Traditional, Legal & Customary Rights
Considering that 80% of the Tanzanian society is organised along patrilineal mode of social organisation, women face a dire situation on land ownership. Moreover, the National Land Policy (paragraph 4.2.3), does not guarantee women unlimited possibilities in owning land without interference from male relations. Nevertheless the Land Act of 1998 and the Village Land Act of the same year, provides women a few possibilities on owning land at par with men.
In 1991, the Commission of Inquiry into land revealed that women suffered the following situation: none consultation in disposal of family lands; weak control over benefits accruing from family lands; poor inheritance rights; and, poor distribution of land in view of divorce. It is acknowledged by the Forestry Policy of 1998 that women’s ownership of land is scant despite their important role in forestry activities. It is argued that this poor ownership and hindrances to its improvement discourage women from engaging more effectively in formal decision making within natural resources management. Overall, allocation of land to women still remains a rare event.
Women Involvement in Tree Planting & Management
Women’s involvement in agroforestry has been documented in Morogoro, Kagera, Ruvuma, Tanga, Arusha and Kilimanjaro regions. Whereas they share in planting and management of trees, when it comes to marketing, men control the revenue. Generally, in most areas of Tanzania, while food and arable crops are a female domain, trees and cash crops are a male preserve. Education (level), land tenure system (type), land holding size (size of land), distance to forest products, and household income, were seen as factors (coping strategies), that had a direct bearing on a household’s inclination to plant and manage trees.
It is certain that women engage in tree planting and management due to meeting their immediate practical (e.g., incomes, food security, fuelwood, etc), and strategic gender needs (e.g., household bread-earners, economic security, social status, individual self management, etc). Factors that affect women’s attraction to work outside the household could either be: proximity, time, burden, flexibility, income, job substitionability, job complementarity, and the work environment). Nevertheless, it should be argued that women’s involvement in tree planting is a multidimensional dependent event rather than one-dimensional. Despite the magnitude of their involvement in forestry activities, women’s contribution is largely unrecognized and undervalued.
Household Economy and Forestry Products
Observations by Njana:1998, Kaoneka & Mdeme 1995, and Monela: 1995, show that men dominate harvesting of timber and poles from forests. Similarly, at North Ruvu Forest Reserve, men accounted for 52% of the poles harvested, 64% of the firewood, 79% of the charcoal, 56% of the handicraft wood, 68% of the carving wood, and 83% of the medicinal herbs collected from the reserve. Income-wise, forest products from the Ruvu Reserve such as poles and charcoal contributed to 75% of household income from forestry products, the remaining 25% of household earnings from wood products was obtained from medicines (16%), carvings (4%), handicrafts (3%), firewood (2%), and food items (1%). An average household in Kilosa District consumes about 3 to 5 headloads of firewood weekly (e.g., 66 to 100 kilograms). In terms of money, men earn 3 times more money from forest products than women.
Management of Forestry Products and Gender
Overall, women play a minimal role in decision-making within patrilineal communities. However, in matrilineal communities, women are consulted in regards to decisions on land issues, crops, housing, etc. According to observations made in the forestry sector, only a fifth of the employees in the Forestry and Beekeeping Department are female. Nevertheless, of these 74% (302), are employed in non-technical jobs, while for male employees, it is only 44% (855), who are in none technical occupations.
In closer scrutiny on where these women are employed, one realizes that the largest number of women are in the Forestry section (59% of all women or 15% of all employees), forestry parastatals account for 37% of all women employed in this sector, or 46% of its employees, while the Beekeeping section employs a meager 4% of all women in the sector, or 18% of all employees. In terms of qualifications, there are no women among the 25 PhD holders in the Ministry, but there are not less than 108 women (26% of all female employees), with certificates, diplomas and Degrees, as compared to 63% of the male employees.
As regards the number of female students going for degree courses at the Sokoine University of Agricultural Sciences, the emerging trend shows that 12% of the 206 students between 1997 and 2000 were female. Plans abound at the University to increase the proportion of female students up to 30% in 2003 , and later to 40% of all students in 2005. All withstanding, women participation in decision making at the village and rural level is not altogether disappointing. The number of female headed households in these villages ranged from 10 to 22%.
Institutional Responsibilities & Roles
The Ministry of Community Development, Women Affairs & Children, is the main custodian in overseeing the involvement of women in national development issues. The Ministry has a new policy on “Women Advancement & Gender”. The new policy replaces the old policy on “Women in Development”, from 1992 by incorporating the concept of gender into community development. The new policy emphasizes gender mainstreaming as a measure to ensure that gender specific needs of male and female nationals are taken into consideration in order to attain gender equality. The policy also gives guidelines on the establishment of gender focal points in the government system, as a measure to facilitate the implementation of gender equality.
There are several areas of engagement where the Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment and Tourism has a role as regards the National Policy on Women Advancement and Gender. These include such actions as: establishing strategies to eradicate poverty; enabling both men and women to use their resources in development activities; realizing equality and human rights without a gender bias; and, valuing the role played by women in achieving their rights. The policy also suggests strategies for environmental protection; these involve” sensitizing actors at all levels to have gender balanced committees to enable women participate in protecting and keeping the surrounding environment”.
The Challenge
The challenge is for the Ministry of Natural Resources & Tourism to minimize the gaps identified above as regards its policy statements in the Forestry Policy, which aim at increasing women involvement in decision making within forestry activities. Although the policy has directed general land tenure and forest land rights to be institutionalized for both men and women in local communities, it remains to be seen how this can be effected practically through its numerous projects, programmes, and activities. It is undeniable that women’s role and welfare in forestry is not fully detailed and defined nor taken care of in the present National Forestry Programme. The challenge is therefore to transform the National Forestry Programme into an effective instrument for addressing the above mentioned shortfalls and concerns.
There are several entry points that could be considered, these include development of arrangements for participatory joint management of nature reserves, forest reserves and establishment and management of village forest reserves, and gender analysis training of forestry staff. Another entry strategy is to implement all gender mainstreaming concerns, within the National Policy on Women Advancement and Gender that have a direct bearing to the National Forest Programme, Forestry Policy, and general forestry activities. This therefore involves the redefining and inserting of a gender focus in all planned activities and expected output.
At the village level villagers should be facilitated to produce their own set of strategies which could aim at changing gender relations as well as improving the economic well-being in their respective villages. Each project or programme should also have its own set of strategies that aim at improving the gender aspects of its interventions and project content.
It is herewith proposed that the following strategies for addressing, or mainstreaming gender issues, should be adopted in the respective National Forest Programme and used for monitoring changes therewith.
[Extracted from a Report titled " Gender Involvement in Forestry". A study initiated by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism in order to establish information on gender relations and the level of women involvement in the forestry sector. The study was originally written by Ms. Galdness Allan Mkamba - an employee of the Forestry & Beekeeping Division, and Mr Emanuel Emilian Chingonikaya - an employee of the Sokoine University of Agriculture. After completing the initial versions, Mr. Edward Hiza Mhina, a Gender Trainer & Participatory Methods Consultant, freelance consultant based at GAD Consult, was engaged to edit and co-author the document. - April 2001]
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