The Sudanese Women's Union (SWU, , transliteration: ''Aletahad Elnisa'i Assodani'') is a Sudanese

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

organisation that is one of the biggest post-independence women's rights organisations in Africa.

Creation

The Sudanese Women's Union (SWU) was created in 1952 during the struggle for independence from

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

, with Fatima Talib, Khalida Zahir and Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim forming the executive committee. The first president of the Union was Fatima Talib. In 1956, Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim was elected president of the SWU. Khalida Zahir was elected president in 1958.

Founding Committee

The 17 January 1952 founding meeting of the SWU included the following leadership and founding members. President – Fatima Talib Secretary –

Nafisah Ahmad al-Amin Nafisah Ahmad al-Amin, also spelled Nafissa Ahmed el-Amin, is a former Sudanese politician and activist for women's rights. She served as Deputy Minister of Youth and Sport from 1971 to 1972. She was the first woman Minister (government), cabine ...

Members – Khalda Zahir, Thuryia Al Dirdeiri, Nafisa Al Mileik, Suad Al Fatih Al Badawi, Batoul Adham, Thuryia Umbabi, Suad Abdel Rahman, Hajja Kashif Badri, Azziza Meki, Khadmalla Osman, Fatima Abdel Rahman,

Suad Abdel Aal Suad (Arabic: سعاد ''su‘ad'') and the variants Souad, Soad, stems from the Arabic verb ''sa‘ada'' (سَعَدَ - 'to be happy, fortunate or lucky') which the name means "good luck, good fortune, happiness, auspicious, prosperous, favorable" ...

, Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim, Khadija Mohamed Mustafa

1952–1989

The SWU was

Pan-Africanist Pan-Africanism is a nationalist movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all indigenous peoples and diasporas of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atlantic slave trade, the Trans-Sa ...

in its early years. It organised women's solidarity actions for women and against

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

in Zambia, South Africa and

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

; in protest against the 1961 execution of

Patrice Lumumba Patrice Émery Lumumba ( ; born Isaïe Tasumbu Tawosa; 2 July 192517 January 1961) was a Congolese politician and independence leader who served as the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then known as the Republic o ...

in the

Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central ...

; in protest against the arrest of

Djamila Bouhired Djamila Bouhired (, born June 1935) is an Algerian nationalist militant, who opposed the French colonial rule of Algeria as a member of the National Liberation Front. In 1957, she was convicted alongside another Algerian rebel, Djamila Bouazz ...

, an Algerian anti-colonial activist who in 2019 participated in 2019 Algerian street protests; and in support of Palestinian women activists. In Sudan, the SWU campaigned in favour of girls' education during the

British colonial The British Overseas Territories (BOTs) or alternatively referred to as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs) are the fourteen territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom that, while not forming p ...

period in which education was only organised for a small minority of boys and the British authorities opposed formal education for girls. The SWU created schools for girls in

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum is the capital city of Sudan as well as Khartoum State. With an estimated population of 7.1 million people, Greater Khartoum is the largest urban area in Sudan. Khartoum is located at the confluence of the White Nile – flo ...

and

Omdurman Omdurman () is a major city in Sudan. It is the second most populous city in the country, located in the State of Khartoum. Omdurman lies on the west bank of the River Nile, opposite and northwest of the capital city of Khartoum. The city acts ...

and in 1970 organised an international conference against women's illiteracy that was attended by many

women's organisations This is a list of women's organization by civics International * All India Democratic Women's Association – founded in 1981 to achieve women's emancipation in India Yes Helping Hand– Founded in 2009 for empowerment and employment of Women, D ...

from around Africa. The SWU created evening classes for adult women, encouraging literacy and women's health education and opposing

underage In law, a minor is someone under a certain age, usually the age of majority, which demarcates an underage individual from legal adulthood. The age of majority depends upon jurisdiction and application, but it is commonly 18. ''Minor'' may also ...

and

forced marriage Forced marriage is a marriage in which one or more of the parties is married without their consent or against their will. A marriage can also become a forced marriage even if both parties enter with full consent if one or both are later force ...

s. The SWU also campaigned for

polygamy Polygamy (from Late Greek , "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marriage, marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, it is called polygyny. When a woman is married to more tha ...

to be regulated; for the right to consent to marriage; against laws requiring abused women to return to their husbands; for women's employment, for equal pay, and against discrimination against "Africans". After Sudanese women gained electoral rights in the October 1964 Sudanese Revolution, Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim became, in 1965, the first woman elected as a member of the Sudanese parliament (at the time called the Constitutional Assembly) and, according to author

Caitlin Davies Caitlin Davies (born 6 March 1964) is an English author, historian, journalist and teacher. She has written several books about social history and women's history. Her historical works have focused on swimmers, female prisoners, female crimina ...

and ''

Middle East Monitor The Middle East Monitor (MEMO) is a not-for-profit press monitoring organisation and lobbying group that emerged in mid 2009. MEMO is largely focused on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict but writes about other issues in the Middle East, as wel ...

'', the first woman member of any African parliament. The post-1964 prime minister

Gaafar Nimeiry Gaafar Muhammad an-Nimeiry (otherwise spelled in English as Gaafar Nimeiry, Jaafar Nimeiry, or Ja'far Muhammad Numayri; ; 1 January 193030 May 2009) was a Sudanese military officer and politician who served as the fourth president of Sudan, hea ...

banned the SWU and Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim was held under house arrest for two years. Campaigning by the SWU and other feminists continued during the 1960s and 70s and led to improvements in

family law Family law (also called matrimonial law or the law of domestic relations) is an area of the law that deals with family matters and domestic relations. Overview Subjects that commonly fall under a nation's body of family law include: * Marriag ...

and equal rights for men and women in the 1973 Constitution.

1989–2018

The SWU (along with many other citizens' associations) was officially dissolved in 1989 when

Omar al-Bashir Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir (born 1 January 1944) is a Sudanese former military officer and politician who served as Head of state of Sudan, Sudan's head of state under various titles from 1989 until 2019, when he was deposed in 2019 Sudanese c ...

took power in a coup d'état. The SWU continued to operate unofficially. Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim, in exile in London, created a London branch of the SWU. On 13 July 2012, the SWU together with other citizens' groups organised protests in cities in Sudan against the repression of demonstrators and against the torture and abuses of female activists by the

National Intelligence and Security Service The National Intelligence and Security Service (Amharic: የብሔራዊ መረጃና ደህንነት አገልግሎት, NISS) is an intelligence agency of the Government of Ethiopia, Ethiopian federal government tasked to defend, protect and ad ...

(NISS).

Sudanese Revolution

In August 2019, during the Sudanese transition to democracy period that followed the first 2018–2019

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active and professed refusal of a citizenship, citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders, or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be cal ...

, coup and

massacre A massacre is an event of killing people who are not engaged in hostilities or are defenseless. It is generally used to describe a targeted killing of civilians Glossary of French words and expressions in English#En masse, en masse by an armed ...

phases of the

Sudanese Revolution The Sudanese revolution () was a major shift of political power in Sudan that started with street protests throughout Sudan on 19 December 2018 and continued with sustained civil disobedience for about eight months, during which the 2019 S ...

, the SWU argued that since women had played as significant a role in the revolution as men, positions chosen by civilian–military consensus in the

Cabinet of Ministers A cabinet in governing is a group of people with the constitutional or legal task to rule a country or state, or advise a head of state, usually from the executive branch. Their members are known as ministers and secretaries and they are ...

should be allotted equally between men and women, stating that Sudanese women "claim an equal share of 50–50 with men at all levels, measured by qualifications and capabilities".

Awards

The SWU was awarded the

United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights The United Nations Prizes in the Field of Human Rights were instituted by United Nations General Assembly in 1966. They are intended to "honour and commend people and organizations which have made an outstanding contribution to the promotion and pr ...

in 1993, along with eight other groups and individuals.

References

{{Sudanese Revolution Feminist organisations in Sudan Women's Union Sudanese democracy movements Women's International Democratic Federation affiliates