Anri Sakakibara
IBD Amphi
AMU - AMSE
5-9 boulevard Maurice Bourdet
13001 Marseille
Lucie Giorgi: lucie.giorgi[at]univ-amu.fr
Ricardo Guzman: ricardo.guzman[at]univ-amu.fr
Natalia Labrador: natalia.labrador-bernate[at]univ-amu.fr
Nathan Vieira: nathan.vieira[at]univ-amu.fr
War-induced demographic shocks have been shown to increase female labour force participation (FLFP). However, existing evidence predominantly stems from developed nations which may not fully capture the dynamics in developing contexts due to differing levels of economic development and institutional frameworks. To explore the effect of conflict on female labour market outcomes in developing countries, this paper examines the impact of the Vietnam War on women's labour market outcomes 14 to 43 years after its conclusion. To this end, I match comprehensive historical data on ordnance deployed by the United States in Vietnam to microdata and leverage an OLS and difference-in-differences empirical strategy. Going from the 1st to 3rd quantile in exposure to ordnance increases the probability of Southern women working by 6 percentage points. I also find that this effect is persistent until present day. On the other hand, I find no effect of exposure to ordnance on the probability of working for Northern women, and all men throughout Vietnam. I further explore whether an increase in FLFP in the South was driven by higher demand for female labour due to a shortage in male workers. Using the Vietnam Enterprise Survey, I conclude that female labour supply increased without concomitant increase in demand; firm located in Southern provinces which experienced higher exposure to ordnance did not exhibit a lower ratio of male to female workers. Instead, I find that Southern women started their own businesses given the low demand in female labour. Going from the 1st to the 3rd quantile in exposure to ordnance increases the share of female-founded firms by 4.68 percentage points in 2016.