Merging Local Content and Women’s Economic Empowerment in Tanzania’s Extractive Industries

This chapter goes beyond the headline developments in local content development to explore the gender dimensions of economic empowerment and the promotion of new opportunities for women in Tanzania’s oil, gas and mining industries. Local content and economic empowerment are often seen as separate areas of public policy in Tanzania; however, they can be brought together to provide the skills and experience necessary to participate in the industry directly and through the participation of women-led micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the extractive industries’ value chains. This chapter argues that the government of Tanzania must pursue a holistic approach to gender equality in legislation, regulation, policy, education and training in its emerging oil, gas and mining sectors in order to maximise the benefit from the extractive industries.