Browsing by Author "Koda, Bertha Omari"

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    Emancipation of women in Tanzania and the role of U. W. T.
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 1975) Koda, Bertha Omari
    Ever since the emergence of private Capital in human society man has never ceased to struggle far emancipation. Men and women, both of whom are victims of exploitation by private capital always joined efforts in this struggle but as is the case the female sex was always left behind in the emancipation process. It is now centuries passed since the question of the emancipation of women occupied the minds of people but still some people do not know what that question means. Some people have even gone as far as distorting the meaning of it and reducing it to a "sex question" which is absolutely wrong. The emancipation of women is not a feminine question as such, and this will be elaborated in the first part of this thesis. Chapter one will try to explain the meaning of emancipation of women, The emancipation of women is actually part and parcel of the primary question of "emancipation" or liberation of humanity from capitalism and all its remnants. The root-cause of the problem to be solved in the emancipation process lies in the economic system of the private ownership of the means of production which necessitates and enables the exploitation of man by man and needless to say, of women by man. The Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth century exposed to the fore not only the fact that both sexes are victims of private capital but also that women are more of ten exploited sex than men. During the Industrial Revolution, it was women who suffered more. Slowly people began to realize that oven women were human beings and deserved all rights enjoyed by men. The end of the First world war brought to some European women political rights and the end of the second world war brought some new hopes for women. The creation of UNO was a sort of a blessing to worsen. for women rights in particular. Part of chapter one deals exclusively with UNO's attempts to liberate the female sex. Both the UN constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights contain numerous declarations and articles which support the emancipation of women but that legal stand has not yet effectively been translated into practical terms. Actually it was partly due to this fact that the U.N set aside the year 1975 as an International Womens' Year with the purpose of placing the cause of women before governments as a matter of immediate and urgent concern. Chapter five deals exclusively with the International Women's Year. Apart from explaining what International Women's Year means, this chapter tries to examine the Tanzanian society and exposes what-ever is being done in Tanzania to mark this Women's Year. Chapter one goes on to examine both the capitalist and Socialist countries to see how far they have gone in liberating their women. Chapter two tries to examine the place of women in the socio-economic life in Tanzania. Tanzania, a country which was colonized for navy years got political independence in 1961 and has opted to go Socialist. Ever since 1961 Tanzania has never ceased to struggle for emancipation which has been launched through the process of building a socialist Tanzania which is no easy task. Many stumbling-blocks are being met, such as the existence of out-moded traditions and colonial mentality and hangovers which hinders a speeded-up emancipation. Chapter three tries to show how the state of Tanzania has been involved in the emancipation of women. This chapter is actually additional to chapter Two. Chapter four deals exclusively with the role of UWT a Tanzanian women organization, which has proved to be a worthwhile organization. UWT is actually an implementing organ of TANU's policies so its hope in helping a Tanzanian woman lies mostly in what policies TANU makes, but also in how strong its power to influence works on the making of TANU's policies. TANU, the only political party operating in Tanzania a crucial role to play in of action (through to follow and mainland, has emancipation. It has already drawn a line the Arusha Declaration) for the whole mass has also been busy leading the pass meantime the struggle continues. Chapter six, which is the conclusion, stresses that, no matter what good laws a country has, that alone can not bring about emancipation. Laws have to be translated into practical terms but above all it is the proletarian revolution which is capable of bringing about total and complete emancipation, be it that of man or woman. So, it is only through the victory of that man will then be liberated.
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    The gender dimension of land rights in Tanzania: case study of Msindo village, Same District.
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2000) Koda, Bertha Omari
    This study aimed at investigating women's land rights in contemporary land tenure systems pertaining to Same District, north-eastern Tanzania. The main assumptions were that the Wapare customary land tenure system accords unequal rights to women and men due to the household-based gender roles stereotyping as influenced by the marriage institution and that current land tenure reforms are increasing women's land tenure insecurity. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected from primary and secondary sources, using PRA methods and structured interviews. A case study of Msindo Village located in Same district, Kilimanjaro region, north-eastern Tanzania was purposively selected and used as source of primary data A total of 69 households (15% of total households) and 139 respondents (5% of total village population) were randomly selected for in-depth interviewing. Life stories of one married woman and two widows were also collected as source of qualitative data. Quantitative data was analyzed into frequencies and cross tabulation (simple statistics) using the SPSS package while qualitative data was manually processed and interpreted in comparison with the study expectations. Results from this study point to the fact that although women in patrilineal Msindo Village enjoy more land tenure security than others through inheriting both clan and family land contrary to the customary land tenure injunctions on women's land rights, their land holding status is precariously threatened by contemporary agrarian reforms as influenced by the current Structural Adjustment Programmes. The study further testifies to the close relationship between marriage and women's land rights and confirms the assertion that the stereo-typing of gender roles is a major factor influencing women's land rights at household level. It further reveals that the flexible and openended arrangements of negotiation provided by the Wapare customary land tenure system and which are beneficial to women are increasingly being threatened by land privatization and commoditization. The study further verifies the assertion that the increase in the number of female and single parent headed households poses a challenge to both patriarchy and contemporary land tenure rules thus encouraging the evolution in land transfers away from the stereo-typical patriarchy-defined transfer procedures. The analytical framework of gender roles' stereo-typing used in this study has broadened the perspective of women's land rights in a pillage setting. More knowledge has also been generated on the conflict between customary patriarchy and capitalist patriarchy as well on the emerging effects of this conflict on women's and men's land rights. The major conclusion reached is that women's access to land ownership and control rights together with existing female - male solidarity on land matters threaten the very existence of the patriarchal system which supports the perpetuation of male dominance. Furthermore, the relatively gender sensitive intra-household redistribution of land and the encouraging new direction towards equal inheritance rights between daughters and sons are suggestive of the eventual creation of women's economic independence. This is despite the strengthening of individual landed property relations whose exploitative nature tend to maximize the functionality of capitalist patriarchy.