The problem inherent in the international discourse on gender and peace building is that it presupposes a common agenda among all women across religion, ethnicity and class in any given post-conflict situation. The existing literature seems to express the belief that as long as women are included in political decision-making institutions, their representation will ensure that the situation for all women, from the elite to the grassroots, will improve. Women’s political participation is regarded as not only desirable but vital to the advancement of gender equality. This report explores the validity of this position in the context of women’s representation in Sudan, a multi-religious country with a long history of civil war between the Muslim north and the predominantly non-Muslim south (1983-2005).
This raises two questions:
- To what extent are Sudanese elite women’s perceptions of gender equality unitary?
- To what extent do Sudanese elite women represent grassroots women’s priorities and attitudes?
The report builds on fieldwork conducted in Khartoum, Sudan in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. The approach of this project is twofold and multidisciplinary. The report examines attitudes towards gender equality both among Muslim women in the elite and among the grassroots. The project links elite and grassroots perspectives, thus attempting to overcome generalizing either/or perspectives where elites tend to be demonized or the grassroots tend to be overlooked or rendered insignificant. The authors have been in contact with a diverse set of women’s organizations and political parties.
The report’s findings from Sudan suggest that Muslim female activists are disunited and politicized. In contrast to what the discourse on women and peacebuilding suggests, women in parliament have not been able to bridge the political and religious divides and stand together as women in order to reform laws in a more gender-equitable direction. Sudanese Muslim women’s perception of gender equality is not unitary. Whereas liberal Muslim activists advocate for gender equality in all areas of law, conservative Muslim activists do not deem gender equality either necessary or desirable. They all frame their arguments within Islam, offering different interpretations of Islamic law (Sharia).
