1 Conflict, Livelihood and Poverty in Sri Lanka: A Gendered Economic Analysis 1 First Draft [March 31, 2010] Kopalapillai Amirthalingam 2 Department of Economics University of Colombo Sri Lanka Rajith W.D. Lakshman Department of Economics University of Colombo Sri Lanka Abstract The high level of poverty in the North and East of Sri Lanka has been linked to the nearly 3 decades of civil conflict. In this paper we examine the gendered aspects of impoverishment in Batticaloa district from the Eastern Province in Sri Lanka. We did extensive fieldwork in five Grama Sevaka (GS) divisions in Batticaloa district which yielded information on 153 Tamil households. There were 654 individuals in our sample consisting of 207 income earners (39 females and 168 males). The field visits were done in April, 2008, a few months after GoSL declared the Eastern Province under its control. The results show statistically significant differences in female and male income levels (female Rs. 8,190 males Rs.14,024). A closer examination reveals that this horizontal inequality is strongly related to education. We also examine the gendered nature of household level livelihoods by comparing the 22 female-headed and 131 male-headed households. These results indicate that the end of war will not automatically improve the livelihoods of the impoverished peoples as long as the educational differences are there. This result capitulate an important policy implication for the post-war reconstruction and rehabilitation of these areas. Keywords: Livelihoods; Conflict; Poverty; Gender; Sri Lanka; Vulnerability; Education; Political Assets; livelihood framework 1 The authors are grateful for research assistance of Konanayagam Navanithani, Mahenthirarajah Sumathi, Muththulingam Namasivayam, Sinnarajah Pragash, Sivarajah Logini and Veluppillai Matharasi. The usual caveat applies. 2 Corresponding author Tel: +94 11 2582666; Fax: +94 11 2502722; Email Address: kamirthalingam@econ.cmb.ac.lk