Dr Victoria Lihiru encourages women to rise above the odds

Dar es Salaam. Meet Victoria Lihiru, a brilliant young woman with a PhD who is on a mission to inspire and empower youth, especially women, to chase after their dreams no matter how daunting they may seem.

With her contagious enthusiasm and unwavering determination, Dr Victoria is a shining example of what it means to overcome challenges and achieve greatness.

So, if one is feeling overwhelmed or discouraged, take a page out of Dr Victoria’s book and keep pushing forward - the sky’s the limit! Her goal is to see men and women represented fairly and equally in democratic governance processes.

She plans to retire when her dream of seeing a gender-responsive and inclusive legal framework that allows women to meaningfully participate in political processes without facing direct or indirect discrimination comes true.

She is currently a law lecturer at the Open University of Tanzania and a specialist in democratic governance, with a great interest in elections and political processes, human rights, and civil society, among others.

“As an academician and researcher, I have dedicated her scholarly work to studying how the legal framework can facilitate more women being in positions of power,” she said.

Towards 2024 Women’s Day, with the theme “Count her In,” Dr Lihiru appeals to the government to make deliberate efforts to improve the legal environment for women’s effective participation in elections, including reforming the special seat system by shifting from first-past-the-post to proportional representation, allowing private candidates, and mandating political parties to ensure 50-50 representation of women in all leadership positions and candidate nominations.

With notable success in her academic and consulting career, she shares critical tips for navigating the two sectors, starting by recognising that while some people may be lucky to be born in privileged circumstances, most come from vulnerable and underprivileged backgrounds.

Coming from an underprivileged background, Dr Lihiru recognised from an early age that only education would save her. She constantly strived to achieve academic excellence, and in 2019, she obtained a PhD from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, when she was 31 years old. “Now I believe that indeed education is an equaliser,” she said.

While at primary school, and as one of the poorly performing students, she just wanted to become a primary school teacher or a police officer so she could quickly help her family manage life. That dream melted quickly after she miraculously passed the standard seven exams.

She embraced it as a second chance, became invested in her education, and emerged as one of the best students at the lower secondary, high school, and universities she attended.

She said: “I realised I was not that bad academically, and I could succeed. Hence, I upgraded my dream from wanting to become a primary school teacher or police officer to becoming a university lecturer.”

“This dream came true soon after I completed my bachelor’s degree in law from Mzumbe University, where I immediately got a job as a tutorial assistant at the OUT,” adding trust that nothing should stop anyone from taking their dreams to greater heights, not a day job or family responsibilities.

“Before the new job honeymoon was over, I decided to pursue a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice that qualified me as an Advocate of the High Court and subordinate courts concurrently with a master’s degree in law that allowed me to be promoted to an assistant lecturer,” she said. Victoria urges young people, especially women, to continue pursuing their dreams despite mounting responsibilities.

“I enrolled for my PhD when my son was just one year old, and I got my daughter in the middle of my PhD program,” sh she said.

For any dream to be realised, it has to be prioritized. She attributes her PhD completion within three years and her growing scholarly publication portfolio to her tradition of waking up at 3 a.m. “It gives me three uninterrupted hours to work on my top priorities before everyone is up,” she said.

“But we are different; people can choose the time for uninterrupted work that works for them.”

Dr Lihiru also sees the value of sharing success and succeeding with others: “I think it is critical for those who have been somewhat successful to offer a helping hand to others, be they family members, neighbours, or strangers; it’s just beautiful when we all succeed.” In terms of what she considers her outstanding contribution to advancing women’s lives, she said: “As an academician and researcher, I have dedicated my scholarly work to studying how the legal framework can facilitate more women being in positions of power.

Dr Lihiru has produced empirical evidence packaged in articles, book chapters, and policy briefs that have informed policy and law reforms.” She referenced the ongoing review of political and electoral laws: “There is a provision that requires all political parties to have gender policies and a provision that makes violence against women in politics an electoral offence.”

She said: “Since a lot still needs to be done, these are critical provisions towards creating a conducive environment for women to effectively take part in positions of power.” “This success hinges on decades of advocacy work from scholars and women’s rights advocates.”

Dr Victoria has expressed her aspirations to expand her work beyond borders. She dreams of studying elections across the continent, providing empirical evidence of legal challenges, and offering practical solutions.

Her ultimate goal is to see countries transition to more favourable legal mechanisms that ensure equal participation of both men and women in positions of power.

Dr Lihiru is currently finalising her postdoctoral research at the University of Pretoria.

“This postdoc has enabled me to study elections in Sierra Leone, Eswatini and Zimbabwe; this year I will study elections in three more countries on the continent,” she said.

“I strive to see a world where women and men can equally participate in democratic decision-making processes and structures.”