Beijing’s echoes
in Omdurman
Dr Samia al-Nager
Even with more women activists attending a UN conference than ever before, not everyone could be in Beijing. What impact did the conference have for the activists and communities who were prevented from attending? Dr Samia Al-Nager is an independent researcher and activist from Sudan. Her research work has taken her to communities across her own country, including regions heavily affected by conflict.
To start reviewing the impact of Beijing Platform of Action on Sudanese women activism, it is important to acknowledge that the response and impact was influenced by the political, economic, and social context dynamics of Sudan, specifically by the long period of military regimes’ gender insensitive policies, laws, and state feminism. For Sudanese women, Beijing’s legacy was not just about policy shifts but about resilience, underground activism, and the constant negotiation between state control and women’s resistance and persistence.
The government’s restrictions on civil society left little room for the immediate implementation of Beijing’s principles. But at the grassroots level, Sudanese women found ways to turn the Platform for Action into reality. By 1999 and early 2000s, organizations like the Gender Center for Research and Development, the Sudanese Organization for Research and Development (SORD) and No for Oppression of Women emerged, tackling issues such as economic empowerment, gender equality, political participation, and legal discrimination. Even longstanding institutions, such as the Babiker Bedri Scientific Association for Women’s Studies, expanded their advocacy efforts, particularly for girls’ education and against female genital mutilation (FGM). Though the government remained hostile, Beijing had given activists impetus and a framework and a language to legitimize their demands.
Women in conflict zones, especially in Darfur, were among those who used Beijing’s momentum to organize. Despite facing state surveillance, activists formed groups like the Women and Child Society, working to promote economic independence and social awareness. The rise of issue-based networks—such as campaigns against FGM and initiatives focused on poverty alleviation—allowed women to forge alliances beyond Sudan’s borders, connecting with international organizations and securing limited but crucial funding and training opportunities.
Beijing’s impact was also evident in peacebuilding efforts. In 1997, Sudanese women launched the Sudanese Women Empowerment for Peace (SuWEP), bringing together activists from both North and South Sudan to advocate for women’s inclusion in peace processes. Yet despite their work, northern North Sudan women were ultimately excluded from the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Even so, the post-agreement period saw a renewed push for women’s rights in Darfur and other conflict zones, proving that grassroots activism could persist even when formal negotiations left women out.
Advocacy under Sudan’s authoritarian regime brought significant risks. Women’s rights groups operated under tight surveillance, with events often shut down before they could begin. All advocacy sessions, and mobilization against Public Order Law and for CEDAW were banned. Activists who spoke at international forums were often detained upon their return, while organizations that challenged human rights violations risked being dismantled entirely.
Despite these challenges, Sudanese women persisted, often working in the shadows. In 1999, SORD launched its “Engendering Democracy” program to push for women’s rights agendas within political parties, though government-controlled union remained a major obstacle. Even distributing pamphlets in schools was seen as a dangerous act. Yet through determination, women’s networks expanded, ensuring that women’s ideas—if not always public—were never fully silenced.
Ahfad University for Women, through its undergraduate and master programs on gender and development, peace and migration contributed tremendously to building knowledge on gender, related international conventions and plans of actions, and that influenced the presence of gender sensitive activists, academicians and professionals.
For younger women activists in Sudan, Beijing is often a distant reference, overshadowed by more recent struggles. Many first learned of the platform only in 2010, and some prioritize African-led frameworks, such as the Maputo Protocol, over UN-driven initiatives. This generational divide reflects a shifting landscape, where activism continues but with new strategies and points of reference. Still, Beijing’s influence—through the networks it helped inspire and the strategies it legitimized—remains in Sudan’s women’s movements.
Women, Power, and the Backlash in Sudan.
From the streets, to the resistance committees, to the negotiating rooms of Khartoum, Juba, and Addis Ababa, Sudanese women have fought for a revolution that did not always fight for them. They marched, they chanted, they organized—and then, time and again, they were pushed aside. Theirs is a story of courage and resilience, but also of backlash and betrayal, of a promise of equality that has yet to be fulfilled.
In Sudan’s recent political upheavals—from the 1964 revolution to the 2019 uprising—women have played pivotal roles. Yet, history has repeated itself in painful cycles. As soon as the tide of revolution receded, women found themselves not only sidelined but punished for their audacity. Women have broken into the political sphere and disobeyed the social norms by being part of what has been a traditionally male-only space.
The Weaponization of Violence
Women’s participation in public political activities has long been met with social stigma and state-sanctioned violence. Politics has traditionally been regarded as the domain of men, and women’s presence in protests made them targets—not only for government forces but for societal censure. Security forces, particularly under Islamist rule, wielded sexual violence as a weapon, seeking to shame and silence female activists.
The backlash took many forms. Some young women were detained and had their Islamic head coverings torn off. Others were subjected to humiliating treatment by police and security officers. In the violence of June 3, 2019—the Khartoum Massacre—men targeted by the security forces were murdered. Women, overwhelmingly, were raped.
Yet, even within the sit-in itself, where protesters camped for weeks demanding democracy, women faced another kind of backlash. They had fought for their place in the movement, only to find themselves relegated to traditional roles. When male organizers attempted to assign them tasks of cooking and cleaning, the women rebelled. “We do all things equally,” they declared. Their resistance was not just against the regime but against the deeply ingrained gender norms within their own movement.
A small victory came when men who had initially dismissed them were forced to apologize. Women refused to be confined to domestic roles—they worked security shifts, strategized, and led.
We must also note that women involved in the sit-in not only endured patriarchal norms. Many women who participated at the sit-in suffered from violence perpetrated by their fellow protesters. Survivors generally agreed that they would keep it silent because they did not want to break the solidarity of the Revolution. Rather, women created their own safe spaces, ‘feminists’ spaces’ —a sanctuary within the revolution.
The Political Exclusion of Women
Perhaps the most insidious backlash came not from direct violence, but from the very institutions that claimed to be building a new Sudan. When negotiations began for the country’s transition, women were nearly absent. The first negotiation group had just one woman. The committees selecting the Ministerial Cabinet and State Governors followed suit, systematically excluding women from positions of power.
Women activists had not stood idly in these processes. They organized, they lobbied, they submitted lists of qualified female candidates with detailed CVs. They showed up at government offices demanding inclusion. And yet, despite their efforts, the transitional government was formed with only four women ministers among its 14 members—far from the 50 percent they had fought for. When the time came to appoint governors, women were shut out almost entirely. The political establishment, dominated by men, refused to relinquish control.
Even the Peace Agreement negotiations in August 2020, which sought to resolve the conflicts in Darfur, and in the ‘Two Areas’ of South Kordofan and Blue Nile, followed the same pattern. Government negotiators included no women. A few female economic advisors were allowed into the room, but not as decision-makers. Women activists were pushed into a secondary Track 2 process, forced to lobby from the sidelines rather than sit at the table. The resulting agreement included token references to gender issues, but not the structural reforms necessary to protect women’s rights in post-conflict Sudan.
Resistance Committees: A Battle for Space
While the formal political arena excluded women, Sudan’s grassroots resistance committees offered a new kind of political organization. These neighborhood-based groups, which organized protests and community support, were a powerful force in the revolution. Yet, even here, women in some committees struggled to carve out space.
Meeting locations were often held in spaces unfriendly to women: private homes of young unmarried men. Women who insisted on attending were met with resistance, their presence perceived as a challenge to social norms. One young woman, reflecting on her experience, wrote on Facebook: “They insisted on meeting in single men’s houses and late at night. I insisted on participating. They were shocked.”
Despite these barriers, women persisted. They attended meetings, took on assignments, and fought to have their voices heard. Some committees saw women rise to leadership, forcing male members to confront their biases. In one initiative in Omdurman, young women not only organized training programs but led discussions—challenging the notion that leadership belonged to men alone.
A Sudanese Feminism
Through these struggles, a new feminist consciousness has taken root in Sudan. For decades, feminism had been dismissed as a foreign import, stigmatized as an ideology that was anti-men, which promoted Western, Neoliberal values. But by 2016, young Sudanese women began to adopt and take ownership of feminism.
Organizations like SORD (Sudanese Organization for Research and Development) pioneered feminist education, helping young women understand their oppression not just as a political issue but as a personal one. They argued that without dismantling the patriarchal structures within families and communities, political change would be meaningless. Salma Organization have also taken up efforts and engagement with young women on feminism while the Regional Institute for Gender, Diversity, Peace and Rights at Ahfad University for Women provided some courses on feminism.
For some older generations of women activists, feminism remained a divisive topic. Many had fought for women’s rights within traditional frameworks and were wary of the younger generation’s more radical approach. Some dismissed feminism as advocating for sexual freedoms and safe abortion rights, ignoring its broader fight for political, economic, and social equality.
Yet, the younger generation have persisted. They formed feminist networks in conservative regions, breaking barriers in places where women had historically been silenced. In universities, in resistance committees, in community spaces—young feminists organized, debated, and redefined activism in Sudan.
The Road Ahead
As Sudan navigates yet another period of political uncertainty following the 2021 coup and the ongoing war, the question remains: how can women prevent future backlashes? How can they cement their place in Sudan’s political landscape, ensuring that the next revolution does not erase them once again?
One emerging strategy is to engage men in the struggle for gender equality. Some organizations have started working with male allies, recognizing that dismantling patriarchal power structures requires broad societal change. Others argue for a more radical approach—building an independent feminist movement that does not wait for men’s approval.
What is clear is that the fight is far from over. Women in Sudan have proven, time and again, that they are not passive victims of history but active shapers of it.
“Restrictions on civil society left little room for the immediate implementation of Beijing’s principles. But at the grassroots level, Sudanese women found ways to turn the Platform for Action into reality.”
“Women attended meetings, took on assignments, and fought to have their voices heard.”