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POLITICS-TANZANIA: Women Still Face Political Marginalisation
By Ananilea Nkya
DAR ES SALAAM, Jul 3 (IPS) - -As the deadline to achieve at least a 30
percent inclusion of women in politics and decision-making in the Southern
Africa Development Community, SADC, draws closer, women in Tanzania still
face marginalisation in the political arena.
A survey conducted by the Tanzania Media Women's Association, TAMWA,
between April and June 2003 indicates that the dream of women holding
higher office in parliament by the year 2005 will not become a reality any
time soon. The parliament of the East African country, which obtained its
independence from Britain 42 years ago, is still dominated by men groomed
from political parties with cultures that look down upon women.
According to the survey women constitute 63 (21,3 percent) of the 295
parliamentarians and that number is likely to remain static until end of
2005 when the country will hold its next general elections. Interestingly
Tanzania is one of the few countries in the 12 member political and economic
SADC grouping which has institutionalised Affirmative Action, but the survey
noted that although country's Constitution gives the President powers to
nominate ten members of parliament, out of nine he has appointed so far only
one is a women.
Yet, some SADC countries which Tanzania supported during their liberation
struggles - such as South Africa and Mozambique - are have made more
progress in this regard. The survey quotes the SADC Gender Programme Report
2000 which indicates that South Africa has 400 parliamentarians of which 119
(29.8) are women while Mozambique has 250 of whom 71 (28.4%) are women.
In Tanzania the machineries of Parliament are also dominated by men. The
Speaker, Deputy Speaker, the Clerk of the National Assembly as well as the
Attorney General are all men. Also eight out of nine Parliamentary Standing
Committees are led by men.
Women also do not feature very strongly in the country's cabinet, which
is the main body that advises the President on all matters of the government
including public policy. The cabinet has 27 Ministers of whom only four
(15%) are women.
Surprisingly in the mission abroad, Tanzania has only one woman
representative out of 33 ambassadors and top government positions. The
country's top positions, President, Vice President and Prime Minister, have
all been led by men since the country obtained its independence from Britain
42 years ago.
TAMWA conducted the survey to establish how the country has implemented
the SADC Declaration with the aim to use the findings to stimulate public
debate and mobilise for change.
Commenting on the number of women in parliament, Mary Rusimbi, Executive
Director of the Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP) said the
government needed to remove a clause in Article 39 and 67 of the
Constitution which prevents independent candidates.
"Independent candidates should be institutionalised to allow women who do
not want to associate themselves with party politics to be able to contest
privately," said the gender activist whose organisation has been working
tirelessly over the last eight years to engender the parliament as well as
the national budgets.
She cited the lack of civic education as another obstacle which hinders
the full participation of women in politics. "Continuous civic education is
crucial in empowering electorates - both men and women - to know their
rights and obligations in electing political leaders as well as campaign
techniques ".
The survey further revealed that political parties in the country which
could pose a challenge to the government by becoming a role model in
promoting democracy with a gender perspective have failed miserably on this.
Scanning the 16 registered political parties in the country the survey
revealed that the situation is no different even within the parties
themselves. For instance it noted that chair of all the parties are men and
with the exception of one the Secretary Generals of the parties are also
men.
Also the number of women in other key decision making structures of the
parties, including the Central Committees(CC), National Executive Committees
(NEC) and Regional Chairman is low. For instance the ruling party has one
women regional party chair out of 26. Only three opposition parties have
women in this structure.
In addition, the ruling party holds general elections every five years.
The last was held in 2002 resulting in women accounting for only 22 percent
of the 36 Central Committee members and only 19 percent of the 214 member
NEC. The scenario of opposition parties is no different.
Professor Ruth Meena, a political analyst with the University of Dar Es
Salaam, says there are few women in political decision making positions in
the country because parties have no commitment and no support system to
ensure the effective participation of women in politics.
"Political parties are dominated by a patriarchy system which oppresses,
marginalises and excludes women," noted the Political Scientist, Gender and
Human Rights activist who added that parties need to be transformed to
institute a quota system for women.
Professor Meena further noted that there are other "hidden issues" which
put women out of the political arena and these include a harsh campaign
environment and the lack of resources. She says these issues must be studied
and properly addressed if any progress is to be made.
Some party leaders argue that women are not included in the decision
making processes because they are not willing to face campaign challenges in
the constituencies. However the survey states that experiences from the last
general elections, held in October 2002, have shown that where women have
been fully backed by their political parties they have had a huge chance of
winning elections in the constituency.
The survey cites the example of Hadija Kusaga of the Ruling Party-Chama
Cha Mapinduzi who contested in Temeke, in the capital Dar es Salaam, during
the 2000 general elections. She won despite the fact that the constituency
had a strong opposition and a large electorate composition of Moslem
believers.
"My experience in campaigning for elections has revealed that culture,
taboo, traditions, attitudes and beliefs that look down upon women can be
overcome during elections if parties support women and campaign for them,"
says Kusaga.
She says her campaigning strategy included getting together a team of
respected elderly persons from communities and religious institutions and
sensitizing them to the importance of women participating in politics and
requesting them to help her educate and mobilise the electorates.
Apart from the moral support she received from her party Kusaga says she
has always had the moral and material support from women friends,
neighbours and from different parts of her constituency. "Indeed the support
I was getting from fellow women increased my confidence," she said.
Aggripina Mosha from TGNP who has worked intensively with women
politicians agrees that party support for women is crucial in an election
campaign. "Experience shows that the majority of voters vote for a political
party rather than a person regardless of who is nominated by the political
party," she noted.
"Tanzania needs to recommit itself to the SADC Declaration and to put in
place structural mechanisms at party and national levels to ensure that
electoral systems do not disadvantage women," Rusimbi said.
(ENDS/IPS/AF/EA/IP/AN/SM/03)
= 07030621 ORP004
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(END/2003)
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