Civilian displacement is a common phenomenon in developing countries confronted with internal conflict. While displacement directly affects forced migrants, it also contributes to deteriorating labour conditions of vulnerable groups in receiving communities. For the displaced population, the income losses are substantial, and as they migrate to cities, they usually end up joining the informal labour force. Qualitative evidence reveals that displaced women are better suited to compete in urban labour markets, as their labour experience is more relevant with respect to certain urban low-skilled occupations. Our study uses this exogenous change in female labour force participation to test how it affects female bargaining power within the household. Our results show that female displaced women work longer hours, earn similar wages and contribute in larger proportions to household earnings relative to rural women who remain in rural areas.
