‘Better to be raped than to be killed’: A gendered analysis of internal displacement in Burkina Faso

Why a gendered analysis of internal displacement and conflict is crucial to understand the current humanitarian crisis in Burkina Faso and to escape false dichotomies of pre-, post- and during conflict ruptures

Published on November 17, 2021

Josefine Brons | genida, IDPs, Hosts, Gender, Social Cohesion, Africa

Burkina Faso is experiencing one of the fastest growing internal displacement crises in the world, currently counting 1.5 million internally displaced persons (IDPs). 80% of the displaced population is made up of women and children. Struggling with insecurity due to attacks from international and local armed groups in the Sahel, domestic political instability, climate change and deeply rooted farmer-herder conflicts, Burkina Faso’s population, displaced or not, is facing a complex humanitarian crisis that shows little signs of abating.

Since research into internal displacement in Burkina Faso is still scarce, this paper attempts to develop an initial analysis. It takes a gendered approach to understand how different social groups are affected by internal displacement, how they adapt to a context of crisis and to what extent gender helps us reveal continuities of violence and solidarity. Gender, rather than an essentialised category of being, is used as a frame for understanding social relations. The aim is to analyse how gender shapes experiences of displacement, violence, and solidarity among IDP and host populations in Burkina Faso today.

Starting with the continued stigmatisation of rape (survivors), the paper moves on to interrogate negative coping mechanisms of displaced communities, including the link between early and forced marriages and host-displaced community relationships, the gendered dimension of social cohesion, and survival sex work. In a third section that focuses on decision-making processes, it will take a closer look at female-headed households, mobility, and women support networks. Finally, the paper will consider forced recruitment as a form of gender-based violence and examine women’s involvement in combat. It will be argued that a gendered analysis of internal displacement and conflict is crucial to understanding the current humanitarian crisis in Burkina Faso and escaping false dichotomies of pre-, post and conflict ruptures.

Josefine Brons is a graduate student in International Affairs at Sciences Po Paris and the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She previously worked at UNHCR’s Regional Bureau for West and Central Africa in Dakar, Senegal.

This paper was written by the author during her Summer Fellowship on Internal Displacement at the Internal Displacement Research Programme at the Refugee Law Initiative. The Fellowship was supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, on behalf of the UKRI Global Challenge Research Fund, as part of the funded project “Interdisciplinary Network on Internal Displacement, Conflict and Protection” (AH/T005351/1).

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