Before, During, and After Conflict

Rhetorical reference to the situations of women before armed conflict are abound, but there has been little detailed analysis of how women’s prewar status and experiences relate to their conflict experiences or affects the manner in which they are treated in the transitional phase. This chapter explores that terrain with some rather robust caveats rooted in overarching methodological and empirical constraints. The chapter is organized as follows. Section one commences with a focus on the importance and availability of multidimensional statistical information available to map effectively women’s status across numerous social and economic contexts. Section two explores the methods available to extrapolate women’s economic, social, and legal status from the limited quantitative and qualitative data sources available. Section three examines the gender of social capital, with some specific extrapolation from data from health and education contexts. The chapter concludes by examining various data sources setting out a state by state ranking on women’s status and well-being across multiple factors.