What if only women ruled the world? This would be possible if only there were no barriers placed in front of women seeking leadership positions in Tanzania and the United States. In Tanzania, it has always been known that women are held under the status of men due to external factors such as religion, culture, and traditions. The United States deals with similar issues involving women leadership positions, this is often due to gender-based stereotypical barriers held against women. There should be no barriers against women when obtaining these leadership positions over men when they work just as hard as men in countries such as Tanzania and the United States. In this essay, I will discuss the barriers that Tanzania and the United States have against women, the efforts being made to diminish these barriers, and the progression they have made in awarding deserving women of these leadership positions.
Tanzania and the United States house many barriers when it comes to appointing women to leadership positions. In Tanzania, “activists cited mail dominance, ignorance, laws and traditions/customs as the main obstacles to women rising to top positions in leadership” (Project Launched to Overcome Barriers to Women Leadership). There are many customs within Tanzania such as men being viewed higher than women which blocks them from being awarded these leadership positions that they have worked for. The United States also has barriers set up against women that are more driven based upon stereotypes about genders. For example, “gender biases and stereotyping work against professional women’s leadership aspirations” (Overcome Barriers to Female Leadership). Tanzania and the United States both hold barriers against women obtaining leadership positions, but they differ in the aspect that Tanzania holds traditions as barriers against women while the United States uses stereotypes.
Although these barriers remain, the two countries are working towards ways in which these barriers can be broken down. In late August of 2021, Tanzania launched their “Strengthen Women in Leadership” project to create “fair representation of women within corporations, politics, professions, religious organizations...” (Project Launched to Overcome Barriers to Women Leadership). Tanzania pushes this program in hopes of bringing attention to the hard work these women put in to obtain these positions. The United States has also established female leadership programs which “offer professional women supportive communities that allow them to network with others familiar with the unique challenges they face” (Overcome Barriers to Female Leadership). The United States wanted to establish a safe environment for women to be supported by other women under the same circumstances. Their programs differ slightly in their goals with the United States creating a community for women and Tanzania working for fair representation, but they both are working towards breaking down their barriers against women.
These efforts made to break down barriers against women have slowly brought about change within Tanzania and the United States' cultures. Tanzania made tremendous progress starting in March 2021 by establishing the first female president of Tanzania, which “marked a new chapter of leadership in Tanzania” (Kombe). It was unheard of for a woman to be placed in such a high position with great responsibility. While Tanzania gained a female president, the United States gained a female vice president. In January 2021, “Kamala Harris became the first female vice president in American history” (Wagmeister). The United States has finally started understanding that women who work just as hard as men deserve the positions in which men have housed for generations. Both, the United States and Tanzania have made progress in awarding women these positions in which they have worked so hard for. While they both differ in the hierarchy of these positions, there is still progress that has been made.
While there are many similarities between the United States and Tanzania over women leadership barriers, there are very few differences. These differences are reflected within their comparisons. Tanzania contains barriers against women in the traditional aspect whereas the United States holds barriers against women due to gender-based stereotypes. These women are putting in the same amount of work if not more than men to obtain these leadership positions. Let us see what the world would be like with women on top. (Word Count: 698)
Sources:
"Project Launched to Overcome Barriers to Women Leadership." Daily News, 9 August 2021, https://dailynews.co.tz/news/2021-09-0761376a406c105.aspx#.
Wagmeister, Elizabeth. "Kamala Harris Becomes First Female Vice President in American History." Variety, 20 January 2021, https://variety.com/2021/biz/news/kamala-harris-woman-vice-president-inauguration-1234888228/.
"Overcome Barriers to Women Leadership." St Catherine Universtiy, 16 April 2021, https://www.stkate.edu/academics/women-in-leadership-degrees/barriers-to-female-leadership.
Kombe, Charles. "Samia Suluhu Hassan Becomes Tanzania's First Woman President." VOA, 19 March 2021, https://www.voanews.com/a/africa_samia-suluhu-hassan-becomes-tanzanias-first-woman-president/6203505.html.
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