The history of women and gender in
the Republic of the Sudan

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The social history in general of the Republic of Sudan

The Back Door to Abortion Opens Wider

By Nhial Bol, IPS, 11 June 1997. Illegal abortion is on the increase in the Sudan. Despite 42-year-old ban, women and young girls still resort to back door operations to rid themselves of unwanted pregnancies. The prevalence of abortion is high among displaced women, sex workers, girls from poor communities, and rural women. The high cost of living and the strict religious codes encourages illegal abortion.

Rising crime among women

Sudan News & Views, June 1997. A two-day workshop on crime, held in Khartoum, highlighted the increasing crime rate among Sudanese women. Women are involved in drug operations, financial mismanagement, murder, illegal abortions, looting of cattle, as well as being involved in the tribal conflicts and armed robbery in western Sudan.

Muslim Clerics Fight Moves to Eradicate FGM

By Nhial Bol, IPS, 25 June 1998. Islamic clerics have urged the people to resist a new campaign by a group of non-governmental organisations in the country to challenge the age-old practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). About 65 percent of the women in the Sudan have undergone FGM, also referred to as female circumcision. The clergyman urged Sudan’s 60 percent Moslem community to resist Western culture and to uphold their traditional practices.

Hunger, Poverty Force Widows To Give Up Children In Sudan

By Nhial Bol, IPS, 19 November 1998. The children, aged 6-11, have found themselves abandoned as a result of the conflict between the government forces and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). Death of husbands; reduced standard of living; hunger.

Islamic costumes for women, including tourists

ArabicNews, 6 January 1999. The Sudanese government has decided to make Islamic dress obligatory. Women visitors to the country will also be asked to wear proper dress: wear a scarf and cover their legs and thighs according to the Islamic practice. The desision does not apply to the mixed South.

Sudanese Women As War Victims

By Yahya El-Hassan, Panafrican News Agency, 6 March 2000. About 1.8 million southerners, mostly women and childen, were forced by the prolonged strife to desert their villages and townships and flock to refuges in the North. This situation forces women to compete for the very limited opportunities available, such as washers and maids. The rest opt for the brewing of local gin (araqi), or prostitution.