Women In Sudan

Imagine if you were old enough to vote but still had the education levels of American kindergartner. For the women of Sudan and South Sudan this is a reality. The women are forced to play 1950’s housewife while the men develop their minds and command the household. Due to the lack of resources and the number of economical problems in Sudan and South Sudan, the women in these countries are unable to receive education and improve the lives of the future generations.

Sudan has been a source of conflict and violence in an already unstable area of the world since the twentieth century. Sudan is a poverty stricken country in Africa that fought a schismatic civil war from 1955 to 1972 (Collins). The war was majorly fought in the South and eventually

“The government of South Sudan has identified education as a priority in its development plan” (Odhiambo). “It has taken various policy and programmatic steps since it gained autonomy from Sudan in 2005 and independence in 2011 to increase school enrolment, including advancing the rights of girls to education” (Odhiambo). The Sudanese government has at least recognized the need for education in Sudan but the government is not likely prepared to retrieve resources to make better education a

The Child Act was recently implemented and it prevents girls from being expelled due to pregnancy (Odhiambo). The government made a step toward stimulating education as many women find pregnancy to be the downfall of their education; however, it still encourages young women to have children young which has inhibited education in the past. One woman said that her father found women’s education a waste of money and that a woman’s purpose to provide food and do the household chores (Odhiambo). The men in Sudan demean women and distort their minds into thinking that they do not deserve proper education. The women are probably easily manipulated because no one has told them that they have right to an education. Most families choose to set arranged marriages up for their daughters at a young age which causes these girls to start family life early and miss out on the opportunity of education (Odhiambo). Women do not seem to even be given the choice to continue schooling, their fathers decide their husbands and send them off to care for new children instead of learning how to become independent. Many of the girls in Sudan left schooling after at least three years, when they were still barely literate (Jamie). The women’s education in Sudan is so bad that their education levels are those of a kindergartner in the United States. Within Sudan male