GOAL 3: PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY AND EMPOWER WOMEN

NATIONAL TARGET FOUR: ELIMINATE GENDER DISPARITY IN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION PREFERABLY BY 2005, AND TO ALL LEVELS OF EDUCATION BY 2015

Status and Trends

There are still gender disparities in enrolment at upper secondary and tertiary levels. For example, in year 2006, out of 243,359 students enrolled in Form I, 116,709 (47.96 per cent) were females while 126,650 (52.04 per cent) were males, a near gender balance at entry. However, enrolment of girls drops substantially after Form IV. The main gender disparities are in retention and performance of girls. Moreover, early pregnancies and marriages continue to contribute significantly to school drop out among girls in both rural and urban areas.
The target year for this goal was 2005 for primary and secondary level enrolment and 2015 for other levels of education. In both the Mainland and Zanzibar the target was close to being achieved in 2005. For other levels, especially tertiary, the target will be reached in the Mainland where special programmes have been designed to increase enrolment of girls and especially in science subjects.

The goal of improving representation by women in political arena will most likely be achieved. It is encouraging to note in Tanzania that in addition to representation in Parliament (Mainland) and the House of Representatives (Zanzibar) women have been increasingly selected to high decision-making posts such as Ministers and Permanent Secretaries. In the Mainland, for example, the number of women Ministers increased from 11 per cent to 15 per cent between 1995 and 2005, while women Permanent Secretaries increased in number from one in 1995 to seven in 2005.

Supportive Environment

Tanzania has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Further, Constitutional and Legal Sector and law reforms have improved the de jure civil and property rights of marginalized groups such as women and children including the Constitutional amendment in 2000 that barred discrimination on the basis of sex. The Sexual Offences
Special Provisions Act, (SOSPA) 1998 criminalizes most categories of sexual and gender based violence and also imposes a stern sentence for offenders.
The Village and Land Act of 1999 which came into force in May 2001 has positively modified customary laws that discriminate against women and has allowed equal representation of women in village land institutions, provided for co-ownership of land by spouses and provided a framework for protection of family and interests of marginalized groups in village land. Further amendments to the Land Act have enabled title deeds to be used as collateral for bank loans. The above reforms have significantly contributed to the economic performance and improvement of non-income poverty in the last decade.
Programmes have been improved to attract more female children to attend and complete their primary education. Secondary schools have been made more friendly to the girl child by improving sanitation. Special programmes are in place to encourage females to attend tertiary education.

Major Challenges and Priorities

Despite the supportive environment, many challenges remain including: gender dimensions of poverty such as discrimination and harassment of women, access to basic services such as health and education, excessive workload, impoverishment and harassment of widows. Others include low participation of women in decision-making, greater risk and vulnerability of women and girls to HIV infection, and responsibility for home-based care for orphans and family members infected by HIV/AIDS. A major challenge remains in the enforcement of gender sensitive laws due to prevailing negative attitudes and norms towards women.
In order to achieve and maintain gender equality and empowerment of women, it is important to sustain efforts that promote enrolment and retention of girls, open more opportunities to promote and provide incentives for a higher enrolment and retention of girls especially at tertiary level, encourage more women to contest in representative organs and ensure that the voices of rural women are heard and heeded to by encouraging rural women to contest for representation at local decision-making units. In addition, increase the voice of rural women through economic empowerment and accountability of public officials to respond to concerns raised by rural women as well as strengthening institutional mechanisms for building the capacity and creating an enabling environment for women’s participation in politics

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