Gender segregation in Khartoum

In Khartoum, women are subjected to multidimensional segregation, which is emphasized in the Sharia law. As we already noted, gender segregation can be closely tied to other forms of segregation such as economic and ethnic segregation. Women are economically inferior to men and spatially segregated, these practices being confirmed institutionally.

In Khartoum, especially the Nuer ethnic group members and those Southern Sudanese who had moved to Khartoum (IDPs: internally displaced persons), Christians, blacks and women are segregated. The Nuer people are the second largest ethnic group (second to the Dinka) in the South of Sudan. Traditionally cattle herders, a large proportion of Nuer people have had to depatriate due to civil war for Ethiopia or for North of Sudan, mostly Khartoum. Some of the characteristics of the Nuers are for example that they are patrilineal. Also women can be bought for cattle and their duty is producing children and taking care of the home. This portrayal of women is off course one the oldest form of segregation against women in almost all cultures. Time has brought a change to this form of segregation against women, especially in the western world, but still exists in some parts of the world as in the case of the Nuer women in Khartoum. The Nuers are mainly animistic, but some Nuers have converted to Christianity during the last 30 years.

Feministic urban research and feministic geography have focused on the gendered production of space and the production of genders by the space. According to Elizabeth Wilson, the dispersion of the urban core since the dawn of the Garden city had in fact confined the women to home keepers, the urbanity been sprawled mostly for men commuting by cars. This applies also with many post-colonial cities, as they have been planned according to the Western ideas, emphasizing the exclusion of home work. Indeed the whole ideology of Garden cities advocated the prominent role of women as housekeepers and mothers. As such, they were not only the bearers of the home economy but also of local traditions and sustainers of the local community. Women in Khartoum are not indifference to what Wilson is arguing here with these kinds of roles being found among the women in shantytowns of contemporary Khartoum.

The other frequently studied aspect in the feministic urban geography is the lived space, especially the experiencing of certain urban places as unsafe for women. Even if the city is a stage of opportunities for women, women fear for their safety in the cities. Take for instance Osman and Suliman´s (1996) depiction of the houses in Omdurman being surrounded by high walls acting like physical barriers between public and private space, with the aim of secluding the female inhabitants from visiting men and passers by.

Another form of gender segregation in Khartoum can be found within the household. If there is sufficient space to be divided, then space with the household is often segregated by function and gender. What we mean by this is that when women practically do all the household duties, then segregation of the domestic space serves both functional and gendered motives.

In Khartoum another from of gender segregation can be found among the female refugees who need to adopt the Moslem identity in order to survive. Some of the cultural practices they women perform like the wearing of the Hijab are forced onto them. This makes sense considering they have to adopt the Moslem identity in other to survive in Khartoum. There other cultural practices such as female circumcision but this mainly due to the external pressures these women face. An interviewee in the Abusharaf study on Southern Sudanese female IDPs describes this:

“ I interact with my Northern neighbours and have learned about henna, dukhan, dilka, among other customs. I am prepared to embrace these customs.”

As mentioned above gender segregation can closely be linked to other forms of segregation and in this case also economic segregation. Women in south of Sudan have more economic independence than those in other areas, and when the female refugees arrive in Khartoum they have to adapt and their independence in the economy decreases. Women are economic actors in the formal economical sector only in a restricted sense. Despite Sudan having one of the oldest and most vocal feministic movements in Africa and Moslem world, women are notably under-represented in formal labor. It is estimated that the quota of women in the labor force makes up only 26,5%. With formal economy is meant paid labor of all kind, when the informal sector embraces all forms of self-employment, most usually trading goods of various kinds. In the informal economy, they have a more prominent role, but still they are indeed restricted by “moral economy”, where loans can be paid back by favors and monetary economy is complemented with reciprocal system of mutual aid, tied with morale. The moral obligation to help is stronger than the urge to seek profit.

As women’s reproductive role was earlier largely confined to maintaining the household, since 1970s women have increasingly tried to claim a larger role by making use of their own, informal networks but also by some – albeit modest by Western standards – policy measures, including gender quotas in decision making. These networks include the informal banking and loaning systems (ROSCAs = Rotating Saving and Credit Associations) and “trabuts”, networks of mutual, voluntary help.

The informal trading is made more difficult by the Khartoum State Public Order Act (KSPOA), prohibiting women from selling food and drinks between 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. This kind of restriction first of all, undermines women’s economical independence and also restricts their mobility but clearly also a form of gender segregation (African Migration). Some attempts to improve the situation has been made; for instance, a joint project by Oxfam and the SDA (Sudan Development Association) had trained and facilitated loans to female street vendors, the numbers of which in Khartoum had grown explosively. The project has also helped the women to form cooperatives.

However, Khartoum is not just a vale of restriction; it also provides opportunities for women. There are two private universities in Sudan for women, both of which locating in Khartoum. Despite the fact these separate female universities can be seen as another from of gender segregation at lest by western standards. The founder of the Ahfad University for Women in Khartoum, Sheikh Babiker saw that “educated women were essential to achieving improvements in nutrition, health, child care, community development, and for preparing both young men and women for life in the emerging urban society of Sudan” . A very important argument by Sheikh Babiker when considering the fact that not only in Khartoum but most African countries looked down on female education years ago. With often their side of the argument being that, if post-primary education improves prospects for a healthy living, then it can be considered a “marital hazard” as education makes women more independent and less eligible for childbearing and thereby the period of confinement to the household being shortened by education.

REFERENCES:
Abusharaf, Rogaia Mustafa (2004): Life in Khartoum: Probing Forced Migration and Cultural Change Among War-Displaced Southern Sudanese Women. A Working Paper, downloadable at: http://web.mit.edu/CIS/www/migration/pubs/rrwp/30_abusharaf.pdf

Ahfad University for Women official website; www.ahfad.org

Elfadil, Wafaa (2004): Sudan gender profile. Downloadable at http://www.unsudanig.org/darfurjam/trackII/data/background/Sudan%20gender%20profile%20mar2004%20(WFP).pdf

Hubbard, Phil (2005): Social inequalities and spatial exclusions. An article in the book An introduction to Human Geography. Issues for the 21st Century, second edition. Pearson Education Limited, 2005

Ibrahim, F.N. (1991): The Southern Sudanese Migration to Khartoum and the Resultant Conflicts. GeoJournal 25.1., pp. 13-18

Khartoum Christians celebrate Easter under Islamic law. An AFP article, downloadable at http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article26472&var_recherche=khartoum

Lyons, Michael & Snoxell, Simon (2005): Creating Urban Social Capital: Some Evidence from Informal Traders in Nairobi. An article in Urban Studies, Vol. 42, No. 7, 1077-1097

Malik, Saadia Izzeldin: Displacement as Discourse. An open-access article at Africa Migration website. Downloadable at http://www.africamigration.com/archive_02/s_malik.htm

McCabe, Coco (2007): With Oxfam's Help, Women Become Entrepreneurs in Khartoum Market. An article in the www.oxfam.org; downloadable at http://www.oxfamamerica.org/whatwedo/where_we_work/hornofafrica/news_publications/with-oxfams-help-women-become-entrepreneurs-in-khartoum-market/?searchterm=entrepreneurs

Osman, Khadiga M. & Suliman, Mamoun M.A. (1996): Spatial and Cultural Dimensions of the Houses of Omdurman, Sudan. Sage Publications.

Rahim, Abdel & Mugaddam, Hamid (2006): Language maintenance and shift in Sudan: The Case of Migrant Ethnic Groups in Khartoum. Edited by Nancy C. Dorian. An article in the International Journal of the Sociology of Language No 181, pp. 123-136. Downloadable at http://ciillibrary.org:8000/ciil/jc/I/international_j_of_sociology_of_lang/vol_181_06.doc

Schulz, Ulrike & Maccawai, Asia & El-Fatih, Tayseer (2006): Women and finance in Sudan: a case study in greater Omdurman and Khartoum. Published in Ahfad Journal; downloadable at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb003/is_1_23/ai_n29273516/pg_1?tag=artBody;col1

Wilson, Elizabeth (1991): The Sphinx in the City. Urban Life, the Control of Disorder, and Women. Virago Press, London