Violence Against Women
Tanzania Media Women's Association (Tamwa) will today, launch a Gender-Based Violence (GBV) survey report which was conducted in December last year in 20 districts on Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar.
A statement released in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday by Tamwa Executive Director, Valerie Msoka said that the report will be launched in Dar es Salaam. The statement noted that the report is a result of training conducted with the support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in which 30 journalists from across the country were sent to the regions to conduct the survey.
It noted that the report highlights the real situation of GBV in the surveyed areas and factors limiting stakeholders' efforts to defending women and children's rights in the country. "The survey was conducted in collaboration with Journalists from different media houses.
These included The Guardian, The Citizen, Mwananchi, Daily News, Zanzibar Leo, Nipashe, Majira and ITV," reads the statement. In the survey journalists interviewed families in communities to get the real picture on GBV issues including, female genital mutilation, rape, killings of the elderly, school pregnancies and child marriages.
The survey was conducted in the districts of Kahama (Shinyanga), Tarime (Mara), Sengerema (Mwanza), Newala (Mtwara), Mbulu (Manyara), Singida Rural (Singida), Bariadi (Simiyu), Busega (Simiyu), Nkasi (Rukwa), Dodoma (Dodoma), Babati (Manyara), Chunya (Mbeya), and Bunda (Mara).
For Zanzibar, the research was conducted in six districts from regions of Mjini Magharibi, Kusini Pemba, Kaskazini Pemba, Unguja Kusini and Kaskazini Unguja. Meanwhile, it has been determined that even men experience gender-based violence in their homes or elsewhere. Such men have been encouraged to come out and speak publicly about their predicament so that necessary steps can be taken to protect them.
Gender and Human Rights Activist Mrs Gema Akilimali said recently that traditionally men have been perceived as the perpetrators of GBV. However, the tide seems to be turning as a growing number of them are now becoming victims in the hands of their spouses. Mrs Akilimali was presenting a paper on Women issues and Constitutional Review Commission, at a two-day workshop that ended yesterday, organized by the Tanzania Media Women Association (TAMWA).