15-year-old Lydia Gaspar explores the improvements and challenges within women’s rights in Tanzania
Girls participating in the Uvi Foundation tutoring programme, Mambo, Tanzania.
March 7, 2025
Tanzanian government takes steps towards gender equality but women and girls still face challenges
When Samia Suluhu Hassan became Tanzania’s first female president and the only woman head of state in Africa in 2021, women and girls around the country were hopeful.
In the course of her presidency, Hassan has made a lot of changes within the country, including encouraging more participation from women in political processes.
Some “don’t believe that women can be better presidents and we are here to show them… Even some in my government dismissed me at first as just another woman, but they soon accepted my leadership,” she said, shortly after being sworn in.
Hassan’s rise to power highlighted the importance of equal opportunities for women and girls. However, there remains a fundamental difference in opportunities and access to rights between men and women.
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According to the 2023 Gender Development Index,women in Tanzania are more disadvantaged than men across education, health and income. Gender-based violence is another issue that women and girls face in their day-to-day lives.
A UNICEF report published in 2023 found that 38%of women and girls in Tanzania have experienced some form of violence at the hands of a partner. This includes physical, sexual and emotional violence, as well as exploitation and neglect.
According to UNICEF, this violence is all too often hidden and underreported, and is fuelled by gender inequality, harmful societal norms and poverty.
For girls under 18, physical violenceis met with weak law enforcement and inadequate services to help people who go through this.
Lack of or limited access to education is also an issue in Tanzania. Nowadays Tanzania has been trying hard to make progress on education for girls but continues to face challenges. There is a higher school drop-out ratefor girls compared to boys – this occurs mainly in rural areas because of some factors such as forced or early marriages, pregnancy and poverty.
Dagmara Ikiert who works for the UVI Foundation for Education, which advocates for equal opportunities for girls in Tanzania, told me: “Society needs to stop viewing women as just wives and mothers. In Tanzanian society this is still a very large issue because women are pushed and pressured to get married and have children, therefore many of them cannot pursue their dreams and careers.
“The main observation is that there’s very strong pressure for women and girls to be prepared that their main goal in life is to become a wife and a mother.”
Margery Wolf Kuhn School students, Bagamoyo, Tanzania.
Tanzanian culture and cultural practices often discriminate against women and girls, limit their opportunities and result in gender inequality. For example, some tribes still practice female genital mutilation (FGM) on girls aged between 13–16 because they believe that by doing that, they are welcoming them into adulthood and reducing their desire for sex.
However, conditions for girls in Tanzania have become better after access to primary education has increased. According to UNICEF, Tanzania has significantly improved school enrolment in recent years, particularly for girls. However, 3.2 million under-17s are still out of school, of which 1.2 million have never attended. Girls from rural and poorer areas are the worst impacted with higher dropout rates from the age of 12 due to inadequate hygiene, menstruation, and child marriage.
I’ve witnessed the impact of socio-economic inequalities within my own community in the Usambara mountains in Tanga, north-east Tanzania – a coastal region known for its rainforests and waterfalls.
Women who took part in Sisters Factory - a project aimed at creating new jobs for women. Usambara, Tanzania.
Low or limited access to land is an example of this. Daughters rarely inherit land when their parents die – it often goes to sons, lowering women’s economic prospects. Also, early marriage, teenage pregnancy or forced marriage means that women’s career opportunities are impacted.
Alongside this, the Tanzanian government has been working on laws and policies to protect women’s rights. Women in Tanzania are also being included in decision making and more are participating after the growing awareness of women’s rights and empowerment.
In terms of health inequalities, health care centres, mainly for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, have included child and mother health services that provide them with an education on sexual health.
All government schools are free since some families cannot manage to send their children to private schools. Initiatives such as UNESCO’s plan to interest more girls in STEM subjects are encouraging girls to get into learning. Through this, girls have been given scholarships, mentorships and life skills training.
The government has also put effort into preventing gender violence in schools and this helps girls to feel safe around school or outside.
From these changes and the National Development Vision set out by the Tanzanian government – which says that the country should attain gender equality and empower women in all socio-economic areas by 2025 – the future is looking brighter.
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