How Sudanese girls are taught to be second-class

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Sudanese women have always been brainwashed to feel as if they are worthless. In a country where well over 80 percent of women are kept in domestic-type roles and forced to become child brides they are reduced to a life of slavery.

For example in Southern Sudan, it is estimated that nearly half of adolescent girls don’t have access to primary education resulting in much of the female population struggling with illiteracy. Studies conducted recently found that girls in Southern Sudan are more likely to die in childbirth than finish primary school.

These are young women who have children prematurely and are forced to marry at the age of 12 years old or younger and are reduced to a life of slavery. UNICEF and the Government of Southern Sudan’s Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, found that, cultural factors driven mainly by attitudes and traditions leading to early marriages and pregnancies are some of the leading contributors to girls remaining uneducated.

And although, international involvement like UNICEF and others have worked tirelessly to remove this suppressive barrier for Sudanese women, eliminating the educational element is the primary weapon that is used in a patriarchal society to keep women in a 2nd class status. Because when the oppressed are not schooled and taught to think for themselves, they very rarely as questions and inquire about why things are as they are.

For example, in addition to keeping Sudanese women uneducated, many girls in the Sudan are fed less than their brothers and are kept home from school to farm and do various types of domestic work. It’s believed in the Sudan that male children are more valuable than female children and that sacrifices and any fruitful harvest that comes into a family should go directly to the male children. For example, traditional practices and village customs, such as forcing the widows of men who have died of AIDS to marry their brother-in-laws, often add to the spread of HIV and make a charade out of international efforts on the rights of women.

To add fuel to the fire, in the traditional tribal custom, men are largely always the absolute power in social units, while it puts large restrictions on women. Women are denied many basic liberties such as freedom of expression, freedom of movement, and the right of making their own decisions. This power is reflected not only in the law that governs the country, but also in the functioning of basic social institutions including schools, health services, employment and the family.

As a consequence, women are not permitted an exit visa to leave Sudan without a written letter of approval by a husband, brother, father or male guardian, this rule by the way is standard no matter what her age is. While men are not asked to present such a letter.

It’s not surprising too that with such stifling patriarchy that a high mortality rate among women and children in Sudan would exist as well. Malnutrition is rampant and is the cause of many deaths in the Sudan.

In keeping with the lack of medical care for reproduction and childbirth, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is widely practiced.

But, how do these restricting and confining patriarchal ways of life effect women in the Sudan who must deal with humiliation day after day? There are obviously psychological consequences that these women face. Studies show that the patriarchal system does not only affect women but it affects men as well. Because of male-dominated systems in the Sudan and elsewhere, both males and females view women as the less valued gender. And women who are habitually oppressed in patriarchal societies often become the oppressors of other women as well.

The U.N., UNICEF and several international conventions on the rights of women have worked diligently to bring about change in how women are treated in the Sudan, but with little success. With such strong tribal customs and ingrained cultural beliefs from one generation to the next, it is practically impossible to bring about a sweeping change so quickly.

Change of this magnitude, generally happens slowly and with small steps. For example, the negative cultural impact of FGM is very deep, and attempting to adjust that paradigm would take years. Instead, why not focus on the unhealthy practice of FGM and how it can cause infection and death. In the same vein, public education on issues such as health, hygiene and welfare should be targeted.

Furthermore, Sudanese women should have a principal role in drafting their own laws because of how that would directly affect them. The positive experience of Tunisian women in writing their own personal laws is a good example that should be shown to the Sudanese. Because after all, learning from ones peers is one of the most effective ways of getting an idea across eliciting change.