An Investigation of the Role of Gender Equality in Building Social Security in Tanzania:

Abstract

Although the government of Tanzania and the civil society since 2000 have been working hard to promote gender empowerment in order to combat some gender-biased related conflicts, social conflicts that originate from gender imbalance were reported to still existing in Monduli district (MDC, 2020). As no scientific study has been done on this phenomenon the purpose of this study was to investigate the role of promoting gender equality on building social security in Tanzania taking Monduli district as a case study. The target population is all people in the selected area of Monduli district guided by three objectives which intends to explore the ways used to address discriminatory tribal norms and values in building social security in Monduli district, to assess the measures taken in changing society’s mindset on gender differences in building social security in Monduli district, and to determine how gender empowerment process has enhanced building social security in Monduli Ddistrict. The study was proposed to adopt a descriptive research design in order to describe, observe, and document occurring phenomenon of the study. It also included a sample size of 16 respondents who were interviewed from 4 selected NGOs officers and 4 police force officers, and 2 community development officers and 6 women with the thematic and content analysis of data using qualitative approach. The empirical results showed that 72% of the respondents perceived that promoting gender equality builds societal security through eliminating discriminatory tribal values and norms, and 68%of the respondents perceived that promoting gender equality builds societal security through changing gender based mindsets and empowerment. Following the findings and conclusion made, it was recommended that the security regulatory authority Police Force, Judiciary and local government administrative authorities working on gender issues need to pay immediate response to increase efforts to implement the proposed gender issues in the policy to be addressed on gender equality achievement. Besides, government, the civil society should create an environment where education, media, and paralegal aids are immediately offered where need arise so that the behavior gender discrimination across the society in the country are prevented. Lastly, further study can be done using mixed method or quantitative approach in the same area to come up with findings that can strengthen the findings of this research.