Nyakeri Jerida Gati2026-02-172026-02-172025http://41.89.96.81:4000/handle/123456789/3519Border conflicts significantly reshape women‘s roles, altering traditional responsibilities and creating new social dynamics. This study examined the effect of border conflicts on selected women's roles among the Kuria East Community in Migori County, Kenya. The main objective was to assess how border conflicts affect women‘s socio-cultural and economic roles. Specific objectives included establishing women‘s socio-cultural and economic roles, assessing border conflicts‘ effect on socio-cultural roles, examining their effect on economic roles, and establishing post-conflict coping mechanisms. The study employed Feminist Conflict Theory with a descriptive mixed methods approach. The target population comprised 42,000 Kuria women aged 18 and above in conflict-affected areas, with a sample size of 224 respondents. Data collection involved structured questionnaires administered to Women participants, semi- structured interviews with key informants including community leaders and local administrators, and documentary review of relevant reports and records. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics while qualitative data was analyzed using thematic analysis to identify patterns related to role transformations. Results revealed that women‘s traditional roles were concentrated in cultural transmission (mean=3.55) and household management (mean=3.52) but limited in community decision making (mean=l.99). Border conflicts severely disrupted women‘s socio-cultural lives, with 67.8% experiencing affected family relationships and 59.9% reporting reduced ceremonial participation. Economic effects were devastating, with 69.8% losing market access and 64.4% forced to change farming practices, while only 22.2% developed new economic skills. Coping mechanisms relied primarily on community-based initiatives (mean=3.l9 for peace dialogues) rather than ineffective institutional support (mean=2.33 for government programs). The study concluded that border conflicts fundamentally disrupted women's traditional roles while failing to create meaningful empowerment opportunities, resulting in increased burdens without corresponding gains in formal authority. Women demonstrated remarkable agency through grassroots coping strategies but operated within severely constrained circumstances where institutional support proved inadequate. The study recommends establishing targeted support programs, reforming peacebuilding policies to include women‘s voices, implementing NGO interventions in conflict epicenters, developing economic recovery programs, and creating transparent aid distribution mechanisms working directly with women‘s groups.enWomen rolesThesis