From missing brothers to educated sisters: The effects of victimization during the Rwandan genocide

How do civil conflicts affect female empowerment? I study the effects of household-level victimization during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda on the human capital of surviving children. Identification stems from differential mortality rates by age groups and sex. I construct a Bartik-style instrument for household-level victimization based on whether the siblings of a child are likely to be targeted during the genocide due to their demographic characteristics. Victimization leads to a large increase in schooling, especially for surviving girls relative to surviving boys. Victimization mostly takes the form of losing male siblings. These results can be explained by the impact of relief programs and by increased parental investments in the human capital of surviving children following the loss of a child. This paper underscores the role of education in empowering female survivors, highlighting that rapid reconstruction of educational infrastructure and targeted scholarship programs were essential in fostering female educational gains and mitigating the long-term impacts of victimization. • Household victimization led to a significant increase in years of education. • Educational gains were stronger for surviving female children than for males. • Results align with the quantity–quality tradeoff as victimization often involved sibling loss. • Relief programs contributed to these educational outcomes. • Reconstruction of the schooling system was key to post-conflict female empowerment.