Gendered Power and Political Authority and Sub-national Identities in Tanzania: Samia Suluhu Hassan, Protests, and the Reimagination of Feminist Leadership

This roundtable intervention examines the intersections of gender, power, and political authority in Tanzania under the leadership of Samia Suluhu Hassan – the country’s first female president. Grounded in ongoing political analysis and informed by feminist and postcolonial perspectives, the contribution interrogates how gendered power operates within contemporary Tanzanian political landscapes. It situates Samia’s presidency within broader debates on women’s political leadership in Africa, while critically assessing the limits and possibilities of symbolic representation. The paper advances two core arguments. First, it explores how Samia’s administration responded to the 2025 election-day and post-election Gen Z-led protests in Tanzania and how these protests reshaped feminist political imaginaries. Samia’s government’s brutal response to the protests and the authoritarian turn reconfigures the perception of feminist leadership, which is often argued to be more tolerant. Second, the analysis examines how Hassan’s “triple identity” as a woman (gender), Muslim (religion), and Zanzibari (a sub-nationalist identity)—each carrying distinct historical and socio-political meanings—interacts with national political dynamics. Rather than assuming a linear relationship between identity and governance, the paper highlights the tensions, contradictions, and strategic negotiations embedded in her leadership. By centering locally grounded political developments, this intervention contributes to broader discussions on gender and power in African politics. It underscores the need to move beyond celebratory narratives of women’s leadership and instead engage critically with the material and discursive conditions that shape political authority, legitimacy, and responses to authoritarian governance in contemporary Africa.