Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan has come under fire for describing women footballers in the country as having ‘flat chest’ and they would not be able to get married as they are unattractive.
Hassan made the derogatory remarks on Sunday during a ceremony to celebrate the victory of the U23 men’s football side in a regional football event at State House in coastal city of Dar es Salaam.
“For those who have flat chests, you might think they are men and not women,” she said at Sunday’s event.
“And if you look at their faces you might wonder … because if you want to marry, you want someone who is attractive, a lady who has the qualities that you want.”
She added that for the women footballers “those qualities have disappeared”.
Hassan, who took office in March after the sudden death of her predecessor John Magafuli, is the only current serving female head of state in Africa alongside Ethiopia’s President Sahle-Work Zewde, whose role is mainly ceremonial.
President Hassan stated that while these female players bring prizes to the country, “if you look at their lives in the future when their legs are fatigued from playing when they don’t have the health to play, what life will they be living?”
“The life of marriage is like a dream to them. Because even if one of you here takes them home as your wife, your mother will ask if they are a woman or a fellow man.”
Hassan’s comments were widely criticized online.
The head of the women’s wing of the opposition Chadema party and a former MP, Catherine Ruge said in her tweet “All women are beautiful”.
Maria Sarungi, the founder of civil society group Change Tanzania echoed this in her tweet while referring to the African Women Leaders Network.
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