OPPRESSION OF WOMEN,FEAR OF CHANGE,AND NEED FOR SURVIVAL:A CASE OF CONFLICT-INDUCED INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS IN DISTRICT JAFFARABAD,BALOCHISTAN,PAKISTAN

Abstract

The humanitarian emergencies offer prospects for shifting gendered power structures, patriarchal norms, and ideas around performing masculinities and femininities by unsettling existing traditional gender roles and expectations. This study examines how conflict displacement of internally displaced persons in District Jaffarabad, Balochistan, Pakistan, leads to changes in their survival strategies and contributes to changes in their gender roles. Displacement has provided new opportunities for women, albeit at the cost of adding new roles to their existing roles. As a result, they have taken on non-traditional roles and assumed the financial responsibilities of their families. However, women’s increased economic responsibilities are apparently temporary because the conflict-induced displacement has limited men’s access to resources and prevented them from fulfilling their traditional role as providers for their families. This study suggests that although displacement has weakened the gendered norms and disrupted traditional gender roles and created new opportunities for women, it has been unable to alter the deeply embedded patriarchal structures and norms.