As Muslims globally come to the end of the holy month of Ramadan, Salma Maoulidi explores the continuing spiritual and secular inequalities experienced by Muslim Tanzanian women. Focussing on the gulf between spiritual goals and worldly reality, the absence of an effective redistributive alms system, and the differing realities faced by female and male followers, the author questions the extent to which a symbolic ritual of deprivation and sacrifice has been turned into a calculated wealth generating opportunity.

I love to travel. I enjoy visiting distant and new places and learning about new cultures. Of late, however, I have developed a dread for travel not because of a latent fear of traveling by air or road, but more so on account of my strong objection to the increasingly degrading treatment travelers, especially from the global south, are subjected to at embassies and in both northern and southern ports.

My primary objection lies with the fact that the traveler today is subjected to gross violations of his or her privacy and personal rights, demands and practices which a few years ago would have attracted wide condemnation from different quarters. The War on Terror, as well as the desire of western nations to keep migrants (and visitors) from the global south out of northern borders has meant that the civil liberties of populations, especially from the global South wishing to visit the North, are disregarded and even abused.

It seems to me that the world over, and more so in our developing nations, that our very existence is built on risk. Women’s ability to bring life into the world is full of risks; the ability of the child to survive past her childhood is surrounded by risks; the ability of the child to obtaining basic schooling is a momentous risk. And the risk of a young girl falling into the poverty trap is greater than her succeeding in life - writes Salma Maoulidi.
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Twice in one week I refused to be served by two men, both vendors, who would not heed my request that they wash their hands before serving me. Consequently, I forwent satiating an appetite for delicious oranges in one instance and ‘muhogo wa kuchoma’ in the other. And this is not the first time I have had to forgo appeasing my fetish for local yummies. One night I went to bed hungry after one man decided to serve me my portion of Swahili delicacies using his bare hands. I asked him to use a serving spoon and skewers. He responded by rudely asking me to leave his stall.

It is surprising that these men react extremely negatively (and even violently) to requests of consideration for a client’s welfare, in this case mine. They would not even have a discussion about why they could not or would not heed to my requests. I did not need to explain myself but just so that I left nothing to chance I clarified that we all know what men do when they need to relieve themselves. How could I be sure that cleaned up after, or if that he had not scratched himself somewhere wicked?

Momentarily the resistance I witnessed offered a vivid image of what women who have to negotiate with men over a condom must face. While a woman is keen to protect her self during intercourse her male partner has no sense of obligation towards her well-being. At all times his needs seem to eclipse all else. Indeed, if being asked to wash one’s hand to serve another causes such resistance and uproar what must putting on a condom entail?

For almost a week after the event I tried to figure why it was hard for the men to understand that what they were offering me with their bare hands would be consumed by me and enter my system. I, therefore, had no choice but to be prudent as to where what I consume originates and how it is served. It is enough that it is sitting by the side of the road. I don’t need the extra risk of exposure from a known carrier of bacteria. Did they honestly believe that I would trust their hands over my judgment? That I would defer to their ego over my wellbeing? Better safe than sorry I urged myself on as I turned my back to the oranges, muhogo and other choice bites.

I will not be surprised if someone attempts to explain such behaviour from a cultural perspective. I don’t think there is anything indigenous about risking another’s life but what I do buy into is the link between risk and a way of being. Indeed, it seems to me that the world over, and more so in our developing nations, that our very existence is built on risk. Women’s ability to bring life into the world is full of risks; the ability of the child to survive past her childhood is surrounded by risks; the ability of the child to obtaining basic schooling is a momentous risk. Rather she risks dropping out after a few years of schooling to work or to get married. The risk of a young girl falling into the poverty trap is greater than her succeeding in life.

WHY IS A DISCUSSION ON RISK RELEVANT?

Someone mentioned to me recently with regards the power outage in Zanzibar that if this was in another place (and perhaps in another era) the government would be sued for non performance, for the inconvenience caused and for the sheer negligence that leads to subjecting a whole population to power blackout, and for failing to have an emergency plan.

Elsewhere heads would have rolled: a few hours of power blackouts is serious enough let alone a whole month! But this is Tanzania so the President and his Ministers explain away the situation asking citizens to remain calm and preserve as they as they do other mess-ups by the leadership.

One would think that one scandal is enough to warrant a government to clean up its act lest it resigns. Not so in Tanzania. In the same week a few schools closed down because of food shortages. Apparently suppliers stopped sending food supplies to schools due to back payments in the millions of shillings. The ministry concerned through the Deputy Minister Mwantum Mahiza issued a weak statement asking suppliers to bear up as the Ministry has just completed an assessment of the contracts before sending them to Treasury for action.

Imagine our future is risked by poorly conceived and executed contracts! This fiasco happens at a time when students are gearing for their final ‘A’ level examinations. So the suppliers are promised action but what about the students, who will make up for their lost study time? How is it that the Ministry can have overlooked paying suppliers for months while they know children are in schools? No wonder national secondary education results have been dropping…

I worry about the placid response to all this goofing by the taxpayer. Indeed our sense of outrage over recent scandals involving grant theft in government is short lived. Imagine our national pride is compromised in order to appease political egos and we heed calls to stay calm. Our sense of justice is compromised so as not to risk offending the powerful and their friends or those who may be harbouring them. We watch as materialism and expediency puts at risk our sense of what is ethical - and morally just and applaud this as development.

Annually Tanzania remembers the victims aboard MV Bukoba on Lake Victoria who died after the Captain risked taking on extra baggage (perhaps to compensate for the transport shortage) resulting in a massive loss of life. Just recently in Lake Tanganyika another accident has claimed the lives of scores of passengers from all parts of the Greater Lakes. According to official reports overloading is to blame. Was this not a risk?

More disconcerting in all this is the power outage - a matter of national security not addressed as such. Indeed it is not only a grave matter with respect to the risk of an invasion or sabotage but with respect to the threat to life and livelihoods it has posed and continues to pose to local communities. How many people have died as a result? What is the sheer cost of running on generators for extended periods when oil prices are soaring? Who, I wonder, will meet these unexpected costs?

As the world braces itself for food shortages and soaring food prices how much food has wasted away in freezers? How much income has been lost when industries and business fail to operate or to operate maximally? Will the revenue authorities bear this in mind as they go after our taxes? Surely citizens cannot be expected to pay taxes but remain silent and docile when authorities mess up.

More shocking to our nationalist sensitivities is the reason behind the longetivity of the outage. Apparently the only one who can fix the problem is an expert from Norway. After four decades of national independence, why is an area of national sensitivity like power still in the hands of foreign experts? And this is by a government that claims the political right to protect the isles against a take over from some gulf state!

Incredulous as it seems, it is becoming increasingly clear that our belief that we have entrusted the governance of this country to people who know what they are doing is wrong. It is abundantly clear that highly paid professionals and people who claim to have high qualifications posing as politicians and bureaucrats don’t have a clue about what they are doing. Conversely those who do have a clue may not care enough to make a difference. The result is pure misery for the common taxpayer.

It is no wonder that a friend of mine signs off all her messages with quote that reads “experts made the titanic but an amateur made the ark.” The Americans would say “go figure!” but I say we need to figure a way out of this leadership mess.

*Salma Maoulidi is an activist and the Executive Director of the Sahiba Sisters Foundation in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

*Please send comments to or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org

Salma Mlidi uses the 20th year anniversary Tanzania Media Women’s Association (TAMWA) to reflect on African women's activism

On March 29, 2008 the Tanzania Media Women’s Association (TAMWA) began a week long commemoration of 20 years of advocacy for women’s human rights. Among activities earmarked to mark the occasion include the opening of a self sponsored office building; the launch of a Fundraising Campaign for a Women’s Media and Documentation Centre; and a book launch of TAMWA’s story in pioneering social transformation in Tanzania as experienced by members, supporters and friends.

TAMWA was officially launched and registered in 1987 by 10 women pioneers working in the media with two major aims: to agitate for a positive portrayal of women in the media; and to raise the academic and professional standards of female journalist to enable them to assume positions of influence in the media with the expectation that they will have a voice with regard media content and output in so far as its portrayal of women.

Twenty years later TAMWA has much to celebrate about. Arguably TAMWA is the foremost advocacy organization for women’s right in Tanzania. TAMWA’s command of the local media is unparralled and stems from years of capacity building and advocacy of media heads in various media institutions. Nevertheless, in Tanzania, TAMWA is best known for her work in gender based violence. Soon after her formation TAMWA made it her business to expose crimes against women that were otherwise considered taboo e.g. domestic violence and notably wife beating, incest, and family neglect; and sexual harassment in the workplace.

TAMWA also addressed the larger phenomena of sexual abuse against women and children in Tanzania contributing to the impetus of increased local responses to address the phenomena e.g. by the Tanzania Women Lawyers Association. Undeniably, Gender Based Violence (GBV) is the mother of activist struggles in Tanzania thanks to a large part to TAMWA’s relentless advocacy on the subject. Other than the ongoing Campaign on breast cancer by the Tanzania Medical Women’s Association (MEWATA) which is mainly service oriented no other advocacy campaigned has been as successful as the Campaign to Stop GBV launched by TAMWA in the mid 90’s.

Through innovative strategies like media advocacy, action research and campaigns TAMWA made sure that her advocacy agenda was current news and popular, not just with legislators and bureaucrats but with the local populace. It is not unheard of that activists visiting any village in Tanzania would be approached by concerned villagers about human rights violations against women and children in the belief that the activist who cared enough to visit them represents TAMWA. While Tanzania now has a number of women’s rights organizations TAMWA remains the most recognized and coined by men and women alike.

TAMWA’s advocacy ensured that GBV was not only named but was also unpacked and demystified. Certainly fifteen years ago many Tanzanians did not know about the prevalence of FGM in the country. Personally, I learnt about the practice in France after watching a documentary prepared by Sudanese women on alternative forms of cutting. However, building on her research work on crimes committed against women undertaken with journalist in various regions of Tanzania, TAMWA exposed FGM and made it a national agenda. Consequently, Tanzania was among the first countries to outlaw FGM and to have an active anti-FGM network at regional and national levels.

Another less publicized issue was the deaths of old women accused of witchcraft in west and north western Tanzania. TAMWA made the link between the deaths of old women to economic insecurity experienced in most poor rural communities. Access to landed resources increasingly endangered the lives of old women occupying land that younger relatives wanted to access and control. Other than changing the dominant perspective about the issue i.e. about witchcraft beliefs, TAMWA was able to lend impetus to and influence the content of the Land Campaign in the late 1990’s to address the question of women’s access and control of landed resources.

In many ways TAMWA activist trajectory informed and continues to inform my own activist trajectory. I was introduced to TAMWA in the early 90’s when I was still doing my LLB helping out in what was then know as the Library and Documentation Unit. This was the beginning of my own official activist trajectory and as Fatma Alloo, the first TAMWA Chair, puts it, “Of channeling my anger against injustice towards more productive activist enterprise”. Other than having first hand access to feminist literature from different parts of the world, I got to meet many authors and or subjects of books in the centre satiating my growing zeal for alternative leadership figures and visions.

Just as the Tanzania African Nationalist Union (TANU) Women Wing and later Umoja wa Wanwake Tanzania (UWT) was a pioneer for women’s interests pre and post independence, TAMWA pioneered autonomous women rights organizations as well as autonomous advocacy agendas. Figures that led TAMWA also offered the first real taste of female leadership outside the dominant party structure. The growth of private media houses meant that TAMWA personalities were recognized nationally, oftentimes as readily as leading government figures.

The pedestal TAMWA has come to enjoy in the civil society sector means that the successes and struggles she achieves impact on the larger women’s movement in Tanzania. Thus when in the mid nineties TAMWA suffered an organizational crisis bought on by rapid organizational growth, burn out and rifts between the ranks that otherwise would be normal in an organizational context but that spiraled to become personal because of the absence of an awareness in how to manage the health of a dynamic, visible and politically charged organization, mushrooming advocacy organizations held their breath. They were conscious that TAMWA’s failure would reflect not just in the women’s movement but also in the larger civil society sector that was beginning to attract some level of sanction on account of its work.

Perhaps the crisis appeared bigger than it actually was because the emerging activist sector while commonly survives on camaraderie, trust and enthusiasm had not had to deal with the full force of what it means to be empowered individuals. Also the age old habit of selfless devotion and sacrifice ‘serving others’ most women succumb to may have been transferred to the activist space such that some members may have felt not adequately appreciated. Indeed in an activist space the actors are many, the roles more visible and the stakes are higher such that it is not uncommon for egos to become more sensitive to criticism or doubt. Nonetheless, TAMWA survived and emerged stronger. In fact the crisis introduced the notion of organizational health and anti burn out measurers to CSOs. Following an emotional OD intervention members were able to come to terms with their reality and create a healthier space to address existing and perceived weaknesses. TAMWA had to change and since she has learnt the value of reinventing herself and her agenda making it timeless.

TAMWA’s records successes not just institutionally but also with her membership which comprises of exceptional pioneers. Edda Sanga was Chief Comptroller and acting head of Radio Tanzania before her retirement while Joyce Mhaville manages the largest private radio and television network in the country. Fatma Alloo, Halima Sheriff and Rose Kalemera all among founder members have also worked in the civil society sector serving and serve in a number of prestigious boards. Pili Mtambalike and Rose Haji work for the Media Council of Tanzania and MISA Tanzania respectively. Young women journalists who interned at TAMWA are mostly employed as media consultants and directors in the private sector. Mahfoudha Alley Hamid a TAMWA veteran was a member of the first East Africa Legislative Assembly and currently serves as Deputy Chair for the Tanzania Human Rights Commission while others like Zainab Vulu serve as Parliamentarians and others like Halima Kihemba and Betty Mkwasa in local government administration.

As I danced and ululated in celebration with women I had known and grown with for 20 years, I could not help but feel a strong sense of achievement. Members I had not seen for a number of years trickle into the new headquarters to join in the momentous occasion. There was laughter and congratulations all round. By sheer will the vision of 10 women, who the whole world seemed to ridicule had lived on, thrived and triumphed! It inspired and gave birth to other smaller social justice movements at local and national levels.

The Tanzanian First Lady, Mama Salma Kikwete graced the occasion. I was gripped by a strange disquiet as she posed a challenge to TAMWA for the next twenty years. As I looked around me, I wondered would I recognize my sisters (and brothers) in activism 20 years from now? Certainly, mostly TAMWA members and ‘official’ activists” attended the event. I would have loved to see greater participation of the population that TAMWA spent 20 years advocating for. Perhaps a public solidarity walk would have been more appropriate to facilitate a broad based commemoration. Also while there were a few men in attendance, many men representing media organizations stayed away. How could they then be seen to lend moral support to women’s human rights when such support is not felt in physical terms?

While TAMWA’s successes fill me with pride I can’t help but worry about the implications. I worry whether the agenda we have fought so hard to push is getting co-opted as more young women with activist potential are being lured by the private sector which sector is reverting to selling the sexualized image of young women. It is no secret that other than plastering images of young and supposedly successful women in marketing ads, many companies employ younger women because of the ‘sex appeal’ they offer. Another consideration is the lower wages they attract in contrast to male executives. This is not to say that young female media practitioners are not worth their salt. Rather there is a real concern around the original agenda of using the media to conscientize about and advocate for women’s human rights being compromised in the era of a liberal media and economy.

The detachment of young women from the struggles of past is palpable as most activists organizations and initiatives remain dominated by middle aged and retired women. Young professions have sold out to the liberal economy as most become preoccupied with becoming successful in the market and portraying an outer image of success through apolitical consumerism. Gender discrimination has mutated or gone underground such that young female professionals appear clueless about the struggles of past that brought about the even playing field they now enjoy. Mistakenly, and perhaps because they come armed with an education, they think this is how things were and will continue to be.

Indeed, TAMWA produced young professionals and executives who can compete with handsome pledges to her fundraiser providing much needed relief from over demanding and increasingly tightfisted funders. But I wonder if in so doing whether the women’s movement is not opening herself up to an elitist and consumerist culture that is unconcerned with the means through which she achieves her end? Or is it a matter of redefining our values?

*Salma Mlidi is a political activist.

**Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Salma Maoulidi looks at the mining research report, "A Golden Opportunity? How Tanzania is failing to benefit from Gold Mining” and argues that it builds a powerful case for continued activism in trade and economic justice in line with various Human rights instruments that call for a country’s wealth and natural resources to benefit primarily local communities.

Following intense scrutiny over suspect investment contracts by the government and investment companies, a consortium of activist organization and religious communities launched in Dar es Salaam a research titled “A Golden Opportunity? How Tanzania is failing to benefit from Gold Mining”. The report is authored by Tundu Lissu, a lawyer and long time environmental activist from Tanzania and Mark Curtis and independent author and journalist affiliated to a number of academic institutions in Europe.

The research in a critical policy area is a product of a year long initiative by activists and religious leaders to add moral weight to the mining tragedy that looms in Tanzania. Various human rights violations have been recorded including killings and displacements mainly resulting from conflicts between small miners and large scale multinational miners over mining rights. “It is not just about the mining companies but also highlighting the role of rich governments who remain silent over this injustice and in some instances have invested heavily in these companies reaping the benefits from an immoral tax structure”, says Fredrik Glad Jernes, Norwegian Church Aid Tanzania Country Representative.

The report makes grim reading about the governance and practice of mining companies in Tanzania. Mining is the fastest growing sector in the Tanzanian economy but the growth of the sector is not comparable to its contribution to the GDP at just about 3%. Part of the problem lays in the structure of the tax laws that is overly favourably to mining companies and not to Tanzanians.

The situation is attributed to the World Bank financed sectoral reform project begun in the mid nineties which became the basis of laws that inform the tax and mining regimes in the country. The royalty paid to the Government for gold is only at 3%. Tanzania posses around 45m ounces of gold which at the current gold prices means the country is worth USD39 billiion yet it is categorized as one of the poorest countries in the world. In the last 5 years Tanzania exported gold worth more than USD2.5 billion but whereas the government has only received an average of USD21.7million in royalties and taxes on the exports Mining Companies record handsome profits out side of Tanzanian on their websites and company audits presented to shareholders.

Two main companies were scrutinized on the basis of activist work done by the Lawyers Environmental Action Team headed by Tundu Lissu- Barrick Gold a Canadian Company operating mines in Bulyanhulu, North Mara and Tulakawa and AngloGold Ashanti a South African company with British links which operates mines in Geita, the largest gold deposit in the country. The researchers estimate that mining companies have earned about USD2.5 billions from exports but Tanzania only records about USD100 million from gold earnings. The researchers estimate that Tanzanian is loosing more than USD400 billion from tax concessions as well as tax evasion e.g. non payment of corporation tax and waivers on income tax on expatriate workers.

The impunity reigns in part because there is no parliamentary scrutiny over mining contracts. Also the government does not have the capacity to adequately monitor the sector. For example, there are wide discrepancies between statistics published by the companies and those issued by the government pertaining to the sector suggesting discrepancies in record keeping. In some instances the researchers have found under reporting of earning to local governments but the tendencies to inflate the amounts of investments made. Rarely is there an indication of the environmental hazards committed and likely to be committed from mining operations. In addition the investments to local communities are negligible with companies being obliged to contribute not more than USD200, 000 to local governments.

The research is published by the Christian Council of Tanzania (CCT) the National Council of Muslims in Tanzania (BAKWATA) and the Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC). It was funded by the Norwegian Church Aid and Christian Aid, the latter having done similar research in Zambia looking at the Copper Sector leading to the Zambian government declaring its intention to review the terms of investment contracts governing its mining sector. This is the first time the religious community in Tanzania have been involved in high profile advocacy against the government and multinationals.

The Bomani Commission, a presidential commission created to investigate the mining sector is expected to publish its findings by the end of March. “The report will provide us with sound reference on some of the recommendations” declared Hon. Zitto Kabwe who attended the launch. The Commission was constituted following the call in parliament by opposition member Zitto Kabwe for a probe committee into the suspect dealing of the Ministry with regards to Buzwagi Mine where Barrick Gold plans to open another mine in the midst of a review process of the mining sector. This triggering uproar from civil society organizations and opposition parties creating the impetus that ultimately saw the former Prime Minister Edward Lowassa resigning and his cabinet being dissolved a few weeks ago.

While the report can be criticized for lacking a gender analysis, and narratives (not just descriptions) of how mining operations are devastating lives in local communities where mining operations take place, it provides a powerful reading. It also builds a powerful case for continued activism in trade and economic justice in line with various Human rights instruments that call for a country’s wealth and natural resources to benefit primarily local communities.

* Salma Maoulidi is an Activist/Executive Director of the Sahiba Sisters Foundation in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

*Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

My wish: That every day is Valentine Day

In the midst of the post-election violence plaguing Kenya, Constable Andrew Maoche found the strength to contribute to the mayhem by shooting on January 31, 2008 David Kimutai Too, the newly elected parliamentarian from the Orange Democratic Party (ODM) in Eldoret. Unlike the first killing of an ODM legislator in Nairobi, allegedly by thugs, this was explained as a fight over a woman, a love culture, police even in Tanzania are notoriously known to practice when settling their love woes.

Apparently, the late David Kimutai Too had overpowered Constable Andrew Maoche’s attempts towards winning the love of a female traffic officer, one Eunice Chepkwony, in what is now described as a love triangle (undoubtedly to imply some ill intent on the part of the woman, the object of their sorry advances). While Constable Andrew Maoche is presently behind bars, David Kimutai Too is safely interred, ironically with Ms. Chepkwony who was also shot that fateful morning. I find this whole incident very symbolic and want to use it as the basis for my subject this week: love.

I feel compelled to speak about love for two main reasons. First it is because of the controversy that Valentine Day increasingly causes globally: Only recently Saudi Arabia banned any Valentine celebrations in the Kingdom. I wonder if it is because of religious considerations or a deeper unwillingness to address its significance. I also know that nationally there are raging debates about observing Valentine less so because it has become a money spinning scheme and less so on account of its significance in our human relationships with those we are most intimate with. I ‘zoom’ on love because it is subject, or rather a condition that causes many of us much distress, heartache and heartbreak as soulfully stated by Tina Turner, and thus warrants serious exploration.
Love, this mysterious word, used sparingly after a relationship has been formalized, but abundantly when it is just sparkling and we are still in hot pursuit of that which makes the heart flicker. Love, a word that is used to explain a range of emotions and feelings but at the same time a word that is used to justify a range of actions and indiscretions. Love, a word so potent in effect that it can cure chronic problems and conditions- heath or otherwise- but prove equally fatal.

So what is this condition termed love? In my feminist engagement I have found it more helpful to work from what it is not or at least should not be about, rather than make assumptions or conclusion about what it is. My shemeji (brother in law) once complained to me about how my sister would not listen to him and his wishes. His particular grievance was that she failed to cover herself when going out of the house causing him much anxiety and pain. I must admit such a complaint was beyond any expectation I had and more so considering that this was a man who was educated and had met my sister at college. Careful not to take a position on their relationship and respecting the fact that my sister, much as she is someone’s wife, is also an adult who is free to decide and exercise choices she thinks prudent, I asked him, “How did she dress like when you met her and why is it an issue now?”

I knew that he could not claim otherwise as, although she dressed modestly by common persons’ standard, she was not in the habit of covering as has recently become fashionable. In truth, I am at loss at people who meet others in particular circumstances and then feel that their love interest needs to magically transform once they pair with them, to fit the image he or she had of them. Thus, you will hear many women claim defiantly, “I will change him, you will see”. Likewise, you will hear men boast, “If you are my girl/wife you would not …” The audacity by which such demands or claims are made cannot, and should not, be remotely associated or interpreted as motivated by love. Doing so is not only misguided but selfish.

Listening to my shemeji make such demands so early in the relationship nudged me to facilitate a soul searching encounter where I helped him assess what he envisions from the relationship, a vision that would not only be about what his expectations are but also about what her expectations are. For example although her parents went through great pain to educate her in the hope that she would assist in educating her younger siblings, she was now a home-bound wife dependent on his mercy for “spare change” he would periodically give to her, and which she would pass on to her retired parents. But unlike him, she was not complaining perhaps being deeply in love wanted to please her habibi/hababi.
My philosophy, which I shared with him, was to love freely without expectation, condition or obligation (in the sense of compulsion or feeling the other owes you a debt). Love is not just about the butterflies and the giggly feeling we have when we remember the name and the face that makes us glow inside and sing off-key without a care; it is also about tolerating and even respecting the individual traits that make the other so attractive and ultimately delightful to us. Surely, love should not primarily be about changing another to your image: If you want an image of yourself, by all means go and clone yourself! But if it is another that you love, then you have to be willing to accept their imperfections and their differences- not just physical but also intellectual- as being integral to their identity just as it is integral to the soundness of the relationship. You love another for whom they are and for what they make you to be (which hopefully is empowering and happy) and achieve. Perhaps more of us need to appreciate that if love is about giving then it is also about receiving, not just taking.

This said, I should not be understood to preach that couples should not be in the habit of negotiating a relationship. Or that you take any bull--- on the pretext of applying Salma’s philosophy such that you end up like Mary J Blige in ‘Not going to cry’! La hasha. I believe that healthy (not necessarily long lasting) relationships are negotiated and not left to chance. It does not matter that you are dangerously attracted to another. It is important that you and the other must have minimums upon which you build your relationship. These minimums act as the core values of sorts which, I think, are indispensable to building trust and respect in the relationship. Unfortunately, may of us don’t want to waste valuable lust time on these basics. Others fear that establishing them may be interpreted as being too difficult, too choosy, too demanding or too untrusting in the powers of love. After all love leaves us powerless, helpless, defenseless and all traits that signal our unwillingness to take responsibility for such an important aspect not only of our romantic selves but also of our ability to experience life to its richest.

I strongly beg to differ dominant and skewed notions of what ‘love is’ and do so on the basis of accumulated experience of examining the foundation building romantic, and even platonic, relationships I see around me. It is not that love should not or could not have a potential for reward. Rather, the wisdom of love should make us realize that just as I give to a relationship, freely and in appreciation of what my other deserves from me (in recognition to what they mean to me), the only expectation I have is –given that the basis of our relationship is healthy and free- they would seek, in their peculiar way, to appreciate me in a deserving manner.

Thus, it is not about keeping score of how much each has invested (or failed to) in kind but to be confident enough that a strong sense of mutuality reigns in how we express, each in our unique way, love.
Undoubtedly, Constable Maoche’s actions are not unfamiliar to many of us. We witness or hear of them daily. Many of us think kulazimisha (force, compel or hold at ransom) is to love. Just as some of us are busy trying to change another soul to fit an image we want, many more are busy trying to meet the expectations of others in who we choose to love. I remember when I was at the Hill a colleague bold enough to present his paper to me, as we called a love declaration or proposal then, reasoned, “Can you imagine, Salma, if I am seen with you!”, a statement that cost him dearly not because of its sincerity but because of what motivated his advance: I was now a prize to be shown-off!

Alas, many relationships remain that- shows for the benefit of others. You won’t leave an abusive partner for fear of what others may think or say. You won’t date someone who makes you feel so good and alive because of what others may think or say because it is not what would be expected of you. And, although you love and accept your partner as they are, you may feel compelled to pressure them into changing to fit the expectations of others e.g. your parents or friends or Lord forbid, your boss... We thus enter into relationships full of show and pretense of who we are, scared to show and be who we really are. Then you wonder why you wake up one day and ask yourself- who in the heck is this person sleeping next to me, whose face I am looking into but I can’t seem to see or feel?

Although I write for the romantics and the foolhardy in love, I think this philosophy of love applies to other types of relationships we have with others. My description of love in form, substance and feeling is captured in Chaka Khan’s timeless My funny Valentine. It is a song of few lyrics but with powerful effect. It captures love that is expressed selflessly, with surrender. Ultimately, love is about a freedom that allows one to bask from and in the radiance and energy of another. It is the freedom to find pleasure even in that which others may find amusing without a care in the world. It is appreciating that each one of us, as are our experiences, are unique, aspects that make us whole and endearing to one another. It is about finding oneself in the spirit of another and appreciating that what you reflect in terms of feeling towards the other is in most cases the feeling you have towards yourself.
I share of the priceless sonnets that delight me so much with the hope that those who own the copyright would indulge me in this rare act of chivalry to human kind motivated by a need to advocate for sensible and compassionate romanticism on this Valentine Day:

My funny Valentine, sweet comic Valentine,
You make me smile with my heart
Your looks are laughable, Unphotographable
Yet, you are my favourite work of art
….
Don’t baby, don’t change your hair for me
Not if you care for me
Stay little Valentine, baby stay (undoubtedly remain they way you are)
Each day is Valentine, each day is Valentine’s Day

Therefore, I don’t see why love is allowed to become ugly, violent, cruel, debasing, dispiriting, possessive, consuming and hurtful. Why can’t it instead be liberating and all the synonyms that go with the word i.e. beneficial, healing, energizing, invigorating, therapeutic, cathartic and whatever else that makes us glow and grow when we have been blessed to find and experience it? May I wish you, and those you love, eternal Valentine.

*Salma Mlidi is a political activist.

**Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Salma Maoulidi looks at developments in Tanzania's ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party and assesses the state of democracy in the country

Tanzania’s ruling party Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) held its Congress in its party headquarters at Kizota in Dodoma this past weekend. The last party congress was held five years ago in 2002. The size and style of political event created a lot of media interest. High on the agenda of the Party Chair, President J. Kikwete, was restoring the party’s credibility among workers and common citizens (wananchi) following a number of graft allegations involving numerous party and government personalities. Similarly it provided an opportunity for the Chair to assert his authority and consolidate his grip on the Party after assuming its leadership following the 2005 General Election. Unexpectedly the congress also became an opportunity to conduct lessons in democracy. Amidst political recriminations by the opposition about unfair privileges the ruling party enjoys and its failure to be accountable for its unconstitutional or undemocratic practices Mr. John Tendwa, the Registrar of political parties, appears to have absolved the party when he announced in the Daily News of November 6, 2007 on the highly publicized CCM Congress, “CCM has set an example of how a democratic party must operate”.

“Gulp!” was my immediate reaction after reading the story. Not surprising the editorial reflected this line of thought having but praises for their benefactors. While most of us are not surprised by the Daily News adopting such a stance we ought to be uncomfortable, if not shocked, by Mr. Tendwa’s choice of words. One would think that there exist many models of democracy each evolving in its own context. Does ascribing a mandatory ‘must operate (in CCM fashion)’ not show some bias in where the leanings of Mr. Tendwa are in so far as political organizing and organization are concerned? ‘JK gives secretariat new face as big names fall,’ read the Citizen of November 7, 2007. It reports that Hon. Kigunge Ngombale Mwiru and former Premier Fredrick Sumaye failed to make it into the powerful National Executive Committee but were retained in the Central Committee hardly ground breaking a development. And as I went over the names, I found my self wondering what the fuss was about because I knew Hon. Msekwa, and Hon. Magret Sitta (who enjoys a place similar to his wife, Hon. A. Abdalla when he was the Speaker in the last Parliament). Nor are the names of Hon. S. Wasira, Hon. A. Kigoda or her boss Hon. D. Mwakyusa…new to most Tanzanians. Am I missing something about the ‘new and fresh’ faces? Perhaps, I was expecting to hear names like Mary Mpya, Joe Simfahamu or Salama Mpendawatu to solicit a reaction of, “who in the heck is Mpendawatu?” Alas, this was not to be. In my book I rate the election at the level of a minor reshuffle of the ranks which hardly suggests new blood. And by CCM’s own admission, as well as news stories in various newspapers, most of these individuals have been at the helm of major institutions in this country. Mr. Msekwa, the new stunned Vice Chairperson, is reported to have been Mwalimu’s right hand man since the early days of independence. Until 2005 he served as the Speaker of the National Parliament. Absent political viagra what should I and 37.99 millions Tanzanians expect from this reshuffle which is a disappointing as recent government reshuffles in terms of their commitment to bring in new and fresh personalities and ideas? In many ways the event itself held many of us captive limiting the scope of local news available. Indeed, the CCM Congress was front line news in most major papers for the whole week forcing everyone, even those of us who are increasingly indifferent to the political shenanigan that has come to define our elusive attempt at democracy in Tanzania. The Sunday Citizen of November 4, 2007 speaks volume by describing the impending elections as, “determining the fate and direction of the nation”. Such a statement equates the CCM Congress at par, if not higher than the General Elections last held in 2005 raising my eyebrows.

So what is democratic in all of this? If anything I read a lot of mixed messages in the charade that was the congress. While the Party Chair waived a wand of words condemning corruption in the Party, we saw before our eyes the different lobbying styles in operation that spelt actions closely fitting that description. Those antic we missed party members let us in on after some public exchanges of “vijembe” or “nasaha” in a supposedly democratic process. An observer writing in Raia Mwema of November 7, 2007 shared how the air in the main hall was subdued and all matters on the agenda were being endorsed without clarification or opposition Bunge style. Apparently, the CCM Chairp wants harmony in the party but does harmony equal kumezea; or sweeping issues under the carpet instead of addressing?

I must confess I was not in Dodoma and all questions I raise comes from what I heard on the radio, read in the papers and discussed with a number of wananchi. I am thus limited in that my observations are not fresh but somehow diluted as I have had to depend on other mediums to get a sense of what transpired inside Kizota Hall. This, however, does not stop me from raising key concerns which in my very humble opinion pose greater questions for an aspiring democracy.

While I respect the President’s initiative to invite representatives of friendly parties from different parts of the world to the Congress, I am keen to establish were these delegates were invited by the President of Tanzania or by the Chairperson of CCM? Moreover, given the sizeable delegation that came along I am keen to know who footed the bill for their participation. All I can hope is that tax payers’ money was utilized for maendeleo purposes while CCM dug deep into their coffers to entertain their friends. Equally, I trust government officials did not utilize public property or finances towards their participation in an undisputedly partisan event.

As a woman who comes of a country that in 1998 paved the way in the region in so far as passing a progressive legislation on sexual violence, I take strong issue with hosting Mr. Jacob Zuma at the Congress. This is a man who was trialed for sexually assaulting a woman, who was, in African terms, technically his daughter, which in itself is inappropriate let alone the circumstances in which he did it. Let us be clear irrespective of what the court in South Africa ruled, Mr. Zuma never denied what he did but affirmed his actions though his own interpretation of Zulu masculinity and its inevitable expression when confronted with a woman in kanga cloth!

Perhaps his graft accusations may not have been enough in a party whose leadership is struggling with similar accusations. Nevertheless, in view of our recent loss of Hon. Salome Mbatia, who was the deputy in the Ministry of Community Development, Gender and Children, I would have thought that female parliamentarians, and more so the women of CCM, and some of those good African men who respect their mothers and love their daughters would at least have raised objection about Mr. Zuma’s attendance. Moreover, to avoid the ethical faux pax this issue now poses, in an ideal democratic setting, CCM wakereketwa who still care what others think about the Party and its actions would have at least proposed to the ANC a less controversial name. But then again I live in a cloud of ethical standards only I and a few others have been privileged by virtue of our nonpartisanship. Such contradictions are hardly topical among those posing as flag bearers under a governance scheme that fails to meet all good governance standards. The media, I must add, faired no better choosing to focus on Mr. Zuma’s past identity as a freedom fighter while leaving out his current history as someone facing serious graft and sexual allegations. Under the new AU framework, particularly elucidated in the Peer Review Mechanism and Maputo Protocol, both are key indicators for good governance.

I cannot end this piece without going back to the subject of the elections itself, which after all was the main purpose of the Congress. In all fairness we must call a spade a spade to accurately represent what transpired. Therefore, my headline would have read “CCM vigogos reinstated in top organs” rather than elected or re-elected since such a connotation does not adequately represent what really happened or the outcome.

In electing its veterans, as well as some powerful members of the current government, CCM, in my estimation, has tried to re-assert its authority in both the executive and the legislature since most of those reshuffled hold powerful position in key governance structures. Otherwise, those not currently serving in the government or in the legislature hold considerable influence. Surprisingly, little was said about the presence of religious leaders who did more than bless the event but stayed on to receive some indoctrination.

Also visible in photographs were members of the Tanzanian People Defense Force also adorning the party colour green. Of course they may have been bodyguards to the country’s leadership but what is a country’s military which is not partisan doing in a partisan event? Does Mr. Brown or Bush go into their political party meetings with members of the army or just the secret service, or better the political party’s own intelligence and militia? Only the judiciary somehow managed to be inconspicuous at Kizota. Some of the supposed new faces like Mr. Bernard Membe formerly held positions in the civil service. Under the law civil servants are non partisan yet we have witnessed a number of civil servants venturing into politics and at times transitioning between their civil service status and their political ambitions. Absent a clear demarcation between their political appointments or elections; and their retirement from civil service does the Registrar of Political Parties not feel such issues need to be interrogated more rigorously to properly ascertain how far political parties abide to requirements set in operating laws?

I would have been more impressed if Hon. Msekwa, in view of his already distinguished career in public service (and in the party) would have declined and campaigned for a younger pick to fill the powerful position of party Vice-Chair. Undoubtedly, this would have expedited his nomination for life membership in the Central Committee. In fact all vanguards over retiring age like Kingunge and Malecela can snugly assume a new leadership role within the party (or their communities for those committed to go back to the village) reflecting a transformation in their progression in their leadership journey instead of being stuck at the helm with no where else to go.

If you ask me, democracy in Tanzania, generally, and in political parties, specifically, still has a long way to go.

* Salma Maoulidi is an Activist/Executive Director of the Sahiba Sisters Foundation in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Salma Maoulidi examines the link between abortion and women's reproductive autonomy

The first ever Safe Abortion Conference was held in late October 2007 at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London bringing together about 800 people from different parts of the world working in different capacities on the issue. The conference was jointly organized by Marie Stopes International, Ipas and Abortion Rights.

Impetus behind the agenda

40years of legal abortion in the UK provided a suitable opportunity to revisit the abortion debate in view of its policy relevance to women's reproductive and sexual health. Indeed in spite of advances in reproductive health sciences and technologies about eighty women, mostly of reproductive age, die every hour from unsafe abortions in countries where it is illegal. One in three women will undergo an abortion at some stage in her life. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 1 in every 16 women in sub-Saharan Africa will die from unsafe abortion as opposed to 1 in 2400 in Europe. Most deaths arise from post abortion complications, deaths that could be prevented if medical abortion were legal.

Deaths resulting from unsafe abortions account for over half of all cases of maternal mortality in most African countries. The continued toll unsafe abortion poses to women's lives worries reproductive health activists and providers. They warn should the current trend continue it will be impossible for most countries in Africa to reach goals 3 and 5 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The struggle for practitioners and activists is to eliminate unsafe abortions a feat that is complicated by the undue influence the US, backed by conservative quarters, exerts on women's sexual and reproductive health and rights in national and international policy contexts.

Globally the abortion debate is masked in moral and religious terms where the right of the unborn child is put against the right of the woman to choose to bear or abort the child. The public health dimension is rarely underlined and the millions of women who die, or are maimed from unsafe abortions hardly come under scrutiny. Rather, it is the agency of women that is questioned. The purist discourse on the right to life and the guilt of committing a cardinal sin effectively polarizes women and men from engaging with the issue from a political lens where abortion is not only seen to affect some 'immoral' women but is an issue for all women.

The realities on the ground

Abortion politics hold women's reproductive capacity ransom at huge costs to their individual freedom and health. As the Safe Abortion Conference was closing in London, the Morogoro Resident Magistrates Court passed a prison sentence to a 21 year old woman in Tanzania, Faima Hassan, for aborting an eight month old fetus. This case is not a rare occurrence. In recent times abortion has become topical and a major topic for women bashing by parliamentarians in the national legislature. Leading this bashing is the President of Tanzania who, symbolically on the Day of the African Child on June 16, 2007, is reported by the Daily News to have called all women, who opt for an abortion, murderers, a view echoed by the deputy Minister for Health, Hon. Ayisha Kigoda during several Parliamentary sessions. Surely such utterances can be construed to reflect the official position towards women's right to make decisions over their bodies, a position that is in direct conflict to article 14(2) (c) of the Maputo Protocol that recognized a right to medical abortion which Tanzania signed and ratified!

Regrettably it is mostly poor women who cannot afford safe abortion services that will encounter legal and medical problems mainly because they lack resources to benefit from available abortion options that are legal and safe. The bottom line is that back street abortions provide women with an essential service in a context where birth control is not widely and regularly available or where the sexual relationship is unequal and often coerced. Denouncing those who perform illegal abortions could put their lives at risk or make them targets of public and moral recrimination. Faima's double tragedy of carrying a fetus almost to term and being prosecuted is a near impossibility for a woman who is well to do. They can either fly to destinations like South Africa where abortion is available on demand; or solicit the aide of friends in the medical establishment where, in spite of the ban, abortion services continue to be available for a fee.

Significantly the ban on abortion denies women the ability to assert their reproductive autonomy. Prof. Fred Sai, an adviser to the Ghanaian President and a respected personality in women's health in Africa, argues that it is unacceptable that women cannot have a choice in such a personal matter.

What informs my interest in the debate?

While at high school I watched a form two student fight death after a back street abortion. She stank after becoming septic and was delirious. Her state paralyzed anyone from seeking medical attention because either way it spelt trouble incriminating not only the girl but also others who supposedly harboured her: Pregnancy continues to disqualify female students, in most African countries, from enjoying their right to an education. Even if the procedure was successful, it is sufficient grounds to expel a girl from school. In this instance, however, taking her to medical authorities for attention would incriminate her for partaking in a criminal act. In the end, her colleagues smuggled out of the school to undergo another clandestine intervention to save her life.

Alas this is not the only abortion incident I would encounter. During my undergrad years at the University of Dar es Salaam, a dorm mate died after attempting to end a pregnancy her boyfriend refused to acknowledge. She swallowed a handful of pills. Her family found her and sought medical attention but the process attracted delays such that by the time doctors attended to her she was already cold. Also in the course of my work I have met young and older couples pushed by economic considerations to end unintended pregnancies: In view of the harsh economic realities they cannot afford another child since, in a cost sharing set up, the question is not just about an extra mouth to feed but also about an extra body to shelter, dress, treat and to educate. Women also end a pregnancy because it was forced; or there is a bigger threat militating against having the baby such as marital discordance or a health risk like seropositivity. Rarely is the intent to pursue a hobby of killing fetuses or as alternative a FP method.

Origins of the prohibition

Abortion is challenged on a number of grounds chief being preserving the sanctity of (all forms of) life. Religious scriptures are often cited to challenge the practice. In addition to religious arguments human rights arguments are deployed to delegitimize any moral basis to the practice, similar to those employed to oppose the death penalty. Yet abortion laws, per se, are not indigenous to local cultures and prior to their adoption there existed practices in local communities to get rid of unwanted fetuses or children.

The prohibition against abortion came as a result of British laws and missionary interventions in African colonies. The context such a law came to be is underemphasized. Prof. Said explains that when abortion was criminalized in Victorian England it was to protect women from "barber surgeons" whom, women frequented to end unintended pregnancies. Abortion services at that period were not safe and more women died undergoing abortions than during child birth, requiring urgent measures to safeguard women lives and health.

Lord Steel, the Architect of the UK 1967 Abortion Act notes the tremendous advances in the sciences since the passage of the Act necessitating a fresh look at the 1967 Act which working within the confines of possibilities of science at the time mainly confined it self to surgical abortions. But today medical technology is so advanced women can induce abortions at home by taking a pill requiring minimal medical intervention as was the case four decades ago.

How then is it that while imperialist forces that abortion law have adapted to the progress made in reproductive technologies the law is fervently retained in most former colonies? Surely abortion legislation reflecting an antiquated approach to safeguarding women's health and lives, can only be understood as a remnant of the imperialist project in Africa, a project increasingly manifested through the undue control of women via criminal and personal laws while all else on which livelihood depends is liberalized.

What is implicit in the anti-abortion debate?

All types of women have abortions and they do so for various reasons. Few women make the decision to have an abortion lightly (or while emotionally possessed) as is suggested by those who question women's state of mind and motives for wanting an abortion. In most cases an abortion is a desperate act to control one's fertility where that ability to do so has been denied. And while undue attention is on the woman and her 'immoral' and 'criminal' rarely is the behaviour of men who impregnate women against their will, either by force or deceit, brought under scrutiny.

Is the ban on abortion about the sanctity of life or about patriarchy and the obsession to control women via the womb? Indeed the most effective way to control women has historically been via her reproductive function. Also some arguments against abortion express conservative notions about the sexual hierarchy. In many ways family planning technologies revolutionized power in the sexual relationship. Anti choice arguments imply that a woman cannot make decisions over her own person and body and further the assumption that women are not rational beings and impliedly cannot make decisions over their own bodies let alone over others.

Possibly the high abortion death rates are tolerated because women are deemed replaceable should they die; become maimed; or rendered infertile as a result of unsafe abortion. In contrast the same jurisdictions place few prohibitions on men's sexual and reproductive practices (or the consequences thereof) as are placed on women. While the law and pro-life opinion compel the woman to have the child, few laws oblige a father to look after issues fathered; the responsibility largely rests with the mother. Presently the official maintenance rate in Tanzania is 100 shillings (about 8 cents US) nor is there a mechanism to enforce maintenance awards. A mother knows what carrying a pregnancy to term will mean. Yet, those opposing women's right to choose are not willing to offer women the institutional support to raise an unintended child; or to advocate the necessary reforms that would put women in a more egalitarian footing in the sexual and reproductive relationship.

The abortion debate reflects a desire to perpetuate gender dominance at one level and power inequalities in development prescriptions on the other. The control of poor women's reproduction features prominently in development strategies but no where is the intent as contentious as in the case of abortion. Indeed long before the Gag Rule abortion was high in the US development agenda leading the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) to have an abortion branch. A few years later the priorities have changed impacting significantly on local reproductive health politics where the services are most crucial to reduce unnecessary deaths.

Medical dimensions of the debate

In view of the advances in reproductive heath technologies abortion deaths should be history in the 21st century not a public health issue. Sadly this is far from the reality such that women are forced to adopt extreme measures to get rid of pregnancies they had not planned. This may involve taking toxic potions and drugs; inserting crude objects in the uterus; and subjecting themselves to falls or blows to induce abortion.

Surely, confining the abortion debate to the 'appropriateness' of ending the life of an unborn child fails to take into account the circumstances in which the child came to be.
WHO estimates that one in every three pregnancies is unintended. Questions should therefore be posed about how women became pregnant and not why they want to rid themselves of a pregnancy they do not want.

There is a strong link between abortion and women's reproductive autonomy. Many women have sex in circumstances that are equal to forced sex or rape putting her at risk of becoming pregnant and becoming infected with sexually transmitted diseases. It is, therefore, important to vigorously link the public health aspects in the ongoing debate. Likewise, advocacy initiatives should emphasize facts with regards conceptions. Indeed about a quarter of all conceptions (about 240 million annually) will lead to early pregnancy wastage a figure twice higher than that pertaining to induced abortions estimated at 42 million, only 20 million of which are illegal. Perhaps such truths will mitigate residues of ambivalence abortion evokes especially among conscientious women and men.

Opportunities for decriminalization

Increasingly abortion is not solely seen as a feminist agenda but as an agenda that is embraced by a wider spectrum of actors from the reproductive health sector and medical professionals. For instance the medical community in India made safe abortion a health agenda and actively lobbied the government under the banner 'Safe abortion saves lives'. While doctors elsewhere are spearheading safe abortion, one wonders why the medical community in Tanzania and in other Africa countries remains silent lest the status quo benefits individual practice.

Decriminalization is easier when safe abortion is part of national population or health policies as is the case in India and China. Even so in societies where women feel compelled to produce male heirs there is a risk of abuse to facilitate sex selection. In any case safe abortion is more cost effective since more money is spent treating complications arising from illegal and unsafe abortions. In a context where health services are severely constrained and fewer allocations in the health budget are made to reproductive health services, liberalizing medical abortion and post abortion services may be the logical policy intervention.

Some activists believe the Maputo Protocol has a potential to advance African women's sexual and reproductive rights via test in line with regional and international instruments. Alas, courts on the continent, continue fail women, willingly preserving the status quo while stifling any attempt towards a progressive appreciation of women's human rights. Moreover although new judicial regimes like the East African Court present a huge potential in furthering existing human rights interpretation, their mandate is confined to issuing opinions effectively limiting their influence in obliging states to reform. Surely this is an area for future advocacy.

Is there strong policy commitment to safe abortion?

Presently there is a deep realization within the activist community that legalizing abortion may not be enough. Abortion activists in the US express concern with the April 2007 Supreme Court decision which though on later term is interpreted as dispensing with the requirement to protect women's health asserted in the 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade that explicitly recognized a woman's right to choose.

Thus while abortion remains legal in the US conservative forces have used sophisticated means to ensure that a woman's right to choose is thwarted by raising legal challenges and placing procedural restrictions, at the state level, all designed to limit a woman's ability to access abortion on demand e.g. mandatory waiting periods. Moreover as fewer clinics in the US provide the services, women are forced to go further distances, at times out of state, to obtain an abortion placing undue economic and social burdens.

The Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation, Bert Koenders, offered an optimistic assessment of donor practice with regard development assistance in the area of maternal health including reducing deaths from unsafe abortions. The assertion while laudable must be evaluated against current practice with regard development funding where increasing partnership with governments to the exclusion of civil society organizations may limit meaningful interventions in sexual and reproductive health and rights. Moreover greater activism in countries where abortion is not legal may further restrict the mandate of civil society organizations supposedly for engaging in illegal activities.

The conference came to a realization that civil society organizations and health practitioners in Africa can agitate for the politicization of the abortion issue e.g. as part of Peer Review Mechanism to monitor progress of national and regional instruments. Sadly there remains in Africa a reluctance to approach abortion as a policy issue it is therefore not surprising that maternal health dominates different forums on women's health instead of reproductive health, the latter recognizing more forthrightly the biological role women play in conception but also her agency in the sexual relationship.

Towards meeting key policy commitments on sexual and reproductive health rights.

WHO and ICPD define health and wellbeing to include the right to decide one's fertility; and to enjoy a satisfying sexual life free from violence and risk of disease. The MDGs reiterate the centrality of maternal and reproductive health and rights to the development agenda. Health Ministers acknowledge the link between unsafe abortion and maternal deaths and the African Union (AU) has sought to address this aspect in article 14 of the Maputo Protocol and Plan of Action.

How can the legal framework and reproductive health services locally reflect the accepted global standard? Undoubtedly the ideal is a situation where women don't have to resort to abortion as a way to get rid of unwanted pregnancies; or to regulate births. This implies empowering women to exercise sexual and reproductive choices. Clearly it makes no sense denying a service that is medically and economically efficient. Rather than moralizing on the issue policy makers ought to engage more effectively with evidence gathered by different actors including the WHO to guide policy interventions with respect to curbing maternal deaths.

* Salma Maoulidi is an Activist/Executive Director of the Sahiba Sisters Foundation in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

For an HIV/AIDS breakthrough to happen in Tanzania, a radical approach to tackling HIV/AIDS and its impact is needed, writes Salma Maoulidi, who asks “How can any progress be made in the HIV/AIDS battle if current strategies are superficial and isolated?"

It is over two decades since the first AIDS patient was diagnosed in Tanzania. In response, a number of measures were devised and adopted by the government to respond to the pandemic. These measures reflect the progress in official understanding and attitudes about the disease. Initial responses were comprised mainly of health measures designed to address curative aspects of the disease. Then, denial about HIV/AIDS, even in official quarters, hampered more effective responses to the disease.

The rise of associations of people with or affected by HIV/AIDS, parallel to existing responses, spearheaded psycho-social and policy responses. This brought about two major benefits in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Foremost, it “outed” the disease enabling HIV/AIDS activists to focus more deliberately on addressing stigma, a major barrier in addressing the pandemic at the personal and institutional level. Similarly, concerted advocacy by HIV/AIDS activists brought the disease out of a medical isolation where it was viewed purely in health terms, to the level of considering non-medical dimensions.

The progression from National AIDS Programmes to an AIDS Commission in the late nineties heralded the multi-sectoral approach currently adopted.

For the most part, HIV/AIDS associations have confined their responses to the impact on the individual and community. Overwhelmingly, their response is service oriented e.g. provision of home based care; nutrition programmes; provision of legal services; widow or orphan care; and HIV/AIDS support groups something that hinders their ability to focus on more strategic concerns related to HIV/AIDS. Only a small number of associations mix advocacy with service provision. Accordingly, while Tanzania in the mid nineties declared HIV/AIDS a national calamity, few organizations have built upon this opportunity to advance HIV/AIDS advocacy efforts in a meaningful manner.

Instead, what is new in existing and upcoming HIV/AIDS initiatives is the location; or the gender and youth focus.

HIV/AIDS organizations, mainly veteran associations that have introduced policy advocacy initiatives in their programming, require capacity in translating this in practical policy results and interventions. For example, some HIV/AIDS organizations are pressurizing the government to make ARVs accessible to People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). While the government receives due attention in taking measures to make this a reality, little attention is given to the role of pharmaceuticals in facilitating treatment options. Surely, other than an official commitment in principle to facilitate treatment, there is very little the government can do, in practical terms, to provide ARVs on a mass scale.

This, however, is something local pharmaceuticals can and should be obliged to do. And a few have risen to the challenge, leading discussions with the government under various trade agreements like the East African Community Treaty on Common Markets. Local pharmaceutical companies like the Tanzania Pharmaceutical Industries (TPI), not HIV/AIDS associations, are challenging the monopoly of foreign companies in the production and distribution of ARVs. They capitalize on their geographical location to build a case for ARV production more suited to local populations and at more affordable rates. An added benefit to their proposal is the prospect of creating jobs for local the population. Certainly this development presents an opportunity for partnership between the HIV/AIDS community and the business community that includes aspects of HIV/AIDS advocacy and corporate social responsibility yet to be explored. However, it is a sector HIV/AIDS activist are noticeably absent and silent from.

Equally important is the need for more strategic responses vis á vis the HIV/AIDS pandemic, not only by the government but also by community institutions. The policy and legal framework focuses on “formalized” aspects of discrimination against PLWHA or those affected by HIV/AIDS. Thus due attention is given to the employer-employee relationships; access to health care; and to a smaller extent the question of legal services to PLWHA and their families. These measures, however, fall short of infusing the radical spice to significantly impact PLWHA or their families since they fail to address the primary cause of unhindered HIV/AIDS transmission: the traditional interpretation of the family institution and the unequal relationship between parties in the family union.

Indeed, transmission patterns in Africa, Tanzania included, are largely heterosexual.The majority of those affected or infected with the HIV/AIDS virus are married men and women - not sex workers and not single women or homosexuals. This is important to consider as it dispels a major stereotype of HIV/AIDS victims and transmission of the virus.

It was this breakthrough that enabled HIV/AIDS researchers in the west to begin expanding their investigation of the disease and its transmission beyond the homosexual community or intravenous drug users. The fact that HIV/AIDS in Africa and Asia is transmitted mainly through heterosexual contact debunked the Sodom and Gomorrah theory which confined the problem to a particular group in the society considered immoral to be dispelled.

What is interesting is that in spite of this knowledge, most institutions representative of patriarchal authority lack the will to redress this situation. For example, they fail to focus on the unequal relationship between man and wife that allows the man unfettered sexual access, thereby compromising the health and life of his spouse. Many times this is done with the full endorsement of public and legal institutions under the rubric of preserving the religious or cultural order. In effect, the interest is rather in preserving the status quo rather than guaranteeing equal protection and treatment to both spouses even when this is required by the constitutional order.

Indeed, women the world over, and particularly in Africa, are vulnerable to HIV transmission not only from their partners but also when performing reproductive functions e.g. during childbirth or taking care of family members infected with the disease. Yet, we are yet to have legal mechanisms that address this aspect of their vulnerability. If anything, there is resistance and denial about what is at issue in empowering women in exercising greater control over their bodies and lives.

Additionally, whereas the individual is sanctified under most religions, and cultures recognize ungendered interpretations impose limits to the exercise of individual authority when it relates to the female sex, confirming the continued discrimination against women in public and private spheres: Under the constitutional and civil orders, men and women have equal rights by virtue of their citizenship. In practice, however, women continue to be considered second-class citizens and consistently denied the protection of the law due to any citizen of a nation state. Widows with HIV/AIDS are doubly punished: they are recklessly infected with the virus and then dispossessed of jointly acquired property from the investments made to their families. In most cases, the law requires that they be looked after by their children or in-laws, even those they brought up!

This is a moral aspect that is yet to be addressed.A recent High Court decision on the inheritance status of widows raises serious questions about the willingness of key public sectors to transform our thinking beyond the cultural rubric, one that is parochial and unsuitable to present realities. In the case of Elizabeth Stephen and another vs. the Attorney General (Miscellaneous Civil Cause no. 82 of 2005) High Court Justice Mihayo dismissed an application lodged by the applicants, two widows, requesting the court to uphold their constitutional and civic rights by declaring discriminatory customary laws and provisions that continue to deny women property rights as unconstitutional. The judges declined to do so, fearing opening up a Pandora’s Box of legal challenges to the practices of about 120 tribes following the same path. Interestingly, while Tanzania gained her independence four decades ago, the legal fraternity represented by these justices seems oblivious to this fact. They choose instead to invoke and apply a reasoning based on a colonial reference, one that reflects a narrow appreciation of African culture as being homogenous and static not dynamic.

In my long legal and activist carrier I know of very few families, affected or not with HI/AIDS, being provided for by the “guardian” as required by courts or some religious orders. In fact, cases of maladministration of family property, whether by self appointed guardians or those appointed by the court or clan, abound with many families being impoverished by greedy relatives with no effective recourse to oblige performance or restitution of the plundered property. Importantly, in this day and age, what is the logic of requiring a blood relation who may be a stranger to the family to assume responsibility of family affairs he has little competence in or will to execute? Does the experience of the female spouse who for years looked after the family count for nothing? This is a clear case of de facto discrimination and should be termed as such.

Undeniably, significant progress has been made with in responses to the pandemic. In this respect, the introduction of a policy and legal framework on HIV/AIDS in Tanzania provides a wider focus on addressing existing and potential challenges related to HIV/AIDS, though presently more attention is given to issues of labour discrimination and treatment options reflecting present, not strategic concerns. Until now the war against HIV/AIDS is defined in militaristic terms: strategies to combat HIV/AIDS; bracing for a national calamity; fighting the scourge etc. We are yet to define it in human terms not only in so far as the health or economic implications but also in so far as the political implications to a class that is vulnerable to the infection.

How can concerted efforts against HIV/AIDS succeed if, at its outset and at the most fundamental level, the effort is not collective? How can transmission be curbed when one party is unsuspecting and not empowered to suppress transmission? How can any progress be made in the HIV/AIDS battle if, current strategies are superficial and isolated? Recognizing women’s bodily integrity and full agency in the family are important ingredients in transforming the HIV/AIDS menace. It is in this regard that I call for a radical response in tackling HIV/AIDS and its impact. I believe rather than viewing HIV/AIDS solely in a negative light, it offers us immense possibilities to re-define social relations and values a new, in ways that are more suited to our present realities and experiences.

• Salma Maoulidi, Executive Director of Sahiba?Sisters Foundation, a women’s development network based in Tanzania.
• Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Trade, trade and more trade: That’s the winning formulae for a fulfilled life. But what does this mean for women in the East Africa region? How are their interests reflected in trading activities? Salma Maoulidi investigates.

Trade signifies an assortment of economic activities and transactions. Trade, for many in the Global South struggling to improve their economic status, is the new salvation. It is the magic equation to economic prosperity - do more of it and your Gross Domestic Product (GDP) goes up, winning you points in economic performance.

But like all prevailing economic formulas there is a catch: for any meaningful economic gains to be registered under the present trade regime, external trading must outweigh internal trading. In practical terms this means economies import more at the expense of local production, the latter becoming more prohibitive and less competitive on account of higher production and transaction costs. Conversely, countries fetch lower returns on exports following the devaluation of local currencies, making then too weak to trade competitively on the world market; and also because goods produced locally continue to have the inferior status of “raw materials” or unprocessed goods and are of a lesser value compared to processed goods.

Why sex is a factor in the trade equation

In simple terms, this forms the basic functioning of the current trade regime. Underneath this simplicity, however, lies a complex set of relationships that fundamentally influence the terms and players in trade deals, including women. Universally the world of business is seen to be off limits to women. Just as dominant religious and cultural ideologies persistently deny women proprietary rights, the business establishment has followed suit, recognizing more readily women’s role as producers, and as consumers, but not as owners and managers of productive enterprise.

Political independence has had minimal impact on the national and global economic profile in terms of wealth distribution. During colonial times in East Africa, the trading class was composed mainly of Indians and a few Arabs, who owned the local retail and wholesale shops. The main economic activities were, however, controlled by the settler farmer and colonial administration, mostly Europeans. As corporations take over economic activities, trade monopoly is no longer solely defined by race and ethnicity. Thus the local Indian or Arab retailer in East Africa is being replaced by the Chinese retailer/wholesaler; while an expert labour force from India and other parts of South East Asia take over industries and the service sector. A few indigenous entrepreneurs claim a stake in local and regional business, but for the most part Africans form the bulk of the unskilled labour force and remain the primary consumers.

The sex composition in the business world has remained unchanged, with women registering little success in penetrating global, regional and local markets. Women in trade and economic bodies are still under-represented. In Tanzania, for example, women are underrepresented in virtually all business chambers. The local bourse has very few women traders as do local industries. Regional Trade Agreements offer business opportunities beyond national boundaries but are, for the most part, not integrative of the needs of women. Trade frameworks like NEPAD or the East African Common Markets, while seemingly progressive, are rendered ineffective by constitutional frameworks that preserve gender inequalities at national levels. In many respects, therefore, women remain objects of sale, convenient conduits for furthering materialist aims and gains. They are yet to become the subject of trade regimes and investments.

The miracle of women friendly economic programmes

In view of the persistent exclusion of women in economic enterprise and the widespread belief that economic empowerment is critical towards raising the status of women, some quarters, either pioneering individuals or development organizations, have tried to redress the imbalance of players in economic enterprise. Many implement programmes aimed at the economic upliftment of women, programmes that vary minimally in approach in that they have micro-lending or micro-credit as the basis for women’s economic empowerment.

The theory of women and economic upliftment is, however, flawed as it does not see the woman as an independent economic investor or dealer. Indeed, whereas the imperialist business model focuses on accumulation in order to achieve profit maximization through serious capital injection, prevailing notions of women and entrepreneurship limit women’s economic engagement to the micro, the small business happening outside the margins of real business.

Essentially, the very concept of micro credit is restrictive. Other than suggesting that it is insignificant, and therefore of minimal consequence, in so far as volume and risk is concerned, it does not view women as serious accumulators of capital. Rather, the concern is to give women enough to help them and their families survive. Such an outlook has affected how women engage in business, their overwhelming motivation being aiding their families, not making serious money.

Indeed, women plough back most of the earnings and profits they get from productive activities into their families instead of expanding or diversifying their businesses (a fact a number of agencies have banked on to introduce or intensify micro-credit programmes targeting women). Because women’s economic activity is mainly concerned with improving the household and family welfare it is not perceived as a serious trade venture. Perhaps if women did not assume the greater burden of caring for the household, they would dare trade for profit as some younger unattached women do. They would vie to make money for the sake of making money, and not just for survival.

The terms of engagement under which most micro lending schemes operate are also limiting in that they require women to organize in collectives - in fives or tens - to qualify for lending or credit schemes. Indubitably, it proves more profitable for lending institutions to lend money to communities of women where they can maximize their turnover irrespective of whether women are making any money from the loans: continuous recruitment and policing of group members ensure high return rates. Hence, with very little investments women become effective mediums of cash generation and multiplication.

Women as objects or subjects of trade

In many respects, therefore, women are becoming the objects of trade. Businesses target women using both traditional as well as modern techniques. Economic liberalization has seen an influx of luxury items in Tanzania, the most significant being cosmetics. Images of the modern woman championed by the media, result in the dumping of cheap beauty products such as whitening creams, the health dimension of which is yet to be assessed. The promoters and chief distributors are men, while women are the willing or beleaguered consumers. Similarly, the home, the bastion of womanhood, remains the most effective sales point, luring women with the possibilities of stocking up on the newest and cheapest home gadgets on the market.

This is not to say that women are sitting idly by, oblivious to emerging economic opportunities under traditional and new trade regimes. Women may have been excluded from active trade but they have never shied away from trade. Indeed, in a number of African countries women are revered for their trading skills. For example, food and textile markets in West Africa are dominated by women. It is now customary, even in conservative areas, to see women traders - women running shops and bars in urban and provincial centres; women fish vendors in coastal areas and the Great Lakes areas and Zanzibar; women trading in foodstuffs and cereals in Manyara and Mbeya; women hawking goods in Moshi and Arusha; and women transporters in Tanga and Dar es Salaam. There is also an increase of women participating in national and international trade fairs, many sponsoring their own participation. Increasingly women are trying to build a niche for themselves in fields previously dominated by men.

Women make up a significant percentage of the 85% of Tanzanians engaged in agriculture, the mainstay of the economy. Also they form a sizeable percentage of the self-employed population engaged in the informal sector. Because women’s economic engagement is confined to the reproductive sector - in food production or preparation, hospitality, child caring, education, beauty and hygiene, and handicrafts - areas that affirm a woman’s sexual and reproductive role, they remain excluded from more lucrative productive enterprises like large-scale farming, horticulture or industry.

Even among the fastest growing sectors of the Tanzanian economy, like mining, women are under performing. Whereas there is an association of women miners representing the interest of a sizeable population of women in mines, few are miners or dealers in gemstones or in industries associated with mining. The bulk of the female population working in mines sells food or provides sex services. Women in the tourist industry fare no better. Men dominate the most lucrative services in the sector as tour and taxi operators, travel agencies, hotel owners and managers. Women assume low raking service jobs such as telephone operators, waitresses, chambermaids, cleaners, travel agent sales persons, and flight attendants. As is the case of women in the food industry, women in the tourist industry are pushed to prostitution to supplement meager incomes.

Economic success but at what price for women?

Increasing insecurity in their personal lives may make women reluctant participants in commerce. Micro credit programmes are replete with reports of husbands who appropriate loans or earnings, exacerbating levels of poverty among women. Similarly, little attention has been paid to the great physical risk women face on account of their economic success. Necessarily, economic success does not shield women from the threat of violence. A number of women experience acts of aggression on account of their business success. A case in point involves a popular female fish trader in Arusha market, Mama Terry, who was recently robbed in her home. A close male relative jealous of her business success paid the gangsters to “fix her”. Thankfully, when they attacked she had a sizeable amount of cash, in her possession. Distracted by the loot, the thugs left without harming her. Other women are not so lucky, falling victims to both sexual and physical violence after being gang robbed.

Clearly, the terms under which women can engage in productive economic activity should not surpass social expectation. Otherwise relatives and society at large reserve the right to apply some form of sanction to neutralize a woman’s economic mobility.

It is common for youth traders, frustrated by severe economic alienation, to physically and verbally attack women they perceive as successful. They feel such women “undermine their chances” to make it in a competitive business environment.

Sadly, models of “women of substance” in trade and business continue to be scarce, even among female business graduates. Interestingly, women with business education end up teaching or overseeing less fortunate women in micro-credit and lending programmes. Few actually venture into business. Moreover, instead of being at the forefront of an emancipatory trade and economic agenda, business professionals do very little to emancipate themselves and other women from economic bondage. Rather, they serve the dominant trade framework, becoming brokers for financial interest, urging on poor and less educated women to take on loans and subscribe to economic models that keep them on a leash of economic dependency and exploitation.

A few business savvy women serve as self-appointed advocates for women’s economic justice. They exercise vigilance over global processes that dictate the terms of trade for men and women in the global south. Nevertheless, they communicate via language and process far removed from the realities of women they represent: Their discourse is too technical, aimed at policy makers and academics. Whereas these women would have provided the link between professionalism and creativity in local enterprise, or with local governments, their oppositional stance serves to alienate women further from entrepreneurship, seeing it as too complex and mystical a venture.

Ultimately, women continue to miss out on role models in the business world. They miss being groomed by women with a conceptual and practical understanding of the system. They remain confused and intimidated by the jargon and procedures that restricts their spontaneity to venture and risk. They remain ignorant of terms and processes they can take advantage of because there is little interest all round to acquaint and translate these to women. As long as women’s induction to trade in the region remains microscopic, microminimized and micromanaged they will remain at the margins of trading blocks, earning just enough for their survival and that of their families. How then can such a trade development formula realistically contribute to women’s economic empowerment?

* Salma Maoulidi, is the Executive Director of Sahiba's Sisters Foundation, a women’s development network in Tanzania whose mission is to build women’s leadership and organizational capacity.

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Further reading

- Society for International Development, The State of East Africa Report 2006- Trends, Tensions and Contradictions: the Leadership Challenge, 2006

- Khadija Mohammed Hijja, Women and Tourism in Zanzibar, 2005(unpublished)

Last Friday evening, the United Nations adopted a Political Declaration of Commitment on HIV/Aids following a meeting in New York to thrash out a response to the pandemic. While welcomed in some quarters, the declaration has also faced criticism from an African civil society grouping, who described it as an “utter disappointment” and declared a Week of Action - from June 13 to 17 - to mobilize support for previous commitments made by African governments to fighting the pandemic (Please see the HIV/Aids section of Pambazuka News for more details). In the article below, Salma Maoulidi goes beyond showcasing the pandemic in an attempt to “deal with why it is and is allowed to be”.

Tanzania has a national HIV/Aids policy and is in the process of finalizing legislation on HIV/Aids. The expectation is that once the policy and legal framework is set, people living with HIV/Aids and their families will be afforded greater protection. But will a legal framework that solely addresses the public health dimensions of HIV/Aids and not the intimate aspects of personal relationships that maintain the status-quo in power relations between the sexes suffice?

Treating an invisible syndrome

When one reads the alarming statistics explaining the magnitude of HIV/Aids in sub-Saharan Africa one gets an impression that people are dropping down like flies. One would think that as one walks the streets, every other person would be noticeably HIV positive. This, however, is not the case, not because HIV/Aids is not present but because it is rendered invisible - something that makes ongoing efforts to combat HIV/AIDS ineffective, if not difficult.

While HIV/Aids is very much in our midst it remains hidden from many either by choice or by design. It remains hidden by choice because we choose not to see it; or those that are affected by it choose not to divulge their status. It remains hidden by design when those who have it go to extra lengths to conceal their positive status. Also, it remains obscured when the state fails to address the problem at its core, that is confronting the underlying cause contributing to widespread infections rather than its consequence.

I have been following the progression of HIV/Aids since the mid-eighties when the formulation of the first national response against HIV/Aids emerged, but it remained invisible to me until the late nineties. Until then my association with HIV/Aids was based on health statistics and my long association with women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights. Putting a face to someone living with the virus came much later. But when these live testimonies finally emerged they were persistent in underscoring the pervasiveness of the pandemic. From the outset, it became clear to me that each story of a women who had contracted the virus was peculiar and in most cases did not meet the popular myths around HIV/Aids.

There are many dimensions to the problem that is HIV/Aids, something that is not so clear with prevailing responses against the disease. One can only appreciate the complexity involved in combating the pandemic when one reviews the stories of countless women, men and children infected and affected by HIV/Aids. It is also these stories that inform my political stance on the adequacy of existing HIV/Aids approaches in combating the pandemic.

Protecting the unsuspecting

One of the first cases I came across involved a bright girl, full of life and humour. I met her for the first time when she was ten but looked more like a five year old. She was born HIV positive, a fact that led her father to abandon the family. It was left to her mother and elder sibling to love and provide for her amidst great hardship. Although an innocent child, she was not spared the humiliation meted out on PLWHA’s that resulted from prevalent institutional ignorance about HIV/Aids. Her teachers openly discriminated against her, forcing her to wear a red badge to signify her HIV status.

Fortunately, her mother joined an association of PLWHA which provided her and the family with much needed moral and material support. Her sisters, who were not positive, became peer educators and volunteers for an HIV/Aids community based programme. She thus never saw herself as a victim. She accepted her condition and sought to live to the fullest in spite of the fact that she was positive. Her status was only an issue when it made her too sick to play or attend school. She died before her twelfth birthday, unable to realize her many dreams. Her brave attitude gave us a useful advocacy platform to intensify the campaign for the rights of PLWHA.

Progressively, the reality of HIV/Aids came close to home when a close friend of mine lost her baby girl. Although she had suffered bouts of TB it only became clear that she may be infected with the virus after her very sick daughter was diagnosed with the virus. Indeed it is not exceptional that many women get to know about their positive status in this manner since they do not fit the profile of women who are likely to be infected with the virus in the sense that they are not prostitutes or “loose” women but women who are in stable relationships, the majority having the respectable status of being someone’s wife and, therefore, by local social standards, outside the ambit of the risk category associated with immoral behavior.

Consequently, a significant number of HIV positive women I know contracted the virus as unsuspecting victims. They were brought up to believe that it was enough that they were in a happy, healthy and lasting marriage. The husband’s fidelity was immaterial to complete this equation. On the contrary, the overwhelming perception is that a chaste and faithful wife sufficed to protect the family from ill health and ensure a strong progeny. Increasingly women are finding that an institution that was traditionally meant to provide them with security, stability, health and respect is in fact endangering their lives and livelihoods.

Many of these women are torn between confronting their problem and in so doing drawing attention to themselves, a fact that leaves them vulnerable to public scorn and stigmatization. Importantly, it has the potential to ostracize them from traditional systems of support, especially after their spouse rejects them upon divulging their status. Indeed it is the dilemmas and contradictions women face as the weaker sex that puts them at risk of contracting the virus. Certainly, it is the denial of women’s agency in matters of sexual and reproductive nature that informs women’s social and economic predicament, a situation intensified by the HIV/Aids pandemic.

Are we fighting a disease or a curse?

The contradictory nature of the disease vis a vis women’s wellbeing is most evident in the story of my namesake, now deceased, who I came to know by virtue of my work with Muslim women. She was an only child, begotten late in life. Her elderly mother was anxious about her welfare after she passed on, such that when a widower proposed marriage she hastily agreed, believing that she was marrying her child to a responsible man. She did not know how her future son-in-law lost his wife nor did he oblige the information. It seems that he had two main concerns - either to draw upon the youth and vitality of his young bride to will himself to good health or to have a healthy person to care for him as his health deteriorated. In either case it was not the welfare of his new wife that was paramount to the fatal union nor did he take any measures to minimize the risk of infection to his young wife.

Next my cousin fell ill to recurrent bouts of TB. In his quest to prove that he did not have something more serious, he repeatedly neglected to complete the prescribed dose for treating the disease, creating resistance against TB. His mother and siblings never accepted that he may have contracted HIV, though they knew he was a womanizer. Instead they were more willing to forgive his philandering but content to blame his wife and her mother for bewitching him. In vain my aunt tried to break the marriage as her son’s condition deteriorated, perhaps to minimize the likelihood of her laying any claims to the matrimonial property, but failed. To our dismay my aunt unceremoniously chased the widow out of the house immediately upon completing her iddat (the mourning period) in spite of the fact that she had two young sons.

Then the young woman who helps us around the house was afflicted by a double HIV/Aids tragedy: her brother in law died after a long illness that was explained as diabetes coupled with witchcraft. During her time off she visited her sister and took care of him. There is no knowing what risk she exposed herself to as she only confirmed that he may have died of Aids after her sister succumbed and died soon after. This tragedy ended the working life of this young woman as her mother went into shock, forcing her to take a leave of absence to nurse her until she died. To save her from a predicament like her sister’s, her uncle and brothers planned to marry her off to a man who had been divorced thrice.

While a number of these women were ignorant about their status, a number were in denial not because of arrogance but because they feared the repercussions their status might have. My friend took some time to accept her HIV positive status. A lot of anger was exhibited against her husband’s long love interest and while she came from a religious family she readily invoked witchcraft to explain her errant husband’s behaviour. Perhaps it was more tolerable to accept that her husband was not acting in selfish disregard of her feelings and health were it not for an evil third hand or influence.

My most recent house help must have known for sometime she had the virus but instead of focusing on her condition actively sought out other women suspected to be infected as if in an attempt to deflect attention from her own status. Otherwise she hid her ill health well, substituting it with other debilitating diseases like malaria or typhoid. But when her ten-year old daughter died, she lost her will to live and succumbed almost two months later. The fate of her husband is unknown since he is adamant his daughter was a victim of someone’s bad spell, a view his wife never sought to correct lest she became suspect and was thrown out in the streets.

Interrogating the source of repeated transmissions

The stories serve to underscore certain truths that hardly feature as the key issues in the battle against HIV/Aids. It is more likely for women to admit their HIV status than it is for men. In most cases I have come across, the women were categorical that it was the sexual permissiveness of their partner that put them at risk. In many cases they were unsuspecting victims. In some cases, they suspected infidelity but were helpless to stop it since as opposed to their sexuality being regulated, their husband’s infidelity was given free reign by religious dicta and the legal framework. While society is more preoccupied with the status of the woman during marriage - whether she is a virgin or not; whether she is rebellious or not; whether she is respectable or not - equal consideration is not given to the status of her partner. On the contrary legal and social institutions tend to extol men’s sexual prowess and irresponsibility.

Likewise, while it is common for women who contract the virus to be punished for their condition there is never talk of compensating them for the harm inflicted on them and the ensuring violation of their privacy and property rights. My namesake was disposed of all her property by her in-laws - even her cooking pots - though it was well known that her culinary skills sustained the family during their short married life. She attempted to fight for her rights but died without justice being realized. The sister of my house help was evicted from the house where she lived and nursed her husband and ended up living with a relative before being bundled back to her village to die.

After initial denial my friend is living an open life. She recently lost her husband and is in the middle of a property distribution exercise directed by his family. While the family is keen to expedite her share of inheritance, perhaps in view of her condition, there is no mention of compensating her for the harm her late husband caused her, if not knowingly then by sheer negligence. She dares not bring up the issue lest her in-laws fall short of being generous towards her. It is this attitude of looking at women as creatures to be pitied and helped, instead of full partners in a relationship, that limits their agency and bargaining power in a relationship. Surely, awarding her compensation is not a matter of retribution or her inability to forgive. On the contrary it is her ability to forgive and go on with her life that contributes to her positive and healthy living. But should such chivalry be abused?

The wrong these women have been subjected to goes unrecognized. The contributions they made to families in terms of monetary and non-monetary forms of contributions go unacknowledged. Instead, these women are vilified by relatives and society for their positive status. Their positive status is equal to a death sentence and licenses their dispossession. Their continued existence means they are delaying the process of wealth transfer and if the virus won’t kill them in time, then heart ache and harassment are efficient mechanisms to expedite the sentence!

The unresolved politics of HIV/Aids

Most governments have failed to look at the social impact of HIV/Aids beyond the rhetoric of sharing the burden of looking after those affected by the HIV/Aids scourge. And while the pandemic presents new opportunities for governments to address gender inequalities there is paralysis in taking deliberate action to promote natural and social justice. Certainly the pandemic presents an opportunity to influence reforms in law and attitudes not only towards HIV/Aids but in reforming gender relations. Other than reaffirming state responsibility towards principles of gender equality and justice, it affords states an opportunity to engage in social engineering towards meeting constitutional and civic commitments to its citizens, male and female.

The development sector’s HIV/Aids response fares no better. While it is commonplace to maintain that having HIV/Aids does not amount to having a death sentence, prevailing policies, discourses and practice related to HIV/Aids continuously pass death sentences on those infected by the virus. Though my organization addresses HIV/Aids in the context of reproductive health, I resist working in the field mainly because the overwhelming support to the sector seems to promote welfarism - approaching infected persons as helpless victims thereby subscribing to dominant attitudes that tend to seal the nails on the coffins of those afflicted by the virus. This is an approach to development that we abandoned two decades ago in favour of a more empowering development approach and discourse.

Indeed, whereas we have tried to reclaim the dignity of people who survived gender based physical and sexual violence we are shamelessly victimizing people infected with HIV/Aids. The biggest pastime for people who want to placate their sense of guilt or get a piece of the HIV industry in my country are projects involving HIV/Aids orphans where countless children who are infected or who lost parents to the disease are not allowed to get over their loss and the stigma associated with their loss. The association with HIV/Aids is the brand that sells. Oblivious are we to the message that underlies such projects: Why can’t these children get on with their lives and be assisted by virtue of being orphaned and not because they are orphaned by HIV/Aids?

Also appalling is the wastage of resource poured in by the international community on material purchases and workshops that do very little to actually help communities deal with the HIV pandemic. Indeed, HIV/Aids has become the new development craze diverting much needed income from more sustainable development interventions. Why is overall spending in preventive health and reproductive health falling when they form part of the equation for an effective heath response to the pandemic? I visited Rwanda in 2004 and was appalled to find that each major UN agency and international NGO was into the HIV/Aids sector with very little coordination between them. I found a similar situation in Zanzibar where the bulk of advocacy organizations felt compelled to get into the HIV/Aids sector to secure funding to remain afloat.

I am equally wary of the ongoing politicization of the question of access to anti-retrovirals for PLWHA. Certainly I have no desire to profit pharmaceuticals, who seek to commodify people’s health in the name of a pseudo-cure. I am also hesitant to create dependency on the drugs in the absence of better nutrition and a guarantee that the scientific community is serious in finding a cure or a better drug regiment. The idea is not to create another dependent population, this time not only on food aid or donor aid but on ARVs. The objective should be to empower PLWHA to live healthy and independent lives without fear of incrimination, stigmatization or impoverishment. It should be about giving security and dignity to those infected and affected by HIV/Aids.

Conclusion

Statistics explaining the magnitude of the pandemic are plentiful. It is however not helpful when numbers are considered in a vacuum. I took inspiration from a book a young woman participating in our mentoring program is working on to open dialogue about HIV/Aids. The book is particularly insightful as other than using narratives of women infected and affected by HIV/Aids to expose the human dimension of the pandemic, it does so while charting her personal trajectory with HIV/Aids. She explores myths about the disease; education and prevention strategies; and personal and community responses they invoke. Certainly it is in understanding the interactions that inform individual HIV/Aids experiences that more sustainable prevention options will evolve, options that go beyond showcasing the scourge for what it is but attempt to deal with why it is and is allowed to be.

* Salma Maoulidi is the Executive Director of Sahiba Sisters Foundation, a development network that works with the concerns of Muslim and provincial women. Sahiba’s mission is to build the leadership and organizational skills of women and youth. It has network members in 13 regions of Tanzania.

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

The recently concluded general elections and the appointment of the new cabinet have attracted mixed reviews. In particular, gender activists and progressive voices laud the unprecedented appointment of women holding key posts in the cabinet as a positive development. Hongera to all appointees! Skeptics, on their part, are crossing their fingers waiting for one faux pas to criticize the President for his audacious move.

And what do I say to all this? For those who have watched Boyz in the Hood, there is a line that I will make reference to in putting this historic feat in its proper perspective. The line is uttered by Angela Basset to Laurence Fishburn, the father of her son Trey, who unlike many black men in the projects has chosen to be involved in the upbringing of his son and wanted some recognition from his ex. She informed him that he is far from special since what he is doing is what women have done for centuries without accolade. Indeed, women have led families and communities - clothed them, fed them, educated them and cared for them with little appreciation from society or the government.

But I will be more generous and credit President Kikwete for being bold in actually being the President who had enough courage and confidence to do what his predecessors thought was unthinkable or perhaps unpalatable for the masses. And he scores highly. But more can be done. For instance, since it is not only women in public office that matter, what about the home front: Is our first lady apt to represent us? What about the wives of the other big shots in government, since this empowerment has to start at home lest the appointments are not seen as genuine but token gestures, albeit with weight.

Also, Tanzania is yet to ratify the African Union’s Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa when countries without a history of progressive legislation with regards to women, like Mauritania, have. The Protocol offers great opportunity for women to push for the realization of gender equality in national laws. How can we continue thus when our very own Getrude Mongella is the president of the Pan African Parliament?

Indeed, the general elections 2005 have recorded important milestones for women in Tanzania. More women stood as candidates, not just in their traditional roles as supporters. In some respects they provided a good challenge to male figures. (Hon. Mary Nagu successfully contested against the outgoing Prime Minister, Fredrick Sumaye, in Hanang constituency, such that the latter decided to gracefully withdraw his name. Hon. Daniel Yona was not so lucky and was given a run by Hon. Anne Kilango.)

It is however notable that during the race, most political parties did not give a lot of visibility to women. Only two parties had female running mates, NCCR Mageuzi and CHADEMA, the latter only after the death of his first running mate. Only one party stood as a female candidate. It was perhaps at the constituencies that women were expected to rise up, and to a certain extent their performance is not bad. In fact it could have been better if bribes and education were not the determining factor in approving candidacy. Thus in a Parliament of 319, at present there are 97 women. Of these 75 are special seats, 3 are presidential appointments and 2 are from the Zanzibar House of Representative.

It is disconcerting that of the six female ministers, only two successfully got elected into parliament by contesting in their constituencies. The rest, including long-term political figures, have not been able to secure the vote of the electorate and are elected into the government by virtue of nomination or presidential appointment. This indicates that whereas these women are renowned at national and international levels, they are yet to gain the confidence of local populations. There is thus more work to be done in raising the profile of women candidates at the local levels. Conversely it indicates how key affirmative action measures are in guaranteeing that women will get access to positions of influence otherwise closed to them on account of sexist attitudes or political naiveté.

This did, however, not spell doom as elected officials of the new parliament began the first coup by electing the first female deputy speaker in the person of Anna Makinda, a long term politician and former minister and regional commissioner. She was unopposed. Perhaps this gave the new president the confidence to outdo parliament by electing 6 women in key cabinet positions like foreign affairs, finance, constitutional affairs, education, president’s office and community development. He appointed even more deputy ministers who are women, also in key ministries. It therefore remains to be seen how the public will judge these women compared to the male personalities that have occupied the seats of power since independence.

Activists can take comfort knowing that the president went out of his way to attract a cabinet with women who have been civically engaged. Dr. Asha Rose Migiro for example is a lawyer, who has a history in the women’s movement as well as in efforts to build a strong civic culture. Ms. Sitta on the other hand is an educationalist with a long history in the Teachers’ Union as well as in teaching. The president thus scores highly in electing women who are seasoned leaders and champions of rights, which should dispel any thought that these women were purely rewarded for some favour, without taking into consideration their competence.

What is worrisome, however, is whether they can maintain their feisty spirit once in office where bureaucracy and “politics” dictate performance. We know, for example, from the Kibaki government in Kenya, that upon assuming legislative or administrative positions many activists who came from Kenyan civil society and were invited to join the government became subdued and could no longer take on the government the way they did when operating from the outside. Effectively, their appointment is an effective way to appease or neutralize them since they now are sworn to the office and “collective responsibility”, not the voters. Of course the situation in Tanzania has an added dimension of unwavering loyalty to the party and its manifesto, which is more paramount than any nationalistic fervour.

Already there are worrying signs as to how much revolution these women will muster once in office. The party manifesto is clear, as is the existing policy framework, which intends to continue the same trend of neo-liberal expansion and accumulation adopted with the economic liberalization agenda in the early nineties. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Dr. Asha Rose Migiro, has already indicated that her priority will be economic diplomacy. We can make our own conclusions as to what this means. Nonetheless, what implication will this have on socio-economic and socio-cultural rights which she has been working on and which without doubt were key issues at the Ministry of Community Development, Gender and Children where she last served? Also, will this compromise the rights of local producers, a key concern for women and social justice groups in the recently concluded Hong Kong Ministerial?

Hon. Zakia Meghji has been appointed to head finance. She comes from a successful spin at the Ministry of Tourism where she recorded key gains in publicizing Tanzania as an important tourist destination, encouraged ecotourism and local tourism. She is one of the senior ministers as this will be the third government she serves under. Nevertheless, there is great concern about the vices of the tourism industry and its impact on women - low wages with little labour protections, prostitution and loss of livelihood in some areas where tourist hotels have been established.. More importantly, how does this history influence budgetary allocations in the future? Certainly, gender activists would like to see more allocation to social services, especially to reproductive health, education and water.

What is my role and others like me after the jubilation in closing in on the seat of power? Often times, as activists we have not been as critical of our own when they come to positions of power. Also we have not been as helpful to them, thinking that they are better placed to help our cause and us. We do not recognize that while the positions mean these women are well connected, they may need us more than ever to provide them with vital information in key policy areas: to be their extra pair of eyes, ears and heart, so to speak. It is therefore a defining moment for all of us.

Our biggest challenge is whether we will be courageous enough to demand the same level of performance and accountability from our sisters and colleagues as we do from those who seem opposed to our doctrines. We should be brave to criticize where needed and praise where warranted. We can no longer afford to be content thinking that since she is “one of us” our business is in good hands. We also cannot afford to be silenced by a sense of loyalty to a sister, a friend, a relative, or a comrade when there are bigger issues at stake. In fact these friends depend on us to give them the reality check they need to remain sane and committed, a luxury public office does not always afford. Certainly, the experiences in South America with the left, as well as the experience in Kenya, underscore that as activists we can’t afford to drop our guard.

Importantly, we have an obligation to the citizens of our country. This is the only truth we can’t afford to loose sight of. Similarly, we have for decades, if not centuries, called for an even playing field, for similar treatment and opportunity. Slowly, our voices are being heard and the doors of leadership are creaking open. We must therefore ensure that women can indeed make a difference once in office, a difference that is seen and felt in action, in culture and in impact. Certainly, if we want more women to be considered for leadership positions in the future we have to create a positive impression all round lest we fall victims to the “See, women can’t lead” rejoinder.

* Salma Maoulidi has an LLM in Law from Georgetown Law. Affiliated to the women's national and transnational movement with a strong interest in social justice issues and development, she is currently heading a women's development network, Sahiba Sisters Foundation, that aims at building the leadership and organizational capacities of women and youth in Tanzania.

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