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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 8, No. 11
Publication Date: November 25, 2021
DOI:10.14738/assrj.811.10886. Mwakiluma, L. A., & Matoka, C. (2021). The Influence of Internal Organizational Mechanisms on Gender Mainstreaming
Effectiveness Morogoro Region, Tanzania. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 8(11). 50-61.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
The Influence of Internal Organizational Mechanisms on Gender
Mainstreaming Effectiveness Morogoro Region, Tanzania
Lusako Alphonce Mwakiluma
PhD Candidate – The Open University of Tanzania
Chacha Matoka
Lecturer, The Open University of Tanzania
ABSTRACT
The paper sought to analyse the influence of the existing internal organizational
mechanisms on gender mainstreaming effectiveness (GME). The study used cross
sectional research design where a total sample of 368 respondents was drawn from
population of 4481 by using systematic sampling from employees of the Morogoro
Municipal Council, whereby questionnaire was the main tool used to collect data.
The linear multiple and hierarchical regression models were used analyse data. The
study found that a positive and significant influence of existing internal
organizational mechanisms on gender mainstreaming effectiveness at Morogoro
municipal council. The paper concludes that the GME was influenced greatly by the
internal organizational mechanisms. Therefore, it is recommended that the Local
Governmental Authorities to increase efforts of committing resources on the
internal organizational mechanisms for gender mainstreaming effectiveness in the
work place.
Keywords: Gender, mainstreaming, hierarchical model, organizational mechanisms
INTRODUCTION
In most developing countries, stereotypes of men difference and privilege over women are
dominant (Ellemers, 2018; Idris, 2018). The difference is mostly reflected in the areas of work
intensity, decision-making and access to and control of resources. Men control most resources
and decision making in the family. Although women’s access to and control of resources may
be increased if they earned income, this is not always the case. Despite women’s contribution
to the country's economy as producers and household managers, they are often marginalized
in the ownership, allocation of resources and decision making on what they produce. Their lack
of direct access to resources, such as land, capital, credit and information reduces their net
productivity (FAO, 2017).
Gender Mainstreaming (GM) refers to prioritizing equally the needs of men and women and
integrates the concept in all sectors and in the policy and program cycle (URT, 2014). Gender
Mainstreaming was adopted as the new approach to women in development in the mid-1990s.
Gender mainstreaming has been implemented both in developed and developing countries. For
instance, Canada in responding to the Beijing Declaration has prepared the action plan for
gender equality which commits federal government departments to implement gender
mainstreaming.
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Mwakiluma, L. A., & Matoka, C. (2021). The Influence of Internal Organizational Mechanisms on Gender Mainstreaming Effectiveness Morogoro
Region, Tanzania. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 8(11). 50-61.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.811.10886
In Tanzania, women lack of access to and control of resources and this reflects poor gender
mainstreaming (USAID, 2018; UNICEF, 2010). Low level of gender mainstreaming can be
observed by looking the percentage of women in decision making organs. In 2019 women
occupied only 36.9% of seats in national parliament in Tanzania. Idris (2018) reported that
female comprises 17.4% of senior and middle management managers in the Tanzanian
organizations. Idris (2018) further reported that an average monthly income for males and
females in Tanzania was Tanzania Shillings (TZS) 278,748 and 165,920 respectively, indicating
that women earned approximately half of males and this signifies the challenge of gender
mainstreaming in Tanzania. However, the theory of change as had been used by other
organizations (USAID, IrishAid, DfID, World Bank, Amnesty International and others) is
extended in to explain gender mainstreaming effectiveness as the achievement of the desired
outcomes in local government authorities in Tanzania (Stein and Valters, 2012). The theory of
change offers a lens of explaining the tensions between structure and agency and the nature of
organizational decision-making (Connolly and Dolan, 2012). Furthermore, the internal
organization mechanisms which include leadership, financial and human resources, availability
of appropriate procedures and processes and appropriate organizational incentives and
accountability structures can influence the organization’s gender mainstreaming effectiveness
(GME). The influence of the existing internal organizational mechanisms influences gender
mainstreaming effectiveness Morogoro Municipal Council in utilization of current resources
and allocate additional resources where required, align the resources with the expected
outcomes and track the utilization of resources, while paying significant attention to the
creation and preservation of a positive organizational culture and gender balance within the
Organisation (CAAF, 2017). UNDP (2015) admitted that advocacy is an importance element in
gender mainstreaming.
Despite the effort in promoting gender mainstreaming in Tanzania, Idris (2018) argue that
gender gaps are still observed in various areas such as small percent of women seats in the
national parliament of Tanzania (36.9%), small number of female managers in Tanzania and a
low level of earned monthly income for women (TZS 165,920) versus that of male (TZS
278,748). Moreover, the Morogoro Municipal report (2019) shows that women comprise
44.5% of all employees of the council. Moreover, only 49.26% of the women were allocated
business stall/room (vizimba) in Mawenzi, Mji Mpya and Manzese Market. The data from the
council signify that there is a challenge in the by-laws in the Morogoro council. Moreover, at the
decision level in the municipal council, 62.5% are male while 37.5% are female. The
information indicates that gender is not well mainstreamed in the municipal council decision- makers.
STUDY AREA
The study was conducted in Morogoro Municipal Council in Morogoro region. Morogoro region
was selected as one of the regions where the government of Tanzania put efforts in
implementing gender equality (URT, 2016) including a project known as Gender Equitable
Local Development (GELD) which was implemented from 2009-2013 under UN-WOMEN,
UNDCF and UNDP. GELD project intended to provide support to local government in the process
of planning, budgeting and implementing various projects and programmes to ensure that
women’s access to productive assets, quality inputs and opportunities are enhanced. The
project also was geared to sensitize women to participate in the economy and benefit fairly and
make sure that land ownership, access to formal employment, markets and financial services
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 8, Issue 11, November-2021
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
are easily accessed by women. From the populations of 4481 employees, a sample size of 368
respondents was drawn. This sample was determined using the formulae developed by
Yamane, (1967) at 5% of desired precision.
The study used structured questionnaire since a tool has a fixed response and are appropriate
for quantitative data (Cooper and Schindler, 2014). The questionnaire was comprised of
information on background information of the respondents, Likert type scales on gender
mainstreaming effectiveness, and internal organization mechanisms (with statements on
access of opportunities such as training, participation on project circle - activities, inequalities,
discrimination which hinder access and control of resources and opportunities).
However, the study computed a mean score so as to make it usable in the subsequent analyses,
that is, the relationship among the dependent and independent variables and multiple
regression analysis. Thus, the 3-point Likert type scale response from each statement were
summed so to obtain the mean scores for each variable. This approach was applied by Fita et
al. (2012) and Meena et al. (2012).
.................................... (i)
Where:
IOMS = Internal Organisation Mechanisms Mean Score,
NGEs = Number of Gender Experts scores,
NTs = Number of Training per year scores,
GPPCs = Gender Participation in Project Cycle scores,
GRs = Gender Responsiveness scores,
The levels obtained from the independent and dependent variables were applied to run
multiple regression analysis to test the hypotheses stated in estimating the relationship and
influence of a unit change in the variables. Two models were specified, namely the basic
multiple regression (without the socio-demographic variables) and hierarchical linear
regression (with the controlling variables) (Khaffaf, 2017). The models were specified as
follows:
Basic Multiple regression model: Y= β0 + β1X1+e ....................... (ii)
Then, the socio-demographic variables were included in the multiple regression for controlling
the effect of independent and dependent variables in the basic model. The hierarchical
regression model was specified as:
Y= β0+ β1X1+ βsXs + e ............................................................. ( iii)
Where: Y = Score of gender mainstreaming effectiveness.
Β1 = coefficients
X1 = Mean score on Internal Organisational Mechanisms
Xs = Socio-demographic factors (Age in years, Years in schooling, Original
20
( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
1
å-
+ + +
=
N
N
NGEs NTs GPPs GRs
IOMS
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Mwakiluma, L. A., & Matoka, C. (2021). The Influence of Internal Organizational Mechanisms on Gender Mainstreaming Effectiveness Morogoro
Region, Tanzania. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 8(11). 50-61.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.811.10886
predominate and Working experience in Years).
e = error term.
β0 = Constant.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Descriptive statistics of the variables included in model
Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, minimum, and maximum scores) were
computed for the variables included in the models (Table 1). The results show that the
maximum age in years of the respondents was 55 while the minimum was 23 years (M = 40.096,
S.D. = 8.176). In the case of years in schooling, the maximum years of schooling of the sampled
population was 20 years while the minimum was 13 years with a mean of 15.298 and standard
deviation of 1.508. Results also show that experience in work of the respondents was that the
maximum was 21 years while the minimum was 1 year with a mean of 10.215 and 4.4892 as a
standard deviation. The mean score of the respondents in the Internal Organisational
Mechanisms (OIM) had a maximum value of 3 and 2.9 as the minimum value, while the mean
score was 1.849 and standard deviation was 0.548. The means score of GME of the respondents
were 3 as maximum, 1 minimum, 1.732 mean and 0.613 standard deviation.
Table 1: Descriptive Statistics of variables included in the model (n=368)
Variables Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation
Age in Years 23.00 55.00 40.095 8.177
Years of schooling 13.00 20.00 15.299 1.508
Original predominate .00 1.00 .832 .375
Experience in Work in Years 1.00 21.00 10.215 4.489
Mean Score IOM 1.00 2.90 1.849 .547
Mean Score GME 1.00 3.00 1.732 .613
Source: Field data, 2018
Existing internal organizational mechanisms
The study also examined the internal organisational mechanisms in the Morogoro Municipal
Council whereby frequency, percentage distribution and the average of the responses were
used. The mechanisms examined included gender expertise, training provisions on gender
issues, gender participation in project circle, and gender responsive strategies. Table 2 shows
that the internal organisational mechanisms for this study focused on four major indicators,
namely; gender experts, number of training per year, gender participation in project cycle and
gender responsiveness.
The gender experts’ indicator shows that 39.6% of the respondents disagreed that gender
experts are sufficient at the work place. However, 51.2% agreed that gender experts were
sufficient at the work place. Since gender experts are sufficient at work place, the community
members have great trust to the experts in mainstreaming gender issues in different activities
in work place, including female access of resources and opportunities. The measure of central
tendency that is mean was 2.1 (Table 2). This means that gender experts in the study area were
not sufficient thus affecting the promotion of gender mainstreaming at Municipal Council level.
Table 2 also indicates that 56.8% of the sampled population agreed that gender experts had
enough knowledge on the promotion of gender mainstreaming while 26.9% of the respondents
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 8, Issue 11, November-2021
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
disagreed that the experts had enough knowledge while the mean score of the response was
2.3. The findings imply that majority of the respondents agreed that the gender experts had
enough knowledge on the promotion of gender mainstreaming in Morogoro Municipal Council.
The mechanisms in terms of knowledgeable human resource were available but was scarce
hence impeding the process of gender mainstreaming in the study area.
Furthermore, 41% of the respondents also disagreed that gender experts had succeeded in
reducing gender inequality in Municipal Council. Table 2 shows further that 46.2% of the
respondents agreed that the experts had succeeded to reduce gender inequality in Morogoro
Municipal Council. The mean of responses was 2.1. These findings signify that majority of the
respondents agreed that gender experts had succeeded reducing gender inequality in the study
area.
Moreover, 35.1% and 6.5% of the respondents disagreed and strongly disagreed respectively
that gender experts had succeeded in reducing gender discrimination at Municipal Council.
Whilst 26.9% and 20.9% of the respondents agreed and strongly agreed respectively that,
gender experts had succeeded in reducing gender discrimination at Municipal Council
meanwhile, the mean score of response of the 5-point Likert type scale was 2.1. This signifies
that the gender experts had not succeeded in reducing gender discrimination in the work place.
Another statement stated that gender experts had succeeded in establishing gendered power
relation in Municipal Council. The findings indicate that 41% of the respondents disagreed with
this statement, 48.1% agreed while 10.9% of the respondents were neutral; with 2.1 as a mean
score of the sampled population's responses (Table 2). Therefore, majority of the respondents
agreed that gender experts had succeeded in establishing gendered power relation in Municipal
Council.
The second indicator was the number of training per year; the findings indicate that 54.9% of
the respondents agreed that the number of trainings on GM promotion for female were enough.
However, 35.5% of the respondents disagreed that the number trainings on GM promotion for
female were enough (Table 2). The mean score of the of the respondents' responses was 2.1.
The findings also indicate that 47.6% of the respondents agreed that the number of trainings
provided per year had reduced gender discrimination. However, 25.6% of the respondents
disagreed that the trainings had reduced gender discrimination, 26.9% of the sampled
population were neutral. Meanwhile the mean score of the responses of the respondents for
this statement was 2.2.
Furthermore, 44.8% of the sampled population agreed that the number of trainings provided
per year had reduced gender stereotype. On the other hand, 28.8% disagreed with the
statement; and 26.4% of the respondents were undecided. The mean of the responses for the
statement was 2.2. Basing on the percentage distribution it can be concluded that majority of
the respondents agreed that the training provided has reduced gender stereotype.
Moreover, the study findings show that 47.2% of the respondents agreed that the number of
trainings provided per year had reduced gender inequality, while 39.7% disagreed that the
number of trainings provided had reduced gender inequality. The mean score of the responses
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Mwakiluma, L. A., & Matoka, C. (2021). The Influence of Internal Organizational Mechanisms on Gender Mainstreaming Effectiveness Morogoro
Region, Tanzania. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 8(11). 50-61.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.811.10886
of the respondents was 2.2 (Table 2). This implies that the number of trainings provided on
gender per year has reduced gender inequality.
The study assumed that gender is mainstreamed at every project currently implemented in the
municipal. However, 45.1% of the respondents agreed with the assumption while 29.3% of the
respondents disagreed with the statement. The mean score of the responses was 2.1 (Table 2).
This implies that the sampled population agreed that gender is mainstreamed at every project
currently implemented in the municipal.
Table 4.5 indicates that gender participation in project cycle had five statements. The study
assumed that gender is mainstreamed in project designing process at the municipal level.
However, the results show that 42.6% agreed, 41.8% disagreed and 17.1% of the respondents
were undecided. Therefore, the study findings suggested that there is a slight difference
between those who agreed and disagreed on the statement that gender is mainstreamed in
project designing process at the municipal level.
Furthermore 44.9% of the respondents agreed that the LGA mainstreams gender in the
planning processes, while 39.1% disagreed with the statement. This suggested that majority of
the respondents agreed that gender is mainstreamed in the project planning process at the
municipal level. Moreover, Table 2 indicates that 56.5% of the respondents agreed that LGA
mainstreams gender in the project implementation process. On the other hand, 28.6%
disagreed with the statement. The mean of the respondents' response was 2.1. This means that
majority of the respondents agreed that the municipal mainstream gender in the project
implementation process.
The study also assumed that the LGA mainstreams gender in project monitoring process. The
study findings show that 54.4% agreed; 28.8% of the respondents disagreed and 16.8% were
undecided. The mean of the response of the respondents was 2.3. This implies that there is
positive attitude towards project monitoring process at the Morogoro Municipal Council level
as far as gender mainstreaming is concerned. The findings also show that 43.5% of the
respondents agreed that there was gender mainstreaming in project evaluation process at the
Municipal Council level. On the other hand, 33.7% of the respondents disagreed that there was
gender mainstreaming in project evaluation process at the municipal level. The mean of the
responses was 2.3.
Gender responsive strategies are the fourth indicator of internal organizational mechanisms,
whereby five statements were used in this indicator (Refer Table 2). The findings show that
54.4% agreed that gender response-based sex disaggregated statistical data were very high at
Morogoro Municipal Council, while 23.3% of the respondents disagreed with the statement.
Therefore, there is gender response based on sex disaggregated statistical data in the study
area.
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 8, Issue 11, November-2021
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Table 2: Response distribution on the internal organization mechanisms
Items 1: Gender expert Disagree Neutral Agree Mean
The gender experts are sufficient at my working place 146
(39.6%)
33 (9%) 189
(51.2%)
2.1
Gender experts have enough knowledge on GM promotion 99
(26.9%)
60
(16.3%)
209
(56.8
%)
2.3
Gender experts have succeeded in reducing gender
inequality at Municipal Council
151
(41.0%)
48
(13%)
169
(46.2%)
2.1
Gender experts have succeeded in reducing gender
discrimination at Municipal Council
153
(41.6%)
39
(10.6%)
176
(47.8%)
2.1
Gender experts have succeeded in establishing gendered
power relation at Municipal Council
151
(41.0%)
40
(10.9%)
177
(48.1%)
2.1
Item 2: Number of training per year
Number trainings on GM promotion for female are enough 130
(35.5%)
36
(9.8%)
202
(54.9%)
2.1
Number of trainings provided per year has reduced gender
discrimination
94
(25.6%)
99
(26.9%)
175
(47.6%)
2.2
Number of trainings provided per year has reduced gender
stereotype
106
(28.8%)
97
(26.4%)
165
(44.8%)
2.2
Number of trainings provided per year has reduced gender
inequality
146
(39.7%)
48
(13.1%)
174
(47.2%)
2.2
Gender is mainstreamed at every project currently
implemented in Municipal Council
108
(29.3%)
94
(25.6%)
166
(45.1%)
2.1
Item 3: Gender participation in project cycle
The LGA mainstreams gender in the designing processes 154
(41.8%)
57
(15.6%)
157
(42.6%)
2.2
The LGA mainstreams gender in the planning process 144
(39.1%)
59
(16%)
165
(44.9%)
2.0
The LGA mainstreams gender in the implementation
processes
105
(28.6%)
55
(14.9%)
208
(56.5%)
2.1
The LGA mainstreams gender in the monitoring processes 108
(28.8%)
62
(16.8%)
200
(54.4%)
2.3
The LGA mainstreams gender in the evaluation processes 124
(33.7%)
84
(22.8%)
160
(43.5%)
2.3
Item 4: Gender responsive Strategies (RGR)
The gender response-based sex disaggregated statistical
data is very high at Municipal Council
86
(23.3%)
71
(19.3%)
211
(54.4%)
2.1
Sex disaggregated statistical data are available for effective
use at Municipal Council
76
(20.7%)
77
(20.9%)
215
(58.4%)
2.3
RGR has positively changed the relation among male and
female
87
(23.6%)
111
(30.2%)
170
(46.2%)
2.3
There are gender responsive strategies to gender resource
planning at Municipal Council level
106
(28.8%)
70
(19%)
192
(52.2%)
2.2
There are gender responsive strategies in gender budget at
Municipal Council level
99
(26.9%)
68
(18.5%)
201
(54.6%)
2.2
Another assumption was sex disaggregated statistical data were available for effective use at
Municipal Council level. The findings show that 58.4% agreed with the assumption meanwhile
20.7% disagreed and 20.9% were neutral. The mean score of the responses was 2.3. Therefore,
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Mwakiluma, L. A., & Matoka, C. (2021). The Influence of Internal Organizational Mechanisms on Gender Mainstreaming Effectiveness Morogoro
Region, Tanzania. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 8(11). 50-61.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.811.10886
majority of the respondents agreed that gender-based sex disaggregated statistical data are
available at Municipal Council level.
The study also assumed that gender responsive strategies had positively changed the relation
among males and females. Findings show that 46.2% of the respondents agreed with the
assumption, while 23.6% of the respondents disagreed and 30.2% were undecided. The mean
score of the response was 2.2. Thus, findings suggest that gender responsive strategies had
positively changed the relation among males and females.
The findings also indicate that 52.2% agreed that gender responsive strategies in gender
resource planning, while 28.8% disagreed, and 19% were undecided that there were gender
responsive strategies in gender resource planning at Morogoro Municipal Council level.
Therefore, majority of the respondents agreed that there were gender responsive strategies in
gender resource planning in the study area. Moreover, Table 4.5 shows that 54.6% agreed that
there were gender responsive strategies in gender budget at Municipal Council level; while
26.9% of the respondents disagreed with the statement. The mean of the response was 2.2.
Thus, the findings suggest that gender responsive strategies had positively changed the relation
among males and females.
Gender Mainstreaming Effectiveness
The measure of central tendency was used to determine whether the total responses imply
effectiveness or ineffectiveness of GM. In order to determine where most values in a
distribution fall, the study used mean score of the responses. This is because the responses were
continuous data and the distribution of the total response's score on GME was symmetrical
(Frost, 2019).
Basing on the mean of the score of the respondents on GME, the study obtained a mean of 1.66
as a cut-off point. The scores below the mean were considered ineffective while those who
were above the mean were effective. Table 3 shows that 58.7% of the respondents were above
the mean while 41.3% were below the cut-off point. From the findings it is clear that majority
of the respondents' mean score on gender mainstreaming were effective.
Table 3: Gender mainstreaming effectiveness
Category Frequency Percent
Ineffective Gender mainstreaming 152 41.3
Effective Gender mainstreaming 216 58.7
Total 368 100.0
Correlation among the variables
The correlation table (Table 4) contains three pieces of information: First is the size of the
correlation (the "r" statistic), which has a range between -1 (perfect negative correlation) and
1 (perfect positive correlation). Second is the level of significance for the correlation (a level of
.05 or smaller is considered "statistically significant). Third is the strength of association among
the variables which can be small or weak association (if the absolute value of ‘r’ is less than or
equal to 3), medium or moderate (if the absolute value of ‘r’ is more than 3 and less than or
equal to 5) and large or strong correlation (if the absolute value of ‘r’ is greater than 5) (see