Prof Tibaijuka was addressing participants at the commemoration of 16 days of activism against Gender Based Violence 2023 in Dar es Salaam yesterday where she underscored the need for some law reforms.
The celebrations, organised by TGNP were themed: ‘Invest in Resources to end Gender based Violence and increase Women Participation in Leadership Position’.
She said despite the political will by the government in making reforms in some laws including election laws, women’s movement should champion independent candidates to be free from all types of harassment.
“The movement to fight for women rights should be sustainable. At this juncture, we need to have an instrument that can unite all women in the country to fight against violence, and TGNP can lead the way,” she added.
Prof Tibaijuka said that statistics shows that in the year 2020, at least 27 percent of youths ageing between 15 and 49 years faced violence and 61 per cent of women in sexual relationships also experienced various forms of violence.
TGNP board chairperson, Gema Akilimali emphasized the need for a gender responsive budget to solve community problems such as water.
She said currently, the budget passed is not gender responsive and therefore does not address specific issues because it was not from the community.
“Gender rights are important to have future communities that observe human rights. Let’s take action to end gender violence,” she said.
Gairo District Council chairperson, Rachel Nyangasi said there was a girl who faced psychological torture from their parents and were forced to wrongly answer questions in their national examinations so that they do not continue with secondary school education.
Nyangasi said the girls are then taken to urban places to work as domestic workers.
TGNP executive director, Lilian Liundi said that concerted efforts are needed to end cyber bullying against women candidates. She said that most women candidates failed in the election due to cyber bullying which distorted their reputation in the society.
In his presentation, Prof Alexander Makulilo mentioned some of the challenges that women candidates face as financial constraints, lack of information and shortcomings in the laws.
He said despite challenges, there are some opportunities because Tanzania is one of the countries that have ratified a number of conventions that support women candidates.
“Women participation in leadership is still low, transformations are needed especially in election laws to ensure women vie for different posts in the elections,” he said.
Diana Masesa, an officer from the Canadian High Commission in Dar es Salaam said that addressing GBV requires a comprehensive approach from all the stakeholders.
_0.jpg?itok=QU87XW8D){kind=tracking}
.jpeg?itok=vCj6bCRe)
