The government of Tanzania is currently preparing its next Five Year Development Plan
(FYDP II). Ensuring women benefit from the development processes envisaged in the plan is
instrumental to achieving its objectives. Analysis of recent data on employment and time use
shows women have benefited from a decade of economic transformation in Tanzania. They
have gained access to new employment opportunities in higher-productivity sectors such as
manufacturing, trade and hotel and food services. The expansion of public services made
possible by a decade of growth has increased the education of women in in the labour force,
as well as bringing about longer life expectancy.
Some disadvantages have persisted, however. Yields per hectare in agriculture are still
lower on land worked primarily by women compared with those on land worked by men.
While men’s time taken up by household chores has reduced, women’s has not; this burden
begins as early as 10 years old for females. Too many young women still marry before age
18 and start their families soon after, reducing their education and employment options in the
future.
To the extent possible, FYDP II should include measures to reduce longstanding gender
inequities, especially those that both reduce growth and transformation and worsen poverty.
In non-agriculture sectors, programmes can help women gain access to new opportunities
by supporting them to enter sectors and occupations from which they have been excluded.
This may involve using tools such government procurement to encourage the private sector
to be involved in this effort. In the agriculture sector, existing investments need to analyse
why and how women have been left out. Plans for new investment and project designs need
to diagnose the constraints to women’s participation at the start, with results monitored as
projects proceed. Plans for service delivery improvements should prioritise investments that
will reduce the time burden on women of housework and caring for household members.
In developing the FYDP II monitoring plan, efforts should be made to target the collection of
data on employment and earnings by gender. This will require a review of how employment
data are collected. Additional surveys should not be needed; instead, the current programme
should be strengthened and streamlined to yield the necessary data. Client survey data
need to be collected regularly for publicly provided services, and published in gender disaggregated
formats to ensure women have the access they need.