Social Legacies of Civil War : Gendered Consequences of Conflict

Abstract

What are the social legacies of civil war and how do they differ for men and women? Despite a growing body of research on civil war consequences, the social legacies of conflict remain among the least understood impacts of war. Furthermore, empirical evidence on the distinct effects wartime violence has on men and women is scarce. Quantitative research mostly overlooks the gendered experiences, consequences, and potential benefits of conflict. The aim of my dissertation is to contribute to research on gendered civil war legacies by combining observational and experimental micro-level evidence in different post-conflict settings. The overarching question of my dissertation is addressed in three self-contained essays which test theories of the gendered impacts of war.Chapter 2 asks whether civil war (dis)empowers women and explores the causal relationship between civil war and women’s labor force participation by leveraging the arbitrary Côte d'Ivoire--Burkina Faso border as setting for a natural experiment. Using a regression discontinuity design, I find that Ivoirian women are 25 percentage points less likely to work outside the home post-war. I investigate three potential mechanisms and argue that the decline in female labor force participation might be explained by a shift towards more traditional gender norms and a reduction in women's bargaining power.Chapter 3 investigates social (dis)trust in post-war Sri Lanka and analyzes a list experiment to explore the causal relationship between war-related sexual violence and intra- and inter-ethnic group trust. Combining the list experiment with survey data of the Tamil population, I find evidence that war-related sexual violence affects trust decisions of men and women differently. Although both Tamil men and women lose trust in fellow Tamils, female victims are more trusting towards their ethnic out-group. Possible explanations might be that both context of sexual violence and coping strategies differ by gender.Chapter 4 focuses on social (dis)integration in the Democratic Republic of Congo and explores how forced recruitment shapes male ex-combatants' violent behavior. Based on survey data, I present evidence that former forced recruits commit significantly more violence against their intimate partners and their children compared to voluntary recruits. Using structural equation modeling, I scrutinize the combatant socialization mechanism to show that more intense exposure to violence as part of armed groups and ensuing mental health problems mediate this relationship.Taken together, my dissertation highlights the importance of systematic micro-level evidence as well as the significance of applying a gender perspective to conflict research. I argue that it is necessary to account for gendered war experiences and consequences, both in theory-building and methodology, as well as in policy-making. This thesis contributes to different literatures on the consequences of armed conflict, the social implications of violence for individuals, and the risks of recurring violence. In chapter 5, I derive several implications and suggest avenues forward for academic research and policy-making.