Contrary to common belief in Tanzania, more women than men migrate from rural areas to Dar es Salaam.
Verena's PhD dissertation from 2002 is called "Fortschritte" and analyses rural women's reasons for migrating to Dar es Salaam.
You can:
- read the english summary below
- download the whole thing (in German language, 375pp, 2.2MB pdf file)
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SUMMARY
EXPLOSIVE URBAN GROWTH AND ’INVISIBLE’ WOMEN MIGRANTS
Tanzania has been among the least urbanized countries, but in past decades it ex- perienced some of the most rapid urban growth in the world. The country’s early anti- urbanisation policies – culminating in the villagization movement, Ujamaa, and forced eviction of unemployed town dwellers during the Nguvu Kazi (= hard work) campaign – brought international attention but no ease to the stream of Tanzanians leaving their rural areas for the city. In spite of the decision to shift the government to Dodoma, Daressalaam has remained the de-facto capital, the centre of commerce, education, administration, and the most powerful magnet for migration. Since the seventies there are more women than men migrating from the rural areas to Daressalaam, but in the urbanisation discourse they are still ‘invisible’.
This study set out to explain the reasons and implications of rural-urban migration of women in Tansania. The aim is to combine the analysis of trends at the national level with research on individual decisions and strategies for understanding the migration process. The study consists of three parts: ‘Theory and Methodology’ for gender, development and migration research in Africa, a ‘Literature Study’ on women’s daily lives and migration in Tanzania and a ‘Field Study’ with women migrants in Daressalaam. The latter is based on a survey with 302 women in selected residential areas and work places between 1993 and 1995, along with 50 narrative interviews and a series of expert interviews.
ECONOMIC OR SOCIAL REASONS?
The results show that with improvements in education, economic motivation is quickly gaining importance for the migration of women in Tanzania, but there are also specific women’s motives that are linked to their roles in society, like marriage with a man working in town, visiting relatives in town, working in a household etc. Additionally it can be said that through discrimination in respect to land rights, access to and control over resources as well as social pressure, recent developments in agriculture and the emigration of men, the situation of women in the rural areas is conducive to out- migration.
Women in Tanzania grow up as future migrants: traditionally their fathers’ land is inherited by their brothers, because they are expected to marry and move to their husbands village.
EXPLOSIVE URBAN GROWTH AND ’INVISIBLE’ WOMEN MIGRANTS
Tanzania has been among the least urbanized countries, but in past decades it ex- perienced some of the most rapid urban growth in the world. The country’s early anti- urbanisation policies – culminating in the villagization movement, Ujamaa, and forced eviction of unemployed town dwellers during the Nguvu Kazi (= hard work) campaign – brought international attention but no ease to the stream of Tanzanians leaving their rural areas for the city. In spite of the decision to shift the government to Dodoma, Daressalaam has remained the de-facto capital, the centre of commerce, education, administration, and the most powerful magnet for migration. Since the seventies there are more women than men migrating from the rural areas to Daressalaam, but in the urbanisation discourse they are still ‘invisible’. This study set out to explain the reasons and implications of rural-urban migration of women in Tansania. The aim is to combine the analysis of trends at the national level with research on individual decisions and strategies for understanding the migration process. The study consists of three parts: ‘Theory and Methodology’ for gender, development and migration research in Africa, a ‘Literature Study’ on women’s daily lives and migration in Tanzania and a ‘Field Study’ with women migrants in Daressalaam. The latter is based on a survey with 302 women in selected residential areas and work places between 1993 and 1995, along with 50 narrative interviews and a series of expert interviews.
ECONOMIC OR SOCIAL REASONS?
The results show that with improvements in education, economic motivation is quickly gaining importance for the migration of women in Tanzania, but there are also specific women’s motives that are linked to their roles in society, like marriage with a man working in town, visiting relatives in town, working in a household etc. Additionally it can be said that through discrimination in respect to land rights, access to and control over resources as well as social pressure, recent developments in agriculture and the emigration of men, the situation of women in the rural areas is conducive to out- migration.
Women in Tanzania grow up as future migrants: traditionally their fathers’ land is inherited by their brothers, because they are expected to marry and move to their husbands village.
The ones receiving secondary education have to move to a boarding school, while others may join relatives in town to look after small children and the household and maybe receive some vocational training. Most girls with early town experience will later be urban migrants. In many cases the reasons for migration seem to lie not in the rural or urban areas, but in the women’s biographies.
INDEPENDENT MIGRATION PROCESS OR ‘FAMILY ENTERPRISE’?
Women moving to Daressalaam in recent times are better informed and more involved in the decision. Whereas the older women tell that they were brought to town like luggage, the migration decision is now increasingly made by the women alone or with friends or relatives. Larger numbers of unmarried women move on their own, independent of family- or marriage-related reasons. The actual shift of residence, though, is often supported by the extended family, in terms of buying the ticket and letting family members stay with already established households until they find their own room for rent in the city, thereby setting off a chain of migrations. It seems that in many cases moving to town is not seen as a long-term migration, but rather as a visit, which can be prolonged if it seems favourable. Most migrants do not carry any household items or furniture when they arrive. The actual decision may therefore be not ‘whether and where’ to move but ‘how long’ to stay. The concept of migration decision-making may therefore, once more, have taken a disproportionate share of the discussion.
ARE WOMEN MIGRANTS BECOMING URBANITES?
Most women perceive their migration as successful and have found ways of organising daily life in town with informal sector jobs, child care and reciprocal support systems with neighbours. At the same time they maintain close ties with family members in their rural place of origin. They take an effort to send remittances, visit regularly and support the education of younger siblings. Women’s migration seems not to aim at escaping from family obligations, but rather at being able to fulfil them better through business in the city. The difference between rural and urban life is described by the migrants in relation to the dominance of the cash economy in town (with its opportunities and risks) as opposed to food farming and extended family support in the village. Many women stress that there is no progress or development in the village: ‘if you want to get some- where in life, if you are a smart woman you have to go to town’. ‘Maendeleo’ is the most powerful political idiom in Tanzania since independence. Moving forward, being part of development and modernity, and taking charge of ones own life is motivating a large part of women’s migration today.
The majority prefer living in Daressalaam in the near future but a large part of the migrants want to return to the village in their old age. The idea that drives many women is to accumulate funds through hard work in the city, in order to build ones own house in the village and live there as a prosperous and respected citizen, surrounded by the family but independent of men, financially and socially. Migration seems to be a strategy to improve ones life, where Daressalaam for many is the road rather than the destination of the journey, a place to work but not a place to live.
ARE WOMEN MORE URBAN THAN MEN?
The situation in Tanzania today is a paradox: the migration of women is at the same time encouraged by the circumstances and disliked by society more than the migration of men. Women seem to gain more through rural urban migration, in both income and independence, but they are critical to city life and aware of the risks. It may be women’s traditional responsibilities for the family which make it necessary to leave the village in order to meet the rising needs for cash income (for school fees, hospital, consumer goods etc.), but on arrival in town they meet disrespect and harassment.
The phenomenon of the massive migration of women is underestimated and misunderstood, and too often given the blame for the observed increase of prostitution and other social problems. This makes it more difficult for women to return ‘home’ (particularly when they have failed to get established in town) and therefore actually contributes to the creation of the said problems. It will be crucial for the situation of women and urban development in Tanzania that, along with increased knowledge on women’s migration, attitudes towards it change, so that it can be understood as a sensible reaction to and strategy for development for women and men, where the move to town is the means but not necessarily the end.
