Tanzania ranked 4th in domestic violence

By Mnaku Mbani

Tanzania has been ranked 4th highest in terms of domestic violence prevalence, according to World Health Organization (WHO)..

According to the MKUKUTA Status Report of 2006 indicated that 60% of women believe that wife beating is acceptable.

In 2007 it was reported that over 50% of women were beaten daily by their partners. In 2009, 56% of women surveyed by Kivulini (2009) agreed it was important for a man to “show his wife who was the boss” and 61% believed that a “good wife” obeys her husband regardless of the situation.

Action Aid (2012) revealed that lack of understanding of VAW was compounded by a shortage of research, community discussion and policy development specifically on the needs of adult women experiencing violence.

Moreover, there was a culture of shame and silence surrounding VAW in communities in North Unguja and Pemba. This, according to the report, makes it extremely difficult to determine the prevalence of VAW and also leads to the problem of under-reporting.

The vast majority of abused women do not seek help from the police or other support services meaning that data from formal institutions and service-based surveys is likely to be a severe underestimation of the real extent of the problem.

Compounding this problem is the fact that information is not being routinely collected by institutions and service providers in Zanzibar on violence against adult women or on the different types of VAW.

Despite the fact that there has been explicit acknowledgement of the state’s responsibility for human rights‟ violations by private actors in both the public and private sphere in several international conventions, in particular the Vienna Accord 1993 and the Beijing Platform of 1995, violence against women remains highly prevalent and is still a major cultural blind spot.

When violence happens, women normally keep quiet, and they do not take action. It is considered as a „burden‟ of marriage and should be accepted and it is not something to talk about openly.

Women who wish to report domestic violence and/or leave abusive situations have few places to go where they can get support such as protection orders and temporary separation with child support (WHO, 2005). 

Legal procedures can also be intimidating, especially for rural women who are more likely to be illiterate or poorly educated and who, because of their roles and norms, may not be accustomed to speaking for themselves or speaking publicly at all.

Such women who are victims of violence may also not want their husbands to go to jail, as they are often dependant on their husbands for their and their children‟s livelihoods.