Gender balance struggles in Tanzanian Kiswahili children’s literature

Abstract

Globally, women’s liberation efforts have prevailed for a long time. Through different mechanisms, these efforts have, to some extent been a success. We have been seeing efforts taking place through the media like television and radio stations, magazines and social media networks. We have also been seeing strong efforts in literary works for adults such as plays, novels and poetry, just to mention but a few. All efforts exerted in different angles aim at maintaining gender balance and changing social perceptions towards women status in the society. This paper explores the women’s liberation efforts that have been invested in children’s literature. Literary, artists seem to believe that if efforts are not vested in children, there is a danger of having a bad future society that will not prolong the gender balance. Due to the vastness of literary works, only five Tanzanian Kiswahili children’s literary works have been selected to represent the rest.