Introduction

This study analyzed the social representations of women in domestic violence situations in legal assistance.

Materials and Methods

A qualitative research was conducted based on the structural approach of the Social Representation Theory in which eighty women in domestic violence situations participated. Data collection was carried out at the Women's Support Center and the Specialized Office for Women's Assistance located in a municipality in Bahia. The data were collected through the free association technique and a semi-structured interview. The data obtained from the technique were analyzed using the software Ensemble des Programmes Permettant L'Analyse des Evocations and the interview data were organized using the content analysis method.

Results

The analysis of the corpus based on the stories provided by 80 women produced 400 words whose average order was three on a scale of one to five.

Discussion

The social representations of the women receiving legal assistance show, on the one hand, that legal assistance is slow, poor and embarrassing in relation to domestic violence lawsuits and, on the other hand, legal assistance guides, supports, directs and assists women, although it needs to be more effective and agile.

Conclusions

It is necessary to restructure the judiciary through practices that are more welcoming, humanized and receptive to the demands of women in domestic violence situations to overcome the bureaucratic and androcentric practices that make them vulnerable.

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