Women’s Special Seats in Tanzania: Entanglements, Dilemmas, and the Struggle for Political Representation

The government resorted to affirmative action of women special seats as a ‘temporary gap filling’ strategy in 1985. However, the policy is still being implemented to date as an approach for increasing women representation, leading to entanglements, dilemmas and struggles. In this article, we use qualitative data and experiences of women from both the ruling party CCM and leading opposition party CHADEMA to examine the impact of women’s special seats to women’s political agency and empowerment. We argue that, the continued reliance on women special seats beyond its intended temporary measure has perpetuated systematic barriers, ultimately obstructing rather than facilitating women’s empowerment and representation in politics. We interrogate these unintended entanglements, dilemmas and struggles, and highlight an urgent need for transformative reforms to ensure gender equality and inclusive political representation in Tanzania.