Exploring Impacts of Community-Based Legal Aid on Intrahousehold Gender Relations in Tanzania. Issue 2 (3rd April 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mueller, Valerie; Peterman, Amber; Billings, Lucy; Wineman, Ayala
• Is Part Of: Feminist economics. Volume 25:Issue 2(2019)
• Page Start: 116
• Page End: 145
• Publication Date: 2019-04-03
• Subjects: Legal aid -- gender -- intimate partner violence -- intrahousehold decision making -- Tanzania; K36 -- O1; Feminist economics -- Periodicals; Women -- Economic conditions -- Periodicals; Women -- Social conditions -- Periodicals; 330.082
• DOI: 10.1080/13545701.2018.1554906
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1354-5701

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Community-based legal aid (CBLA) has been promoted as a promising intervention to reach rural marginalized populations who face barriers to accessing formal legal services and is increasingly implemented with the specific goal of protecting women's rights. This study evaluates the impact of a twelve-month CBLA program in northwestern Tanzania on intrahousehold gender relations using a clustered-randomized control trial across 139 villages. Among 1, 219 women, the study finds those in treatment villages are more likely to refer others to paralegals for a variety of domestic issues; however, there are no measureable impacts on aggregate knowledge of marital law, intrahousehold decision making, or reported experience of twelve-month intimate partner violence. These overall results are robust to a number of other sensitivity analyses, including accounting for spillovers, attrition bounds, and modeling choices. While these results indicate limited potential for intrahousehold and gender-progressive change, program duration and intensity likely affected measurable positive impacts.