SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Independent – Women fuelled Sudan’s revolution, but then they were pushed aside
Justin Lynch’s feature piece explores Sudanese women’s under-representation in the politics of post-Bashir Sudan.
Hala Alkharib, the regional director of the Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa argues that the under-representation of women in the Forces of Freedom and Change “makes the negotiating team extremely closed-minded and they can’t come up with the results that represent the revolutionary forces.”
Both Alkharib and female revolutionary leader Samahir Mubarak stated that women will not vote for or join political parties if their views are not going to be represented, although Mubarak expressed hope that women will naturally rise up into political leadership positions in a new democratic era that rewards parties for broader membership.
The article concludes by noting that younger feminists are moving away from their elder counterparts’ strategy of seeking gradual change, amid a comparatively more repressive environment.