RUANGWA WOMEN SUCCESS STORY AFTER GEWE II

Tamwa's Exdcutive Director, Valerie Msoka

Written by DEOGRATIAS MUSHI

SALIMA Ustazi who resides at Nachingwea ward in Ruangwa district, Lindi region is currently struggling to get equal distribution of property from her husband who intends to abandon her.

Salima is facing this complicated situation after her husband decided to abandon her last week after three years of living and conducting business together.

Her husband claims that he is already tired with Salima, and now he wants to marry another woman to satisfy him.

He has therefore ordered her to leave the house, giving her 11 iron sheets and 50,000/- to sustain her as she struggles to begin new life.

But since Salima has undergone training on women rights enhanced in the area by Gender Equality and Women Empowerment (GEWE II) programme, she has decided to defend her rights and she insists that she is not going to abandon the house unless her husband build her a house, and give her enough money to begin business.

Salima has contacted village leaders and other relevant authorities including lawyers to enable her secure what she deserves after the breakup with Ustazi.

“For the past three years that we lived together, we generated some money that enabled us build our current house.

We have also established business that gives us good income. It is unfair for Ustazi to abandon me without giving me half of the properties that we own,” Salima insists. She queries; “What can 50,000/- do to me in terms of business?

The 11 iron sheets that the man gave me won’t be enough when I struggle to build a house for myself. I deserve more,” she insists.

The training she received this year, when experts from GEWE II project visited her village insisted that women should not accept to be sidelined when it comes to having equal share in family property during separation.

In Lindi and Mtwara regions today, women have fallen victims of humiliation during harvest time, because some men tend to divorce and marry younger women, and GEWE II has insisted that such a practice should be fought against.

Normally, a good harvest is what every farmer craves in the world today that is why the harvest season should be a time for joy and celebration. But that is not what is happening among cashew nut farmers in Mtwara and Lindi regions. Usually this period becomes the most trying time for women and their children as they go through untold hardships, just like Salima is currently experiencing. Most often, women in Mtwara and Lindi regions are thrown out of their homes, bowing to a primitive tradition christened “clean the granary,” or safisha ghala in Kiswahili, as their husbands, their pockets bulging with proceeds from cashew nut harvests, literally go crazy.

No wonder this is being cited as one of the factors behind the increasing incidence of HIV infections in the region as men embark on this frenzy in which they change partners every year.

Done so casually, it has fuelled HIV transmission and brought misery to families. It is really sad to see married men in these two regions abandon their families to spend their cashew nut money with their new wives, nay concubines.

And, of course, the torture they are subjecting their wives and children to does not cross their minds.

Olaph Mwanjile who is a pastor at Kilima Hewa area says that women in Lindi region suffer because men are becoming irresponsible when it comes to taking care of their families after harvest season.

“We thank Tanzania Media Women’s Association (TAMWA) and other GEWE II partners who have struggled to sensitize our people and especially women about their roles in making sure that women are not humiliated and they get treated as human beings.

We hope there are programmes to make such trainings sustainable,” he insists. According to Mr Mwanjile, cases of rape have started going down in his area because of the sensitization programmes that are conducted on weekly basis.

“We need to run meetings every week, and these efforts should not stop,” he says.

Mr Mwanjile also says that some men have stopped beating their wives because of the workshops conducted, thanks to GEWE II project.

Amina Makota who is a trainer at Nachingwea ward calls upon GEWE II partners to make sure there is a sustainable plan that shall always take action against gender-based violence.

She says that instances of violence against women typically involve crimes like rape and other forms of gender-based violence are often far subtler and more pervasive.

The Tanzania Media Women Association (TAMWA) alongside Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP), Tanzania Women Lawyers Association (TAWLA), Zanzibar Female Lawyers’ Association (ZAFELA) and Crisis Resolving Centre (CRC) conducted a programme recently aimed at ‘liberating’ women.

Known as Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE II), the programme focuses on tackling issues of gender based violence by advocacy, but also providing humanitarian aid to the victims.

After completion, GEWE II has to a great extent contributed to the improvement of the living conditions of women in Tanzania, through support that promoted gender equality and women empowerment.

For years now, gender based violence has been linked to a combination of patriarchal gender norms, lack of law enforcement, lack of knowledge of rights coupled with economic and social discrimination that give privilege to men over women.

Gender based violence is said to be increasing especially in rural areas, where early marriages for girls are said to be increasing.

In some areas upcountry, sexual abuse, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), and disinheritance of widows are factors that continue to reinforce the subordinate status of women and limit their opportunities to be economically active and prevent them from exercising their rights as equal individuals.

Time has come for our society to seriously fight all these kinds of evils, because they have affected women for a long time.

It is at this juncture that GEWE II initiative becomes relevant. TAMWA and their allies deserve credit for coming up with this strategy that focused on women’s economic empowerment at grassroots level, using women’s groups in rural areas.

The project has provided support through training and the option of financial support to women at the small and medium size enterprise level.

It should be understood that lack of economic empowerment of women and gender based violence are two issues that contribute significantly to maintain and enforce women’s subordinate status vis-a-vis men, and are great obstacles for women to fully enjoy their human rights.

Focusing strategically on human and women’s rights always helps to identify and confront underlying power structures that continue to discriminate against women and girls.

Through information on women and human rights, women are given incentives to demand accountability from their policy makers.

Recent researches have confirmed that victims of gender based violence suffer great mental and physical obstacles towards initiating a resource generating activity and this should not be left to continue.

GEWE II has definitely contributed to the existing efforts of civil society and government to realize equal opportunities for both men and women of this country and now there should be plan aimed at sustaining such efforts after such a remarkable effort.

CREDIT SOURCE: http://dailynews.co.tz/index.php/features/38521-ruangwa-women-success-story-after-gewe-ii