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Via Eldis

The Impact of Conflict on Women's Education, Employment and Health Care

Authors: McDevitt, A.
Produced by: Governance and Social Development Resource Centre (2009)

Conflict restricts women's freedom of movement. The subsequent impact on education, employment and health care is hard, therefore, to dispute but are these effects universal? This brief focuses on the Middle East, Latin America, and central and east Asia.

The paper states that the extent to which conflict restricts women's freedom of movement depends on a number of factors including the stage of conflict, whether the women are displaced, whether they are directly or indirectly affected by the conflict, and the cultural norms of the conflict-affected area. Forced displacement, for example, may in some cases lead to greater mobility, where women assume additional responsibilities such as taking on the role of primary breadwinner.

Nevertheless, the author continues, it is generally accepted that the fear of violence more often than not restricts women's freedom of movement. In times of political, economic and social uncertainty, there is a strong tendency to revert to traditional values which appear to offer protection for women and girls but which restrict their mobility.

Some of the negative impacts of conflict on women's health and education include:

• access to reproductive health care facilities is often lacking
  
• the needs of men and combatants may be given precedence over the needs of women and non-combatants
  
• women's access to health care may be constrained by household and domestic tasks or cultural norms
  
• when schools are destroyed, and children have to travel long distances, girls are more likely to stay at home
  
• in emergencies, there are usually far fewer women who are able to volunteer as teachers, and girls are disproportionately affected when schools are dominated by men
  
• teenage pregnancy rates are often very high in refugee camps, and girls with their own babies may not be able to attend school
  
• girls who are disabled, disfigured or severely mentally affected by the crisis are likely to be kept at home.

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