War and Women’s Work: Evidence from the Conflict in Nepal

Abstract

This article examines how Nepal’s 1996–2006 civil conflict affected women’s decisions to engage in employment. Using three waves of the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey, we employ a difference-in-difference approach to identify the impact of war on women’s employment decisions. Results indicate that women’s likelihood of employment increased as a consequence of the conflict, a conclusion that holds for self-employment decisions and is robust to numerous sensitivity tests. The findings support the argument that women’s additional employment—rather than greater dependence on remittances and subsistence work—serves as an important source of resilience during times of crisis.