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Unpacking Widow Headship and Agency in Post-Conflict Nepal

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  • Smita Ramnarain

Abstract

Feminist scholars have highlighted a rise in "non-traditional" household structures, as exemplified by female- and widow-headed households, as a consequence of war. This study points to the necessity of disaggregating female headship to trace the contours of household vulnerability of widow-headed households, a subset of female-headed households. The inadequacy of surveys in explaining the interplay between economic vulnerability and social norms is ameliorated through the use of ethnographic data and the narratives of widow heads collected through fieldwork in 2008-9 and 2011. The study traces key coping strategies of widow-headed households in Nepal to provide insight into the processes by which widow heads mediate social institutions and patriarchal norms in their everyday struggles for survival, and the spaces of agency that emerge herein. The study concludes with implications for prevailing understandings of household headship and agency that development practitioners must be attentive to in devising policies to support widow heads.

Suggested Citation

  • Smita Ramnarain, 2016. "Unpacking Widow Headship and Agency in Post-Conflict Nepal," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 80-105, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:femeco:v:22:y:2016:i:1:p:80-105
    DOI: 10.1080/13545701.2015.1075657
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lynne Brydon & Sylvia Chant, 1989. "Women in the Third World," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 64.
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    Cited by:

    1. Rubiano Matulevich,Eliana Carolina, 2021. "Do Gender Norms Become Less Traditional with Displacement ? The Case of Colombia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9822, The World Bank.
    2. Arun Jentrick, 2023. "Women-Headed Households: Diversity and Dynamics in Post-Conflict Settings in South Asia," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(5), pages 1264-1277, May.
    3. Karimli, Leyla & Lecoutere, Els & Wells, Christine R. & Ismayilova, Leyla, 2021. "More assets, more decision-making power? Mediation model in a cluster-randomized controlled trial evaluating the effect of the graduation program on women's empowerment in Burkina Faso," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    4. Maneka Jayasinghe & Christine Smith, 2021. "Poverty Implications of Household Headship and Food Consumption Economies of Scales: A Case Study from Sri Lanka," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 157-185, May.

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