Women’s Empowerment Arising from
Violent Conflict and Recovery
Life Stories from Four Middle-Income Countries
Patti Petesch, Mercy Corps and World Bank Consultant
May 23, 2011
http://microlinks.kdid.org/library/womens-empowerment-arising-violent-conflict-and-recovery-life-stories-four-middle-income-cou
Origins of the study
Moving Out of Poverty:
Rising from the Ashes of Conflict
Deepa Narayan and Patti Petesch, editors
A World Bank study across 100 mostly rural communities
in 7 countries to learn how poor people’s mobility is
affected by violent intrastate conflict.
• Afghanistan, Cambodia, Colombia, India, Indonesia,
The Philippines, Sri Lanka
2
Take away message #1
The women living in
communities directly
affected by violent
political conflict rated
more highly on
empowerment
measures than the
women living in
communities that did
not experience
conflict.
Share of women rated as empowered in
conflict and nonconflict communities
80%
70%
69%
60%
52%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
% empowered in conflict
communities (n=104)
% empowered in nonconflict
communities (n=21)
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Take away message #2
Share of women rated as empowered in low
and high mobility conflict communities
80%
73%
70%
65%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Low-mobility communities
(n=52)
High-mobility
communities (n=52)
In the wake of violence,
the set of conflictaffected communities
that experienced the
most rapid recovery
and poverty reduction
were also characterized
by more empowered
women than the set of
conflict-affected
communities with lower
rates of poverty
reduction
4
Assessing women’s empowerment
Dimensions of agency -- assets & capabilities that
women can mobilize to pursue their interests
o
o
o
o
o
o
Education
Work
Marriage and childbearing
Nonfamily friendships
Membership in a local group
Political engagement
Dimensions of community opportunity structures
o Security
o Markets
o Democracy and governance, and use of post-conflict-aid
5
Sample
Total
communities
Total life
stories
Country
Regions
Colombia
6 barrios, 2 villages
across 5 departments
8
38
Indonesia
North Maluku, East
Java
10
26
Philippines
ARMM region of
Mindanao
10
40
Sri Lanka
North, East and South
provinces
9
21
37
125
Total
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Share of Life Stories Reporting
Harmful Impacts from Conflict
Displacement
Losses to Livelihood/Property
100%
Colombia (n=38)
84%
81%
76%
Sri Lanka (n=21)
63%
Philippines (n=40)
Indonesia (n=26)
80%
58%
31%
"We lost a part of our lives. We lost everything: two
houses, a car, two cows, the other animals, chickens,
furniture... I lost money that was owed to me...."
"I was the one who was most affected. But I had to suffer
in silence. I was the motor of the house. My husband is
very quiet. If my children didn't have food, I cried. If they
didn't have clothes, I was the one who suffered.“
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--Woman's life story, barrio outside of Cartagena, Colombia
BEST
CONDITION
SS
43
Official
Poverty
Line
Fights at home
Wasting cash
Being battered
Having no
education
Lack of
enterprising
spirit
32
Not being able to
manage business
Not attending
clients in proper
way
Bad habits
Alcoholism
Bad relationships
Bad businesses
Lack of communication in marriage
Competition
Step 4 (the Geniuses)
They have money to live with comfort
They have big businesses
One of them works
Receive institutional aid
They have food and everything they need to have
They are relaxed, no worries.
They do not batter their kids
They move away from the community
Step 3 (the Tough Ones)
Los
Alamos
Poverty
Line
They have a small business
There’s economic support in the couple
Better relationships (because of religion)
They organize and manage their money carefully
They want to improve their situation
They care what happens to their kids
They can save money
Step 2 (the Invaders) Not from Ibague
Bigger families
Have no house
Recyclers
They live next to an irrigation ditch
Kids are always sick
High risk zone
Some of them are displaced
Step 1 (the Ruined)
21
Having no education
Having no job
Kids get really sick
and they have to sell
their belongings to
cover the expenses
Kids have no dad
Mom is unemployed
Children are always in the streets
Kids work at the traffic lights
Grandparents have to ask for charity.
Even though they have SISBEN, they have no
money to buy medicines.
Kids are mistreated
There are always family conflicts
Couples and marriages have many problems
Ladder of Life, Women’s focus group,
Ibagué, Colombia
WORST
CONDITIONS
34
Receiving
economic
support
Invest with
money from
selling their land
Stable job
(minimum wage)
Have better
relationships
Saving
23
Counseling to forget
your problems
Better relationships
with your children
Being able to plan
your work
Receiving help to be
able to work
Creating a business
Receiving low
interests credits
More attention
parents to children
2
The Mayor’s help
to relocate
Institutional support
Psychological
attention
Counseling
The leader’s
management
Community support
Better
communication
inside the
community and
with others 1
8
Women’s assets and capabilities
Share of women's life stories demonstrating
substantial empowerment
80%
73%
61%
43%
Philippines (n=40)
Indonesia (n=26)
Colombia (n=38)
Sri Lanka (n=21)
“No one helped me to get a better life. This is all
because of my willingness, my own hard work.”
--Woman’s life story, Village of Probolinggo district, East Java, Indonesia
9
Control of physical assets distinguish
Philippine and Indonesian women
“The conflict affected most of our livelihoods
but the land is always our fallback because
after the conflict the land is still there. During
the 1999 evacuation, we lost all of our
livestock because it was sold to support our
evacuation. But when we returned we could
still survive because we could go back to the
land.”
— Woman’s life story, low mobility village in North Cotabato, Philippines
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Post-conflict programming opportunity
Invest in women’s accumulation and control of major
assets.
o In the context of post-conflict housing and
resettlement programs, support joint titling (or
sole titling where women head households).
o Where women own major assets, enhance their
security and productivity by formalizing their titles
and providing access to formal financial systems.
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Women increase/diversify their economic activities
during and after conflict, but face diverse hurdles
to generating a good income
“During the period of evacuation in Ternate in 2000-2003, I
continued to make cakes and sell them there. If I had not
made the cakes, we would not have eaten.”
— Woman’s life story, village in West Halmahera district, North
Maluku, Indonesia
“During the time I was displaced, I earned some money
from teaching sewing, but that was only for three years.
Now that we are back, I would like to improve my small
chili business. But it would require peace.
—A woman in a village in Mannar district, Northern province, Sri Lanka
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Post-conflict programming opportunity
Support women’s access to remunerative income
sources.
o Provide women access to services and resources
to make farming and livestock raising, core rural
economic activities, more productive.
o Provide specialized technical and financial
support to enable women to develop profitable
economic ventures in the nonfarm sector and
access active markets.
13
Marital and family harmony: deeply valued and
valuable asset, but many cannot count on it
Share of women who reported supportive
husband and rising respect in family
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Philippines (n=40)
Indonesia (n=26)
Helpful spouse
Colombia (n=38)
Sri Lanka (n=21)
Rising respect in family
“I wish both my husband and I would help each other, that he
would not be so pessimistic and would instead support me in
my ambitions. Also, when our business improves, I don’t want
him to hinder my ambition for our family.”
— Women’s life stories, North Cotabato and Lanao del Sur, Philippines
14
Women’s networks connect them to valuable
resources, but mixed reports of group-based
lending and enterprise development programs.
“I think what has helped me is unity, the
association, and joining together with others to
obtain things. I could not have gotten this house on
my own. It was done working with others, and the
mayor helped and other associations.”
“My life improved because of my training, but it
got worse because I earned almost nothing.”
— Women’s life stories, Cartagena and Ibagué, Colombia
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Post-conflict programming opportunity
Invest in women’s collective action and political
engagement.
o Make sure that training and self-help initiatives are
tailored to women’s needs, economic opportunities,
and constraints, and build the capacities for these
local groups to connect with better-resourced
networks beyond their communities.
o Also take steps to enhance women’s local political
inclusion through strategies such as gender quotas
and investments in partnerships between grassroots
women’s groups and women’s advocacy and
support networks at the national and global levels.
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North Maluku: Most extensive
empowerment and poverty reduction
Driving factors: Peace, strong economy, reasonably good
local governance, and community-driven development
aid
o “We protested to the head of village because we did not
receive BBR (Bantuan Bangunan Rumah/housing materials
assistances) and Raskin (Rice for poor people) for 2004
after we already had an interview. After we came back
from the evacuation, we had the guts to conduct a
demonstration. Before, we were afraid to speak and to
make any mistake, we were afraid of everything.”
--Women’s focus group, village in West Halmahera district, North Maluku, Indonesia
17
Post-conflict programming opportunities
Support rapid and inclusive community recovery by
investing in:
o local security, with emergency measures to protect
women where law and order cannot be established;
o women’s access to active markets, including through road
and transport projects;
o community-driven reconstruction and development
schemes, with measures to ensure women’s meaningful
participation; and
o comprehensive social assistance, especially for poor
widows and minority population groups.
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