CEDAW

Over fifty women, civil society and political groups Thursday have called on the Sudanese government to ratify the Convention of Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

This international legal framework will provide a “legislative umbrella” for the protection of women and allow them to participate in public life ensuring justice and equity, according to women groups.

Women from all the segments of the Sudanese society actively participated in the over four-month protests that toppled the former Islamist regime of Omer al-Bashir.

As a result of this unprecedented scale of female participation in the protests, the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC) agreed to allocate to women 40% of the transitional parliament seats.

“We call upon our government, the government of our glorious revolution, with the hope that we can together, start to make the fundamental change that will lay the foundation for the respect of women in our country,” said the joint letter.

From students and academics to housewives and street traders, women from all sections of society are demonstrating, she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, adding that the scale of female participation in the protests has been unprecedented.

When public protests erupted in Sudan over the rising cost of bread almost two months ago, women’s rights activist Hala Al-Karib did not hesitate to join the masses on the streets defying the security forces to voice their anger.

But for Al-Karib and many women risking their lives on frontlines of these protests – the most sustained challenge to al-Bashir since he took power in 1989 – a change in government means more than just economic prosperity.