A Common Sense of Humanity for Sudanese Women
Caroline Boudreau, Inter Pares; Neimat Kuku Mohammed, Gender Center for Research and Training (GCRT); Molly Kane, Inter Pares; Asha El Karib, GCRT.
Over the last three decades, life has drastically changed for Sudanese women. They live in a country where parity of salary was adopted in the 1960s, and where the women's movement was once a vital force within civil society. The fundamentalist military regime that came to power through a coup in 1989 dismantled the women's movement, and profoundly changed women's lives throughout Sudan.
Militarization and long-standing armed conflicts have deeply affected the daily lives of Sudanese women. Fundamentalist interpretations of the Koran are used to control women, and are given as reason for not ratifying the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Early marriages and widespread female genital mutilation (FGM) are among the factors that limit women's control over their own bodies, sexuality and lives.
With their growing concern about the deterioration of women's rights, six Sudanese women activists created the Gender Center for Research and Training (GCRT) in 1997. Steadfast in their belief in women's equality and the right of women to be active citizens participating fully in social, cultural, economic, and political life in a free and democratic Sudan, Asha, Neimat, Omaima and other colleagues from the Gender Center work together to make this vision a reality.
Their efforts do not go unnoticed. They have received threats, they have been harassed, the Gender Center has been closed down by Sudanese authorities and was forced to stop its activities several times. But the work of the Center has also been acclaimed by organizations in Sudan and internationally. In 2004, the Gender Center received the Betty Plewes Award from the Canadian Council for International Cooperation for its courageous and innovative work on gender and democracy.
Despite the risks and challenges, women and men involved with the Center continue working together to promote a better understanding of the situation for women in Sudan and women's participation in the process of social transformation. The Gender Center engages with other Sudanese NGOs and activists, and with lawyers, youth, women in political parties, and internally displaced women from various ethnic groups.
In 2003, the Gender Center undertook one of the first-ever research projects to document violence against women in Sudan. The Sudanese government, and Sudanese society more generally, still deny that violence against women even exists, and strongly condemn those who dare to raise the issue. The Gender Center's research led to the production of a documentary by Salmmah Resource Center presenting the structural and organized nature of this violence. The video, which includes testimonies of women who have been humiliated, burned with acid, or arrested because of the way they dress, has proven valuable in sparking discussion during community workshops on the effects of violence. Participants - both men and women - realize that these women could be their neighbours, relatives, or friends.
In its work on democracy and human rights, the Gender Center creates opportunities for women to exchange personal experiences about what human rights and democracy mean in their own lives. Human rights have a particular meaning for displaced women living in camps, struggling to feed their families, or for women tea-sellers who are regularly harassed by the local police in the markets where they work. For each of these women, human rights means the ability to live with dignity, without the threat of oppression and abuse.
In a country where women are the first victims of social exclusion and oppression, and where the reality of the control and constraints that they face is still denied, advocating for women to be fully recognized is a daily struggle. There can be no peace when a common sense of humanity is denied to the majority of the population. Women from the Gender Center, in collaboration with other women's groups in Sudan and in other countries, will continue their struggle against various forms of fundamentalism and oppression. Inter Pares is proud to work with these women who are claiming a different vision for their future.
In addition to the generous support of our donors, Inter Pares gratefully acknowledges the support and assistance of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the Roncalli International Foundation, the Howard Green Fund of the Vancouver Foundation, and the Canadian Auto Workers Union (CAW) Social Justice Fund, which have all contributed to the work of the Gender Center.
| Reviewed September 12, 2006 |  |
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