Title: Citizens of a lesser gender: women participation in leadership positions in Tanzania

Authors: Victoria Boniface Makulilo

Addresses: University of Dar es Salaam, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania

Abstract: Women participation in leadership positions is generally low in Africa and Tanzania. This low participation is as old as politics. It is contributed by the way states and communities look upon citizenship roles of women in the society. The role relegated to the family as child bearers. In ancient democratic Greece, women could not participate in decision making/leadership roles because they were, as slaves, considered lesser citizens. Women participation in politics started after 1900s in the USA and unfurled all over the globe. Tanzania took measures to empower women since 1990s. Yet, before 2015, there has never been a woman elected in the top three positions in the government. And, it is about 26.2% women featured in ministerial positions between 2005 and 2016. By using post-structural feminism and interviews with six ministries; this paper concludes that societal attitude and practices contribute to women's continual inactive participation in leadership roles in Tanzania.

Keywords: women; attitude and practice; participation; leadership; Tanzania.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGSDS.2022.121098

International Journal of Gender Studies in Developing Societies, 2022 Vol.4 No.3, pp.208 - 228

Received: 27 May 2020
Accepted: 17 Jul 2021
Published online: 24 Feb 2022 *