Report: Child marriages in Tanzania in sharp decline

Arusha. Girl child marriage in Tanzania has declined by a half, it was revealed here on Monday.

The practice had drastically decreased over the past 50 years as renewed efforts are being made to eradicate it all.

The drop in child marriage is contained in the country report released here to commemorate the International Women’s Day. The Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Country Report for Tanzania was launched in Arusha on Monday.

The report was developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), intergovernmental body created to stimulate economic progress and trade.

The report said although child marriages are rampant in the rural areas, only 16 percent were married last year before attaining 18 years.

Social acceptance perpetuates and upholds child marriage with serious consequences for women’s and girls’ health and economic well being.

OECD developed the report in collaboration with UN Women Tanzania and the government of Ireland.

Reduction of girl child marriages are among milestones made by Tanzania in eliminating discrimination against women.

The country, the SIGI report went on, has also made significant efforts to promote women’s empowerment and gender equality.

These include eliminating legal provisions that limit women from accessing agricultural land and inheritance rights. Yet deep-rooted social norms and practices persistently affect women and girls’ economic liberties and safety.

New data by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reveal that Tanzanian women undertake three times more unpaid domestic cores than men.

“As women are still expected to work for pay, these norms impose a double burden on paid and unpaid work on women,” the report stated.

The SIGI Country Report also highlights the exposure of violence that women and girls are subjected to in Tanzania.

Findings established that 48 percent of them have survived intimate-partner violence at lease once in their lives, 23 percent in the past one year.

Social acceptance is also to blame as about 50 percent of men and women in Tanzania believe men are justified to beat their wives in certain circumstances.

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) remains a serious concern in some regions although the practice is gradually on the decline.

The report suggests that overall more than two million Tanzanian women today have experienced some form of FGM in the course of their lives.

Dr. Maxime Houinato, the regional director of the eastern and southern Africa regional office of the UN Children Fund (Unicef) spoke during the launch.

She said despite revealing significant progress made in reducing girl child marriage, women access to the labour market was still high.