REFLECTIONS ON THE STRUGGLE FOR GIRLS' EDUCATION IN SUDAN (original) (raw)

The Dialectic between Global Gender Goals and Local Empowerment: girls’ education in Southern Sudan and South Africa

The start of the Education for All (EFA) movement ushered in a new era in education, an era linked to research on issues such as ‘global governance’ or the ‘world institutionalization of education’. This global governance not only affects the way in which educational systems are influenced, it also involves how we view and define various issues within education. One of the major goals of the EFA movement, which has been accepted as part of the global consensus of ‘what works’, is the focus on gender equality, and in particular on the role education can play in empowering women and girls. This article is an attempt to understand key issues related to gender and education, and in particular the objective is to provide a critical analysis of how the global consensus in relation to gender and empowerment can be understood in a local context. The data reported on here are from fieldwork conducted in Southern Sudan and South Africa, and in this article we attempt to shed light on the local realities in relation to global gender goals.

“Education Is My Mother and Father”: The “Invisible” Women of Sudan

Refuge: Canada's Journal on Refugees, 2012

Education plays a significant role in informing the way people develop gender values, identities, relationships, and stereotypes. The education of refugees, however, takes place in multiple and diverse settings. Drawing on a decade of field research in Kenya, Sudan, Uganda, and North America, I examine the promises and challenges of education for refugees and argue that southern Sudanese refugee women and girls experience gendered and unequal access to education in protracted refugee sites such as the Kakuma refugee camp, as well as in resettled destinations such as Massachusetts. Many of these refugees, who are commonly referred to as the “lost boys and girls,” did not experience schooling in the context of a stable family life; that is why they often reiterate the Sudanese proverb, “Education is my mother and father.” I argue that tertiary education is crucial because it promotes self-reliance. It enables refugees, particularly women, to gain knowledge, voice, and skills which wil...

Sliding doors on the protection of women’s rights in Islamic Africa. Feminisms in the plural and the fight for equality in SudanComitato di direzione / Steering committee

ISAIDAT. Law Review N. 2 2023 University of Turin, Italy., 2023

In countries that practice Islamic law by constitutional mandate, women's lives are severely affected both in the public and private spheres. Consequently, the different fe minist movements struggle to impose the gender perspective with varying results depen ding on the context. In this sense, it is possible to affirm that the role of Sharī’a in a na tional legal system depends not only on governance issues but on the level of acceptan ce or rejection of discriminatory measures and the alliances built to defend or contest them. In this article, a socio-legal study on the fight for equality in Sudan is featured ba sed on the feminist theory and the advocacy coalition framework. In addition to contri buting to the understanding of women’s agency in African Islamic countries, it illustra tes the complexities and challenges faced within the framework of the promotion and defense of the rule of law at the international level

Bridging the Gender Gap through Gender Difference: Aiding Patriarchy in South Sudan Education Reconstruction

Africa Education Review, 2019

the persistence of gender inequality in education in Africa is due to poverty, cultural beliefs and traditions linked to gender-role expectations. This article presents the findings of a study that evaluated the outcomes of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Gender Equity through Education (GEE) programme aimed at increasing the participation of girls in education through scholarship and mentoring activities in South Sudan. Using a convergent mixed-method design and feminist critique of gender difference in education approach as the theoretical framework, the study established that the GEE programme was only partially successful. though increased enrolment and completion of studies by female students in secondary schools and teacher training institutions was noted, the programme failed to deconstruct the prevailing gendered power relations that subordinate women and may have intuitively strengthened them. the programme sought to bring about changes in the educational milieu through modifications of policies and practices related to education access and retention rather than engage in a process leading to a seismic shift in attitudes towards gender in the society.

Navigating Gender Equality in Sudan: A Transformative Perspective amidst Conflict

DIALOGUE ACROSS BORDERS Center for Arab West Understanding, Cairo, Egypt, 2024

In countries where Islamic law or sharīʿa is constitutionally mandated, women experience significant impacts on their lives in both the public and private sphere. In Sudan, activists from different currents work hard to elevate their legal status with regard to Islamic jurisprudence and solve the most urgent issues. This article describes their quest and invites readers to see the ongoing war as an opportunity, highlighting its potential to foster new and vital alliances. The experiences of displaced women residing in Cairo serve as compelling examples of women advocacy in conflict and post-conflict societies.

GIRLS' EDUCATION POLICY IN SUDAN: CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS

Perkumpulan Manajer Pendidikan Islam (PERMAPENDIS) Indonesia, 2021

Girls' education in the 21st Century, is not only a women's issue it is a development issue. Girls' education is `positively correlated with increased economic productivity, more robust labor markets, higher earnings, and improved societal health and well-being. Nevertheless, Sudan has witnessed low development of girls' education because of the country's traditions. Parents tended to look upon girls' education with suspicion, if not fear, that it would corrupt the morals of their daughters. Moreover, preference was given to sons, who, by education, could advance in society to the pride and profit of their family. Therefore, this study aimed to assess girls' education policy in Sudan. In doing so, this study followed a descriptive qualitative approach to the type of library research in which the data collection technique was carried out based on literature data. The study confirmed that there are several barriers to girls' education in Sudan including economic factors (i.e. cost of educational materials, girls are needed at home to contribute to the household economy), cultural factors (early marriages, tradition, and customs), and school factors (motivation as the lack of female role models). The researcher suggests that the authorities should enforce laws against the marriage of young girls. In addition, schools should be built in such a way that they are close to villages, allowing girls to attend. Furthermore, the nomads should be given lectures to be aware of the necessity of girls' education.

Women at a Crossroads: Sudanese Women and Political Transformation

The ‘Arab Spring’ is a nuanced phenomenon of significance to African democracy and women’s rights in Sudan – north and south. Political transformation processes underway in post revolution Arab states simultaneously give voice to human rights advocates and rise to Islamist political groups. The reverberating trend presents a risk of deepening Islamist governance in Sudan and reinforcing patriarchal patterns of kinship in South Sudan. It also offers opportunity, north and south, for Sudanese women to form a common agenda, engage politically, promote a vibrant civil society, challenge human rights violations and develop a voice through participation. Given the Islamist upsurge in the region, a review of literature highlights what women in post-revolution Arab states have reported back in terms of the effect the popular uprisings have had on their rights. In light of the outcomes, approaches are advanced that will strengthen Sudanese women’s movements and better position them to exploit opportunity for progress in the period of political transformation on the horizon in Sudan and South Sudan.