Mgossi: Gender Relations Observed in Tanga Municipality's Mabawa Ward

Mabawa Ward has a total of 26’607 inhabitants, of whom 13,567 are female and 13,037 are male. There are more than 362 households headed by men, and about 107 households headed by women. The main economic activities in the Ward incorporate: businesses, farming, employment, and poultry keeping. Environmental activities done by the residents consist of prevention of wanton destruction of the environment by throwing garbage. There is a community committee that has been created through collaboration with STP to prevent indiscriminate disposal of garbage or solid waste. There are also environmental groups that deal with planting of trees, supervising road rehabilitation work through collaboration with STP. Services available in the Ward include electricity, roads (in poor conditions), and primary schools. The Ward leadership consists of a female Ward Executive Officer, and 13 male Hamlet chairpersons.

The workshop for simulating an analysis of gender relations in the Ward was held on 24^th April 2003. A total of 60 inhabitants had initially been invited to the workshop, and 54 (or 90%), attended (of whom 27 were women and 27 were men). Three methods were used in the workshop, focus group interviews (e.g., the groups were mainly those comprising of businessmen dealing with environmental products such as firewood, charcoal, building poles, etc; food vendors; environmental committee members; local government leaders; etc), individual interviews through semi-structured questionnaires (with heads of households, e.g., 3 men and 8 women), and structured interviews with leaders. Altogether there were not less than 58 people in the above exercises.

Individual Household Level Interviews in Mabawa Ward

At least 14 women and men (seven each), were interviewed through a semi structured questionnaire at the one day workshop held in Mabawa Ward. According to the data extracted from the individual interviews, the following observations were recorded.

Age of Respondents

On the whole, 64% of the respondents in the Ward were between 40 and 49 years of age. There is practically no difference between the average age of the male and female respondents. Hence one can conclude that the sample represents mainly an age group that is well informed about gender relations at the household level.

Table. 3.25.

Age of Respondents

from Mabawa Ward.

Age	Women N=7	Men N=7	Total N=14	% of all 14 respondents
20-29	1	0	1	7 %
30-39	1	2	3	21%
40-49	4	5	9	64%
50-59	0	0	0	0%
60+	1	0	1	7%
Total:	7	7	14	100%

Marital Status of Respondents

Generally, 64% of the interviewees were married. In closer detail, all the men interviewed were married, and one in a polygamous marriage. On the women’s side, two were not married as compared to five who were. However, none of the women were in polygamous marriages.

Table. 3.26.

Marital Status of

Respondents from Mabawa Ward.

Marital Status	Women N=7	Men N=7	Total N=14	% of all 14 respondents
Not Married	2	0	2	14 %
Married	5	7	9	64%
Polygamous	0	1	1	7%
Divorced	0	0	0	0%
Widower/ Widow	0	0	0	0%

Education level among Respondents

As regards the level of education of the respondents in Mabawa, we see that all had completed primary school, while 21% had reached secondary school. In fact it is unusually interesting to note that it is the women who were more schooled than the men. Nearly half of the women were secondary school graduates unlike none on the male side.

Table. 3.27.

Education level among

Respondents from Mabawa Ward.

Type of Education	Women N=7	Men N=7	Total N=14	% of all 14 respondents
Standard 4	0	0	0	0 %
Primary Education	4	6	10	71%
Secondary Education	3	0	3	21%
Illiterate	0	0	0	0%
College	0	0	0	0%
Other	0	0	0	0%

Other form of Education

Concerning other forms of training or exposure to non-formal education, besides primary and secondary education, most of the men and women had had other forms of such training. In fact, two fifths had had training in handicrafts, a fifth had had training in agriculture and religious studies, and, nearly half had had training in other subjects.

Table. 3.28.

Other form of Education acquired

by Respondents from Mabawa Ward.

Form of Education	Women N=7	Men N=7	Total N=14	% of all 14 respondents
Religious	1	2	3	21 %
Teaching	1	1	2	14%
Technical	0	0	0	0%
Agriculture	2	1	3	21%
Crafts	2	3	5	36%
Business	1	1	2	14%
Adult Education	0	0	0	0%
Other	3	3	6	43%

Main Activity by Respondents

Nearly two fifths of the respondents had engaged themselves in commercial activities. While a third were involved with handicrafts, and a fifth were into employment as employees. On a gender perspective, more of the men were into commercial activities and handicrafts than compared to women. Interestingly, it was only men who engaged in tea shops, which is not common in most researches.

Table. 3.29.

Main Activity by

Respondents from Mabawa Ward

Type of Main Activity	Women N=7	Men N=7	Total N=14	% of all 14 respondents
Employee	2	1	3	21 %
Livestock Keeper	1	0	1	7%
Handicrafts	1	3	4	29%
Cultivator	1	1	2	14%
Fisher folk	0	0	0	0%
Pottery	0	0	0	0%
Tea Shop	0	2	2	14%
Retailer	0	0	0	0%
Carpenter	0	0	0	0%
Labourer	1	0	1	7%
Commercial	1	4	5	36%
Other	1	0	1	7%

Access to Extension Services

On access to extension agents or services, the most reachable agent or services were those health and community development. These were services which more than half of the female respondents mentioned reaching, while on the male respondents side, only two services were mentioned, health and community development. It is unusual that most of the men did not identify extension services that they accessed with ease.

Table. 3.30.

Access to Extension Services