Expressing agency and coping strategies during Yemen’s armed conflict: a case study of women beneficiaries’ responses to an enhanced resilience program

This study highlights the importance of strengthening women’s agency in Yemen, given that they are disproportionately affected by the ongoing civil war. Women-headed households, already vulnerable because of pre-existing gendered inequalities, face a complex task in balancing the demands of survival against the unequal sociocultural expectations placed upon them. I argue that their main coping strategies for surviving and maintaining livelihoods are simultaneously demonstrations of women’s agency that navigates social constraints through a degree of compliance with communal norms within a conservative context. Using the context of an Enhanced Resilience Program, I investigated how women in two governorates run by the Ansar Allah (Houthis) and the internationally recognized government were able to demonstrate some resilience despite the program’s shortcomings. I identified how women’s engagement in problem-solving mechanisms, support-seeking, cognitive and behavioral escape-avoidance, and religious coping strategies were also implicitly expressions of agency, which could have been accounted for in designing humanitarian interventions. Thus, I emphasize how humanitarian actors must recognize, support, and amplify women’s agency through gender-sensitive and inclusive interventions. These may not only enhance individual wellbeing but also contribute to broader societal stability and resilience in conflict zones.