geographical heterogeneity in protest intensity across states in Egypt. Using a similar method that exploits variation in conflict intensity, this paper seeks to understand the role of exposure to violent events in changing household dynamics for women in an ongoing conflict.

Equally important in the context of this paper is a study conducted in Yemen using household welfare data from 2014. Tandon (2018) compares household welfare before and after the Houthi take-over of Sana’a in 2014 and finds a nearly universal and immediate drop women’s decisionmaking ability which preceded the worsening of household welfare. This impact is explained by a worsening of perceptions of safety, resulting in women being less likely to leave the household and make decisions related to spending. The author was able to exploit the fact that the survey was uninterrupted despite the unexpected capture of the capital, and that the sample was designed to randomize respondents over space and time.

This paper contributes to literature in other conflict affected settings that have explored changes in various indicators of female empowerment. A study from Egypt finds that female labor force participation increased in districts with higher intensity of protests, despite worsening conditions for men (El-Mallakh, Maurel, and Speciale 2018). Similarly, evidence from Nepal shows an increase in women’s likelihood of employment as a consequence of conflict (Menon and van der Meulen Rodgers 2015), as this becomes an important livelihood option during times of crisis. Qualitative evidence from Gaza and Liberia points to an increase in women’s economic agency in towns more affected by conflict, but in Gaza this is combined with men feeling disempowered and limited changes to underlying social norms (Petesch 2018). On the other hand, studying the long term impacts of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, La Mattina (2017) finds an increase in spousal abuse and reduced decision-making power for women, while Schindler (2010) finds that young, unmarried women are more likely to conform to gender roles when there is a shortage of men resulting from the genocide. These conflicting results from different contexts indicate that the impact of violence and conflict on female empowerment is not immediately clear. Much of it will depend on the type of violence experienced, the baseline level of female empowerment, and the economic conditions that are impacted by the conflict. This paper adds more evidence to this debate, while considering some of the channels that could explain these results.

The channels through which conflict and armed violence affect female empowerment could be categorized as direct and indirect (Justino 2018). The direct channels refer to changes in household composition and welfare that require women to take more responsibilities within the household, often joining the labor market to supplement the breadwinner’s income or to replace it. In war settings, men are more likely to be killed, join armed groups or move away from the household in search of better livelihood opportunities (as observed in Nepal and Rwanda (Menon and van der Meulen Rodgers 2015; Schindler 2010)). In the absence of the traditional “head of household”, women are more likely to have a say in everyday decision making. This is likely to be the main change to household dynamics and gender roles that is relevant for Yemen, which we explore in this paper.

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