The impact of hosting refugees on the intra‐household allocation of tasks: A gender perspective

• Author: Isabel Ruiz,Carlos Vargas‐Silva
• Date: 01 November 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/rode.12383
• Published date: 01 November 2018

SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE

The impact of hosting refugees on the intra-

household allocation of tasks: A gender perspective

Isabel Ruiz

1

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Carlos Vargas-Silva

2

1

Harris Manchester College, University

of Oxford, U.K.

2

Centre on Migration, Policy and

Society, University of Oxford, U.K

Correspondence

Isabel Ruiz, Harris Manchester College,

University of Oxford, Mansfield Road,

Oxford OX1 3TD, U.K.

Email: isabel.ruiz@economics.ox.ac.uk

Funding Information

This paper has received support from

UNU-WIDER.

Abstract

This paper examines whether the presence of refugees

alters the intra-household allocation of tasks across gen-

ders in the hosting population. Using panel data (pre- and

post-refugee inflow) from Kagera, a rural region of Tan-

zania, we find that the refugee shock led to women being

less likely to engage in employment outside the house-

hold and more likely to engage in household chores rela-

tive to men. This is probably the result of the

environmental degradation that accompanied the arrival

of refugees and the additional competition for natural

resources such as wood and water. However, the results

differ by (pre-shock) literacy and math skill. For women

who could read and perform simple written mathematical

operations the refugee shock resulted in a higher likeli-

hood of engaging in outside employment. In contrast,

higher exposure to the refugee shock resulted in illiterate

women being more likely to engage in farming and

household chores.

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INTRODUCTION

This paper examines the impact of refugee inflows on the intra-household allocation of tasks of

the hosting population, paying particular attention to the differences of this impact across the gen-

ders. While there is a growing interest in estimating the economic impacts of hosting refugees

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This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution

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©2018 UNU-WIDER. Review of Development Economics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd

DOI: 10.1111/rode.12383

Rev Dev Econ. 2018;22:1461–1490. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/rode

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(Azevedo, Yang, & Kaan Inan, 2016; Balkan & Tumen, 2016; Del Carpio & Wagner, 2015; Ruiz

& Vargas-Silva, 2013, 2015, 2016; Tumen, 2016; among others), we know little about the conse-

quences of refugee inflows on different household members. In addition, the literature on the gender-

specific impacts of immigration is focused on high-income countries (Barone & Mocetti, 2011;

Cortes & Tessada, 2011; Furtado, 2015). This limits our understanding of the potential conse-

quences of hosting refugees, since, according to the United Nations High Commission for Refu-

gees (UNHCR), over 80 per cent of refugees worldwide are located in neighboring developing

countries (UNHCR, 2016).

We use panel survey data from Kagera—a rural region of Tanzania—for the analysis. In the

early 1990s, Burundi and Rwanda experienced major conflicts that resulted in hundreds of thou-

sands of casualties (Bundervoet, 2009; Daley, 2008; Kondylis, 2008; Martin & Hiddleston, 2006;

Ruiz, Siegel, & Vargas-Silva, 2015). Over one million residents of these two countries sought

refuge in Western Tanzania during the 1990s and 2000s, and in some regions refugees outnum-

bered natives five to one (Whitaker, 2002). Because of its geographic location, Kagera was one of

the main destinations of refugees.

The focus on the gender consequences of hosting refugees is important for several reasons. For

instance, the arrival of refugees in rural areas often leads to greater demand for resources such as

firewood and water, resulting in deforestation of areas close to refugee settlements. In fact, refu-

gees have often been categorized as “resource degraders”(Jacobsen, 1997).

1

In rural Tanzania it is

common for households to collect firewood for cooking and fetch drinking water on a frequent

basis—tasks that are typically the responsibility of women (Leavens & Anderson, 2011). Addi-

tional time spent on these tasks can restrict their involvement in income-generating activities (Ellis,

Blackden, Cutura, MacCulloch, & Seebens, 2007; Whitaker, 1999). While household members

share income to some extent, evidence suggests that those who earn the income have greater bar-

gaining power over spending and resource allocation (Antman, 2014; Attanasio & Lechene, 2002;

Bobonis, 2009; Duflo, 2003; Duflo & Udry, 2004). Consequently, more time dedicated to house-

hold chores, as a result of the presence of refugees, could affect the control of local women over

household spending and other key decisions.

In contrast local women could employ refugees willing to work for low pay to help with house-

hold chores (including collecting firewood and fetching water) and dedicate more time to income-

generating activities. This would result in greater autonomy of local women and potentially g reater

control over household spending decisions. Reports suggest that in some areas close to the camps,

the wage rate for casual work decreased by 50 per cent after the arrival of the refugees (Whitaker,

2002) and there is evidence that refugees substituted for casual local workers (Ruiz & Var gas-

Silva, 2016).

We would also expect the impact of refugees to differ across skill levels. There is a large litera-

ture for high-income countries showing that immigration has a different impact across skill groups

(Dustmann, Frattini, & Preston, 2013; Giuntella, Mazzonna, Nicodemo, & Vargas-Silva, 2016).

Some of these studies have explored this difference in impact from a gender perspective and sug-

gest that low-skilled immigration has a positive impact on the labor supply of higher-skilled

women (Cortes & Tessada, 2011). In addition, Amuedo-Dorantes and Sevilla (2014) find that the

presence of low-skilled migration has a gender impact with women adjusting their time uses on

household activities. A similar dynamic could occur in the case of refugee inflows in a low-income

country. Particularly, in this setting, even basic literacy could make a difference. For instance, liter-

ate women are less likely to compete with refugees in the labor market and could take advantage

of new work opportunities (e.g., administrative work for camps or in international or nongovern-

mental organizations) and of the cheaper labor supply represented by refugees to help with

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