Explores patterns and causes of female headship of households among the three major ethnic communities in Eastern Sri Lanka: Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim. Argues that female headed households are an enduring feature, not a temporary product of war, and that policies should aim at letting women help...

Focuses on the emerging social group of female-headed households among the Sinhalese in Eastern Sri Lanka. Outlines perceptions of ethnicity in Sri Lanka and examines the indirect costs of ethnic conflict among the Sinhala, Tamils and Muslims. Highlights female-heads' coping strategies, economic...

For the last twenty years, eastern Sri Lanka has witnessed a bitter and bloody civil conflict. This paper explores the experience of female-headed households in the region. Only partially the product of war, such households cannot be bundled together as a social problem with a single solution....