Abstract:
Several initiatives have been implemented to promote human rights targeting women. Despite, Legal Aid Services
(LAS) provided to women, violation of human rights manifested in the form of Gender Based Violence (GBV) is still
high among women globally, regionally and Tanzania in particular. Using Freire’s theory, this paper analyses the
contribution of LAS interventions to combat GBV incidents among rural women. The study involved 240 rural women
in Morogoro Rural and Kongwa Districts. Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) Version 16 was used to
analyze the data. A GBV index was constructed indicating levels of GBV in the study areas. Women in the study areas
were experiencing a medium level of GBV. Wife battery, deprivation of basic necessities and marital rape were the
most common forms of GBV practised in the study areas. Generally, beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of LAS
experienced some forms of GBV regardless of their involvement in LAS interventions. However, Mann-Whitney U test
revealed a significant difference in the actions taken against perpetrators of GBV for beneficiaries (Md = 5, n = 98)
and for non-beneficiaries (Md = 2, n = 95), U =2837, Z = -4.730, p = 0.000, r = 0.3. The distinguished differences
might be related to the acquired knowledge through LAS intervention on women’s legal rights education. Hence, the
knowledge inspires them to take legal actions of reporting GBV incidents. These results have implication on changing
the odds of GBV status. Therefore, the government and LAS stakeholders should put more emphasis on raising
awareness about women’s legal right education and publicizing the availability of LAS providers, particularly at the
grassroots level where the majority is less informed.
