in witchcraft. Young girls are married off early and an estimated 15 per cent of women in Tanzania are subjected to female genital mutilation.74 442. Even more disturbing is that such violence goes under-reported because of shame and associated stigma, and the frustration survivors face when they report cases to the police and justice system which then fails to effectively prosecute perpetrators. A number of factors contribute to violence against women, including customary and religious practices and attitudes and laws that violate women’s rights. During the CRM meetings, the Zanzibar government indicated that mechanisms to fight against gender-based violence and exploitation of women and girls would be established. By 2010, the Tanzania Police Female Network had established 94 gender desks in police stations across the country. Women’s participation in representation and decision-making 443. On political participation, Tanzania has taken import steps to ensure full and equal participation of women in public life and decision-making - essential in a democratic State. Temporary special measures were used to increase women’s participation in the National Assembly, Local Councils, and in the public services. In general, quotas for the representation of women in Zanzibar’s House of Representatives broadly followed the arrangements of the Union’s National Assembly. (This is discussed in more detail in Chapter Six) 444. The CRM established that, over the last eight years, Parliament - where women’s participation rose from 20 per cent in 2004 to 36 per cent in 2011, and the public service - where 36 per cent of those in high positions currently are women from 25.6 per cent in 2004, registered the highest increases in women’s participation. At the local government level, women’s representation increased from 34 per cent in 2004 to 37 per cent in 2011 and in the judiciary, from 29 per cent to 36.9 per cent over the same period. Although, overall, participation at regional administrative levels is below 25 per cent, 46.7 per cent of the regional administrative officers are women. In the foreign service and at the level of Regional Commissioner, Permanent Secretaries, and Registrars of Courts, the proportion of women continue to be the lowest. The CRM suggests that more has to be done to increase the participation of women in the still male-dominated, mainstream civil service, and also to ensure that political parties - which may not be directly subjected to obligations under CEDAW - do not discriminate against women. 445. Under the current multi-party dispensation, each political party nominates and ranks female candidates for special seats reserved for women and elects a certain number of women according to the proportional representation of parties in Parliament. During the CRM stakeholder meetings, it emerged that this system reduced the ability of women MPs to advocate for women’s interests, separate from party interests. Where there is a difference, Party interests reign. Thus, women MPs are not considered representatives of women. Instead, they are seen to represent the political parties that nominated them. However,the CRM noted that women’s issues increasingly come up in Parliament. For example, women MPs and CSOs were instrumental in formulating and passing the 1999 Land Act and the 1999 Village Land Act, both of which accord equal rights with men in land ownership. Women’s employment 446. Despite government and civil society efforts, women still have very low status in Tanzania given the injustices they experience. At work, in private homes and government, in shops and farms, women and girls still occupy the lowest paying jobs, although some of them are bread-winners for their families. Women are the major producers of food and cash crops on farms where agriculture is a livelihood for nearly 90 per cent of rural men and women who produce over 60 per cent of the cash crops. 447. The CRM noted that women experience disadvantages in the formal work place and their contribution, especially domestic labour, continues to be largely overlooked. As a result, their employment has not necessarily transformed their households as they do not contribute to taking decisions on how the proceeds should be used because their spouses take the cash for their own benefit, including alcoholism or acquiring more wives.75 74 75 Legal and Human Rights Centre, Tanzania Human Rights Report, 2007 p.43. “Connecting Girls for Development is the Way to Go”, p.4, Sunday News 11 March 2012. 100