The Gendering of Sudan’s Brutal War

[John Ashworth]

The Gendering of Sudan’s Brutal War

Any analysis of the sexual violence and unfolding genocide must
highlight the extent to which the media is still using an orientalist
gaze to report on the war in Sudan

By Nafisa Bedri and Tamsin Bradley
The Cairo Review of Global Affairs
Spring 2024

The roots of Sudan’s current conflict can be traced to 2019, when a
popular revolution removed the previous president (who had ruled for
nearly three decades) and replaced him with a civilian government. Two
armed groups, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support
Forces (RSF), collaborated to help bring down the president, but later
pushed out the civilian government and instituted military rule. The
two militias turned against each other in the years following,
eventually leading to violent conflict erupting in Sudan’s capital
Khartoum in April 2023. The violence has spread throughout the
country, particularly in the western region Darfur due to RSF presence
in the area. The fighting has taken place in densely populated
civilian areas, resulting in mass killings, destruction of homes, and
catastrophic levels of displacement.

Millions of internally displaced persons (IDPs), mostly women,
children, and the elderly, are being hosted by extended families or
living in temporary shelters. Some have managed to go beyond the
country’s borders, crossing into Chad, Central Africa Republic,
Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Egypt. Often, however, people who have no
other options remain displaced within the conflict zones. So little is
acknowledged about the plight of those displaced, their day to day
struggles remain invisible to global audiences. Sadly, the information
that does reach international arenas is severely distorted by
orientalist media reporting.

The reporting of the current conflict in Sudan should not be seen as
an opportunity to reproduce essentialist, racialized, and gendered
representations of people’s lives in a way that validates apathy
toward their suffering. There is a fear among human rights activists,
however, that this is exactly what is happening in this case. The lack
of a coordinated international response to the plight of Sudan’s most
vulnerable groups indicates that those with the power to leverage an
end to the conflict have not been pushed to moral panic.

As two authors positioned across the Global South/North divide, who
have for many years championed the rights of women globally and worked
together in Sudan on programs focused on ending forms of violence such
as female genital mutilation (FGM), we bring shared and critical
perspectives to the issue of gendered inequality. In this review piece
we argue that, at times of crisis, it is critical that the
humanitarian and international media lens gender conflict in order to
bring visibility to those most impacted.

That said, certain contextual realities have to be acknowledged. The
narratives that this gender lens extracts must be sensitive and
nuanced, balancing the harsh realities of these women’s lives—life in
Sudan is hard for women even outside of conflict—with their endless
capacity for resilience.

Social Upheaval

In Sudan, cultural, religious, and gendered values restrict the
mobility of women and limit their social interactions. Girls are not
allowed to travel or walk long distances for school or go alone to
fetch firewood or water. Even in urban areas, girls are seldom allowed
to go to school or university alone, limiting their access to
education; when they are allowed, they are dependent on having male
guardians escort them for safety. When it comes to decision making,
domains of responsibility are still strictly and conservatively
delineated. Women are responsible for domestic issues and men, who can
interact freely in public, take the lead on all matters outside of the
home. Mothers are accountable for the conduct of girls and primarily
responsible for their upbringing while income and social networking
(largely with other men) is a male preserve.

After the conflict erupted last year, traditional norms were suddenly
shaken as men were drawn into the conflict or left their families in
search of work when income generation dried up at home. The cost of
this gendered segregation in daily life is now being experienced
disproportionately by women and girls. Women, who must now hold their
families together, may not feel sufficiently experienced to make the
life-or-death decisions now expected of them. Few women have skills in
income generation outside of the home but now find themselves in a
position of having to feed their entire family. These are the stories
that are not being shared.

Furthermore, one of the most disastrous consequences of the fighting
has been that state institutions, infrastructure, and services have
been wiped out, particularly in sectors relating to health and
education. Prior to the outbreak of fighting in April 2023, most
families were living in poverty and 70% of health facilities in Sudan
lacked essential life saving drugs, particularly in suburban and rural
areas. The majority of these are now sites where IDPs are being
hosted, straining under the meager resources and significant shortage
of health personnel.

Most of the reproductive health needs of women and adolescent girls
are not met. The few initiatives by the UN and international and
national organizations continue to be hindered by the ongoing
conflict. There is a widespread lack of safety and security at health
facilities which puts health care providers, clients, and community
volunteers at risk. The systematic attacks on and looting of health
facilities, assets, and equipment has caused deep suffering and led to
many deaths among those living with chronic illnesses. Maternal
mortality rates have also increased dramatically as women have no
health support and nowhere to go to give birth safely.

Further worsening the catastrophe which has befallen Sudan’s most
vulnerable is that after the majority of the banks closed, looting
began and most formal public and private services were disrupted. This
resulted in mass redundancies in employment and left some families
mostly dependent on funds transferred from relatives outside Sudan.
Not all families have such a network, however, and most are dependent
on small-scale services that humanitarian agencies now provide in IDP
shelters or host neighborhoods. In short, many families have shifted
from a secure existence to extreme poverty in what must feel like a
mere heartbeat.

Those who have remained in states where active conflict is ongoing
live in desperate circumstances, facing huge shortages of food and
water. Health services are not accessible in most areas and
neighborhoods are not safe for anyone to move around, let alone women
and girls who face the danger of abduction, harassment, and sexual
violence.

This dire situation is exacerbated by the destruction of markets and
industries, which has led to resource shortages, increased food
prices, and dramatic upticks in rent. Meeting even basic needs is out
of reach for many families who now have no choice but to live on the
street or in public places like schools. Others have taken even more
desperate measures to reduce the cost of living, giving or selling
young daughters in marriage (a theme we pick up later). Meanwhile,
concerns for the safety of loved ones creates deep, ongoing
psychological distress for many. This is compounded by the fact that
people no longer have the luxury to spend time deliberating where to
live, or even to have options in the first place.

So much of this suffering is invisible from outside of the country;
the daily struggle for basic survival and the risks women and girls
must take to conduct previously simple tasks, like collecting water,
continue to be met with silence from international bystanders.

As it stands, more than 4 million women and girls are at risk of
gender-based violence (GBV) in Sudan. Protective spaces no longer
exist; the closure of schools and poor access to health facilities
means there is nowhere for girls and women to seek safe harbor. It is
well documented that early marriage is often utilized, not just to
reduce the food burden on families, but as a means of achieving some
degree of security for young girls during conflict. Cases of child
marriage have reportedly been on the rise in Sudan since the beginning
of the war.

This situation has exacerbated the deeply rooted gender inequalities
already described. These inequalities are perpetuated by religious,
cultural, and social structures which were consolidated and
legitimized through the policies of the ex-regime. The precedent of
using sexual violence and exploitation against girls and women during
conflict has long been thoroughly documented during the previous war
in Darfur. It has become abundantly clear that the current conflict is
no different; reports of both parties weaponizing sexual violence have
been produced, but they are met by a muted international response.

GBV, child abuse, and forced military recruitment are just some of the
daily vulnerabilities many IDPs face. Schools have been shut down to
be used as shelters for IDPs, resulting in many children roaming
unsafe and potentially violent streets. The absence of social
protections normally provided by familiar communities complicates the
situation. A lack of privacy makes it hard for families to protect one
another, an issue made more challenging by persistent overcrowding. In
short, these conditions have heightened daily insecurity and triggered
a massive spike in instances of violence against women and children.
The UN Human Rights Commission recently published a report expressing
grave concern about human trafficking in Sudan, particular with regard
to children who have been kidnapped and forced into combat training by
militia groups. Women and girls are also being increasingly sold into
sex trafficking rings as a way to raise funds for these groups.

Women Building Peace

After the conflict erupted in Khartoum State in April 2023, women-led
organizations spearheaded the response to the war. Around 49 women-led
peace initiatives, humanitarian groups, and civil society
organizations came together and—supported by the UN Women’s Sudan
office—formed “The Peace for Sudan Platform”. The platform is a
network that includes representatives from different regions of the
country and facilitates coordination, communication, and collaboration
between members. Other Sudanese youth and women’s organizations
operating in host states, in addition to those who had been working in
those states even before the conflict started, are making great
efforts in providing shelter, food, water, healthcare, and
psychological and social support.

These civil society actors also monitor human rights violations and
raise awareness in an attempt to lobby more international support to
stop the war. Members are working hard to create inclusion and social
harmony through dialogue among IDPs who have been forced to come
together from different parts of Sudan. Youth participation in sports,
drama, singing, and art have become critical activities offering safe
spaces and respite from the ongoing traumas of war and poverty. Some
organizations provide psychosocial support for survivors of sexual and
gender-based violence. These groups work with women to enhance their
psychological resilience so they can continue to keep their children
alive and safe. With the difficulty in organizing face-to-face
meetings, many organizations have created WhatsApp groups, despite
weak mobile communication networks. These groups have become vital in
keeping support operations going and in pooling evidence of the
horrific gendered impact of the war. Most of these groups are also
supported technically and financially by Sudanese expatriates.

The description above paints a picture of many local organizations
working to provide essential services, but most lack financial support
and depend on volunteers. Additionally, most organizations have no
formal safety or financial structures. This weak civil society
infrastructure cannot meet the extensive needs of the displaced
population. Meanwhile, the instability created by conflict means that
international staff are frequently evacuated with little notice. Many
Sudanese aid workers are forced daily to flee to safer parts of the
country or across borders, resulting in what little provisions were
available suddenly disappearing for those who remain.

These realities require deep reflection by a range of stakeholders and
global bodies. The situation in Sudan must be examined as one part of
a much bigger political-economy analysis that recognises the ways in
which the experiences and vulnerabilities of women and girls are
rendered invisible during conflict.

Western Bias and Inaction

To date, these stories have emerged only in sporadic news items. The
invisibility of women and girls in global media is inexcusable given
the extent to which, as described above, such conflicts are highly
gendered. The systematic targeting of women from marginalized groups
is reflective of a global misogyny that fails time and time again to
prioritize the needs of women and girls and enact protective measures.
The World Bank’s statistics show that 30% of all women worldwide have
experienced some form of sexual violence during their lifetime.

“The data are clear: gender-based violence is a pandemic. Thirty years
since the landmark UN CEDAW commitment to end all forms of violence
against women and girls, the problem remains immense. Understanding
the prevalence of sexual violence and associated risk factors,
however, is only the first step in developing essential prevention and
support services for survivors.”

Despite this evidence, political stakeholders and media consumers
alike continue to be surprised when images emerge of the gendered
impact of war. Yet the global data, such as a recent UN report on
sexual violence published in 2023, makes the normative realities of
violence in the lives of women and girls across the globe very clear.
The critical issue is how to embed a gender-transformative approach
into sustainable programs of preventative and responsive action. How
can the local response on the ground, outlined above, be better
supported for the long-term? How can we ensure that when conflict
hits, local civil society is immediately resourced and bolstered?

Those of us who have researched and worked in the field of women’s
rights for decades know that the patriarchal structures described
above embed violence in the daily lives of women and girls. We also
know that these inequalities and associated violence only intensify
when communities and families come under stress. We have already
shared, in the context of the Sudan crisis, that the rate of child
marriage and FGM has increased—and commonly does during famine,
drought, and conflict. The bodies of women and girls become highly
commodified during periods of food insecurity and deep poverty. When
families run out of ways to generate an income and resources run dry,
they turn to the last remaining object to trade: unmarried daughters.
Daughters in such extreme situations are given in marriage to
alleviate food insecurity, fetching a bride-price either monetarily or
materially through livestock, animal feed, or land. Growing research
has generated strong evidence to highlight the cruel links between
gender, sexual violence, and child marriage.

In Sudan, midwives have been at the forefront of national public
health campaigns to convince families to end FGM. Many state-employed
midwives were traditional cutters who made money from performing FGM
on young girls. They also gained status from their position as
circumcisers with families honoring them for years after. As the
global drive to end FGM grew from the early 2000s, fueled by Western
donors, training and awareness programs were introduced to encourage a
change in mindset.

As a result, many traditional midwives/cutters began to work in public
health and received this new training which seemed to work in
transforming their attitudes toward FGM. State training and employment
meant these workers were able to derive an income from the health
department rather than from families wishing to observe FGM. Now that
most of the health infrastructure in Sudan has been destroyed—bar the
most basic provisions—it is highly likely that FGM will resurge.
Midwives who are no longer able to receive a salary working in the
public health sector will likely return to their old income habits.
Furthermore, laws finally ratified across the country’s federal system
designed to criminalise FGM barely had any time to be implemented
before the country collapsed into chaos. While the legislation may
endure, it is now unenforceable, making it easy for families with weak
conviction to revert to the practice. Again, the fragility of the
foundation on which much needed gendered transformation was built has
been exposed.

Yet, despite this robust data, humanitarian responses rarely include
measures to mitigate or stop child marriage. Trauma relief programs
are sometimes offered but more systematic preventative actions are
often absent. Humanitarian stakeholders have developed a number of
immediate interventions, including GBV prevention officers and case
workers who are deployed as soon as crises hit. However, as already
discussed, foreign humanitarian workers often flee when insecurity
becomes too great, leaving facilities suddenly shut. This reality
brings us back to the question: why is more support not given to
grassroot civil society organizations run by local people who are much
less likely to flee?

The extent of sexual violence and the shame it brings on individual
women and their families means that many instances go unreported. The
kind of responses humanitarian agencies deploy, while welcome, do not
go far enough in tackling the root causes behind the increase in
multiple forms of gendered violence. Civil society actors are much
more likely to understand the localized complexities of these root
causes and provide nuanced responses that, if resourced, can be
sustained despite conflict or other crises.

The reality of the conflict in Sudan is that decades of progress
toward ending violence against women and children, such as FGM and
child marriage, are likely to be wiped out as a result of the latest
conflict. These rapid regressions reveal how fragile any shift toward
gender equality actually is. The harsh realities outlined above
reflect the failure of the international community to provide a strong
and unified political response to the conflict in Sudan. Western
media’s sporadic reporting on the gendered cost of the violence in
Sudan is indicative of how the war may be perceived in households
across the Global North: onlookers are momentarily horrified, but
quickly forget the continuing carnage. Critical decolonial thinking is
needed on why this seems to be the common response.

It may be that the violence in Sudan is normalized by conscious or
unconscious perceptions of the country which have long been shaped by
colonial narratives that assert a western cultural superiority over
such brutality. This brutality, however, is considered by many
scholars as the direct result of the country’s colonial history. For
those of us positioned in the Global North, who call ourselves
feminist research-activists, further challenges arise.

Empowering Women’s Voices

How do we make visible the extreme global misogyny playing out in yet
another country in a way that gives dignity and respect to those
caught in the current gendered horrors? How, in our drive to speak
about the lives of women and girls in Sudan, do we avoid reproducing
voyeuristic and essentialist depictions of African women as voiceless
victims? Maintaining the distinction between “giving a voice to”
rather than “speaking for” these women continues to haunt those of us
who work to end all forms of abuse against women and girls, including
forms often mislabeled as “cultural” rather than simply as violence.

The arguments of many early postcolonial scholars (one, two, three)
still ring alarmingly true. Those that wrote about how the suffering
of black women often creates (intentionally or otherwise) a binary
between “modernized Western women” and “backward yet-to-be-liberated
African women”, sit uncomfortably amidst the periodic silence with
which the reporting on Sudan is met.

Critical analysis of the coverage of the conflict in Sudan is urgently
needed and must take a frank look at the extent to which an
orientalist gaze is still used by the media in its reporting on the
sexual violence and unfolding genocide. Exploration is needed into the
extent to which this gaze then feeds into a complacent reaction that
allows those who should be acting to feel excused from doing so. To be
clear, it is not the documenting of the violence that is the issue,
nor is it a problem that empowered survivors are occasionally being
given the space to speak. Instead, the problem is that Western viewers
may perceive the stories of survivors merely as evidence that Sudan is
destined to be in conflict and thus, it is a problem for the Sudanese
people alone to handle. The extremities of violence in Sudan seem to
be associated, in Western minds, not with a complex history involving
imperialist struggles for power and empire, but instead an
oversimplified national narrative focused on conveying how the
country’s political actors alone are responsible for the current
conflict. This interpretation makes the present horrors easy to shrug
off as not the responsibility of anyone from the outside.

Nafisa Bedri is an experienced professor, researcher and regional
trainer in the field of gender, public, women and reproductive health,
management, and policy analysis skills. She has written and developed
several publications and training materials in these fields. She has a
special research interest in gender based violence, female genital
mutilation/cutting, and child marriage. Bedri has managed and carried
out several research, academic, and community based projects at
national and regional levels in the area of gender, public, women and
child‘s health for different bodies including the WHO, UNFPA, UNICEF,
UNAIDS. She has worked with institutions in the region, such as Yemen
and Egypt, and internationally, such as Manchester, Reading (UK), Ohio
(USA), Bergen (Norway) and Maastricht (Netherlands) Universities.

Read More

Tamsin Bradley is Professor in International Development Studies at
the University of Portsmouth, UK. She is a social anthropologist who
has worked for over twenty years generating research on what works
best to end Violence against Women and Girls in South Asia and Africa
including ending harmful practices such as FGM. She is the author of 4
monographs including Global Perspectives on Violence against Girls
(2020 Zed Press) and over fifteen peer review articles. External
projects include technical advice to the FCDO’s programme supporting
the African Led Movement to end FGM. She is frequently asked to
conduct risk assessments for UK court cases involving FGM.

https://www.thecairoreview.com/essays/the-gendering-of-sudans-brutal-war/

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John Ashworth

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