Gender Inequality and
Economic Growth
Sudan
Basic Data
Population: 34 million
Life expectancy: 61.83
GNI per capita(Constant 2005 PPP): $1270
HDI index rank: 171
Source: UNDP (2013)
Sudan is an Arab state in North Africa bordered by Egypt to the north. It was once the largest and one of the most geographically diverse states in Africa. In July 2011, it is separated into two countries after the people of the south voted for independence. Sudan’s economy relies heavily on its agricultural sector and oil export and its oil production greatly reduces after the secession of South Sudan. In 2013, Sudan is classified as low-HDI country and is ranked 171th out of 187 countries. (BBC News Africa, 2013; Social Institutions & Gender Index (SIGI), 2012)
Gender Inequality in Sudan
The country was ranked 102 out of 102 in the 2009 Social Institutions and Gender Index. The 2011 Gender Inequality Index of 0.611 places Sudan 128 out of 187 countries. (Social Institutions & Gender Index, 2012)
In Sudan, the freedom of access to public space is restricted. First, according to the US Department of State, Sudanese women can travel abroad only if they have got the permission from their husbands or male guardians. However, this prohibition is not strictly enforced. Second, the threat of sexual violence associated with conflict creates a significant obstacle for women to move around freely, particularly for those internally displaced persons. Women’s rights activists who take part in a consultation exercise on rights to housing in 2004 also reported that in some areas, male relatives would deny women from leaving the house unaccompanied and women face this restriction of their freedom of movement day-to-day. In addition, women may face intimidation from the Public Order Police. Police may harass and sometimes arrest women whose dress or act in which they consider as inappropriate. The women’s access to public space is greatly limited, not to speak of having them go out to work. (Social Institutions & Gender Index, 2012)
For education, the situations of both male and female are similar, with the net primary school enrolment rate for the 6-13 years old population was 69% for males and 64% females and enrolment rate in secondary education is 21% for male and 23% for females. The ratio of girls to boys in primary education is nearly 90%. (UNDP, 2013b)
According to UNDP Sudan National Human Development Report 2012, Gender inequalities are also reflected in women’s low participation in national and local political fora. (UNDP, 2012) Sudan is one of the Eastern African countries that has mandate reserved seats for women in the lower or single chamber of parliament through the Constitution or electoral law. However, only about a quarter of positions in the lower house of parliament are reserved for women. In 2010, women gained 26% of seats in the lower house and 11% of seats in the upper house. Freedom House reports that women politicians and activists act as an active role in public life, but they work in the face of discrimination and hostility. The United Nations Human Rights Committee has made a recommendation to the government that it should increase its efforts in promoting women’s equality in the participation in public life. (UNDP, 2013b)
Women Labour Force Participation and Opportunity
According to a 2011 report investigating the labour market and unemployment in Sudan, both majority of Sudanese men and women are employed in the agriculture sector, followed by other sectors like industry. It is found that employed Sudanese men make up the majority of total employment in all sectors, whereas employed Sudanese women make up the minority of total employment in all sectors. Sudanese men employed in agriculture, fishing and forest activities, services and industry sectors are slightly higher than Sudanese women. Also, the labour structure for men and female are similar in Sudan in terms of its ratio in blue collar and white collar occupation, level of skills and education level of employed Sudanese. (Samia, 2011)
According to World Bank data in 2011, the Labor force participation rate for female ages 15-24 in Sudan was 27% as of 2011 and female labor force constitutes 28.77% of the total labour force. Both are the highest value over the past 21 years. (Index mundi, 2013)
However, women in Sudan are still facing the gender inequality in market participation and opportunity to some extent.
Actually, one stylized fact in the labour market in Sudan is the serious incidence of chronically unemployment cirisis and the presence of voluntary unemployment perceived from the low participation rate for women (e.g. housewife) can be one of the causes. The labour participation rate of population ages 15 years old or above for male is nearly double for female, indicating that a majority of Sudanese female are out of the pool of labour force even though they enjoy the rights and opportunity similar to male in terms of education.(Samia, 2011)
Women in Sudan have a legal right to paid maternity leave. The entitlement is 8 weeks to be paid at full salary. The right to equal pay is also enshrined in Constitution. There are however restrictions on women’s right to work. Women are not allowed to work between 10pm and 6am with the exception of women in administrative, professional, technical work or health services. In addition, Muslim married women can be denied the right to work outside the home by their husbands. There are many Sudanese women cannot go out to work due to different restrictions on their free access to public space. (Social Institutions & Gender Index, 2012)
Women in Sudan traditionally suffered from the absence of viable economic options, income-generating opportunities to earn money for their families and little opportunity to get into the labour market due to restricted access to public space, but this situation is improving with the help of some programmes initiated in the past few years and one of them is The Poverty Alleviation-Oriented Governance Programme. It is supported by UNDP to provide training and financial help to link women to skills and income opportunities. “It is a credit to the Programme to work among women in eastern Sudan, where they are relatively more secluded and their participation in outdoor activities is limited, and also to succeed in making a positive impact.” Aziza Abdalla, UNDP’s National Capacity Development Officer in Red Sea State stated. (UNDP – Sudan, 2009)
Women are making some sewings in the Diem Arab Centre in downtown Port Sudan under the Poverty Alleviation-Oriented Goverenance Programme
A Sudanese-Quintuplets is born! Can their mother get longer maternaity leave to take care of them?
Economy
Historically, agriculture is the main source of income and employment in Sudan, hiring over 80% of Sudanese and making up a third of the economic sector. (UNDP, 2013a)
In spite of this strong agricultural orientation, oil production constitutes the Sudan’s post-2000 growth to the greatest extent. In 2010, Sudan was considered as the 17th –fastest –growing economy in the world with the great and rapid boost in the country’s economy gaining from oil profits, despite international sanctions. However, the secession of the South Sudan in 2011, had gravely hit the economy as more than 80% of Sudan’s oil fields are located in the southern part of the country. This decline in oil revenues leaded to a major reverse to the Sudan’s fiscal situation and prompting financial austerity measures. The situation further worsens due to the prolonged tensions between Sudan and South Sudan and their inability to reach an agreement over transit fees for oil from South Sudan. Both parties still have not reached an agreement on this issue. (UNDP, 2012)
As a result of the oil loss, the growth of both industrial and service sectors of Sudan fell in to the negative while only agriculture sector gained positive growth in 2012. (UNDP, 2012)
A Sudan Oil Pipeline - The channel to export oil inexhcange for money and country economic growth
Flag of South Sudan (Above) and Sudan (Below)
Relationship between Economy and Gender Inequality
In the past decade, the economy of Sudan heavily relies on two sectors, the oil revenues and agriculture, and both of them are less relevance with the gender inequality situation in Sudan. The implantation and maintenance of oil extraction mainly depend on some skilled workers and the proportion of Sudanese female skilled workers to male skilled workers is about the same. What’s more, the workers recruited among Sudanese are little which makes it even more irrelevant to the gender inequality in Sudan. For agricultural sector, the proportion of labour participation of female to male is similar, with male only slightly higher than that of female. So, it can hardly prove that the gender inequality or the advancement of gender inequality in the past few years leads to the economic growth of Sudan even the GDP of Sudan continues to increase in the past decade. Instead, the main reasons of the economic growth may be the increases in oil production, high oil prices, and large inflows of foreign direct investment to Sudan. (Trading Economics, 2013; UNDP, 2013a)
Reference
BBC News Africa. (2013.) Sudan profile. Retrieved 26 November, 2013 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14094995
Index mundi. (2013). Sudan – Labor participation rate. Retrieved Novenomber 22, 2013 from http://www.indexmundi.com/facts/sudan/labor-participation-rate#SL.TLF.ACTI.1524.FE.ZS
Samia, S.O.M.N. (2011) Labour Market and Unemployment in Sudan. The Netherlands. United Nations University.
Social Institutions & Gender Index (SIGI). (2012).Sudan. Retrieved Novenmber21, 2013 from http://genderindex.org/country/sudan#_ftn75
Trading Economics. (2013).Sudan GDP Annual Growth Rate. Retrieved Novenmber18, 2013 from http://www.tradingeconomics.com/sudan/gdp-growth-annual
United Nations New York. (2010). The World’s Women 2010 Trends and Statistics. United Nations.
UNDP. (2012). Sudan National Human Development Report 2012. Retrieved November 15, 2013 from http://www.sd.undp.org/content/dam/sudan/docs/Sudan_NHDR_2012.pdf
UNDP. (2013). About Sudan. Retrieved Novenmber11, 2013 from http://www.sd.undp.org/content/sudan/en/home/countryinfo/
UNDP. (2013). Millennium Development Goals – Promote gender equality and empower women. Retrieved Novenmber20, 2013 from http://www.sd.undp.org/content/sudan/en/home/mdgoverview/overview/mdg3/
UNDP – Sudan. (2009). Mid-Term Review: Poverty Alleviation Oriented Governance Programme; Red Sea State Sudan. United Nations.
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