Special Seats for Women in the National Legislature: The Case of Tanzania

‘Let there be a Balance’: Women in African Parliaments

“…Many quota advocates and practitioners contend that reserved or special seats serve as a training ground for women who will one day run for directly elected seats; in the process, they will also help to familiarize voters with women in electoral politics. Indeed, Tanzania has recently reformed its quota for women in parliament such that women are now allowed only two five‐year terms in a special seat and thereafter must run in a directly elected constituency 15 Yoon (2008,. p. 77) and Anne Makinda (2011, p. 31) confirm that in Tanzania special seats are serving as ‘stepping‐stones’ to constituency seats for women.…”

Vying for a Man Seat: Gender Quotas and Sustainable Representation in Africa

“…As the literature demonstrates, it is possible to assess sustainable representation based on whether women exceed the quota requirements (Darhour & Dahlerup 2013; Lloren 2014; Yoon 2008, 2016; Shin 2014). This allows us to answer two questions: Are gender quotas treated as a ceiling or a floor (Matland 2006)?…”

“…These studies compare the minimum thresholds set by quota policies to election results over time. For example, Yoon (2008) finds that Tanzanian women build experience in reserved seats before competing for regular constituencies. A follow-up study, however, argues that over time only a few Tanzanian women have been able to successfully switch between quota and non-quota seats (Yoon 2016).…”

“…In both Uganda and Kenya, there is a general expectation that women will use reserved seats as a stepping stone, transitioning to open seats after one or two terms. The literature also suggests that women who hold reserved seats should develop an incumbency advantage that would encourage them to pursue open seats (Bjarnegård & Zetterberg 2011; Shin 2014; Yoon 2008). However, because reserved seats provide women with a special pathway for entry, they “must be designed to give women ‘elected legitimacy’—i.e., reserved seats should be subject to competitive election among several female candidates, where the elected women have their own power base/ constituency” (International IDEA 2013:26).…”

Women and Legislative Representation

“…The add-on mechanism, in Goetz's view, reinforces a politics of patronage: it is based "on a principle of extending patronage to a new clientele, and indeed of 'extending the state'-creating new representative seats, new political offices, and where possible, new political resources" (2003: 120). In other African countries such as Tanzania, reserved seats have been used as 'stepping stones' to constituency seats (Yoon 2008), though this does not appear to be the case in Uganda at this time. Tamale (2004) has argued that the size of the area that district women represent may affect them adversely.…”