Improving women access to local government leadership, opportunities and challenges: a case study of Temeke municipal council, Dar es salaam region, Tanzania

The Tanzania Constitution provides a legal framework for women to participate in all areas of leadership including Local Government Authorities (LGAs). However, the number of women in local government leadership and governance structures in Tanzania is minimal. This challenge inspired me to conduct this study with the main objective of investigating opportunities available for women to acquire leadership in local government. Procedures of accessing them and solicit constraints and challenges that limit women to acquire leadership positions. Both qualitative and quantitative data collection approaches were used to obtain primary data. A total of 137 respondents were involved in the study from six wards in Tameke Municipality including government officials, local leaders and non-leaders. It was found that the existing leadership opportunities for women to acquire leadership in LGAs do not complement the need. On the other hand, lack of confidence, dominance of patriarchal ideology, cultural barriers, poor economic status and low level of education among women were found to be major constraints and challenges limiting women to access leadership positions in the LGAs. It is therefore, recommended that the government, political parties and organizational groups should recognize the significant role that women play in society and take serious measures to promote gender balance and fair representation in leadership in the LGAs.