In Tanzania, empowering women also means educating men

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The eighteen mothers seated in the market square of Mlangarini exchange knowing glances and discreet smiles. On this August 2021 morning, Ann is leading the discussion. Just in her forties, the one who responds to the nickname "Mama Deborah" has been leading the meetings of the group, exclusively female, for years. Every month, they are about twenty in this Tanzanian town, south-east of the city of Arusha, to meet out of sight for a tontine.

Thanks to this savings system, where each participant in turn borrows the money collected by the group, several thousand Tanzanian shillings are available each month. A means of borrowing appreciated for its ease and discretion when many housewives and limited resources do not have access to banking services or financial support from their spouse or family.

“My husband does the housework”

Ten months earlier, Mama Deborah had been approached by the NGO Hand in Hand to take part in a development program centered on entrepreneurship. She and her associates have agreed to attend training sessions twice a month with this international NGO, which has been present in Tanzania since 2014. Basics in business management, finance and bank savings were thus provided to them at the rate of four hours per month. "I was enthusiastic about the idea of ​​doing and learning something else," says Rehyma, 34, mother of three, with a half-smile.

These women mostly grow maize or cassava, others sell second-hand clothes in the markets of the region. Three months after the end of their training, each testifies to the renewed pride and satisfaction of having been able to open a bank account, increase their income, invest in new businesses or expand the family farm.

In the assembly, two men are present. They haven't said a word since the start of the round table, but they are listening with an attentive ear to the heated discussions on the perceived changes in the behavior of many husbands in the community. "Mine is cleaning now," said one; “my husband agrees to accompany the children to school while I go to work”, continues another.

In all, 95 men, 95 "husbands", followed, in parallel with the training of their wives, four sessions on gender equality, from the sharing of domestic tasks to the necessary support to bring to the entrepreneurial activities of their women. An infrequent move.

The violence of excluded men

"In Tanzania, there are so many projects for women, whether in economic development, education, the defense of their rights... But none takes into account the role of men", observes Upendo Mbuya, the one of the two volunteers working on this project. However, not involving them leads to other challenges when the program is over. “Once these women have acquired new knowledge and more income, some husbands tend to blame them for coming home late or for not doing what they consider to be their duties, such as cleaning or cooking,” she continues.

The observation is almost general. “During our programs, we have had women who were prevented by their spouses from continuing their training, others who were dissuaded from pursuing the creation of their business”, confirms Jane Sabuni.

The director of the Tanzanian branch of Hand in Hand goes even further: "We noticed that the more the women became economically strong and contributed to the household income, the more the men nourished a feeling of inferiority and had the impression that their raison d'etre was taken away from them. Because they still had to prove that they were men and heads of families, some did not hesitate to be violent with them or their children. We concluded that continuing to exclude men from our programs was counterproductive and contributed to reproducing gender-based violence. »

For Elton, 44, one of the two men present that day in Mlangarini, the past few months have opened up new prospects for him. “My wife no longer hides her activities from me or the money she earns or borrows. Me niether. We trust each other,” he explains aside, after asserting that the two had doubled their income by teaming up to sell their agricultural production.

Communication within households

If the experience has a virtue, it is that of having improved communication within the homes. Juliett, 45, speaks in a barely audible voice. Her husband and the father of her five children went to Kenya for the summer to sell sandals like those traditionally worn by the Masai people of southern Africa. “Before, I used to think my husband was like an animal,” she says. He could leave for months without leaving anything for me and the children. To support herself, Juliett now sells cassava leaves that she grows. Even if her husband “has not completely changed” since his formation, she has the impression of “having finally found a partner” where, previously, she came up against his indifference.

Between two fields of corn dried up by the sun, about ten kilometers away, the same scenario began the day before. In the village of Maroroi, northeast of Arusha, around twenty women on one side and around ten men on the other were getting ready to start their ten-month training. In this rural area, the hopes nourished by the program are primarily financial, with everyone hoping to be able to monetize what they have learned.

A farmer, in his fifties, Maasai, in a sweater and tailored trousers, stands up and remarks: “A few years ago, this kind of meeting to talk about the problems of our communities would never have taken place. The women would have tried to listen to what we were saying while waiting behind the house, while only the men were here talking to you. But things are changing with education, globalization. All of this challenges our own cultures. »

This article was written as part of a partnership with Cartier Philanthropy

Mariama Darame (special envoy)

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