International Women’s Day – "Men should do more for equal rights"

Today, March 8th, International Women’s Day is celebrated all over the world. This is done every year. But quite frankly, far too little progress towards equal rights for women and men in the world is seen from one year to the next.

Here in Tanzania, women are certainly fighting hard for their rights, and have been doing so for many years. It is an uphill struggle. Some progress has been achieved. But inequalities of treatment between men and women, abuse of girls and domestic violence against women are still all too common. That such inequalities still persist is perhaps all the more surprising considering the extraordinary leadership of Tanzanian women in senior positions on the world political stage and the vibrant organisations within civil society – so important for progress.

But women cannot be left to struggle for their rights alone. Men need to play a stronger, more pro-active role. Partly it is a matter of mutual interest. Partly it is our duty and moral obligation. What we certainly cannot do as men is stand on the sidelines and let the inequalities continue.
We, as Europeans, are in a unique and privileged position to articulate this view. The struggle for equality between men and women in Europe has been a long and bitter one, and is far from over. In those countries where it has advanced the furthest it has been a united struggle led by both men and women that has produced the greatest gains. Those countries that have succeeded best in this area sit on top on the UN’s Human Development Index.   

Why do we believe that in Tanzania men should be much more engaged ?

First of all it is our moral responsibility. Men and women were born as equals. We should not tolerate such inequalities.

Secondly, because men are usually at the heart of the problem. Domestic violence is about men beating women rather than women beating men. Sexual violence is about boys and men abusing girls and women, not the other way round. It is estimated that one-third of women in urban and one fifth in rural Tanzania have been exposed to rape or physical violence of some kind at least once during their lifetime. These are astonishing facts. Millions of Tanzanian women are not safe in the shelter of their own homes but subject to humiliation and physical abuse. It is a primary responsibility for us men to engage, and to clearly say enough is enough.

Thirdly, because in the end if we obtained equal rights for both men and women this would be a win-win situation for everybody: in social, economic and political terms. In terms of using, instead of wasting, the capacity of women to become entrepreneurs; of using, instead of wasting, female experiences to make better informed political decisions on budget allocations. Fourthly, by aligning with and joining with women struggling for their rights, we will accelerate the process of finding consensual solutions which reinforce rather than antagonise societies and help bring peace and stability to communities.
 
In our view, access to education is critical, not just at primary level, but at secondary and tertiary level too. Well-educated mothers have fewer children and make a difference for the health of their children. It is a well known fact that children are more likely to live beyond the age of five if mothers have spent five years in primary education. Perhaps some day the same might be said also about us fathers but unfortunately we still have some way to go…

Drop out rates in Tanzania for girls in education are much too high. And, most iniquitous of all, girls who become pregnant at school – often through no fault of their own but by rape from teachers or their classmates – leads such girls to be expelled. There is an urgent need to change that practice here and now.

Violence against women is most often committed within the walls of the home and sexual violence is surrounded by secrecy and quiet. It is estimated that only 10 percent of sexual assaults are actually reported to the community. Studies also show that women that do seek assistance from health care services often do not receive adequate support or treatment.

Those men engaging in violence of course have the ultimate responsibility of their actions. But it is also a responsibility of the whole society to tackle the problem. Crimes committed against women are not a personal matter to be dealt with in the household – it is an issue that affects us all. We do have a responsibility to intervene when a neighbour is abusing his wife. We do have a responsibility to support threatened women, break the silence and report the crime.

The Police and Justice authorities most certainly have the responsibility to deal with these crimes in a swift and credible way. Helping their capacity to intervene; providing these institutions with appropriate training and help: these are a necessary input to providing them support and credibility in the community and building up trust. Too often, sadly, these institutions have been regarded as part of the problem, not the solution. 

Too often too, during our field visits to villages, we have heard examples of settling the issue of abuse of women or girls with money or with agreeing that the husband apologizes. These practices deny women and girls of their rights and contributes to perpetuate the problem.
 
Beating of women is a loss of humanity, but it is also a financial loss. The costs of injured and murdered women are huge if you look at productivity lost and the lives of children being affected by violence and insecurity in their homes.

Often, alcohol is one clear part of the problem. The level of drinking in society and in the household is connected to the extent of violence against women. So, decreasing alcohol consumption is also important to secure women’s rights as well as for improving health and productivity in general.

A closely-related area where there is an urgent need for rapid improvement – certainly not only in Tanzania but elsewhere as well – is the strengthening of sexual and reproductive health and rights. Please note the word “rights”. The rights of girls and women in this area are so fundamental and still so frequently abused. We have often wondered what the global debate would have looked like if men and not women had been the victims of these violations.

Just imagine if we had seen half a million fathers dying from “paternal mortality” every year. And just imagine – moving to the Tanzanian context – the kind of reaction we would have seen if this “paternal mortality” would be increasing rather than decreasing in spite of general efforts to improve health in the country.

Remember on this Women’s Day: One woman dies every hour from maternal causes in Tanzania, and the situation is not improving. It is a matter of poverty for sure. But have we really got our priorities right?

Still there are many more rights to protect and promote in this area. Not least is the right to say no to sex – and the right to know about sex. According to the media, the Dar es Saalam Youth Shadow Parliament some weeks ago recommended the provision of reproductive health education to students to help them avoid casual sex, early pregnancies and HIV/AIDS.

We could not agree more.

We have written this article in a spirit of urgency. The issues of gender equality and the rights of women and girls are too low on the political agenda in most countries. So much is lost in terms of human capacity and human dignity because of this.
March 8th is International Women’s day. But it is also a day when we men should commit ourselves to make a special contribution to promote gender equality. We individually have made pledges to try to make a difference. We want to challenge many more men to do the same.

Staffan Herrström
Ambassador of Sweden to Tanzania  

Tim Clarke
Ambassador
Head of Delegation of European
Commission in Tanzania