The Work Opportunities for Women (WOW) Helpdesk supported the DFID Research and Evidence Division (RED) with a rapid desk review, informing the design of a new programme on Research on Conflict and Economic Growth in Low-Income Countries. This programme aims to improve the effectiveness of economic development interventions in conflict and high-fragility settings.
Drawing from the query, outlined below are key issues to consider around gender and economic development in fragile and conflict affected settings (FCAS).
How women’s economic participation is affected by conflict: many studies have shown that women’s participation in economic activities and the labour market increases during conflict. However, this overall rise in female employment in FCAS is concentrated in low skilled jobs and the informal sector. In post-conflict settings, a reversal is often observed of trends of women’s economic participation, and a return to traditional gender roles.
There is mixed evidence of shifts in household dynamics post-conflict, including increased intimate partner violence in some settings, and increased recognition of women’s resourcefulness in others.
Barriers to WEE are exacerbated in FCAS. Economic challenges faced by countries during and after conflict include: a decline in private sector activity related to skills shortages; problems with infrastructure such as transport, communications and energy; and labour market issues, such as the increase of unemployment, and informal and illicit economic activities due to lack of alternatives.
The literature on these effects is largely gender-blind, though many of the challenges cited are known barriers to women’s economic and social participation more generally, which are likely to be exacerbated in FCAS. Below are examples of economic issues facing women and gender-differentiated consequences in FCAS:
- A lack of capital is a key barrier to starting or expanding women’s businesses. This makes personal savings and financial assistance from family and community members the most common sources of financing. Although this problem affects both women and men, women generally have particular difficulties accessing credit and being able to save;
- The lack of business or vocational training, especially around product marketing and diversifying business offerings;
- Security challenges can limit women’s mobility, and economic choice. This can make women and girls more vulnerable to exploitative relationships, e.g. through forced marriage and trafficking;
- Increased burden of unpaid care and domestic work. In FCAS, the gender division of labour and responsibility creates particular problems for women, who find their care burdens intensify as fragility and insecurity increase, and access to justice, resources, or services reduce;
- Conservative social norms that restrict women’s entrepreneurial engagement can be exacerbated by security concerns, sexual harassment and intimidation in working environments. Market interactions tend to take place in male-dominated public spaces and are strongly built on traditional networks and social relations. New entrants — and particularly non-traditional entrants such as women — are viewed with suspicion. These issues are not solely characteristic of FCAS, but these contexts tend to reinforce such norms.
