The swearing-in of Tanzania’s first feminine president on March 19, 2021, was a big milestone for the nation’s gender mainstreaming agenda. Samia Suluhu Hassan’s ascendancy to the presidency despatched a powerful assertion concerning the management potential of ladies and the significance of giving them equal alternative to successfully contribute to the event of the nation.

Ms Hassan’s rise to energy additionally supplies a job mannequin for younger women and girls who might have beforehand felt excluded from the social, political and financial course of.

In a neighborhood the place there are nonetheless variations in entry to elementary rights between women and men, President Hassan needed to hit the bottom operating to point out the world that being born a woman or a boy had nothing to do with somebody’s management acumen.

And that’s exactly what she meant when she instructed the BBC in an August 2021 interview that she would embark on a management model that will inform the world that ladies make higher presidents.

“Some don’t consider that ladies might be higher presidents, and we’re right here to point out them… Even some in my authorities dismissed me at first as simply one other lady, however they quickly accepted my management,” President Samia is quoted as having mentioned.

“However this isn’t simply in Africa; even in America, [Hillary] Clinton reached a spot the place we thought she was going to be the president, however she misplaced the election,” she added.

In an obvious want to point out the world that ladies can successfully lead, President Hassan has greater than as soon as appointed competent girls to guide what are thought of key ministries of the federal government.

For instance, the appointment of a lady because the Minister of Well being may also help to make sure that girls’s well being wants are prioritised and that insurance policies and programmes are developed with a gender-sensitive strategy.

That place is at the moment held by Ms Ummy Mwalimu, who, amongst different issues, spearheaded President Samia’s ‘well being first’ strategy in the direction of the dealing with of Covid-19 and the roll-out of vaccines throughout Tanzania.

President Hassan’s strategy to dealing with the pandemic has been vastly completely different from her predecessor’s. Her data-driven strategy to testing, dedication to vaccine distribution, and collaboration with regional and worldwide companions have contributed to Tanzania’s efforts to curb the unfold of Covid-19, and Ms Mwalimu has performed her function successfully in that space.

Presently, President Hassan’s cupboard consists of 9 girls.

With financial diplomacy on the high of the President’s agenda, the individual manning the International Affairs and East African Cooperation docket is Dr Stergomena Tax. Aside from strengthening East African Group (EAC) integration, Tanzania has additionally improved relations with different international locations within the Southern African Growth Group (SADC), in addition to Europe, Asia and America.

Earlier than taking the place, Dr Tax was the sixth Sadc govt secretary and the primary lady to carry the docket.

President Hassan has additionally put the ministry of Land, Housing, and Human Settlements Growth beneath the custody of Dr Angelina Mabula, and that of Business and Commerce beneath Dr Ashatu Kijaji.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s strategy to rising funding, commerce, and manufacturing in Tanzania has been proactive and business-friendly.

Dr Kijaji has been a key determine in translating President’s insurance policies and initiatives to streamline the funding course of, enhance infrastructure, promote native entrepreneurship, and appeal to international traders. She has created a beneficial enterprise surroundings that has attracted vital curiosity from each native and worldwide traders.

The federal government, via the Commerce and Business Ministry, has additionally been offering monetary help and incentives to native entrepreneurs to spend money on numerous sectors of the economic system, together with agriculture, tourism, and manufacturing.

Different key figures within the authorities embody the Minister of State within the President’s Workplace for Public Companies Administration and Good Governance, Ms Jenista Mhagama, Minister of State within the President’s Workplace, Administration, and Native Authorities, Ms Angellah Kairuki, and the Minister of State within the Prime Minister’s Workplace (Labour, Youth, Employment, and Individuals with Disabilities), Prof Joyce Ndalichako.

The minister for Group Growth, Gender, Ladies, and Particular Teams, Dr Dorothy Gwajima in addition to the brand new minister for Tradition, Arts, and Sports activities Dr Pindi Chana.

The development of ladies main high authorities jobs as ministers is a constructive improvement that displays the rising recognition of ladies’s contributions to society.

Ladies leaders deliver distinctive views and experiences to the desk and have demonstrated their skill to make vital choices and form public coverage.

President Hassan has been praised for her efforts to advertise gender equality and girls’s empowerment, together with via the appointment of ladies to key authorities positions.

Along with political management, girls in Tanzania have additionally made vital contributions to social and financial improvement. For instance, women-led organizations have performed a key function in selling schooling and healthcare, notably in rural areas the place entry to those providers is proscribed. Ladies entrepreneurs have additionally been instrumental in selling financial development and improvement, together with via the creation of small companies and the promotion of sustainable agriculture.

Government Director at Tanzania Media Ladies’s Affiliation (Tamwa), Dr Rose Reuben, mentioned the best way President Hassan runs Tanzania is a transparent testimony to the truth that girls can take up high management positions and efficiently do the job.

“Her two years in energy are proof that ladies can. She had efficiently led Tanzania and achieved milestones in several sectors of the economic system,” she mentioned.

Dr Reuben mentioned this additionally implies that it’s not that ladies are incapable however quite that the system is holding them again.

“The largest problem is the system. Efforts by the federal government and stakeholders are additionally held again by this method, which doesn’t enable for extra gender inclusivity,” she mentioned.

Tanzania Coach for Ladies in Information Program Dr Joyce Bazira mentioned President Hassan’s rule has include a wave of constructive change, trickled all the way down to completely different sectors, not simply politics, and management.

“She has proven the willingness of her authorities to accomplice with and collaborate with stakeholders, which proves the sort of management she is advocating,” she mentioned.