This paper examines individual-level deprivations of women and men in forcibly displaced households and host communities, as well as intrahousehold inequalities, building on prior analysis of the tailored Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) in Ethiopia, Northeast Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan. The MPI measures deprivations in education, health, living standards, and financial security, by combining 15 indicators across these four dimensions. For the six individual-level indicators (years of schooling, school attendance, pregnancy care, early marriage, legal identification, and unemployment) spanning the education, health, and financial security dimensions, the authors identify which household members are deprived: their gender and their age, and what proportion of eligible household members are deprived. The analysis draws on household survey data in the five countries[1].
Main results:
- In Ethiopia, there are statistically significant gender gaps in school attendance among the refugee population (3 percentage points for all refugee households, 5 percentage points for MPI poor refugee households), with girls more deprived than boys. Among poor refugee households, there is a statistically significant gender gap in employment, with men 12 percentage points more deprived than women, which may reflect low rates of female participation in the labor force. In the host population, there is a statistically significant gender gap in access to legal documentation (11 percent for all host households), with women more deprived than men. Compared to men, early marriage rates are significantly higher among women in both refugee and host populations, regardless of whether they are MPI poor or not.
- In Nigeria, there are no statistically significant gender gaps in education. Women are, however, more likely to be deprived in employment regardless of their displacement status, but among the poor, this gender gap only holds for displaced women. There is a statistically significant gender gap in access to legal documentation, with women 5 percentage points more deprived in both IDP and non-displaced households. Early marriage rates are significantly higher among women than among men in both IDP and host populations, regardless of whether they are MPI poor or not.
- In Somalia, there are no statistically significant gender gaps in education. There are stark differences in deprivation levels by displacement status, e.g., over 95 percent of displaced individuals are deprived in the years of schooling indicator, compared to around 60 percent of host individuals. Women are more deprived in employment only among the non-displaced population, and the gap is larger among the poor. The gender gaps in legal identification are significant only among the non-poor population, where women are more deprived overall. Early marriage rates are significantly higher among women in both IDP and host populations, regardless of whether they are MPI poor or not.
- In South Sudan, gender gaps in education are significant only for the host community, when comparing men and women’s rates of primary school completion and school attendance among poor children. There are no statistically significant gender gaps in employment. Gender gaps in access to legal documentation are significant across all groups, but higher in the displaced population. Early marriage rates are significantly higher among women in both IDP and host populations, regardless of whether they are MPI poor or not, but the gender gaps are particularly high for displaced women.
- In Sudan, gender gaps in education and financial security are statistically significant only in the non-poor population. Deprivations are higher for male hosts for the primary school completion indicator and for female hosts in the legal identification indicator. Women are more deprived in access to employment in both displaced and host communities. Early marriage rates are significantly higher among women in both IDP and host populations, regardless of whether they are MPI poor or not, though the gaps are larger in absolute terms among the poor.
- Forcibly displaced individuals do experience higher levels of intrahousehold inequality than their non-displaced peers in deprivations like school attendance and legal identification, but gender may be the more important predicting factor in chronic deprivations.
These findings suggest that displacement status most affects the deprivation status of households, whereas gender drives differences in deprivations within households. The authors suggest that the indicators analyzed in the individual and intrahousehold analysis – school attendance, primary school completion, unemployment, and legal identification – can be targeted by government policies and programs to improve the situation for those who are multidimensionally poor at a more granular, gender-sensitive level.
[1] In Ethiopia, the Skills Profile Survey (2017) sampled refugees in and around camps in the Tigray, Afar, Gambella, Benishangul Gumuz, and Somali regions. In Nigeria, the IDP Survey (2018) sampled IDPs and host communities in six northeastern states (Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba, and Yobe). In Somalia, the High Frequency Survey (2017) sampled IDPs and host communities in secure parts of the country. In Sudan, the IDP Profiling Survey (2018) sampled IDPs and neighboring host communities in the Abu Shouk and El Salam camps, in Al-Fashir. And in South Sudan, the High Frequency Survey Wave 4 (2017) sampled IDPs and host communities in urban areas of seven of the ten pre-war states (Western Equatoria, Central Equatoria, Eastern Equatoria, Northern Bahr-El-Ghazl, Western Bahr-El-Ghazal, Warrap, Lakes state).