This policy brief highlights successes and challenges in the promotion of gender equality in political, social, and economic aspects in Tanzania. It argues that it is not possible to attain gender balance without knowledge of the existing status quo on the promotion of gender equality. This brief uses data from the Demographic & Health Survey, the Integrated Labour Force Survey (ILFS), and secondary data available in other government reports and related literature.
On a whole, the Gender Development Index shows that women are more disadvantaged than men in the three basic dimensions of human development: education, health, and income. Overall unemployment rate of women remains high averaging 12.7% for both 2014 and 2020/21 surveys and vulnerability is higher among female youth. Tanzania has registered improvement in the participation of women in decision-making processes at both the national and household levels. The percentage of women who experience physical violence has slightly increased while that of sexual violence has declined between 2010 and 2015/16.