The UN Women has praised Tanzania for its efforts to encourage more women to enter politics, which helps advance gender equality.
UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous made the remarks recently in Zanzibar during two separate meetings with the Association of Zanzibar Women Members of the House of Representatives (UWAWAZA) and beneficiaries of the Women Leadership and Political Participation's "Wanawake Wanaweza Project" at the Tanzania Media Women Association (TAMWA)-Zanzibar offices.
The meeting marked the end of the activities of Ms Bahous during her five-day official visit to Tanzania in which she met with President Samia Suluhu Hassan, partners in the government and civil society, and reaffirmed UN Women's commitment to advancing gender equality and women's empowerment.
She said the UN Women recognises the crucial role of women's organisations in assuring that women's rights are taken into account in policy, law and decision-making processes at national and local levels.
"I applaud the Zanzibar House of Representatives for all the changes supported by the orders, including the requirement that gender considerations be included in every private motion presented to the House; and providing a provision for the Speaker to appoint non-ministerial women parliamentarians to join the parliamentary Steering Committee in the event that all the elected turn out to be male parliamentarians, and facilitating the Zebra approach to electing leaders to the standing committees," she said.
The UN Women boss noted that Zanzibar embraces a good future of gender balance in leadership, particularly in decision-making and executive roles in the country.
UN Women's "Wanawake Wanaweza" Phase II project was implemented in Tanzania from 2018 - 2022. In that period, over 400 women Representatives of the Zanzibar House of Representatives and Members of Parliament from the Parliament of Tanzania benefited from the capacity building.
Ms Bahous further recommended that they consider interventions that are targeted to address and or transform legal, policy and systems for gender equality, in order to attain informal and formal changes; quantitative and qualitative changes including a shift of mindsets.
The UN Women programmes, according to the Zanzibar House of Representatives Speaker Zubeir Ali Maulid, are very important to them because they have given female legislators more confidence in creating, presenting, and defending different house motions.
"There are currently 76 members of the House of Representatives, 38 per cent of whom are female. Women make up 31 per cent of the ministerial cabinet, 36 per cent of district commissioners, and 46 per cent of councillors, which puts them close to achieving 50:50 representations," he said.
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According to Anna Athanas Paul, acting chair of UWAWAZA, their partnership with UN Women has resulted in mentorship and gender training programmes that have given them the platform and authority to mainstream gender issues in the House.
Since the House of Representatives' establishment in 1980, the number of female representatives has increased from 2 to 8, Ms Paul noted.
TAMWA-Zanzibar director Dr Mzuri Issa said that the 'Wanawake Wanaweza' project has brought positive changes in society as many women have been able to be assertive and motivated to contest for various positions, for example in the elections held after the project kick-off.
Halima Ibrahim who contested for parliamentary seat through the ACT Wazalendo political party in the 2020 general elections said that she was more confident than in the past after attending project training.
"I did not win, but I was confident," she said.
Sheikh Khamis Abdulrahman, a religious leader, used the forum to explain that religion does not prevent women from participating, being elected or being appointed to leadership positions.
Funded by the Governments of Finland and Sweden, USAID and the Government of Switzerland, the project, which is set to embark on its third phase, aims to advance women's leadership and political participation by strengthening legal and policy frameworks, supporting institutional change, eliminating social barriers, and strengthening the capacities of current and aspiring women leaders, among other initiatives.
