Secured but Not Safe: Navigating a Web of Traps for Sexual Violence in Tanzanian Academic Settings – A Qualitative Interview Study
1
Epidemiology and Global Health, Umea University, Umea, Sweden
2
Psychiatry and Mental Health, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, United Republic of
Popul. Med. 2026;8(Supplement Supplement 1):
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
Sexual violence is a pervasive yet underrecognized problem within higher education institutions globally, with particularly high prevalence across Sub Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, limited qualitative research has examined how university students perceive and navigate sexual violence within their daily academic environments. Guided by African Feminist Theory, this study explores students’ lived experiences to understand how gendered power relations, cultural norms, and structural vulnerabilities shape the occurrence and normalization of SV in Tanzanian universities.
METHODS:
Using a qualitative design, we conducted in depth semi structured interviews with 18 undergraduate students (ten women and eight men, aged 21–27) from one public and one private university. Interviews were conducted in Swahili, transcribed, translated into English, and analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Ethical approval and informed consent were obtained.
RESULTS:
A central theme, “Secured but Not Safe: Navigating a Web of Hidden Traps,” captured the contradiction between visible institutional safety measures and students’ persistent vulnerability. Three interrelated themes explained this paradox: (1) “By Words and Actions: Unpacking the Spectrum of Sexual Violence,” illustrating how SV is common, diverse, normalized, and extends across physical and digital spaces; (2) “Women Offer, Men Take: Gendered Double Standards and Victim Blaming,” highlighting how entrenched gender norms excuse male entitlement while holding women responsible for violence enacted against them; and (3) “Power and Precarity: Structural Drivers of Coercion,” showing how academic hierarchies, financial dependence, and institutional silence create conditions for exploitation by both staff and student leaders. These intersecting forces sustain a climate where sexual violence persists, is trivialized, or goes unchallenged.
CONCLUSIONS:
Findings reveal that sexual violence is embedded in everyday campus life and sustained by intersecting cultural, institutional, and economic forces. Transforming university environments requires not only policy implementation but structural and cultural change that centers student voices, challenges patriarchal norms, and promotes gender equity.
Sexual violence is a pervasive yet underrecognized problem within higher education institutions globally, with particularly high prevalence across Sub Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, limited qualitative research has examined how university students perceive and navigate sexual violence within their daily academic environments. Guided by African Feminist Theory, this study explores students’ lived experiences to understand how gendered power relations, cultural norms, and structural vulnerabilities shape the occurrence and normalization of SV in Tanzanian universities.
METHODS:
Using a qualitative design, we conducted in depth semi structured interviews with 18 undergraduate students (ten women and eight men, aged 21–27) from one public and one private university. Interviews were conducted in Swahili, transcribed, translated into English, and analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Ethical approval and informed consent were obtained.
RESULTS:
A central theme, “Secured but Not Safe: Navigating a Web of Hidden Traps,” captured the contradiction between visible institutional safety measures and students’ persistent vulnerability. Three interrelated themes explained this paradox: (1) “By Words and Actions: Unpacking the Spectrum of Sexual Violence,” illustrating how SV is common, diverse, normalized, and extends across physical and digital spaces; (2) “Women Offer, Men Take: Gendered Double Standards and Victim Blaming,” highlighting how entrenched gender norms excuse male entitlement while holding women responsible for violence enacted against them; and (3) “Power and Precarity: Structural Drivers of Coercion,” showing how academic hierarchies, financial dependence, and institutional silence create conditions for exploitation by both staff and student leaders. These intersecting forces sustain a climate where sexual violence persists, is trivialized, or goes unchallenged.
CONCLUSIONS:
Findings reveal that sexual violence is embedded in everyday campus life and sustained by intersecting cultural, institutional, and economic forces. Transforming university environments requires not only policy implementation but structural and cultural change that centers student voices, challenges patriarchal norms, and promotes gender equity.
| eISSN: | 2654-1459 |
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