This blog is a manifestation of the History of Modern Africa course at the University of Missouri. It is an investigation of gender roles in Darfur. What is the role of women? How have they been victims? How can they become peacemakers?
women in darfur
This blog is a manifestation of the History of Modern Africa course at the University of Missouri. It is an investigation of gender roles in Darfur. What is the role of women? How have they been victims? How can they become peacemakers?
contents
Women in Darfur
by: Meredith Rausch, Brittony Corneillier, Lindsey Goetz, Kathryn Fanchi and Taylor Rausch
Darfur in Context
Gender Roles in Darfur
Starvation in Darfur
Violence in Darfur
Peacemaking
Political Tension
- In 1989, Omar al-Bashir, an Islamic fundamentalist rose into power, increasing tensions between the tribes dramatically. He removed authority away from the Fur tribal leaders, creating new positions that were to be filled with Arabs supportive of the government in Khartoum. Denied roads, schools and hospitals, members of the Fur and Zaghawa tribes felt marginalized, cheated out of their power. Initially rebelling through civil disobedience, the "Africans" progressively became unsatisfied, longing to gain their political power, authority and voice back. Their desperation led them to military means, forming the Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement.
- The Sudan Liberation Army - originally made up of people from the Fur tribe but now ethnically diverse; said to "promote a secular solution to Sudanese politics."
- The Justice and Equality Movement - a rebel Islam fundamentalist group that formed as an ally to the SLA
- Janjaweed - deployed by the government in response to the rebels; known as the "devils on horseback" Targeting communities of Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa tribes, the Janjaweed has destroyed more than four hundred villages with the desire to eradicate all who are associated with the rebels
- Conflict of ethnic tension? Religious fundamentalism?
- Conflict directly relating to power...
- Important context in analyzing women's role: Women are manipulated for power, used as tools of war to divide tribes. With this power, women also hold the power as peacemakers.
Ethnicity Redefined
- Mahjoub Mohamed Saleb, editor of Sudan's independent Al-Ayam newspaper observes, "Black Americans who come to Darfur always say, 'So where are the Arabs? Why do all these people look black?'
- In Darfur, the term "ethnic" deviates from the traditional definition, distinguishing by mobility, livelihood and wealth rather than through bloodline and ancestry. Inhabited by nomads traveling from the Nile, over the centuries, Darfur's population evolved into a mix of cultures and people. As tribes intermarried, bloodline and ancestry could no longer be traced. Ethnic labels symbolized status and allegiance in Sudanese culture so each tribe was still seen through a paradigm of "African" or "Arab." However, instead of being based from bloodline, it was based on the language the members speak and whether they work soil or herd livestock, the farmers considered "African" while the herders considered "Arab," their livestock representing a form of wealth and "blood money."
"African" tribes:
- Fur peasant farmers (where Darfur receives its name - homeland of the Fur) The Fur Sultanate became the first Muslim state in Darfur. By 1800, the Fur Sultanate was the most powerful state within the border of modern-day Sudan. Islam became the official state religion and Darfur was known as the African kingdom "that embraced Arabs as valued equals."
- Zaghawa - occupy the northernmost zone - most ecologically fragile of the regions of Darfur - most affected by drought.
- Jallaba - traders from the Nile
- Rizeigat - northern camel herders
Geography of the Sudan
- largest country in Africa - "land of the blacks"
- Arabic - official language; symbol of status
- Khartoum - capital - elite of Khartoum claim that they represent a "pure Arabic steam."
- Darfur - distinct and isolated from Sudan's eastern developed region.
Conflict in Context
To understand women's role in this war, both through violence and oppression as well as in peacemaking, there needs to be a breakdown of geographic orientation, ethnic groups and political organization. In order for the humanitarian crisis to be addressed and stopped, for the numbers behind the numbers to be seen, the conflict needs to be understood...
Starvation - Lack of Education
Starvation of the women of Darfur can also be linked to a lack of education in the region and the necessity of women to fill the roles of working men as a result of the meaningless murders of hundreds of thousands.
- According to the Population Reference Bureau, women in developing countries are indispensable to achieving food security, which is defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization as "access for all people at all times to ensure enough food for active, healthy lives."
- According to the United nations report in 2007, however, the percentage of Darfurians growing their own crops has decreased this year: "The people surveyed said that insecurity and a lack of access to their farms were the main reasons, though Sudanese officials have hypothesized that some Darfurians may have simply grown dependent on food aid and chosen to stop farming."
- Furthermore, women's access to food and contribution to food production have been severely restricted because of a lack of access to land and technology, as well as education and health services.
- The Population Reference Bureau states, "A recent World Bank study found that, if women worldwide received the same education as men, global farm yields would rise by as much as 22 percent. Yet women farmers still receive only 5 percent of all agricultural extension services worldwide."
- Journalist Melissa Thaxton of the Population Reference Bureau explains, "The development of crops that grow rapidly, cook easily, and are higher in protein and other nutrients can contribute to greater food security and improved health and well-being of African women."
Starvation - Children
Women are willing to endure anything to ensure the survival of their children. Stories of women who leave the safety of the camps in a desperate measure to feed themselves and their families simply to be raped and beaten are widespread. - CNN international correspondent Christiane Amanpour reports, "Two and three year old children at an emergency feeding center in Darfur weigh as much as the average three month old infant in the United States.
- The French relief group, Doctors Without Borders, estimates the one in five children in western Darfur is severely malnourished.
- For the first time since 2004, the malnutrition rate, a gauge of the population's overall distress, has crossed what United Nations officials consider to be the emergency threshold."
- Women also feel as though they are not fit to be mothers because their inability to produce milk to nurse their young: "stress, lack of food, and dehydration have made many of these women unable to produce milk to nurse their infants and children... this situation has contributed to malnutrition, and even starvation, of the youngest and most vulnerable of the refugee camp population."
Numbers Behind the Numbers...
In February of 2003, in Darfur, Sudan, African rebel groups attacked government military installations, instigating an ongoing five-year-long war. An estimate of 400,000 people have been killed, 75% of those deaths resulting from malnutrition, disease and famine. More than 2.7 million people have been displaced. As many as 200,000 refugees have been forced to flee to Chad. These numbers continue to climb. U.N. Aide officials describe the conflict as "the world's greatest humanitarian crisis." Yet, the world is held at a distance, dazed by numbers.
Behind these numbers lie more numbers, numbers less visible to the public eye...
- A rough estimate of 30-50% of women have been victimized in Darfur.
- Out of all the people in Darfur who have been forced out of their village, 90% are women
- Within the age range of 15 and 64, there are 1.01 males to every 1 female in Sudan - -Roughly 50% of the population in Sudan is women
Women are entangled in this war. They hold great power: power to be used as weapons, power to divide and power to make peace.
Sexual and Physical Assault
Throughout history, women and children have always been helpless and in danger during times of war. They have consistently relied on male protection, but in Darfur, this protection is not available around the refugee camps. Women and even small children are left to fend for themselves, as the penalty for a man who ventures from a refugee camp is death.
As a result, victims are most vulnerable when they leave the camps to seek firewood. For example, Hawa Ishak Mahmood was on her way to work on a farm when she was attacked, beaten and raped.
Rape in Sudanese society is a cultural taboo, often resulting in ostracism from neighbors and even relatives. It is believed that large numbers of women do not even report rapes, to avoid this social stigma. After being captured and repeatedly raped, one women said "My husband could not forgive me for this; he disowned me."
As a result, victims are most vulnerable when they leave the camps to seek firewood. For example, Hawa Ishak Mahmood was on her way to work on a farm when she was attacked, beaten and raped.
Rape in Sudanese society is a cultural taboo, often resulting in ostracism from neighbors and even relatives. It is believed that large numbers of women do not even report rapes, to avoid this social stigma. After being captured and repeatedly raped, one women said "My husband could not forgive me for this; he disowned me."
- Sexual purity is of such importance in Sudan that female genital cutting (FGC) is often practiced to preserve cleanliness.
- According to Professor Donna M. Hughes of the University of Rhode Island, "Rape for these women is excruciatingly painful and can cause severe physical injuries."
Starvation - Refugee Camps
It is the physical starvation of the women of Darfur that has exploited each woman's weakness: the need to ensure the survival of their young and their need to be physically able to withstand the abusive implications of being a woman in Darfur. The inability to protect the people of Darfur from starvation continues to fuel the crisis.
The refugee camps intended for safekeeping are inadequate in providing food and shelter:
- Craig Timberg, a Washington Post reporter, explains, "More and more often, women in Darfur face the starkest choices: risk being raped by leaving the camps in search of firewood and grass, or starve."
- The conflict does not allow the emergency food to reach these refugee camps. The Janjaweed are attacking the delivery vehicles that are trying to deliver the vital necessities to the people.
- The United Nations report in 2007 explained that attacks on aid workers went up 150% and that "civilians continue to be displaced as a result of attacks from all sides... many of the camps can no longer absorb new arrivals and tensions are rising."
On the Education of Women
More than 90 percent of women in Sudan are illiterate.
Women for Women International video
- "There is a lack of genuine political will to ensure that girls are given equal access to education in Africa."
- "More than two-thirds of Africa's illiterates are women."
- "Women are regarded as inferior to men and are not expected aspire as high as men, especially in what are considered as 'male' fields (engineering, computing, architecture, medicine, etc.)"
- It is largely assumed that educating women would make them too independent; in other words, they would not do what they are expected to do - look after the house, bring up children, and cater to their husband's needs."
- "... prefer to invest their limited resources in the education of boys ... than for girls who would eventually marry and abandon their professions anyway."
- "Drop out rates in the primary grades are higher for girls than for boys in many African countries."
"Overall status of women in Africa." United Nations University. http://www.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/uu37we/uu37we0t.htm
Daily Life in the Sudan
"Today Sudanese women have become breadwinners."
Duany, War & Women in the Sudan: Role Change & Adjustment to New Responsibilities.
The daily duties of Sudanese women include "farming, dairy production, domestic duties, and income-earning activities."
- The women are responsible for producing food for their families and food preservation.
- Household skills are developed through apprenticeships with their mothers and older relatives.
- Responsible for milking cows, making butter and caring for and preparing small animals including chickens, dry meat, fish and vegetables.
- Their hours are long, oftentimes 15 to 18 hours per day, but earn less than men and oftentimes do not have enough resources to provide for their families.
- In some African countries, women only make one-tenth the amount of men while working twice as long, reports the UN.
- A Sudanese man may take his wife's money earned, but it is not unusual for a Sudanese woman to complain to her husband about not having enough money in order to up the amount of financial support given to her.
- Bridlewealth (oftentimes cows) is the woman's main contribution to a marriage. If divorced, the woman is not entitled to the bridlewealth and may have to rely on extended family to support her. Oftentimes, women cannot divorce if they have children.
- "Women are known to grow 80 percent of food produced in Africa, and yet few are allowed to own the land they work."
With the onset of war, women's farm labor has changed dramatically.
- "Women's farm labor is increasing because they cannot steal as easily as men and receive fewer food supplies from the relief agencies"
- Men have left their homes to join the rebel army. They have left the land to the women.
- Gender roles are unstable because the division of labor has been unevenly weighing down on the women.
- Women are relying on relief food because of the displaced communities, but NGOs oftentimes only distribute relief food to male-headed households.
"Overall status of women in Africa." United Nations University. http://www.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/uu37we/uu37we0t.htm
Duany, Julia A. and Wal Duany. "War and Women in the Sudan: Role Change and Adjustment to New Responsibilities." Project Muse Indiana University. (63-82). http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/northeast_african_studies/v008/8.2duany.pdf
Female Circumcision
[Terms]
Female Circumcision (n): partial or complete removal of the clitoris, prepuce, or labia of a girl or young woman, as practiced among certain cultures, especially in parts of Africa or western Africa.
Infibulation (n): the stitching together of the vulva, often after a clitoridectomy, leaving a small opening for the passage of urine or menstrual blood. The most severe form of female circumcision.
A survey of female circumcision in the Sudan by Lindy Williams and Teresa Sobieszczyk:
"90% of all women surveyed either had circumcised or planned to circumcise all of their daughters. Roughly, half of those women reported favoring the most severe procedures."
The practice of female circumcision ranges in severity, either a one-time ceremonial washing of the tip of the clitoris to the removal of all female genitalia.
The severity of infibulation:
- From Williams, "Infibulation or Pharaonic circumcision involves ... the scraping or cutting away of most of the labia majora with knives, razor blades or broken bottles.Any remnants...stitched shut with cat gut or thread. What remains is a tiny opening, roughly the size of a match stick...the girl's legs are then tied together - ankles, knees, and thighs - and she is immobilized for an extended period."
- Deinfibulation - a breaking of the scar - must occur for childbirth and typically for their first experience of sexual intercourse.
- Reinfibulation - re-sewing the scar - occurs after each birth, then they are deinfibulated when sex resumes, and reinfibulation may again occur if husbands leave for an extended period of time in order to ensure the wife's fidelity.
The custom of female circumcision continues because it "serves as an important initiation ot the adult community...it serves to construct, enhance, or reinforce femininity, female purity, or virginity in conjunction with cultural norms that govern family honor, women, in gneral, and female sexuality and marriageability."
Women as Peacekeepers
There are many problems - many quite simple - of the why women are not deemed to be sufficient peace keepers. 
- Women are seen as a cause of war.
- Women hardly play any role in public matters. The male-dominated community put women in Darfur at a disadvantage as far as peacemaking is concerned.
- The example of Awut Deng Acuil: a prominent figure in Sudan for the action of peace in Darfur, she states that resolution activities being implemented by women in Southern Sudan and confirmed a desire by women to be involved in peacekeeping activities. “They would like a have a voice, a place where they can participate and make meaningful contributions and make meaningful contributions toward the building of the nation,” she said.
- "Training troops on gender issues before and during their field deployment will strengthen their ability to prevent the atrocities committed against women, violence against women can only be tackled from gender perspective"- Carmen Moreno, Director of the UN International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (UN-INSTRAW)
- The UN has a goal of achieving equal representation for women across all the UN agencies (UN Security Council Resolution 1325 October 31st, 2000)
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