Rising woman: Mary reveals what women need to break glass ceiling

Mwananchi Communication Limited

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She says financial empowerment can set women free from unending gender discrimination that keeps taking different forms

Dar es Salaam. The executive director of the Women Fund Tanzania Trust (WFT-Trust), Ms Mary Rusimbi, believes that women empowerment and self-belief are important aspects which enable them to make strides in progress.
WFT - an organisation that was registered in 2011 - provides funds to people who come up with initiatives and agendas designed to highly benefit women.
As co-founder of the organisation, Ms Rusimbi says WFT, which has benefited many women, started its operations in 2008 - although it was formally registered three years later.
Ms Rusimbi is also a founding member of other women empowerment organisations, including the Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP), HakiElimu and the Foundation for Civil Society.
Her career evolved from being a teacher of adult education to being a feminist. It was during her teaching days when she realised the need for a movement that would target empowering women.
Ms Rusimbi also states that it was during her teaching days when she was exposed to a version of herself as a woman activist.
“I met many women during the field works and researches - and, when I talked to them, I felt the need to help them be heard. I knew that if their voices were heard, it could make the society side with them,” she reasoned.
In 1987, Ms Rusimbi got a scholarship to undertake a gender specialisation programme at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom. That was also when she decided to get more involved in gender issues.
“The education I acquired during the university days made me feel that I was not doing enough; that, if I really were the activist I was claiming to be, then I had to do more for women,” she said.
According to her, successive experiences exposed her to new leadership skills, which made her confident. It also helped her to deepen her analysis to understand how the government worked to end women’s challenges.
Ms Rusimbi said she has witnessed the establishment of different funding trusts for women since WFT. But, most of these grants organisations face funding challenges, which limit the effectiveness of their operations.
“This has caused the grants not to reach women as intended. Even with the same goal of helping women in terms of finance in rural and urban areas, most of the organisations no longer cooperate as they are supposed to do,” she laments.
Like the majority of women, Ms Rusimbi had difficulties as she participated in different roles of leadership.
“I have experienced difficult times - just like many other women - in terms of cultural influence and societal policies in setting back women in development,” Ms Rusimbi says.
“If you are a woman, people take time to believe in you - and, whatever decision you make will be questioned only because of your gender!”
She encourages women to always work on their ideas, which are important in turning their fortunes.
“WFT was established from an idea on how women can access financial empowerment that can push them towards their goals,” she said.
Financial empowerment can set women free from the unending gender discrimination that keeps taking different forms.
As she addressed Feminist Leadership, Ms Rusimbi defined the term as the kind of leadership that brings philosophy, approaches, the tools of analysis and practicability of knowing that leadership is an inclusive act that must end up transforming the situation from when the leader raises the anchor.
“Feminism is acknowledging women’s rights that bring about positive changes in society. These targeted changes must at first be of help to women, then to society,” she explains.
Ms Rusimbi says the right strategy to sustain the gains made by women leaders is to protect women’s rights and promote the gender equality agenda that has already been articulated, understood and embedded in key relevant policies and legal frameworks.
“We should not allow regression of these gains - nor the achievements to be swept away. Regardless of the context, we should not lose focus on the areas we have already made significant strides, including the awareness that gender is not only about women. It is actually a fundamental developmental issue - and the achievement of gender equality is beneficial to the entire society,” she explained.
“Secondly, we need to keep reflecting, re-strategising, and identifying the remaining gaps in the journey to realise women’s rights, and achieve gender equality. We need to have deeper reflections on strategies we can employ to do better. This needs serious investment in terms of time and money. For example, in the area of women’s political participation, we still rely on special seats rather than constituency representation in Parliament! Women need to sit down and strategise on how to move forward.”
According to Ms Rusimbi, women empowerment initiatives need public support by men - and Society in general to understand how it works.
“Increased media engagement and support for women’s rights and gender equality are important to raise awareness of men and the community at large. Mass media organs need to be more proactive in enhancing partnerships with women rights organisations (WROs), as these are important sources of critical information and news on gender equality,” she said.
Ms Rusimbi revealed that, if she were to advise her younger self, she would encourage ‘her’ to believe in herself, to always have a positive outlook - and to trust herself that she has something positve to offer.
“I would tell her (my other self) to be a learner and connect to the women’s rights agenda for collective action. I would convince ‘her’ to support each other - not only within the movement, but also with the people outside the movement. This is because you will benefit more this way than if you work in isolation,” she stresses.