Gender is a social construct that varies across cultures. In Tanzania, gender roles and expectations are significantly shaped by cultural and social norms. Through socialization processes like family, education, religion and media, boys and girls learn to conform to distinct gender roles that often perpetuate male dominance and female subordination. Some cultural practices that contribute to gender inequalities include son preference, restrictions on women's access to resources, and traditional practices like female genital mutilation that can endanger women's health and limit their opportunities. While certain cultural traditions have been oppressive towards women, positive elements can also be retained by reforming harmful aspects.

1. CULTURAL CONSTRUCTION OF GENDER AND GENDER ISSUES IN TANZANIA
Gender, like all social identities, is socially constructed. Social constructionism is one of the
key theories sociologists use to put gender into historical and cultural focus. Social
constructionism is a social theory about how meaning is created through social interaction –
through the things we do and say with other people. This theory shows that gender it is not a
fixed or innate fact, but instead it varies across time and place.
Gender norms (the socially acceptable ways of acting out gender) are learned from birth
through childhood socialisation. We learn what is expected of our gender from what our parents
teach us, as well as what we pick up at school, through religious or cultural teachings, in the
media, and various other social institutions.
Social construction of gender refers to how society values and allocates duties, roles and
responsibilities to women, men, girls and boys. This differential valuing creates the gender
division of labour and determines differences in access to benefits and decision making which in
turn influences power relations and reinforces gender roles. This is done at various levels of
gender socialization including family, religion, education, culture, peers and the media.
Gender and culture
Culture is an important capability that people bring into development. It influences development
through its various forms of expression; attitudes and behavior related to work, reward and
exchange; traditions of public discussion and participation; social support and association;
cultural sites of heritage and memory; and influences on values and morals. In this paper, we
address the issue of gender inequalities by looking at ways in which the cultural repertoire in the
Great Lakes region can contribute to women’s
Gender is a social construct which asserts that the expectations, capabilities and responsibilities
of men and women are not always biologically determined. The gender roles assigned to men
and women are significantly defined – structurally and culturally – in ways which create,
reinforce, and perpetuate relationships of male dominance and female subordination. Through
the process of socialization within the family, in educational institutions and other social spheres,
boys and girls are conditioned to behave in certain ways and to play different roles in society.
They are encouraged to conform to established cultural norms by being rewarded or punished
for their behavior. At times,
Gender inequality manifests itself in a number of spheres within the family, labor market,
politico-judicial structures and in cultural-ideological productions, for example in the mass
media. Values, norms, and practices enshrined in domains of social interaction may contribute
to fostering inequalities, reinforce gender related power differentials or increase violence against
women. For instance, the cultural practice of son preference may contribute to denial of girls’

2. access to education and curtail their opportunities in life. It may lead to early marriage and the
onset of childbearing. In addition, perceptions that politics and economics are principally the
preserve of males may lead to disparities in political, economic and social participation,
decision-making and leadership.
Culture refers to people’s way of life, systems of beliefs, values, rituals, interaction patterns and
socialization which determine attributes, roles, responsibilities, and expectations in a society. It
determines what the society wants and expects from women, men, girls and boys. It defines the
status and power relations between women, men, girls and boys.
African women have borne the brunt of cultural traditions, many of which havebeen described
as oppressive, and which limit the advancement of women. Maledominance has been cited as a
major obstacle to gender equality. Friedl (1975:7) definesmale dominance as “a situation in
which men have highly preferential access, althoughnot always exclusive rights, to those
activities to which the society accords the greatestvalues, and the exercise of which permits a
measure of control over others.” Men are favored in terms of accessing certaineconomically and
socially significant materials and rights, such as access to land andproperty.
Divale and Harris (1976:521-38) defined male dominance in terms of an “institutionalized
complex” consisting of “asymmetrical frequencies of sex-linked practices and beliefs…”
Thepractices and beliefs, in this case, would instill prestige and status to the male gender
anddevalue the contributions and capabilities of females.The preferential allocation of rights may
also be accompanied by attitudes andbeliefs about gender roles.
Sanday (1981:164) looks at male dominance from twoangles. First, is the “exclusion of women
from political and economic decision-making”and second, “male aggression towards women.”
Sanday measures this aggression usingfive traits:
(1) expectation that males should be tough, brave, and aggressive;
(2) Thepresence of men’s houses or specific places where only men may congregate;
(3) Frequentquarrelling, fighting, or wife beating;
(4) Institutionalization or regular occurrence ofrape; and
(5) Raiding other groups for wives.
Sanday suggests that the presence of thesefive traits in a society indicates a high degree of male
aggression; while an absence of allfive traits indicates that male aggression is weakly developed
(1984:164). This type ofdominance may be expressed in the cultural stereotype of ‘machismo’
or masculinity. Maleaggression against women does not necessarily lead to female passivity. In
somesocieties, it is expected that women will fight back; while in others, it is assumed that
women will adopt the submissive role. But even when women are submissive, they willuse their
own tools of resistance to show displeasure. Sanday posits that “maledominance is significantly
associated with environmental and historical conditions” andthat domination of women is a
response to stress. Such stress may manifest itself inendemic warfare and chronic hunger
(1981:171-2). The displaced aggression looking foran outlet is injurious to women.

3. It is important to delineate the root causes of male dominance in order tounderstand gender
inequality and inequity. This can only be done by understanding the cultural context in which
the dominance manifests itself. Because cultures have their own organized systems which
determine how members of that particular culture behavetowards each other and towards their
environment, they have the potential of empoweringor dis-empowering men and women. Mead
(1963:284) argues that in all cultures, there isthe same range of basic temperamental types
established on the basis of heredity. Thesedifferences provide “the clues from which culture
works, selecting one temperament, or acombination of related and congruent types, as desirable.”
In other words, there arecertain universal tendencies which are particularized by context and
history. Theparticular traits solidify and become key to defining communities.
Gender concerns are as a result of cultural context and socialization in society. Examples of these
are:-
 Preference for a boy to a girl child
 Heir to property
 Naming systems
 Initiation ceremonies
 Marital practices
 Gender based violence
Around the world, SGBV has a greater impact on women and girls compared to men and boys,
while its nature and extent varies across cultures and regions. Examples of SGBV are listed
under specific categories as hereunder:-
Physical violence Sexual Violence Psychological abuse
 Domestic violence
 Spousal beating
 Battering
 Femicide
 Abortion
 Confinement
 Abduction
 Honour / ritual killing
 Murder
 Female genital
mutilation and other
harmful traditional
practices
 Trafficking of persons,
including children.
 Forced marriage
 Witch killing
 Rape
 Defilement
 Incest
 Widow cleansing
 Forced prostitution
 Witch doctor treatment
 Quarrels
 Abusive language
 Insults
 Threats
 Dowry related violence
 Embarrassment
 Intimidation
 Divorce

4. Some cultural practices in East Africa
The expression of sexuality
Sex taboos also played a role in preventing pregnancy and acted as fertility regulators. In many
communities, heavy fines were imposed on husbands who could not show control. In extreme
cases, if a man continued to commit the act of impregnating women to the seventh child, he was
fined and then castrated (1986, Meru District sociocultural profiles, p.124). Whereas one would
not condone the castration of males (or FGM of women), one does appreciate the moral of this
prohibition. Men were being called upon to exercise self-control and to respect women’s bodies.
Society put the burden on men as a way of ensuring that women remained healthy after
childbirth and were involved in child rearing. Indeed, it was considered taboo for men among the
Kalenjin- of Baringo, Kenya, to have sex with their wives before six or more months after
Among the Kamba of Kenya, if a man raped a woman, he was subjected to capital punishment.
The Kamba believed that if a man raped someone’s daughter, all the spirits of the dead relatives
wrecked havoc on the community. In Pokot society, a rapist was required to send milk and goat
meat for the girl to eat until she recovered from the ordeal. Thus sexual violence was not
tolerated and was surrounded by numerous prohibitions and consequences
sanctioned by communities.
HyenasStealing Innocence in Malawi
Ed Butler explores the secretive and shocking world of Malawi's "hyenas". These are the men
hired to sexually initiate or cleanse adolescent and pre-adolescent girls - some said to be 12 years
old, or even younger. It's a traditional custom that is endorsed and funded by the communities
themselves, even the children's families. We meet some of the victims, the regional chief
campaigning to stop the practice, and the hyenas themselves, and ask if enough is being done to
stamp out a custom that's not just damaging on a human scale, but is also undermining the
country's economic development.
Inheritance of a wife
The practices of levirate (inheritance of a wife by the deceased husband’sbrother); polygamy;
dry sex in which women are expected to use herbs, barks, powders, cotton wool and so on to dry
the vagina; the suppression of sexual expression among women; female genital cutting; and so
on require re-evaluation so that the damagingelements in them are eradicated. In Zambia sexual
cleansing for widows is beingreplaced with non-sexual rituals so that the overall ceremony
continues and retain itsvalue, and the same participants remain involved, but sex no longer takes
place.
Female Infanticide
Female infanticide is the intentional killing of baby girls, due to a cultural preference forboys.
The practice has existed in many societies since ancient times, and is currently still amajor issue
in many nations, particularly in Asia.

5. The babies are either killed straight after birth, or are intentionally neglected, causing theirdeath.
Since the development of tests that can accurately establish the sex of the foetus,sex-specific
abortions have increased, particularly in societies with a tradition of female infanticide.
Femicide
Femicide is the murder of a woman, specifically because she is a woman. There are many forms
of femicide, including rape and murder and serial killings. However, the most common form of
femicide is intimate femicide, where a woman is killed by her male partner. Femicide also takes
the form of dowry murders, where a woman is killed because she does not bring enough bride-
wealth with her when she marries; and witch-killings, where women are pointed out as witches,
and used as scapegoats for community misfortunes and frustrations. Femicide is linked to
cultural concepts of male ownership of women, and the lower value accorded to womens lives.
Honour killings
“ Honour” killings are a form of femicide, whereby a woman is killed because of her actual or
perceived immoral behaviour, usually by relatives (often her husband or her father), whobelieve
that she has damaged the honour of the family. There is a high incidence of “ honour” killings
in Muslim countries. However, the killings are not permitted in terms of Islamic law,and are in
fact rooted in ancient tribal custom. Indeed, “ honour” killings occur in countriesas diverse as
Brazil, Egypt, Italy, Uganda, and in many other nations where women are perceived
not as individuals, but as vessels for honour of the family.
Peace building
Some African tradition includs women in peace keeping. In traditional Africa women were often
called upon to resolve conflicts. Maasai women, Noon’gotonyeilmuran, (“mothers of the
warriors or youths”) intervened during conflicts by running away from their homes in order for
men to persuade them to return home. The women may refuse to return unless the warriors
promise to keep peace. The women may also go into the battlefield and walk between the
warring parties. They walk among the chiefs and other leaders. Maasai women may also
remove their lower skirts (olokesena) or their belts to show the warring parties that they value
life and peace. Also in some communities in Kenya, women may protest against any form of
injustice by removing their clothes until they stand naked in the sight of men. Kenyan women
did this in Uhuru Park in 1992 to protest the continued injustices and dictatorship of the KANU
regime during the clamor for multi-party politics in Kenya and the release of pro-democracy
politicians and activists.
Female Genital Mutilation
The World Health Organization (WHO, 1997) defined FGM as all procedures involving partial
or total removal of theexternal female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs
whether for cultural or other non-therapeuticreasons.The World Health Organization also
classified FGM into four types:
 Type I. Excision of the prepuce (Note: less common), with or without excision of part or all
of the clitoris(Note: More common).
 Type II. Excision of the clitoris with partial or total excision of the labia minora.

6.  Type III.Excision of part or all of the external genitalia and stitching/narrowing of the
vaginal opening (infibulation).
 Type IV. Unclassified: this includes pricking, piercing or incising of the clitoris and/or labia;
stretching of the clitorisnand/or labia cauterization by burning of the clitoris and surrounding
tissue.
Consequences of Female Genital Mutilation:
 Bleeding, shock and infection after the excision, sometimes resulting in death.
 Psychological problems stemming from the ordeal and its aftermath.
 Problems during childbirth, which can endanger the lives of both the mother and thebaby.
 Problems with menstruation and urination, including pain, retention of fluids and
chronicinfections.
 Sexual intercourse that is painful or impossible.
 Infertility.
 Other health problems such as ruptures in the vagina during intercourse.
The Wa-Nyaturu, wa-Mmburu,Barbaig, wa-Gogo and wa-Taturuare among the tribes in
centralTanzania that are still involved in FGM. Circumcision is also practiced in many societies
in the Great Lakes region, and oftenserves as a rite of passage to adulthood. Some Tanzanian
communities are starting to adopt alternative rites of passagefor girls. In these rites, girls are
secluded and ‘circumcised’ without a cut in theirgenitals. They undergo life planning skills and
are prepared for the future through counseling. The life planning skills relate to decision-
making, adolescent development, gender roles and equality, relationships, teenage pregnancy,
sexually transmittedinfections, and planning for the future (African Youth Alliance, 2002).
The positiveelements of the culture are retained while the negative ones are modified or
eradicated. These alternative rites of passage give girls an opportunity to continue their education
andprotect them from the dangers of circumcision. The cultural practice of ‘unyago’practiced
among the Digo of Tanzania is being reformulated. In ‘unyago’ girls are taughtby a ‘kungwi’
how to behave when they get married; how to take care of their bodies andhow torelate to men.
In the contemporary ‘unyago’ they also learn how to assert theirrights and to negotiate for them.
HIV/AIDS
In sub-SaharanAfrica, 3.4 million new infections were reported in 2001, compared to 3.8 million
in 2000and 4.0 million in 1999. The situation remains serious and precarious. Also in
Africa,54% of adult infections by 2002 were women. Moreover, women are in general
infectedat a younger age than men. And they die younger, because AIDS related deaths
inwomen in sub-Saharan Africa peak in women in their 20s, whereas the deaths peak inmen in
their 30s and 40s. The early infection of women is partly attributed to culturalpractices that deny
women the right to make decisions related to their bodies.
Witchcraf
Witchcraft is defined as the power to exert supernatural harm upon another person or his
possessions, that power depending upon inherent evil qualities in the evil person (witch)
himself/herself.Witches are believed to be naturally evil and anti-social as part of their

7. genetic makeup. They differ from sorcerers in that they have achieved their evil powers by
study. Most witches are believed to be women.
Sorcery refers to the use of physical objects and substances to do harm to others. It is a very
potent form of witchcraft and its practitioners are mostly men. Men become sorcerers by
training (i.e. by choice and achievement). Witchcraft, on the other hand is the use of supernatural
powers and invisible forces to do harm to others. It is practiced mostly by women. In many
societies this is said to be an innate force. There is the belief that many womeninherit this from
their matriarchal or other female forebears. Somehow it is said that womencannot refuse to
inherit this force because if they do, then the forebearers get angry andreign terror on the
intended ‘ heiress’ .
Nyumba Nthobu
Nyumba Nthobu is a traditional form of same-sex marriage.This practice is found in western
Tanzania. The two women are husband and wife: they are traditionally married and they have
children..The women share a bed as a couple, they live together, bear children in their union;
they do everything a married couple would, except have sex.Nyumba Nthobu, is used by women
who are not able to inherit property due to cultural constraints.The culture is also being used as
an escape for domestic violence. Northern Mara region has the highest recorded cases of
violence against women in Tanzania, according to a UN report.
In the Mara region, nyumba ntobhu allows older women to marry younger women in order to
have children of their own and assist with the household chores. Women say nyumba ntobhu also
helps them overcome problems of gender-based domestic violence.It is also an alternative family
structure for older women who do not have sons to inherit their property and whose daughters
have moved away to their husbands’ villages. It offers a form of security for elderly women so
they do not live on their own.
Medicine and Health
One area in which women have always excelled in traditional African societies is in health,
especially reproductive health. Apart from being the protectors of culturaltraditions, customs
and beliefs, women were also the preservers of indigenous knowledgerelated to herbal medicine
and spirituality. Women were involved in childbirth,gynecological treatments, cosmetic
treatments, and massage techniques for expectantwomen. Midwives and birth attendants knew
the right diet for pre-natal and post-natalmothers. Traditional birth attendants were respected in
the society. Aspecialist who deals with gynecological problems. She monitors the position of
thefoetus, its movements, and general development. She prescribes medicines and
deliversbabies .
This was also the caseamong the Luhya and other communities in East Africa where old women
knew methodsfor fertility, including the types of herbs to give to women to avoid pregnancy. In
view of the distances to health centers and thefact that traditional birth attendants and herbalists
live close to the people it makes sensefor them to be equipped in order to deal with health
challenges which face women. Areconfiguration of the role of traditional birth attendants, being
undertaken in Kenya,Tanzania and Uganda, could help reduce maternal mortality rates.

8. Divorce
Divorce is a gender issues when it is used as a tool to control, punish and humiliate women. The
rate of divorce in Zanzibar is still high despite government intervention. As the largest Kadhi
Court in Zanzibar, Mwanakwerekwe District Kadhi Court had issued 160 talaks from July to
September, 175 talaks from April to June and 180 talaks from January to March 2014. In this
year 1600 talak were issued by six Unguja Kadhi alone.
AT least 14 women suspected to have supported CCM in the general election in October 2015
against the will of their husbands have been divorced. The husbands decided to annul their
marriages just because of political differences. 47 women were divorced for voting contrary to
their husband's orders in a tightly-fought ballot that remains undecided. some women did not
take part in the election for fear of being divorced or for fear of violence, while others
complained that they were forced to cast ballots for candidates they did not support.
Gender relations is the economic, social and power relationships between males and females.
Rather than seeing women and men, boys and girls in isolation, gender relations requires us to
consider their power, benefits, opportunities, and rights relative to each other.
Gender relations are the ways in which a culture or society defines rights, responsibilities, and
the identities of men and women in relation to one another (Bravo-Baumann, 2000). It is a sort of
pre determined position it relates responsibility in the family/ society according to deferent
cultures depending on the domination of the male or female
Gender relations are power relations between men and women. The ideology that gender
differences between men and women are shaped by the exercise of power by men over women
underpins this definition. Changing these power relations entails women’s empowerment and
men’s conscientisation. The nature of power relation varies from space and time, but may be:
• Related to production (Economic power)
• Reproduction (health and children)
• Social power(education, religion, recreational)
• Political power ( political representation and decision making)
Gender agents
One of the understandings that underlies most theoretical approaches to gender differences
involves differences in gender socialization. Socialization is the process that conveys norms and
behaviors to potential members of a group.
Gender socialization is the process of educating and instructing potential males and females as to
the norms, behaviors, values, etc. of group membership. Gender socialization is influenced by
different institution which are commonly called gender agent. Gender agent include : families,

9. schools, peer groups, mass media, religious institutions, work place etc.These agent provide both
formal and informal “training”
Gender Gaps ,discrimination, and oppression
Gender discrimination: occurs when one sex is treated either better or worse than the other on
the basis of sex.
Discrimination against women stems from cultural practices and societal attitudes that are gender
biased while others are a result of policies and laws that do not address gender equality issues or
have provisions that are gender discriminative
Generally all laws and policies have different implications on both men and women. In the
report Gaps in Policies and Laws that Perpertuate Gender Based Violence in Tanzania twelve
(12) laws and policies were analyzed to identify gaps which contribute to the persistence of
gender inequality, including Gender Based Violence.
Some laws and policies were prepared in the late 1990’s, to address specifically gender equality
and women’s interests such as the Sexual Offence Special Provision Act (SOSPA), 1998; the
Land Act, 1999; the Village Land Act, 1999; and the Women in Development and Gender
Policy, 2000. Evidence shows that, despite the existence of these laws and policies, gender
inequality is still widespread in the country because of existing gaps and limited
enforcement of the Laws and inadequate implementation of the Policies. In addition, there
is a need for harmonization of some laws that contradict each other.
For example, according to the Law of Marriage Act, Revised 2002, girls are marriageable at the
age of 15 whereas at this age a girl is considered to be a child in the Employment Act, 2004; the
Anti-Trafficking Act, 2008; the Law of the Child Act, 2009 and the Sexual Offence Special
Provision Act (SOSPA), 1998.
The Law of Marriage Act, Revised 2002 has various loopholes which cause the
infringement of women’s rights and abuse such as polygamy to continue. The Law recognizes
customary law which impinges women on equal division of property when husband and wife
divorce or legally separate. It does not speak about domestic violence which is rampant in many
marriages, it allows early marriages where girls at the age of 15 years can be married with
consent from parents or guardians. The AntiTrafficking in Persons Act, 2008 is not explicit about
the trafficked persons within the country where especially girls from the rural areas are sent into
towns and cities for domestic labor and prostitution. This problem is endured by many girls as
young as even below 14 years of age.
In the Sexual Offences Special Provision Act (SOSPA), 1998 marital rape has not been
considered. Rape applies “… where the girl or woman is not the man’s spouse or the
man is a separated spouse…” Many times women are forced by their husbands to have
sex without their consent for various reasons such as illness. In addressing Female Genital
Mutilation (FGM) the law only protects children less than 18 years, giving room for the practice
to be performed on older girls and women.

10. The Employment and Labor Relations Act, 2004 makes the following provisions that
affect women: two months leave for nursing mothers to start work in night shifts after
delivery, working overtime, and time allowed for nursing mothers to breastfeed their babies
during working hours which is two hours. These provisions have implications to the safety and
growth of the baby.
The Land Act, 1999 makes a provision which states that “Where a spouse obtains land under a
right of occupancy for the co-occupation with the wife or wives…”There are few cases where
male spouses register their wives as co-owners of land because land ownership rights by women
and girls are restricted by customs and traditions. In mortgaging matrimonial homes, the law
requires that the spouse of the borrower living in the matrimonial home to have assented.
There are many occasions where women are suddenly rendered homeless when their spouses
secretly mortgage their matrimonial houses. There should be more ideal legal procedures of
involving the wives or partners in the process of acquiring mortgages.
In the Village Land Act, 1999 there is a clause on application for customary right of
occupancy in village land which states that “A person, a family unit, a group of persons-… may
apply to the village council of that village for a customary right of occupancy”. This clause does
not instantaneously enable women to be involved in the process for applying customary rights of
land occupancy due to preventive traditional values and customs. Often times it is men who
apply for ownership of land and in the majority of cases they do not involve their spouses.
The HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Act, 2008 makes a requirement for mainstreaming
gender into HIV and AIDS plans. However, the problem often is on the implementation of
gender activities especially where budgets are limited. The Law states that pregnant women
and the men responsible for the pregnancies be offered voluntary HIV testing but there is
no mechanism in place to enable men to comply. Also the Law requires that “… any person who
has knowledge about being infected by HIV shall immediately inform his/her sexual partner or
spouse”. Many people avoid testing because they shun away from pointing fingers at each other.
If the wife discloses her HIV status the husband can turn around and accuse her of
unfaithfulness and she can be physically abused and chased away. Condom use is
promoted in the Law but the problem is that female condoms are still not easily
accessible to them and not user friendly. Again women in the rural areas have no skills to
negotiate for safe sex with the use of male condoms because of their subservient position to men.
The right for treatment of opportunistic infections provided by the Law does not give women
that right where treatment is not free because women often cannot afford it.
Gender oppression is a result of imbalance of power between women and men. Gender
oppression occurs when one sex is treated in cruel, harsh manner or made to feel uncomfortable
or unhappy in socio-economic and political life.
Domestic violence, is a hidden act within intimate relationships where women are physically
and sexually abused. We have often read or heard from mass media about women who have
been beaten and/or killed by their spouses although the Law of Marriage Act, Revised
2002prohibits a spouse from inflicting corporal punishment on his/her spouse.
Many women endure marital rape and beatings and they become trapped in these barbaric
acts. There are various reasons why women do not disclose these acts. There are cultural norms

11. where customs and traditional practices condone the harassment and abuse of women
because they are supposed to be submissive to their husbands. Some religious beliefs do not
allow separation or divorce in any circumstance.
The economic status of women is often lower than that of men because women have limited
access to resources. This situation makes women endure domestic violence so they can be
provided for by their husbands. The issue of children is also very pertinent to women.
Hence, women endure abuse in marriages because they do not want to leave behind their
children who may be harassed and undergo abuse by the women who take over their positions
after them.
Domestic violence has direct health consequences due to the fact that physical injuries
increase the chances of HIV transmission where sexual molestation occurs. In addition,
women undergo psychological effects which cause trauma. A study conducted by WHO in 2006
found that 30 percent of survivors of spousal battery ended up with serious injuries due to
severe beatings. The normalization and acceptance of spousal battery do hinder adequate steps to
be taken because of the reluctance by women to report the violence which is aggravated by
cultural, social and family pressures.
The Law of Marriage Act, Revised 2002 and SOSPA, 1998 have little impact, because
they do not protect unmarried couples from domestic violence; and do not define corporal
punishment, thereby excluding many forms of domestic violence, including economic
deprivation. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is another form of GBV which is practiced by
many ethnic groups in the Tanzanian society. The practice results in severe consequences on
women’s health. FGM’s outcomes may include gynecological complications, psychosexual
problems, and maternal and neonatal mortality. FGM is a practice which is demeaning to
women and girls. Societies which practice FGM also perform it to women above the age of 18
years. The SOSPA, 1998 only protect girls who are under 18 from FGM. It has been noted that
older girls and women undergo the practice when they are found to have skipped it during their
early years. This is performed by force, sometimes, when women deliver through the assistance
of Traditional Birth Attendants.
Early marriage for girls is rampant in many parts of the country because the age of 15 years is
legal for girl marriage, while the legal age of marriage for boys is 18. Girls are deemed mature
enough for marriage once they begin menstruation, while boys are not considered marriageable
until they can financially provide for a family. It is alleged that girls have less power to decide
about when and who they can marry than the boys and that girls are sometimes forced to
marry men much older than themselves.
There are negative implications related to early marriages. Those implications can have a long
term impact on the prospects of girls as they often do not complete their education. When they
marry they may not have opportunities to undertake further education and training because
they will be too occupied with family responsibilities and taking care of their homes. It is likely
that these girls will become mothers at a young age, increasing risks during pregnancy and
delivery which in turn increases maternal and neonatal mortality. Pregnancy and child bearing is
risky for young people.

12. Women in Tanzania have limited access to property and inheritance rights. This is another
form of GBV. The Tanzanian constitution; CEDAW; the Land Act, 1999; the Village land Act,
1999 and the Law of Marriage Act, Revised 2002 stipulate that women and men in Tanzania
have equal property rights. Nevertheless, customary legal provisions and common cultural
practices tend to undermine women’s ability to acquire, inherit, maintain, and dispose of
property
Majority of women do not have the same opportunities as men for education and
economic independence. The Demographic and Health Survey of 2004 found that 64 percent
of men completed primary education, while only 58 percent of women did the same. Poor
families tend to value boys’ education more than that of girls who may be taken out of
school to assist with domestic responsibilities or get married especially in the rural areas.
Education is the foundation of everything which also facilitates departure from the bondage of
poverty in which many women and girls are trapped due to lack of adequate education and
training