The evolving face of gender-based violence in Tanzania

GENDER-BASED violence is one of those phrases people think they understand until they are asked to explain it. Most answers come quickly, violence against women and children.

That answer is not wrong. Women and children remain the most affected and most visible victims of violence in Tanzania. But stopping there gives us only part of the picture and sometimes, the part we leave out is where the law and society fail most.

To understand gender-based violence, we must first understand gender. Gender is not biology. It is not the fact of being born male or female. Gender is social. It is how society assigns roles, expectations and power.

It shapes who is expected to lead, who is expected to submit, who is believed and who is told to endure in silence. When violence is used to enforce these roles or exploit these power imbalances, that harm becomes gender-based violence. The survivor may be a woman, a man or a child.

What defines the violence is not the body of the victim, but the abuse of power. Historically in Tanzania, that abuse of power has fallen disproportionately on women and children. That reality has not changed. What has changed is society itself and with it, the stories that are beginning to surface.

How gender-based violence manifests

Gender-based violence rarely appears as a single dramatic act. More often, it grows quietly in everyday life. There is physical violence, including assault and grievous harm, criminalised under Sections 241 and 242 of the Penal Code. There is sexual violence, including rape and sexual assault under Section 130 of the Penal Code as amended by the Sexual Offences Special Provisions Act.

There is psychological violence, the insults, threats, humiliation and intimidation that leave no visible injuries but cause lasting harm. There is economic violence, where access to money, property, or basic needs is deliberately restricted as a means of control. Increasingly, there is digital violence, harassment and threats carried out through phones and online platforms, addressed under the Cybercrimes Act.

These forms of violence often overlap. They are rarely isolated incidents. Violence is usually a pattern, not a moment.

What the law says and where it struggles

Tanzania does not have a single, comprehensive law addressing genderbased violence. Protection is spread across different statutes. The Constitution guarantees dignity and equality before the law under Articles 12 and 13. The Penal Code criminalises violent acts.

The Law of Marriage Act, under Section 66, recognises cruelty as a ground for divorce and courts have long interpreted cruelty to include physical and psychological suffering. In Juma Swalehe Sangawe v Halima Swalehe Sangawe (Civil Appeal No 82 of 2021), the Court of Appeal affirmed that violence within the family cannot be justified by marriage, culture or private arrangements.

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Harm remains harm, even when it occurs behind closed doors. Cases such as Rebecca Z Gyumi v Attorney General are often remembered for child marriage, but their broader legal message is dignity. The Court made it clear that laws and social practices must align with equality and human worth. That principle applies wherever power strips someone of safety, voice or bodily autonomy.

The challenge, therefore, is not the absence of law, but fragmented protection, uneven enforcement and social attitudes that still decide who deserves sympathy.

Where survivors seek help

Over the years, Tanzania has made meaningful efforts to respond to gender-based violence. Police Gender and Children Desks exist across the country. One Stop Centres provide medical care, counselling and legal referrals under one roof.

Social welfare officers, legal aid providers and civil society organisations assist survivors through reporting and court processes. These efforts have improved awareness and access.

More people now know where to go. More cases are being formally recorded. But access remains uneven and trust in institutions is still fragile.

The Iringa reports and the question they raise

In December 2025, The Citizen newspaper reported findings from the Iringa Regional Social Welfare Office showing a notable increase in reported cases of gender-based violence involving men.

According to the regional data, men accounted for approximately 27 per cent of reported GBV cases by November 2025, up from 19 per cent the previous year, with most cases involving psychological abuse such as humiliation and emotional harm.

These figures were drawn from official reports made to social welfare offices and related institutions. They were not speculation. They unsettled many because they challenged longstanding assumptions about who can be a survivor.

They also raised an important question: Are we witnessing more violence or simply more voices finally being heard?

The honest answer may be both. Improved reporting systems, greater public awareness and the presence of Gender Desks have made it easier for men to report experiences that previously went unrecorded.

At the same time, it would be intellectually dishonest to dismiss the possibility that violence affecting men may genuinely be increasing as social pressures shift, relationships change and traditional ideas of masculinity are renegotiated. Some men are reporting experiences of sexual violence, emotional abuse and controlling or coercive behaviour within domestic and intimate relationships.

The difference today is not that such harm is new, but that it is slowly entering public and legal recognition. Why this conversation matters now Gender-based violence thrives where silence is protected. Women fear stigma, retaliation and economic dependence.

Men fear disbelief and ridicule. Both fear that reporting will lead nowhere. When survivors are dismissed or minimised, violence survives.

Encouraging reporting requires more than desks and centers. It requires a society willing to listen without prejudice, institutions trained to respond without stereotypes and laws applied with equal seriousness. Gender-based violence is not a women’s issue. It is not a men’s issue. It is a human issue rooted in power, silence and inequality.

Understanding that complexity today is how we protect tomorrow. Jua leo, jilinde kesho.