Trapped on the margins: social characteristics, economic conditions, and reproductive behaviour of internally displaced women in urban Mozambique

Using survey and ethnographic data collected in Maputo, Mozambique, in 1993, this study focuses on the socio-economic and reproductive characteristics of a group of women who were forced to flee from rural areas to Maputo as a result of a prolonged civil conflict. The study finds that due to adverse individual and contextual factors, displaced women are spatially and socially isolated and economically marginalized in that urban setting. Religious participation offers one of the few channels for their integration into the mainstream society, but its effectiveness is questioned. The social isolation of this group of women is demonstrated by their reproductive and contraceptive characteristics. Although internally displaced women may eventually adjust to the urban environment, their disadvantaged situation may make this adjustment particularly lengthy and painful.