With women on the rise, it won’t be a man’s world for much longer

Last Friday, the 5th edition of The Citizen Rising Woman Gala Dinner was held at Mlimani City Conference Hall in Dar es Salaam and I was lucky to have been invited to also celebrate the resilience, achievements and contributions of Tanzanian women in various aspects of life. This year’s event was meticulously organised and excellently conducted under the theme Accelerate Her Impact, which calls on all stakeholders to create an enabling environment for women to lead, thrive and inspire change.

The Citizen Rising Woman initiative has now become a prominent annual event that brings together women from diverse professional backgrounds to share their powerful stories of success and shed light on the challenges they have faced and the strategies they have employed to climb the ladder. The initiative is one of the best ideas whose time has come in our country – empowering women to challenge societal norms and address critical issues affecting their career progression.

Through significant efforts to empower them, women are now setting the stage for breath-taking discoveries in the world around us in science, music, politics, arts, etc, and we are now seeing in Tanzania very competent women in influential positions in a world that is still largely dominated by men. Women are now excelling in leadership roles, advancing in education, taking control of their health and well-being, advocating societal change and creating supportive spaces for others.

As per the 2022 Unesco report, literacy among women stood at an impressive 78.7 percent compared to men at 85.5 percent. This is a significant improvement in women’s struggle to bridge the gap for they have suffered a lot more than we may care to admit. The gender equality agenda is making strides in the right direction and soon it won’t be a man’s world for much longer but an equal one.

Out of the more than 220 CEOs in Tanzania, 18 percent are women and deliberate efforts are being made to advance gender inclusivity in the country. Statistics show that there has been an increase in the number of women Cabinet ministers in more than ten years from 15 percent to about 35 percent currently. The percentage of women MPs has increased from 22 to 37. This is in line with the government’s deliberate efforts to implement regional and international agreements aimed at promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment in the country.

Late last year, Bank of Tanzania governor Emmanuel Tutuba directed in a circular to all banks and financial institutions that the Directors Matrix be updated to ensure that board appointments are made by considering diverse skills and experiences women bring into leadership. All these are efforts in the right direction that aim to ensure gender diversity in succession planning processes and identify the right female candidates for various key positions.

Today’s Tanzania has no shortage of experienced women executives and entrepreneurs. Most recently we have witnessed women being appointed to C-Suite positions and other influential roles. The supply gap is disappearing fast. What is needed, in management suites as well as boardrooms, is for talent selection to focus on “fitness for purpose” – switched-on people who are relevant to the current era. We all know that a board of directors consisting of men only is not fit for any purpose.

In early 2024, a programme dubbed Think Equal Lead Smart (TELS) was designed by the CEO Roundtable of Tanzania and private sector leaders to foster the full and effective participation of women by creating equal opportunities for leadership across all decision-making platforms. All these are timely efforts that aim to positively impact women by promoting gender-responsive norms, behaviours and practice, thus enhancing leadership capacity, facilitating economic empowerment through financial and digital inclusion and advocating policy awareness.

Empowerment is crucial in moving Tanzanian women forward with purpose and one of the most effective ways to do this is by having women in key leadership positions as role models for future generations. What does that young girl at a local school in a remote village imagine when she sees and reads about NMB Bank’s Ruth Zaipuna, Jacqueline Woiso of Multichoice, CCBRT’s Brenda Msangi, Esther Mang’enya of Azania, Isabela Maganga of Equity Bank, Esther Maruma of Bank of Africa and Dr Magreth Dotto, the first female PhD holder in Mining Engineering in Tanzania? The hopes, wishes and dreams of the young girl, Esther Barua from Magila School in Muheza, Tanga Region, who aspires to be like President Samia Suluhu Hassan, can be a reality only if we all embrace equity.

No doubt, women play a critical role in driving sustainable development and inclusive growth and empowering women should not just been seen as a moral imperative, but a strategic move to drive competitive advantage and the transformative agenda. A study carried by the World Bank in 2018 indicated that increasing women’s participation in the workforce could raise Tanzania’s GDP by 3.6 percent.

In key sectors such as agriculture, finance and MSMEs, women are intentional about success and this reflects the significant role they play in economic empowerment for the benefit of our country.

Mwita Chacha is Head of Strategy and Human Capital at MnC Consulting Limited in Dar es Salaam. [email protected]