Abstract:
Globally, efforts have been made to attain
gender equality in all aspects of life, these efforts
includes increasing number of women to occupy
top leadership position in the government and
private sectors. Regardless of all initiatives still
the ratio of women to occupy top leadership
positions is not significant. The aim of this paper
was to investigate the status of gender and top
leadership positions in Zanzibar and disclose its
influencing impediments. A cross-sectional
design was employed where a total of 80
respondents were surveyed under the
questionnaire with both crossed and open-ended
questions. Other method of data collection
includes; Interview, Focus Group Discussion
and Documentary review. Content analysis and
Statistical Package for the Social Sciences
(SPSS) were used to analyze the qualitative and
quantitative data. Findings reported that women
occupy less than 20% of all top leadership
positions in local government from 2010 to 2025.
It further indicates that women occupy less than
38% in the House of Representatives including
special seats from 2010 to 2025. Additionally,
women occupy less than 25% of the ministerial
positions. Nevertheless, highlighted major
impediment factors which cause women not to
Journal of Policy and Development
Studies (JPDS)
Vol. 14. Issue 1 (2023)
ISSN(p) 0189-5958
ISSN (e) 2814-1091
Home page
htttps://www.ajol.info/index.php/jpds
ARTICLE I N F O:
Keywords
Gender equality, Influencing Impediments,
Cultural Norms, Top leadership position,
Zanzibar
Article History
Received 28th September 2023
Accepted: 24th October 2023
113
occupy top leadership positions in the study area
include: lack of education, lack of financial
support, poor political background, existing
cultural norms, and gender stereotyping. The
study recommends transformative gender
strategies including: introduction of basket fund
to support women during electoral campaign. It
also recommends special, mentorship, and
coaching programs for women who are inspired
to become leaders. For the purposes of enriching
gender equality in Zanzibar and other areas in
the global it further recommends the review of
the quota system policies to allow members of the
parliament to have equal rights regardless of
their membership structures.
