The SWGU believes that comprehensive development and planning processes can only be realised through the promotion of women’s empowerment. To achieve this goal, the SWGU established a coordination mechanism with one of the biggest Sudanese federal ministries, the Ministry for Social Planning (MSP) and, in particular, the National Council for Social Planning (NCSP), at both national and state levels. Through fundamental empowerment activities women not only participated but also lead those institutions functionally related to the National Economic Planning Council (NEPC). Accordingly, all work was harmonised to pursue the set of goals stated in the Comprehensive Poverty Reduction Strategy (CPRS). Since women’s concerns are varied, numerous, and interdisciplinary in nature, the SWGU officially directed it efforts towards the promotion of women’s causes while unofficially targeting the whole spectrum of governmental institutions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), rather than limiting its efforts by trying to establish a ministry for women’s affairs.
Essay from the year 2003 in the subject Health - Miscellaneous, grade: A (1,0), University of London (Institute of Education), course: Basisgesundheitswesen in Entwicklungslaendern, language: English, abstract: [...] Concurrently, the profound gender inequity of the world’s resource distribution, a key determinant of health, contiues: “Women are half the world’s population, yet they do two-thirds of the world’s work, earn one-tenth of the world’s income, and own less than one-hundredth of the world’s property (UN, 1985:337)” This is true particularly in low- income countries, where the majority of girls and women are deprived of adequate health care, education and decision-making power, leading to illiteracy, malnutrition, abuse, chronic illness and premature death (The World Bank, 1994; UN, 2000). Current news headlines echo this problem: African women are 175 times more likely to die in childbirth and pregnancy than Westerners are (BBC news, 20 October 2003). Sudan, a country marked by extreme poverty due to chronic civil war, compounded by natural disasters, also reflects these gender inequities. The few statistics available show a lower primary education enrolment ratio for girls (41.9); a high maternal mortality ratio of 1500 (per 100 000 live births) and only 10% of parliament seats are taken up by women (UN, 2003). 6 The denial of women’s equity and health rights has profound consequences upon the health, development and survival of children. Research across the developing world indicates that, after maternal death, more than 95% of infants died within one year, with a girl child having an even less chance of survival than a boy (The World Bank 1994; Winikoff, 1988). Clearly, girls and women need to be the focus of all PHC initiatives if public health is to be enhanced. Focussing upon women in order to improve health is not a recent notion, but has been promoted since the UN sponsored Women’s Decade in 1976-85 (Moser, 1993). Thus, the question arises why only minor success appear to be noticeable, and how this conceptual framework can be applied into the context of a complex emergency like in Sudan. Therefore, this essay will firstly outline the evolution of a gender approach towards health and development, elucidating its underlying principles, objectives and achievements. It will briefly explicate the socio-economic and cultural context of a Dinka community in Southern Sudan through a ‘gender lens’ and critically reflect upon PHC programmes, with reference to the author’s personal work experience.
Several key gender issues likely act as an impediment to poverty reduction and shared prosperity in Sudan. While many of these issues are common across countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa region, some of them are accentuated by the status of Sudan as a fragile state. Fragility and conflict negatively affect men and women in different ways, resulting in gender-specific disadvantages. While men are often disproportionately affected by the direct effects of conflict (for example, death and disability), women and girls are affected by a range of constraints and protection challenges that fragility and conflict pose. These issues include disrupted access to basic social services and infrastructure, lower access to productive assets, displacement, and increased exposure to gender-based violence (GBV). This study aims to examine how gender equality has evolved in Sudan during the last decade, by looking at different dimensions. These include the accumulation of endowment in all its forms (human capital [education and health] and physical capital), access to economic opportunities (labor market opportunities and access to income-generating activities), access to services (water, sanitation, and electricity), and voice/representation to make decision at all levels. The study will highlight the areas in which gender inequality persists and propose policies to reduce gender inequality in Sudan.
This research utilizes Sudanese university application and admissions data for the academic years 2015-16 and 2016-17 to examine gender-related differences in various factors. including geographical factors (state or origin, state of preferred and admitting university), performance factors (GPA ranking, acceptance percentages) and preference factors (preferred/admitted field of study). Bachelor's (4-year degree) and diploma (2-3 year degree) data are examined separately. A graphical data analysis methodology (implemented in R software) is used to clearly represent relationships and trends in the variables. Results show that in many aspects of university education Sudanese women enjoy near parity with men, and in some respects hold the advantage. Women in Sudan surpass in education and medical fields but lag in business, law, and economics. Women lag especially in engineering fields, although participation rates are comparable to those found in the U.S. and appear to reflect women's own preferences and priorities rather than systemic bias. Gender inequalities are highly regional in nature, and less-developed areas and conflict areas in Sudan. tend to produce a lower proportion of women students in Sudan. We conclude that increasing the number of high-quality universities in areas where women are under-represented may improve the rate of women's participation, as women are less likely than men to leave their home state to attend university.
