| Abstract | 
            Between 1996 and 2006, Nepal experienced violent civil conflict as a consequence  of a  Maoist insurgency, which many argue also brought about an increase in female  empowerment. This paper exploits within and between-district variation in the intensity of  violence to estimate the impact of conflict intensity on two key areas of the life of women in  Nepal, namely education and marriage. Overall conflict intensity had a small, positive effect  on female educational attainment, whereas abductions by Maoists had the reverse effect. Male  schooling was not significantly affected by either conflict measure.  Conflict intensity and  Maoist abductions during school age both increased the probability of early female marriage,  but exposure to conflict during marriageable age does not appear to have affected women’s  long-term marriage probability.  |