Tanzanian Women Earn 15% Less Than Men as Economic Participation Gaps Persist

Tanzanian women in paid employment earn about 15 percent less than men on average, while also facing higher unemployment, lower labour force participation and weaker representation in higher paying occupations, according to the latest national statistical compilation on gender differences across the economy. The Women and Men in Tanzania 2025 report, produced by the National Bureau of Statistics, shows that women in paid employment earned an average of TZS 428,301 a month compared with TZS 504,823 for men, meaning women earned 84.6 percent of male income. The report attributes the difference to several structural factors, including shorter working hours, occupational segregation and more limited access to higher paying opportunities. The wage gap sits inside a wider difference in economic participation. Labour force participation remains higher among men across both rural and urban areas, while unemployment among women reached 7.5 percent nationally compared with 4.9 percent for men. The gap is larger in urban areas, where female unemployment stood at 9.2 percent compared with 4.1 percent for men. Among people aged 15 to 24, unemployment reached 12.1 percent for women and 8.1 percent for men nationally, while in Zanzibar the gap was significantly wider. These differences matter economically because women account for more than half of Tanzania’s population. The report’s 2025 population projection puts the female population at approximately 34.7 million compared with 33.4 million men, meaning disparities affecting women’s access to work, wages, finance and productive assets are not marginal labour market issues but factors capable of influencing national consumption, savings, enterprise growth and productivity. The cumulative pattern is therefore more consequential than the wage gap alone. Women are less likely to participate in the labour market, more likely to be unemployed when they do participate, more heavily concentrated in lower paying occupations and less represented in positions with greater managerial authority or capital intensity. The result is a large part of Tanzania’s workforce operating below its potential earning and productive capacity. Women Earn Less Even After Entering Paid Employment The average monthly income difference of more than TZS 76,000 between men and women in paid employment represents a meaningful gap in household purchasing power, particularly when it compounds over years of employment. At the national level, women earned TZS 428,301 compared with TZS 504,823 for men. In Mainland Tanzania the difference was similarly wide, with women earning TZS 426,303 and men TZS 501,063. In Zanzibar, women earned more than their counterparts on the Mainland at TZS 481,030, but men still earned substantially more at TZS 625,407. These differences do not necessarily imply that women and men receive different pay for identical work because the figures are economy wide averages and reflect differences in occupation, sector, working hours and job status. The report itself links the wage gap partly to occupational segregation and unequal access to higher paying opportunities. That explanation is economically significant because it shifts the focus from wages alone to the structure of employment. If women are concentrated in industries and occupations where productivity and pay are lower, income differences will persist even where formal wage discrimination is reduced. The earnings gap therefore reflects where women work, what types of jobs they hold and how easily they can move into higher paying parts of the economy. Women Are More Concentrated in Lower Paying Economic Activities The occupational distribution in the report shows substantial gender segmentation. Women are more heavily concentrated in skilled agriculture, service work, retail and elementary occupations, while men hold larger shares of employment in crafts, machine operation, construction, transportation, mining and manufacturing. At the national level, 54.4 percent of employed women are classified as skilled agricultural and fishery workers compared with 51.6 percent of men, while 18.2 percent of women work in service and sales occupations compared with 12.8 percent of men. Women also account for a larger share of elementary occupations, at 17.5 percent compared with 11.9 percent. Men have much stronger representation in areas associated with machinery, infrastructure and industrial activity. Plant and machine operators account for 5.9 percent of male employment compared with only 0.5 percent among women, while craft and related workers account for 12 percent of men compared with 4.9 percent of women. Industry level data show a similar pattern. On Mainland Tanzania, 56.2 percent of women work in agriculture, forestry and fishing compared with 52.5 percent of men, while women have higher representation in wholesale and retail trade, accommodation and food services and other service activities. Men dominate construction, transportation and storage, mining and manufacturing. The pattern matters because many of the male-dominated industries are more capital intensive and can support higher wages when productivity is high. Women’s concentration in agriculture, retail and service work increases exposure to sectors where incomes are often lower, informal activity is widespread and access to capital is more limited. Women Are Less Likely to Be Employers or Employees The report also shows large differences in employment status. Women account for a smaller share of employees and employers and a much larger share of contributing family workers. Nationally, 13.1 percent of employed women are classified as employees compared with 21.7 percent of men, while only 4.7 percent of women are employers compared with 9.7 percent of men. By contrast, 31.5 percent of employed women are contributing family workers compared with 13.8 percent of men. This is one of the more consequential findings in the report because employment status determines access to income, assets and economic independence. A regular employee is more likely to receive predictable wages and contribute to a pension, while an employer controls a business and productive assets. Contributing family workers may play a substantial role in household enterprises or farms without necessarily receiving a regular wage of their own. The higher concentration of women in this category therefore has implications for financial independence because economic participation does not always translate into direct control over income. The Gender Gap Is Also a Financial Access Gap The same pattern appears in financial services. FinScope data reproduced in the report show that women remain less likely than men to use bank services and several digital payment instruments. In 2023, only 12 percent of women reported using banking services compared with 21 percent of men, down from 18 percent and 27 percent respectively in 2017. At the same time, the share of women who did not use formal financial services but relied on informal mechanisms increased from 19.4 percent to 30 percent, compared with an increase from 17.8 percent to 26 percent among men. This movement is economically important because formal finance provides more than a place to store money. Bank accounts and other formal products can support credit histories, business borrowing, savings, insurance and access to larger transactions. Greater reliance on informal mechanisms can work well for small or short-term needs, but it may limit the ability of women to build the financial records and collateral relationships required to expand a business or finance larger investments. The report also shows that cash remains dominant in how Tanzanians receive income. In 2023, 90 percent of women received income in cash compared with 89 percent of men, while only 4 percent of women received money through bank transfers compared with 8 percent of men. Mobile money accounted for 5 percent among women and 4 percent among men. This means Tanzania’s economy remains highly cash-based for both sexes, but women are still less connected to conventional banking channels. Digital Payments Show the Same Difference The gender gap extends into the use of digital payment instruments. The report, citing FinScope Tanzania 2023, shows that 29 percent of women had ever used mobile money to purchase goods compared with 36 percent of men. Only 11 percent of women had used mobile money for purchases during the previous month compared with 15 percent of men. ATM or debit card use remained low for both groups, while bank transfers were used by 4 percent of women compared with 7 percent of men. These differences matter because Tanzania’s financial system is moving steadily toward digital payments, electronic identity and data-driven credit. A person who participates less in digital commerce also generates a smaller financial footprint, which can affect the ability of lenders to assess income, transaction history and creditworthiness. If women remain less active in formal and digital financial systems, the gap can therefore reproduce itself through reduced access to financing, particularly for small businesses that lack conventional collateral. Women Face a Higher Barrier to Labour Market Entry The unemployment data show that women face greater difficulty even before wage and sector differences emerge. National unemployment among women stood at 7.5 percent compared with 4.9 percent for men, while the urban female unemployment rate was more than double the male rate at 9.2 percent compared with 4.1 percent. Young women are particularly exposed. Among people aged 15 to 24, the unemployment rate reached 12.1 percent for women compared with 8.1 percent for men nationally. In Zanzibar, unemployment among young women reached 33.9 percent compared with 17.9 percent for young men. These figures suggest that the gender gap begins early in the employment cycle. Women are more likely to face difficulties entering the labour market and, once employed, are more likely to enter lower paying sectors and less secure employment categories. The result is a cumulative disadvantage that can affect earnings throughout a working life. Management and Decision Making Remain Male Dominated Women also remain underrepresented in occupations associated with economic decision making. Only 0.3 percent of employed women were classified as legislators, administrators and managers compared with 0.7 percent of men, while women also recorded lower representation among professionals nationally. The public service shows some improvement at selected levels, but senior positions remain largely male dominated. Women accounted for 24.1 percent of Permanent Secretaries in 2025, 20.6 percent of Deputy Permanent Secretaries and 26.9 percent of Regional Commissioners. Representation among District Executive Directors improved to 33.2 percent, while women accounted for one third of heads of departments in local government authorities. The relevance to the economy is not simply symbolic. Management positions influence investment decisions, procurement, hiring, capital allocation and institutional priorities. Low representation at these levels can reinforce existing differences in networks, promotion pathways and access to high value opportunities. Women Carry a Larger Share of Unpaid or Weakly Paid Work The high share of women classified as contributing family workers provides another indication of how economic activity can remain invisible or undercompensated. Nearly one third of employed women fall into this category compared with fewer than one in seven men. These women may work on farms, family shops or household businesses that generate real economic value but do not necessarily receive an individual salary. From a national accounting perspective, much of the activity may still contribute to production, but at household level the lack of direct income can weaken women’s bargaining power, savings and ability to make independent investments. This is especially important in agriculture, where women account for a very large share of employment. Greater productivity in agriculture therefore needs to be accompanied by stronger control over income and productive assets if women are to capture a proportionate share of the gains. Women Head a Growing Share of Tanzanian Households The economic significance of women’s earnings is increasing because women now head a larger share of Tanzanian households than they did two decades ago. According to the 2022 Population and Housing Census figures included in the report, the share of female headed households increased from 33 percent in 2002 to 36.7 percent in 2022, while the share headed by men declined from 67 percent to 63.3 percent. That means income disparities affecting women increasingly translate directly into household welfare because more families depend primarily on women for economic leadership. Lower wages, weaker access to formal finance and higher unemployment therefore affect not only individual women but household consumption, education spending, housing, health expenditure and savings. Closing the Gap Is an Economic Productivity Question The figures in Women and Men in Tanzania 2025 show that Tanzania’s gender gap is not concentrated in one indicator. It appears across labour participation, unemployment, occupational structure, employment status, wages, financial access and leadership. Women participate less frequently in the labour market, face higher unemployment, earn less in paid work and remain heavily concentrated in agriculture, retail and service occupations. They are less likely to be employers or regular employees and more likely to work as contributing family workers. They also use formal banking services less frequently and remain underrepresented in senior management and public leadership. These differences ultimately affect the wider economy because Tanzania cannot maximise productivity while a large share of its population remains concentrated in lower earning activities and has weaker access to capital and decision making authority. The policy challenge is therefore broader than closing a wage gap. It includes improving women’s access to higher value industries, technical occupations, capital, digital finance, formal employment and enterprise ownership. Tanzania already has a large female workforce. The economic question is whether that workforce can increasingly move from participation into ownership, higher productivity and higher income.