Justification for access to legal information by rural women: A case study of Malava Sub County, Kenya

Abstract

Rationale of Study – In the constitution of Kenya 2010 and the Access to Information Act 2016, every citizen is accorded the right of access to information required for the exercise or protection of any right or fundamental freedom. No study has been done in Kenya to understand from the social justice context the extent to which legal information impacts their lives. This study examined the socio-economic realities of rural women of Malava intending to investigate how life realities impacted their access to social justice and secondly, understand how they perceived legal information.
Methodology – The study was modelled on the Social Justice Theory and took a case study design where face-to-face interviews were used to gather qualitative data from 85 respondents sampled from all 7 wards of the study area.
Findings – It emerged from the study that owing to the social economic realities faced by the rural women, they were not able to access legal information meaningfully and this limited their chances of accessing social justice.
Implications – It is recommended that the legal department of the County Government of Kakamega spearheads access to information initiatives that will go a long way in enabling rural women to receive information through various mediums such as radio, women groups forums and public awareness programs. This paper also recommends that the Kenya National Library Service in Kakamega promotes public legal education in the rural areas of Kakamega county.
Originality – The study was original research conducted Kakamega County in Kenya.