF Macro, 2011.
World Health Organization. 2005. Multi-Country Study on Womens Health and Domestic Violence Against Women. Accessed on August 28, 2012 at: http://www.who.int/gender/violence/who_multicountry_study/summary_report/summary_report_English2.pdf. NBS and ICF Macro, 2011.
WAMA thanks the David and Lucile Packard Foundation for its generous support.
Wanawake Na Maendeleo (WAMA) Foundation is a nongovernmental organisation founded by the Tanzanian First Lady, Mama Salma Kikwete, in 2006. Its goal is to improve the life standard of women and children by promoting access to education, health services, and capacity building for economic empowerment. Major programme areas are girls education, womens empowerment, health promotion and advocacy, and orphans and vulnerable children.
WAMA Foundation P.O. Box 10641 Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Tel: 255 22 2126516 Fax: 255 22 2121916 Email: info@wamafoundation.or.tz http://www.wamafoundation.or.tz
