Although the ideology of male superiority and female subordination still persists, gender relations in Tanzania Independence
“No longer do all women accept without question a position of inequality. Not all men own property or are in positions of dominance. Age, educational level, economic status, rural or urban residence and other social characteristics interact with gender to influence relations between women and men, between persons of the same sex and between old and young” (Sida:p.8).
Nevertheless, key issues that affect women in Tanzania
a) low investment in sectors dominated by women (e.g., agriculture and health);
b) poor access by girls to higher and college education (e.g., 30% in high schools and less than 20% in colleges);
c) low female employment in the formal sector (e.g., between 20% to 40% of those employed with extreme low presence in);
d) low female representation in decision making or management positions (e.g., 45 female parliamentarians (16.36%), out of a total 275);
e) inconsistent, fragmented and unjust laws on gender relations (e.g., a three system legal practice in marriage laws - customary, statutory and religious);
f) proportionally low economic involvement of women in urban areas (e.g., only 44% are involved compared to 56% of the men);
g) concentration of women in high risk, make shift, low earning, vendor type occupations (e.g., 57% of women in informal sector are involved in marketing or food vendoring);
h) low overall participation in politics (e.g., only 5% of the 1335 candidates in the 1995 elections were female, only eight were elected, women constitute 48% of registered voters but in some areas only 30% registered to vote); and,
i) irregular legal guarantees for justice towards women (e.g., biases among some male members of the police force, corruption among judges, illegibility of legal text, and slow application of favourable legislation).
Gender Equality in the Education Sector SWAp[2]
As regards the situation of women in the education sector, it is certain that there exists several gender diagnoses on the education sector, but it is uncertain whether these were adequately or exhaustively utilized in the design stages of the Education sector SWAp. Generally, gender equality exists when women and men benefit equally (according to their individual needs), from socially valued goods, opportunities, resources and rewards. This could include, both of them being awarded equal opportunities to define their needs and getting a fair chance to achieve them. Gender equality does not imply women and men being the same, or the uniformity of gender roles across cultures, nor does it imply the equal treatment of men and women irrespective of their gender needs and preferences.
Gender equality in education can be effectively achieved through gender mainstreaming. This means, by addressing gender issues throughout all activities, rather than in a few selected areas. In practice it could mean creating strategies for reducing gender imbalances in terms of inequitable access, such as: cost reduction, attention to demand and cultural barriers, flexible time tabling, and appropriate schooling facilities; or strategies for addressing inequitable quality such as: action on harassment and discrimination, appropriate health and sex education, female teachers providing role models and support for girls, gender sensitive teaching approaches, curriculum and learning materials, and community participation in social management of schools. The focus on girls’ education might be misread as a “WID” approach, but it is a necessary, short or medium term, gender balancing strategy to overcome uninhibited male supremacy in most areas.
Mainstreaming gender in sector wide approaches in Education.[3]
It is not uncommon for most state administrators in countries where education sector SWAPs have been studied, appearing to hold attitudes or opinions that are contrary towards supporting the engagement of gender related activities. In such situations, the initial commitment for improving gender equity is usually exceedingly low, and gender equity activities tend to get progressively diluted and ineffectual the closer they get to the household. Normally, as is in the Tanzanian case, access and participation to education and training, are the main focus of the gender measures in the education sector. This focus usually translates into specific gender activities rather than into integrated broader actions. In quest to avoid this narrow focused and peripheral approach to addressing gender imbalances in the education sector, the following measures are crucial:
a) commitment for addressing gender imbalances should be framed within all overall goals, targets and objectives for improving primary education, and not merely enrolment;
b) more profile should be given towards gender differentials in the quality of education and in achievement of education outcomes;
c) emphasis should be made on the links between supply side or quality issues (such as curriculum, text books, pedagogy, and teachers training), gender equity, participation, and achievement in schools;
d) increased use of sector specialists who have clear understanding of gender mainstreaming and what this should mean for implementation in their area of specialization;
e) enabling specialists on economics and institutional change to understand the relevance of gender issues to their areas of concern; and,
f) increasing opportunities for girls in post-basic education (e.g., secondary and tertiary education or vocational education), as a crucial incentive for households to take seriously primary education for all children.
As we have already seen, there are numerous gender problems that abound within the education sector, Tanzania
The Education Sector Status Report[5] acknowledges that disparities exist in the country’s enrolment profile if one reviews it by gender, geographical locality, school type and income-group, are very evident.[6] Therefore, increases in enrolment cannot ensure equitable access, or equal opportunities for high educational achievement, throughout society. More strategies have to be taken on board in order to address gender imbalances. Disparities will not decrease if educational resources are not equitably distributed according to gender needs, this is clearly illustrated by the trends in education by gender. The main areas of concern as regards gender differentials in education in Tanzania
a) persistently high dropout rates for both boy and girl students;
b) continuing problem of school girl pregnancies and their discontinuation of studies;
c) fluctuating situation of truancy by especially boys in pastoral and commercial areas;
d) challenging cost-sharing demands on parents whose default accentuates truancy and eventual dropout;
e) inadequate space in classrooms which results on overcrowding and general student or teacher discomfort;
f) inadequate number of teachers in most primary schools which results in overworking or insufficient teaching and thus poor learning environment;
g) most teaching staff still with low qualifications and competence as regards current merits demands for teaching staff; and,
h) low and sometimes demoralising selection rates of primary school leavers for continued learning at secondary or other levels.
Other areas of concern in regards to education management include: gender role stereotyping in employment of female employees in district and ward offices; concentration of female employees in low income positions without potential career development perspectives; low participation of female staff in decision making fora due to representation based on rank rather than gender needs; and, low number of female employees within higher ranking positions and in leadership positions especially in the planning and administrative or personnel departments. A look at the Education Sector Development Programme’ s Basic Education Strategy, reveals a good measure of concern on the gross enrolment ratios and net enrolment ratios of males and females at all levels, but scant or sporadic mention on the way quality and institutional matters affect the genders.
In view of these shortcomings, the challenge faced by the education sector SWAp includes: building commitment on focusing on measures to promote equitable quality and education between the genders (as a measure for addressing access); and, engaging a heightened gender balance focus across all parts of the institutional framework in such areas as curriculum development, text book production, pre-service and in-service training. In addition, the education sector SWAp has to strengthen methods and institutional capacity to monitor the achievements of gender equality outcomes.
At present, there are few targets and benchmarks on monitoring gender imbalances (mainly concentrated in enrolment), therefore, progress in gender equality outcomes in education (especially in terms of quality), are not fully monitored. It is imperative that at the community level, the civil society and the community should set the indicators and monitor changes therein, so as to enhance the framework for accountability of public within the education sector. One key gender imbalance issue that needs be followed up is the disproportionate allocation of funds to higher levels of a gender biased education system at the expense of a more gender balanced primary education system. Not only does this bias undermine achievement of the national goals of UPE, but it also benefits classes and gender differences as regards who are most likely to progress through to higher education.
The Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP)[7].
The Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP) is an outcome of various sector reviews and will cover primary education provision, as well as education for out-of-school children and youth. The targets of priority investments are: enrolment expansion, classroom construction, teacher engagement and deployment, quality improvement, in-service and pre-service teacher training, teaching and learning materials provision, and management, monitoring and evaluation improvements. There are 4,578,236 children in primary schools in Tanzania. However, it is estimated that there will be 3 million children, 7-13 years old, out of the school system by the end of 2001. If they all sought admission at the same time, total primary school enrolment in January 2002 would increase by two thirds from approximately 4.5 to 7.5 million. As this would overwhelm the education system’s resources, PEDP takes measured enrolment steps so as to achieve Universal Primary Education (UPE) gradually.
The highest priority for PEDP is to increase overall gross and net enrolment of both boys and girls. This shall be done through a combination of strategies:
(a) to increase enrolment rates of all groups of children;
(b) to use existing teachers and classrooms more effectively;
(c) to recruit new teachers and to construct new classrooms; and
(d) to expand complementary education programmes for out-of-school children and youth.
In summary, strengths are visible in terms of use of gender specialists, whereby at present a Gender Technical Adviser is engaged in the ESDP process since April 2001; also a handful of projects and programmes in the sector (e.g., DBSPE, CSDP, COBET, etc) used them. Nevertheless, the impact of these specialists is limited by various factors. Other areas of marginal strengths are in gender awareness raising (seminars and workshops), gender analysis, gender focused identification of beneficiaries (e.g., girls and female teachers); gender sensitive design of project activities (e.g., FEMSA and FAWE activities) and gendered objectives (e.g., in the Education and Training Policy). There are signs of gender insensitivity as regards the formal content, outputs, activities, linkages, and general design. However, the most common weakness is lack of gendered outputs even where gendered objectives exist (e.g., in the ESDP and especially so in PEDP).
Overall Achievements in Gender Mainstreaming within the Education Sector
It is undeniable that there has been tremendous progress in engendering within the Education sector, some of these achievements are:
a) Access to “O” levels between boys and girls is near equal, at 47.34% for girls. But access to “A” levels too low, 33.14%, as is that at Technical institutions at 6%, University, 17.2%.
b) At the primary school level: between 1987 and 1999, there has been a 1% change in women’s enrolment in Standard 1; 2.7% change in women’s enrolment in Standard 7; and, 0.2% change in women’s enrolment between Standard 1 and 7.
c) At the secondary school level: between 1987 and 1999, there has been a 6.5% increase in women’s enrolment between Form 1 and Form 6; 12.4% change in women’s enrolment in public schools; and, 1.5% change in women’s enrolment in private schools.
d) Average change in women’s enrolment in public school has been 13.5% while in private schools it has been, 6.9%.
e) Female teachers constitute 45.2% of all primary school teachers.
f) The Education Sector Status Report acknowledges that disparities exist in the country’s enrolment profile if one reviews it by gender, geographical locality, school type and income-group.
g) Education Sector Development Programme (ESDP). Integration of gender in the design of the ESDP. Integration of gender in the National Strategy for Basic Education. Integration of gender in the Primary Education Initiation Plan: Strategy and Programme Components.
Implementation Gaps in Gender Mainstreaming
The successes above have inevitably been accompanied with a few notable shortcomings, most of which were mainly in the form of:
a) Gross enrolment rates for female students at secondary school level remain lower, despite higher social returns expected from investment in secondary education for females compared to males.
b) Late school entry, with up to 85% of the school entrants entering primary school after age 7.
c) Only 69% of the primary school entrants reach grade 7.
d) Constraints on women’s participation such as drop out rates and low performance by girls in class and during examinations still persist.
e) The average pass rate hides huge gender and regional differences (e.g., in the best district (Dar Es Salaam) 44% of males pass as compared to only 27% of female students).
f) At secondary school level, girl’s opportunity of staying in school is slightly lower than that for boys, they dropout.
g) Dominance of male staff in senior or decision making posts.
h) Under-representation of females in, Bachelor of Science General, female proportion is 5%, Geology at 7%, Computer Science at 6%, Engineering at 5% and Agricultural Engineering at 0%.
i) Crucial gaps persist as regard provisions for coordination of gender in ESDP in the Institutional Arrangements component.
j) Inconsistencies persist as regards identified gaps, strategies and recommended action.
Recommended Action for Furthering Gender Mainstreaming
Considering that gaps have been detected and analysed, it is prudent to suggest actions on addressing them. The activities herein suggested include:
a) Continued application of a quota system that gives preferential treatment to girls and children from disadvantaged districts.
b) Expand number of places for boys and girls in both secondary and primary schools by supporting community and parental inputs to build and rehabilitate schools.
c) Raise the gender balanced enrolments and the quality of private secondary education with increased participation of the community and teachers in establishing and managing their schools.
d) Reduce the direct and opportunity costs of education by providing scholarships to girls.
e) Creating a more gender-sensitive school curriculum and environment.
f) Promoting community awareness about the benefits of girls’ education.
g) Creating child and gender friendly schools through a net work of already present TRCS’ as a basis for providing pedagogical support to new, serving and un-trained teachers, support supervision and school inspection services.
h) Creating a Gender Coordniation Unit in the central ministry of education to focus mainly on monitoring of gender balanced educational standards.
i) Creating gender expertise in the ministry headquarters and regional level advisory staff.
j) Developing a comprehensive gender mainstreaming programme for implementation by a Gender Coordination Unit within ESDP.
In efforts to avoid a narrow focused and peripheral approach to addressing gender imbalances in the Education sector SWAp, it is also recommended for the donor partners to keep on with supporting the education sector SWAp (in the course of the current programme support to PEDP and the oncoming SEDP), through advocating for the following measures:
a) making certain that commitment for addressing gender imbalances should be framed within all overall goals, targets and objectives of the sector programmes;
b) encouraging more profile being given towards gender differentials (e.g., in the quality of education and in achievement of education outcomes);
c) emphasising the programmes to uphold the links between supply side or quality issues;
d) promoting for increased use of sector specialists who have clear understanding of gender mainstreaming and what this should mean for implementation in their area of specialization;
e) enabling specialists on economics and institutional change (e.g., planners and administrators), to understand the relevance of gender issues to their areas of concern; and,
f) encouraging the sector partners and programmes to increase opportunities for girls/women.
Engendering of ESDP and PEDP Processes and Documents.
To achieve a more holistic and effective coverage of cross cutting issues such as gender and HIV/AIDs, the Ministry of Education and Culture has engaged several Gender Experts (assigned to each Technical Working Group) and a Gender TA/Consultant. The role and functions of these gender protagonists is to ensure that gender issues are dealt with in all key documents within the ESDP process, as well as within all major components of the ESDP. The gender consultant is expected to address gender issues and mainstreaming of gender measures in the document on National Strategy for Basic Education. The Gender Technical Adviser[8] has been working in with the ministry, through CIDA-PSU support, since April 2001. The technical support from the Gender TA, has been provided in accordance to the hereunder quoted statement of services:
a) Conduct gender analysis of ESDP-related programme and strategy documents.
b) Identify gender constraints/opportunities and define strategic gender measures to promote gender equality.
c) Prepare and submit written comments, including those comments of the gender specialists.
So far the engendering process has experienced varying levels of success. Most of the success has been dependent on the cooperative spirit and inclusiveness of gender experts in the various PEDP TWGs. In regards to the above section of the statement of services, the Gender TA, together with the MOEC Gender Experts, have to date, performed the engendering of following sample of works[9]:
a) National Strategy for Basic Education (April/May 2001).
b) Annex 4: Strengthening Institutional Arrangements (May 2001).
c) Information Education and Communication Action Plan.
d) ESDP - Primary Education Initiation Plan: Strategy and Programme Components (April 2001).
e) ESDP - Primary Education Initiation Plan: Strategy and Programme Components (24th May 2001 version).
f) ESDP - Primary Education Investment Plan (2002-2006). June 2001 version.
g) IEC Action Plan;
h) Quality Improvement Terms of Reference for Technical Assistance;
i) The Non Formal Basic Education Policy Framework and Strategic Plan 2002-2006 Document.
j) Draft Conceptual Framework on Quality Primary Education.
k) Technical Annex to Primary Education Development Plan: Strategy and Programme Components. (Quality Improvement Educational Materials 2001/2002 – 2005/2006).
[1] Paper written and presented by Mr. Edward H. Mhina, a Gender Trainer & Consultant, also Gender TA for the Ministry of Education & Culture (2001 – 2002). GAD Consult, Alykhan Road P.O.Box. 4361 Dar Es Salaam
[2] The sector wide approach is mainly concerned with engaging a process whereby the involvement of all key stakeholders in education planning, implementation, monitoring & evaluation is a normal phenomena. The approach aims at dealing with inequities which have emerged in access and quality between districts, schools, gender and disadvantaged groups.
[3] Mainstreaming Gender through Sector Wide Approaches in Education. Synthesis Report. October 2000. A Study carried out for DFID. ODI.
[4] Hongoke, Dr. C, & Mhina, E.H., Gender Budgeting in the Education Sector Participatory Action Research on Gender Budget Initiative. Final Sectoral Report, August 1998. TGNP.
[5] Education Sector Country Status Report (Tanzania
[6] Ibid, Page 79.
[7] The Primary Education Development Programme (2002-2006. Basic Education Development Committee. June 2001.
[8] Mr. Edward H. Mhina, a Gender Consultant & Trainer from TGNP.
[9] Attached is a Table of documents that the MOEC has either adopted or are still under process, the Gender TA & the MOEC Gender Experts have engendered the shaded documents.
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