Tanzania

Controlling Land They Call Their Own: Access and Women's Empowerment in Northern Tanzania

Citation:

Goldman, Mara J., Alicia Davis, and Jani Little. 2016. “Controlling Land They Call Their Own: Access and Women's Empowerment in Northern Tanzania.” The Journal of Peasant Studies 43 (4): 777-97.

Authors: Mara J. Goldman, Alicia Davis, Jani Little

Abstract:

Formal rights to land are often promoted as an essential part of empowering women, particularly in the Global South. We look at two grassroots non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working on land rights and empowerment with Maasai communities in Northern Tanzania. Women involved with both NGOS attest to the power of land ownership for personal empowerment and transformations in gender relations. Yet very few have obtained land ownership titles. Drawing from Ribot and Peluso's theory of access, we argue that more than ownership rights to land, access – to land, knowledge, social relations and political processes – is leading to empowerment for these women, as well as helping to keep land within communities. We illustrate how the following are key to both empowerment processes and protecting community and women's land: (1) access to knowledge about legal rights, such as the right to own land; (2) access to customary forms of authority; and (3) access to a joint social identity – as women, as ‘indigenous people’ and as ‘Maasai'. Through this shared identity and access to knowledge and authority, women are strengthening their access to social relations (amongst themselves, with powerful political players and NGOs), and gaining strength through collective action to protect land rights.

Keywords: Property Rights, maasai, land, gender, women, Tanzania, empowerment, access

Topics: Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Indigenous, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, NGOs, Rights, Land Rights, Property Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Tanzania

Year: 2016

Resilience, Power, Culture, and Climate: A Case Study from Semi-Arid Tanzania, and New Research Directions

Citation:

Nelson, Valerie, and Tanya Stathers. 2009. “Resilience, Power, Culture, and Climate: A Case Study from Semi-Arid Tanzania, and New Research Directions.” Gender and Development 17 (1): 81–94.

Authors: Valerie Nelson, Tanya Stathers

Abstract:

Rapid changes to the climate are predicted over the next few years, and these present challenges for women's empowerment and gender equality on a completely new scale. There is little evidence or research to provide a reliable basis for gender-sensitive approaches to agricultural adaptation to climate change. This article explores the gender dimensions of climate change, in relation to participation in decision-making, divisions of labour, access to resources, and knowledge systems. It draws on insights from recent research on agricultural adaptation to climate change in Tanzania. The article then explains why future gender-sensitive climate-adaptation efforts should draw upon insights from 'resilience thinking', 'political ecology', and environmental anthropology - as a way of embedding analysis of power struggles and cultural norms in the context of the overall socio-ecological system.

Keywords: gender, climate, culture, resilience, adaptation, agriculture, anthropology

Topics: Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Tanzania

Year: 2009

Women, Land and Justice in Tanzania

Citation:

Dancer, Helen. 2015. Women, Land and Justice in Tanzania. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell & Brewer. 

Author: Helen Dancer

Annotation:

Summary: 
Recent decades have seen a wave of land law reforms across Africa, in the context of a "land rush" and land-grabbing. But how has this been enacted on the ground and, in particular, how have women experienced this? This book seeks to re-orientate current debates on women's land rights towards a focus on the law in action. Drawing on the author's ethnographic research in the Arusha region of Tanzania, it explores how the country's land law reforms have impacted on women's legal claims to land. Centring on cases involving women litigants, the book considers the extent to which women are realising their interests in land through land courts and follows the progression of women's claims to land - from their social origins through processes of dispute resolution to judgment. Dancer's work explores three central issues. First, it considers the nature of women's claims to land in Tanzanian family contexts, the value of land in an era of land reform and the 'land rush' across Africa, and the extent to which the social issues raised are addressed by Tanzania's current laws and legal system. Secondly, it examines how agency and power relations between social and legal actors engaged in legal processes affect women's access to justice and the progression of claims. Thirdly, it explores Tanzanian concepts of justice and rights and how women's claims have been judged by land courts in practice. Helen Dancer is a lecturer in Law at the University of Brighton. She practised as a barrister in England specialising in family legal aid cases prior to training as a legal anthropologist. She is also a consultant for Future Agricultures at IDS, University of Sussex. Her areas of research interest include law and development, gender and land, and human rights and legal pluralism. (Summary from JSTOR)

Topics: Gender, Women, Justice, Land Grabbing, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Tanzania

Year: 2015

Pastoral Women's Land Rights and Village Land Use Planning in Tanzania: Experiences from the Sustainable Rangeland Management Project

Citation:

Kisambu, Naseku, Elizabeth Daley, Fiona Flintan, and Sabins Pallas. 2017. “Pastoral Women’s Land Rights and Village Land Use Planning in Tanzania: Experiences from the Sustainable Rangeland Management Project.” Paper presented at the Conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons, Utrecht, The Netherlands, July 10-14.

Authors: Naseku Kisambu, Elizabeth Daley, Fiona Flintan, Sabins Pallas

Abstract:

In pastoral societies women face many challenges. Some describe these as a ‘double burden’ – that is, as pastoralists and as women. However, pastoral women may obtain a significant degree of protection from customary law even if customary institutions are male-dominated. In periods of change (economic, social, political), this protection may be lost, and without protection from statutory laws, women are in danger of “falling between two stools” (Adoko and Levine 2009). A study carried out in four villages in Tanzania, supported by the International Land Coalition, sought to understand the challenges and opportunities facing pastoral women with respect to accessing land and resources, in the context of village land use planning. This research presents empirical data on pastoral women’s land rights, shedding light on some of the details of these and their manifestation considering the differing contexts, land use patterns, and nature of rights to land. There are some common themes – particularly around the challenges facing women in pastoral communities including lack of space to make their views heard, lack of awareness of their rights, coupled with broader governance challenges. New processes underway such as a government-led review of Tanzania’s land policy and the accompanied implementation strategy ,the new land policy provide opportunities to overcome these challenges.

Keywords: land-reform, land-use-planning, pastoralists, women, Tanzania

Topics: Gender, Women, Governance, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Tanzania

Year: 2017

A Fair Share for Women: Toward More Equitable Land Compensation and Resettlement in Tanzania and Mozambique

Citation:

Salcedo-La Viña, Celine, and Laura Notess. 2018. “A Fair Share for Women: Toward More Equitable Land Compensation and Resettlement in Tanzania and Mozambique.” Working Paper, World Resources Institute, Washington, DC.

Authors: Celine Salcedo-La Viña, Laura Notess

Annotation:

Summary: 
"This paper examines how gaps in the legal frameworks governing land compensation and resettlement in Tanzania and Mozambique result in exclusionary outcomes for women. It builds on an earlier World Resources Institute (WRI) working paper, “Making Women’s Voices Count in Community Decision-Making on Land Investments,” which examines the regulatory frameworks governing the land acquisi- tion processes and identifies ways to strengthen women’s participation in the decision-making involved. This paper analyzes the subset of regulations that govern the parallel processes of land compensation and resettlement. Like the earlier paper, it stems from a collaborative project by WRI, the Tanzania Gender Networking Program (TGNP) Mtandao, the Tanzania Women Lawyers Association (TAWLA), and Centro Terra Viva (CTV) (in Mozambique). WRI conducted the legal analysis and literature review, with inputs from the country partners; the partners conducted field research, in some of which WRI partici- pated. The project also included outreach activities in the communities studied and with relevant subnational and national government agencies. The goal of the project is to have women recognized as stakeholders in community land governance and create spaces for their engagement in decision-making processes" (Salcedo-La Viña and Notess 2018, 2). 

Topics: Economies, Gender, Women, Land Grabbing, Rights, Land Rights, Property Rights Regions: Africa Countries: Mozambique, Tanzania

Year: 2018

Structural Adjustment and African Women Farmers

Citation:

Gladwin, Christina H, ed. 1991. Structural Adjustment and African Women Farmers. Gainesville: University of Florida Press: Center for African Studies, University of Florida.

Author: Christina H. Gladwin

Annotation:

Summary: 
Focuses on the debates surrounding structural lending programmes and the effect they have on women in Africa. It questions the conventional dependency model and provides some counter-evidence that the economic position of women in societies with freer market policies has improved (Summary from WorldCat).
 
Table of Contents:
1. Structural adjustment and structural transformation in sub-Saharan Africa
Stephen O'Brien
 
2. Women, structural adjustment, and transformation: some lessons and questions from the African experience
Uma Lele
 
3. Getting priorities right: structural transformation and strategic notions
Bruce F. Johnston
 
4. Policies to overcome the negative effects of structural adjustment programs on African female-headed households
Jean M. Due
 
5. Impact of structural adjustment programs on Women and their households in Bendel and Ogun States, Nigeria
Patience Elabor-Idemudia
 
6. Women and structural adjustment in Zaire
Brooke Schoef et al.
 
7. Impact of structural adjustment programs on rural women in Tanzania
Ruth Meena
 
8. Fertilizer subsidy removal programs and their potential impacts on women farmers in Malawi and Cameroon
Christina H. Gladwin
 
9. Women traders in Ghana and the structural adjustment program
Gracia Clark and Takyiwaa Manuh
 
10. Ideology and political economy of gender: women and land in Nso, Cameroon
Miriam Goheen
 
11. Women's agricultural work in a multimodal rural economy: Ibarapa District, Oyo State, Nigeria
Jane I. Guyer with Olukemi Idowu
 
12. Structural transformation and its consequences for Orma women pastoralists
Jean Ensminger
 
13. New women's organizations in Nigeria: one response to structural adjustment
Lillian Trager and Clara Osinulu
 
14. Role of home economics agents in rural development programs in northern Nigeria: impacts of structural adjustment
Comfort B. Olayiwole
 
15. Curriculum planning for women and agricultural households: the case of Cameroon
Suzanna Smith, Barbara Taylor
 
16. Women farmers, structural adjustment, and FAO's plan of action for integration of women in development
Anita Spring and Vicki Wilde.
 

Topics: Agriculture, Economies, Poverty, Households, International Financial Institutions, Political Economies, Rights, Land Rights Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa Countries: Cameroon, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania

Year: 1991

The Gender-Energy Nexus in Eastern and Southern Africa

Citation:

Mihyo, Paschal B, and Truphena E Mukuna. 2015. The Gender-Energy Nexus in Eastern and Southern Africa. Addis Ababa: The Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA).

Authors: Paschal B Mihyo, Truphena E Mukuna

Annotation:

“The Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in Eastern and Southern Africa have been at the forefront to developing new energy policies and programmes aimed at reaching the UN goal of Ensuring Access to Clean Energy for All by 2030. In the year 2006, the East African Community passed the EAC Strategy to Scale Up Access to Modern Energy Services, committing its Member States to reach the UN goal of "access to all" by 2030. The Inter-governmental Authority for Development adopted its Environmental and Natural Resources Policy in 2007 which includes issues of renewable energy. The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa launched its Model Energy Programme in 2012, followed the same year by its comprehensive baselines database on renewable resources covering all its Member States. In the year 2009, the African Union General Assembly at its 12th Ordinary Session adopted the Policy on "Scaling Up Renewable Energy in Africa". The regional policies have been domesticated by Member Sates of the RECs. Although their targets are very ambitious, implementation programmes launched at national level are robust and producing results. Both in the policies and implementation programmes, gender issues have, however, not featured prominently. Noting this deficit, the Organisation for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa called for researchers to assess the extent to which energy policies in Eastern and Southern Africa have taken gender issues on board.
 
“This book is the product of that project. It has ten chapters that investigated the gender-energy nexus in Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Swaziland, Sudan and Kenya. The book will prove useful to all policy makers, researchers and analysts who may be interested in strengthening the gender content of the programmes as we move towards 2030. We believe it triggers and helps policy makers and researchers to create platforms to use its findings, and those of others, to see how in gender terms those at the bottom of the energy access pyramid can be factored into these programmes, to make sure they are not left behind.” (Summary from African Books Collective)

 

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Paschal B. Mihyo

1. The Gender-Energy Nexus in Zimbabwe
Charles Mutasa

2. Gender-Energy Nexus in Ethiopia: An Analytical Review
Alemu Tolemariam and Dejene Mamo

3. The Gender-Energy Nexus in Tanzania: Assessing Rural Electrification in the Context of Gender Mainstreaming among Women
Henry M. Kigodi and Japhace Poncian

4. Towards a Gender Transformative Agenda? A Critique of Gender Mainstreaming in Energy Policy in Kenya
Moses A. Osiro

5. Community Perspectives on the Demand, Availability and Accessibility of Energy Resources in Swaziland: A Case Study of Sinceni on Deforestation
Londiwe D. Hlophe and Musa M.A. Dube

6. Gender Equity and Household Decision-Making in Alternative Energy Technologies Adoption: A Case of Access to Biogas Technology in Central Tanzania
Anna Wawa

7. Cooking Fuel in Sudan: Utilisation Patterns, Health Hazards and Cleaner Fuel Adoption
Yahia O. Adam

8. Turning Challenges into Opportunities in Household Energy Demand: Women Tiftif Makers in Yeka Sub-city Addis Ababa
Betelhem Ephrem

9. Gender-Sensitive Clean Energy Technologies for Sustainable Development amongst Pastorialist Maasai Communities, Kenya
Truphena E. Mukuma

10. Bridging the Gender Gap in Access to Energy in East Africa: A Needs-Based Approach
Paschal B Mihyo

11. Conclusions and Recommendations
Truphena E. Mukuma

 

Topics: Gender, Women, Gender Mainstreaming, Health, Households, Infrastructure, Energy Regions: Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zimbabwe

Year: 2015

Challenging Masculinity in CSR Disclosures: Silencing of Women’s Voices in Tanzania’s Mining Industry

Citation:

Lauwo, Sarah. 2016. “Challenging Masculinity in CSR Disclosures: Silencing of Women’s Voices in Tanzania’s Mining Industry.” Journal of Business Ethics, 1–18. doi:10.1007/s10551-016-3047-4.

Author: Sarah Lauwo

Abstract:

This paper presents a feminist analysis of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in a male-dominated industry within a developing country context. It seeks to raise awareness of the silencing of women’s voices in CSR reports produced by mining companies in Tanzania. Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in Africa, and women are often marginalised in employment and social policy considerations. Drawing on work by Hélène Cixous, a post-structuralist/radical feminist scholar, the paper challenges the masculinity of CSR discourses that have repeatedly masked the voices and concerns of ‘other’ marginalised social groups, notably women. Using interpretative ethnographic case studies, the paper provides much-needed empirical evidence to show how gender imbalances remain prevalent in the Tanzanian mining sector. This evidence draws attention to the dynamics faced by many women working in or living around mining areas in Tanzania. The paper argues that CSR, a discourse enmeshed with the patriarchal logic of the contemporary capitalist system, is entangled with tensions, class conflicts and struggles which need to be unpacked and acknowledged. The paper considers the possibility of policy reforms in order to promote gender balance in the Tanzanian mining sector and create a platform for women’s concerns to be voiced.

Keywords: masculinity, feminism, Cixous, corporate social responsibility, mining, Tanzania

Topics: Class, Extractive Industries, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Masculinity/ies, Gender Analysis, Gender Balance, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Tanzania

Year: 2016

Users’ Perspectives on Decentralized Rural Water Services in Tanzania

Citation:

Masanyiwa, Zacharia S., Anke Niehof, and Catrien J. A. M. Termeer. 2015. “Users’ Perspectives on Decentralized Rural Water Services in Tanzania.” Gender, Place & Culture 22 (7): 920–36. doi:10.1080/0966369X.2014.917283.

Authors: Zacharia S. Masanyiwa, Anke Niehof, Catrien J. A. M. Termeer

Abstract:

This article examines the impact of decentralization reforms on improving access to domestic water supply in the rural districts of Kondoa and Kongwa, Tanzania, using a users’ and a gender perspective. The article addresses the question whether and to what extent the delivery of gender-sensitive water services to rural households improved after the reforms. Household- and village-level data were obtained through a household survey and qualitative methods. The findings show an increase of the proportion of households using improved sources of domestic water between 2002 and 2011. However, more than half of users still travel over a kilometre and use more than an hour to collect water in the dry season. Despite the increased proportion of women in water management committees, the outcomes of these decentralized arrangements differ for men and women. Overall, the reforms have produced contradictory effects by improving access to water supply for some users, and creating or reinforcing existing inter- and intra-village inequalities. 

 

Keywords: decentralization, domestic water supply, gender perspective, users' perspective, water governance

Topics: Gender, Gender Analysis, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Infrastructure, Water & Sanitation Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Tanzania

Year: 2015

New Big Men: Refugee Emasculation as a Human Security Issue: New Big Men.

Citation:

Lukunka, Barbra. 2012. “New Big Men: Refugee Emasculation as a Human Security Issue: New Big Men.” International Migration 50 (5): 130–41. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2435.2010.00670.x.

Author: Barbra Lukunka

Abstract:

Academics and policymakers have conducted a significant amount of research on the physical security and integrity of refugee populations, especially of refugee women and children. That on refugee women has focused on gender-based violence. This study expands on previous research by employing a human security approach to analyse not only the physical security and integrity of refugees, but also their socio-psychological well-being. Specifically, I argue that poor socio-psychological well-being actually explains the manifestations of violence against women in refugee camps. To make this argument, I document and explain the emasculation of Burundian refugee men living in Kanembwa camp in western Tanzania.

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Migration, Refugees, Refugee/IDP Camps, Gender, Men, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Masculinism, Security, Human Security Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Tanzania

Year: 2012

Pages

© 2023 CONSORTIUM ON GENDER, SECURITY & HUMAN RIGHTSLEGAL STATEMENT All photographs used on this site, and any materials posted on it, are the property of their respective owners, and are used by permission. Photographs: The images used on the site may not be downloaded, used, or reproduced in any way without the permission of the owner of the image. Materials: Visitors to the site are welcome to peruse the materials posted for their own research or for educational purposes. These materials, whether the property of the Consortium or of another, may only be reproduced with the permission of the owner of the material. This website contains copyrighted materials. The Consortium believes that any use of copyrighted material on this site is both permissive and in accordance with the Fair Use doctrine of 17 U.S.C. § 107. If, however, you believe that your intellectual property rights have been violated, please contact the Consortium at info@genderandsecurity.org.

Subscribe to RSS - Tanzania