Safisha Ghala: Addressing Economic Violence Against Women
Women help to grow and harvest cashew nuts, yet are often excluded from selling the produce and deciding how the income is used. This hidden form of economic violence drives family instability and poverty.
Key emerging issue
Across all nine project wards in Mtwara District Council, Nanyamba Town Council and Tandahimba District Council, economic violence against women has emerged as a key issue requiring focused attention. Unequal access to and control over economic opportunities between men and women within households is a significant, often overlooked, driver of family instability. Where women are excluded from economic activities, decision-making and income, the resulting imbalance strains family relations and pushes affected households further into poverty.
This is particularly evident during the cashew nut harvesting season. Women actively take part in cultivating and harvesting the crop, yet they are largely excluded from selling the produce and from deciding how the resulting income is used. Despite contributing equal or greater labour in production, women’s limited voice in the sale of cashew nuts and in household spending decisions leaves them economically disempowered, even during a season of relative household income. This reinforces dependency and heightens the risk of economic violence within the family.
Lesson learned
GBV prevention efforts cannot be fully effective if they focus only on physical and sexual violence while overlooking economic violence, which is both a driver and a consequence of household poverty and gender inequality. Women’s exclusion from selling produce and from decisions on how income is spent, even after contributing equally to production, is a less visible but significant form of economic violence.
This calls for a deliberate shift: GBV education and community dialogue must explicitly address economic empowerment and equitable participation in income and spending decisions between men and women, not only interpersonal or physical safety.
The norm we promote
Women and men who work together to produce household income should share in selling it and in deciding how it is used. Shared economic decision-making strengthens families, reduces conflict and helps households move out of poverty.