Women as perpetrators of violence against children: experience from Tanzania

For decades physical violence against children has been a major public health issue, and has acquired tremendous attention in national and international arena which necessitated the formulation of various children’s rights to ensure their protection and welfare. However, all interventions have been focusing on understanding the problem from the traditional approach that views men as perpetrators of such violence. Women who have been regarded as “victims” for many years are no longer an exception to violence perpetration. This study used Tanzania as a case study to answer the question “Why do women perpetrate violence against children”? To be able to uncover the reasons for women’s violence perpetration, a qualitative study was conducted to allow the researcher to come up with an in-depth understanding of the problem. The study purposively selected key informants from WAJIKI and Msichana Initiative because of their familiarity with the problem and employed in-depth interviews and documentary review to generate data. This included reviewing four cases of child violence that were reported and closely followed up by WAJIKI, and three cases that were reported in the media and attracted public attention. The study found that poverty, past experience of abuse; traditional practices and single parenthood are key factors for women violence perpetration against children. Nevertheless, the study found that existing laws and policies have been less effective in ensuring child protection against physical violence especially the Law of Marriage Act 1971 and Employment and Labor Relations Act 2004. Therefore, I recommend for changes in the legal systems especially procedures for obtaining Police Form number 3 for medical examination report among children who are victims of violence; establishment of community rehabilitation schemes and women empowerment to reduce food and income poverty that force them to send their children to work as domestic servants in town where they are physically abused