Impact of Conflict on Women’s Education, Employment, Health Care

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Direct Link to Full 15-Page Report:

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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.