Women's Forum

EDUCATION GENDER DISCRIMINATION IN SUDAN

Ihsan el-Gaddal Saeed

Published in The Sudanese Human Rights Quarterly Issue No. 4, December 1996

Women together with men endure their share of social injustice, however, the share of women is much larger than that of men. Women’s cause is mainly about rehabilitating the women fort the best enjoyment and practice of their rights, rather than the legal acknowledgment of these rights. The contentious aspect of discrimination that is based on gender in education is seen as an internationally provoking central and vital issue whether for governments or NGOs. Despite this focal interest, gender discrimination is not yet met with sufficient practical measures to tackle the issue, as is the case in many countries, including Sudan. It is not far from the truth to say that the level of female education in the Sudan has witnessed obvious progress lately in relevance to the past. This progress does not negate the fact that women in Sudan are indeed suffering low education services more than men do. The opportunities available for the women in the field of education are much more less than those available for men.

These issues are addressed in this discussion:

• The relationship between education and development focusing on women’s education.
• The relationship between the phenomenon of gender inequality with respect to the economic, social, and political situation of the Sudan.
• The consequences of the phenomenon and its impact on the development and progress of Sudan.
• The appropriate possible approaches and suggested measures for tackling this phenomenon.
• The UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)

Article 10 of CEDAW says that the States signatory to the Covenant should take the appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women. States must grant them equal rights with men in the field of education with its different levels and provide them with equal opportunities and access to full and comprehensive education. This should include access of the elderly to literacy programs, precisely those that aim at closing the gap between male and female education and eliminating the traditional perception of male and female roles.

The cause of women’s education is only one aspect of the cause of women as a whole. It has been one of the major conflicts since old decades to the present time. Women, in fact, are abused in a dual manner. First when they are dealt with as inferior compared to a male superiority the moment a female is born. A Sudanese friend gave birth to a girl child. He was told, "Never mind! This is the Will of God." When a boy is born celebrations would last for a week.

The second aspect of women’s abuse begins when a woman starts participating in the public life. Here women are discriminated against on the basis of sex as they are already abused as inferior to men. Even though women constitute almost half of the world’s population, women over the world share the same responsibility of giving birth besides the process of domestic decision making in the home that is the so-called "kingdom of women." This situation continues unabated despite the astounding progression of women movements in many countries.

In the USA, according to UN statistics, the percentage of the women occupying executive, economic, and political positions is no more than 11 percent. Women percentage was 4.5% in the United Kingdom and 3.4% in France. In 1992, moreover, there were 57 elected women representatives in the British Parliament compared to 593 men representatives bearing in mind that the total number of women in Great Britain exceeded that of men with a 5% at the time.

In the USA women representation in the US Congress is only 5.1. The average of women wages is only 70% of men wages although they perform the same type and amount of work as that performed by men. In developing nations, including 22 African countries, we do not find any women’s representation in Senate councils whatever. In the last Sudanese democratically elected parliament, the women representatives were only two compared to 301 men representatives. The majority of women in Africa are less paid than men are even though they work with a rate of 70 hours per week compared to 48 hours of men’s work.

The purpose of highlighting all these statistics is to conclude that the injustices inflicted on women in any aspect of their lives are impartial to their cause as a whole. This could be the reason that the UN Women’s Decade 1995-19985 and what came out of it, mainly CEDAW, was not formulated on the basis of a wide scope of social perception and analysis. This is a scope that should link up equality with social and economic perspectives of comprehensive development.

Continued in Quarterly. We will publish the entire article soon.