About the Report

Part of a series of U.S. Institute of Peace reports on state building 

in South Sudan, this report asserts that equality between women 

and men and among women—as well as women’s security, 

economic empowerment, and meaningful participation—should 

be central benchmarks to state building in South Sudan, not 

only as a matter of principle, but also as a means to overturn 

years of conflict and marginalization. Gender equality is essential 

to building a strong and equitable economy and to ensuring a 

functional state that maximizes the full potential of all South 

Sudanese. The report is based on field research in Juba in 

February 2011 as well as previous and follow-up research by the 

author. It examines the risks and opportunities associated with 

gender and state building in South Sudan, analyzes priorities that 

South Sudanese women interviewees identified, and recommends 

ways to make the new state responsive to and reflective of the 

needs of all South Sudanese women and men. 

About the Author

Nada Mustafa Ali is a part-time faculty member in global studies 

at the New School University in New York and a consultant 

and activist. She held visiting fellow or associate positions at 

Fordham University, the Five College Women’s Studies Research 

Center, and the International Center for Research on Women. 

Formerly she was women’s program coordinator at the Cairo 

Institute for Human Rights Studies, Africa women’s rights 

researcher at Human Rights Watch, and consultant at the United 

Nations Development Programme. She received her PhD in 

government from Manchester University in 2000 and holds an 

MA from the American University in Cairo and a BSc from the 

University of Khartoum, both in political science. 

2301 Constitution Ave., NW • Washington, DC 20037 • 202.457.1700 • fax 202.429.6063

Special Report 298 December 2011

© 2011 by the United States Institute of Peace. 

All rights reserved.

Contents

Risks and Opportunities for Gender Equality and

Women’s Human Rights 2

Priorities 5

Conclusion 12

Nada Mustafa Ali

Gender and 

Statebuilding in 

South Sudan

Summary

•	 South Sudan’s independence ends decades of conflict as well as socioeconomic and political marginalization at the hands of successive governments in Khartoum, which affected 

women in gender-specific ways. Independence thus opens up opportunities for women’s 

economic and social empowerment, ensuring that the new country’s political and economic 

structures and institutions reflect commitments to women’s participation and human rights. 

In turn, empowering women will enable South Sudan to strengthen its economic and political structures and institutions.

•	 There is great potential for gender equality and respect for women’s rights in South Sudan. 

The government has expressed commitments to equality between women and men and 

to women’s participation. South Sudan is relatively egalitarian and lacking in religious 

extremism. International actors interested in South Sudan recognize that promoting gender 

equality and women’s empowerment and addressing gender-based violence (GBV) are key to 

maintaining peace and security and helping South Sudan’s economy grow. 

•	 Challenges abound, however. South Sudan is severely lacking in infrastructure and has some 

of the worst human development indicators worldwide. Social and cultural practices harmful 

to women compound the effects of conflict and marginalization. There are constant internal 

and external security threats, a limited understanding of gender equality, and a tendency 

within communities to view gender as an alien and illegitimate concern, given the acute 

problems that South Sudan faces. 

•	 The government of South Sudan, with the support of regional partners and the international 

community, should ensure that gender equality and women’s rights are fully integrated into 

and are outcomes of state building. National planning, developing the permanent constitution, and building the country’s new institutions and structures should reflect commitments 

to gender equality and input from women and women’s groups across South Sudan. The 

United States Institute of Peace www.usip.org

SPECIAL REPORT
2 

government should cost and meet the full budgetary needs of the Ministry of Gender, 

Child, and Welfare; ratify and implement the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms 

of Discrimination against Women and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and 

People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa; strengthen efforts to prevent GBV and 

address the needs of GBV victims and survivors; and invest more in quality and accessible 

health and education.

The Republic of South Sudan became Africa’s fifty-fourth state on July 9, 2011, ending 

decades of conflict as well as socioeconomic and political marginalization at the hands of 

successive governments in Khartoum. Both conflict and marginalization affected women 

in South Sudan in gender-specific ways.1 Likewise, the experience of women with South 

Sudan’s independence will likely differ from that of men. This report argues that with political will, resources, and a clear gendered strategy, the process of state building2 can open up 

opportunities for stronger support of women’s human rights and gender equality in the long 

run, including through mainstreaming gender.3 Such efforts are essential to successful state 

building and a strong economy.4 Without them, South Sudan’s new state may perpetuate 

existing inequalities and prevent the new nation from realizing the full potential of all its 

citizens, including women.

But how can women’s human rights and economic and political empowerment be integral 

to and products of the state-building process in South Sudan? What are the challenges to 

gender equality? What are the opportunities in realizing it? What are the key priorities in 

accomplishing it? This report engages these questions and provides recommendations for the 

Republic of South Sudan and the international community. These recommendations should 

complement recent suggestions and recommendations by several South Sudanese women and 

women’s organizations on the way forward in ensuring women’s rights and participation in 

the new republic.5

Risks and Opportunities for Gender Equality and Women’s Human Rights

Independence brings multiple opportunities and risks to South Sudan and its women and 

men. Some of the opportunities result from changes in gender roles and norms brought about 

by years of conflict and forced displacement. Others include relative political support for 

gender equality within the government, egalitarianism and an absence of religious extremism in South Sudan compared with Sudan, increasing international commitment to gender 

equality, and the availability of good examples of women’s political participation in other 

African countries. Hurdles include the presence of multiple, urgent priorities in postconflict 

South Sudan, including lack of security, a dearth of infrastructure and human resources, and 

a lack of basic services, such as education and health. These hurdles not only absorb limited 

resources, but also could be used by anyone opposing social change and equality between 

women and men to delegitimize concerns for gender equality and women’s human rights. 

Despite the devastating effects of conflict on women, experience in South Sudan and 

several postconflict African countries shows that women can make at least partial gains 

even during conflict, as women assume more nontraditional roles outside the household, 

as gender norms change, and as the war disrupts traditional local structures.6 These gains 

can be strengthened during postconflict reconstruction.7 For example, after the 1994 

Rwandan genocide, women’s political participation in Rwanda increased, and the country’s 

parliament now has the highest level of female representation worldwide. Postwar Liberia 

elected Africa’s first female president.8 South Africa has one of the most gender-sensitive 

constitutions in the world, and constitutional reform after Kenya’s postelection violence in 

The views expressed in this report do not necessarily 

reflect the views of the United States Institute of Peace, 

which does not advocate specific policy positions.

To request permission to photocopy or reprint materials, 

e-mail: permissions@usip.org

About the Institute

The United States Institute of Peace is an independent, 

nonpartisan institution established and funded by Congress. 

Its goals are to help prevent and resolve violent conflicts, 

promote postconflict peacebuilding, and increase conflict 

management tools, capacity, and intellectual capital worldwide. The Institute does this by empowering others with 

knowledge, skills, and resources, as well as by its direct 

involvement in conflict zones around the globe.

Board of Directors

J. Robinson West (Chair), Chairman, PFC Energy •

George E. Moose (Vice Chairman), Adjunct Professor of 

Practice, The George Washington University • Judy Ansley,

Former Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Adviser under President George W. Bush • Eric Edelman,

Hertog Distinguished Practitioner in Residence, Johns Hopkins 

School of Advanced International Studies • Kerry Kennedy, 

President, Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human 

Rights • Ikram U. Khan, President, Quality Care Consultants, 

LLC • Stephen D. Krasner, Graham H. Stuart Professor 

of International Relations, Stanford University • John A. 

Lancaster, Former Executive Director of the National Council 

on Independent Living • Jeremy A. Rabkin, Professor, 

George Mason School of Law • Judy Van Rest, Executive Vice 

President, International Republican Institute • Nancy Zirkin,

Executive Vice President, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights

Members Ex Officio

Michael H. Posner, Assistant Secretary of State for 

Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor • James N. Miller, 

Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy •

Ann E. Rondeau, Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy; President, 

National Defense University • Richard H. Solomon, 

President, United States Institute of Peace (nonvoting) 
 3

2008 enabled women to strengthen provisions safeguarding their rights in the constitution. 

Government action (or inaction) on gender equality in South Sudan will determine whether 

the new republic sets another positive example for the rest of the continent, or whether its 

women need to stage yet another fight for equality. 

Political will is important to ensuring gender equality in postconflict settings. In South 

Sudan, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), the ruling party, has acknowledged the specific adverse effects of conflict and marginalization on women, reflected, 

for example, in the often-cited proclamation by the late Dr. John Garang, founder of the 

SPLM, that women are “the marginalized of the marginalized.”9 The majority of female and 

male politicians in South Sudan also acknowledge the roles that women played during the 

conflict as well as their roles as peacebuilders and in mobilizing voters for the referendum 

on independence in January 2011. Since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement 

(CPA) in 2005, South Sudan also has committed itself to ensuring women’s participation, 

including through a quota system to ensure gender parity in government. 

There is a general belief in South Sudan that women are in a better position to achieve 

gender equality due to the relative lack of religious extremism, compared with neighboring 

Sudan, for example10—an important point that women’s groups can use to advocate for 

gender equality and women’s rights. Increased global efforts in gender equality, women’s 

political participation, and human rights constitute another enabling factor for equality in 

South Sudan. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which many world leaders have 

endorsed, include commitments to women’s empowerment and gender equality, which are 

now considered essential to achieving all MDGs. 

Women’s political participation and gender mainstreaming, including in postconflict 

societies, have also been on the global security agenda since 2000, with the adoption of 

Security Council Resolution 1325. The Security Council has since adopted several other 

resolutions that focus on sexual violence in conflict, set out institutional mechanisms to 

prevent sexual violence, ensure protection for women in conflict, and address impunity. 

It also has appointed a special representative on sexual and gender-based violence (GBV) 

in conflict situations; South Sudan is a priority country on the representative’s agenda 

for 2011–12. 

Global commitments to encouraging women’s participation, gender mainstreaming, and 

combating GBV are evident in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1996 (2011), 

which established the UN Mission of the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS). Drawing on its 

resolutions on women, peace, and security, the Security Council affirmed the importance of 

appropriate gender expertise in the mission.11 The resolution also emphasized the need to 

address GBV as a tool of war and specifically demanded that “rebel militias” and the Lord’s 

Resistance Army (LRA) “immediately cease all forms of violence and human rights abuses 

against the civilian population, in particular gender-based violence, including rape and 

other forms of sexual abuse.”12

Key challenges can seriously limit women’s social, economic, and political empowerment 

and commitments to gender equality, however. These challenges affect men and women 

differently, and affect women from different ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, and 

from different states of South Sudan, in distinct ways. Insecurity, which interviewees for 

this report identified as a major challenge, often arises from armed militia attacks within 

South Sudan, on-and-off conflict on the northern borders, and attacks from the LRA on the 

borders with Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Central African Republic. The militarization of communities as a result of years of war, inadequate demobilization, 

disarmament, and reintegration of Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) combatants, and 

the abundance of arms are also sources of insecurity. These have had devastating effects on 

communities at large, but especially on women. According to the Office of the Coordination 

South Sudan has committed 

itself to ensuring women’s 

participation, including through 

a quota system to ensure gender 

parity in government. 
4 

of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in March 2010, more than ten incidents of conflict occurred in 

South Sudan, resulting in the displacement of almost 16,000 people in Upper Nile and Jonglei 

states,13 the majority of whom were women. One of the interviewees said,

I feel really concerned about women’s security. People are dying. It looks like the war 

has stopped but it hasn’t yet. In Jonglei, the militias are carrying arms. George Athor 

is provided for by the government in Khartoum. . . . In Western Equatoria you find the 

LRA. . . Women are losing their children. We endured this for twenty-one years during 

the war, and we voted for freedom in the referendum, but freedom is not here yet.14

In recent years, young men have also used small arms for cattle raiding to pay as bride 

wealth, further fueling community-level violence.15

The lack of infrastructure and human resources, extreme poverty and inequality of 

income distribution, and low access to health, education, and employment also affect 

women differently. Interviewees for this report identified education and health as key challenges and priority areas. South Sudan’s literacy rate stands at 28 percent, but it is much 

lower among women and girls age six or older (19 percent) than among men and boys in the 

same age group (38 percent). The dominant division of roles within the household, along 

with entrenched practices such as early and forced marriage for girls, contribute to this disparity. Similarly, the weak health care system affects the health and well-being of everyone 

in South Sudan, but many women die in childbirth due to a lack of healthcare services and 

reluctance to use what services there are.16 South Sudan’s maternal mortality rate of 1,054 

deaths per 100,000 live births is among the highest worldwide.

The government also must meet the needs of returnees, especially those returning from 

Sudan. Returnees started to arrive in South Sudan at the war’s end in 2005, but their numbers 

increased in the run-up to the referendum. Returnees also came back for security reasons. 

OCHA indicates that out of 1.5 million to 2 million South Sudanese living in northern cities, 

320,000 returned to the south between October 2010 and July 2011.17 Mass displacement also 

often renders women vulnerable to GBV, and in a conference organized by the South Sudan 

Women’s Empowerment Network (SSWEN) on integrating women’s concerns into post referendum negotiations, women from across Sudan and South Sudan warned of this danger.18

Several interviewees for this report were further concerned that in South Sudan, gender 

equality and respect for women’s human rights are conflated with the 25 percent quota 

allocated to women in decision-making structures, which can cause neglect of other areas 

relevant to women’s empowerment and participation. As in other developing countries, 

gender issues are at times perceived as alien and irrelevant in South Sudan. For example, 

a training course that the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) organized in 

Juba for a group of civil society organizations included a module on gender and justice. Participants initially responded to the UN trainers that gender was a Western concept and that 

concern for it meant promoting the domination of women over men.19 The ICTJ organized a 

follow-up training session on gender, its definition, and its relevance to transitional justice 

concerns in South Sudan, resulting in consensus among most participants on the importance 

of gender in transitional justice.20

Finally, South Sudan’s nation-building process, which involves addressing politicized 

ethnic difference, “promoting an inclusive sense of national belonging . . . [and] building a 

citizenry devoted to the concept of citizenship in the nation,”21 can involve constraints on 

women, given their roles in replacing generations lost during the war, and in reproducing 

the new nation biologically and culturally.22 The same process, however, can open up the 

political space for dialogue about citizenship and inclusion and about who South Sudanese 

are and what unites them as a nation.23 Women’s organizations and other stakeholders can 

use this as a platform for a dialogue that rethinks women’s roles in reproducing the nation 

and that defines South Sudan as a nation committed to principles of gender equality and 

women’s human rights. 

South Sudan’s nation-building 

process . . . can open up the 

political space for dialogue 

about citizenship and inclusion.
 5

Priorities

Following conflict, efforts are often directed toward establishing public order and security, 

and building or rebuilding state institutions and structures. Depending on how this process 

unfolds, it can result in maintenance of women’s prewar status, improvement in commitments to women’s rights, or deterioration in women’s status.24 Below is a discussion and 

recommendations on ways to ensure wider political and economic empowerment for women, 

a constitution that includes clear commitments to gender equality and women’s human 

rights, and an enabling environment for gender equality and the rights of women.

Wider Political Participation

Women’s participation is a right enshrined in South Sudan’s transitional constitution and 

essential to ensuring a viable economy. It can also lead to stronger and more inclusive state 

structures and institutions that improve relations between the state and local communities 

and enable women to take advantage of better governance.25 In South Sudan, women have 

earned this right through their active participation in many capacities before independence. 

As Anne Itto stated in 2006, “Women were never simply guests at the negotiating table. The 

roles they play as combatants, supporters of fighting forces, and peacemakers qualify them 

to sit at the negotiating table and to assume an active role in implementation.”26

South Sudan’s 2011 transitional constitution provides for a quota system with 25 percent representation for women at executive and legislative levels. Women compete for the 

remaining 75 percent of the seats. Similar provisions in the interim constitution resulted in 

women constituting 33 percent of South Sudan’s parliament at independence. The chair of 

the women’s parliamentary caucus envisions an increase in the percentage of women members of parliament to 42 or 43 percent in the next elections and eventually to 51 percent.27

Several articles by Southern Sudanese activists and writers, however, have described factors obstructing women’s political participation.28 Jane Edward discusses cultural practices, 

such as early and forced marriages, that limit women’s access to education; perceptions 

that relegate women to the private sphere; the assigning of time-consuming household 

responsibilities, such as fetching water and preparing food, to women; and negative labeling of politically active women.29 Focusing on cultural attitudes, a female former minister 

of information in one of the states said that during her tenure the governor often asked a 

male subordinate to deliver strong statements, but blamed anything that went wrong in her 

ministry on her being a woman.30 Addressing the barriers and creating an enabling environment for women’s participation should accompany quotas to ensure equal participation for 

women and men.31

Recommendations

To promote women’s participation at all levels, South Sudan should do the following:

•	 Set priorities for the new state through consultations and other democratic processes that 

involve wide participation by women.

•	 Ensure a quota of at least 30 percent of seats at all levels of government for women in 

South Sudan’s permanent constitution. 

•	 Collaborate with civil society and donors to promote women’s grassroots participation, 

which could include training in leadership and other relevant skills; working to strengthen 

women’s self-esteem; and identifying and eliminating socioeconomic, political, and cultural 

barriers to women’s participation at the household, community, and state levels. Barriers 

include household responsibilities that limit women’s participation and women’s need for 

spousal permission to be able to attend meetings or other functions.

Addressing the barriers and 

creating an enabling environment 

for women’s participation should 

accompany quotas to ensure equal 

participation for women and men.
6 

In addition, the Ministry of Gender and the Ministry of Information, in collaboration with 

civil society, especially women’s organizations, should

•	 plan and implement a campaign that raises awareness about gender equality, women’s 

human rights, women’s participation, and the importance of these in building the new 

state and nation and ensuring a viable economy. The campaign should model successful 

previous work, such as the National Democratic Institute community outreach program and 

the use of drama and radios, to facilitate participation during the 2010 elections and in 

the run-up to the referendum.

Women’s Economic Empowerment

Interviewees identified women’s economic empowerment as key to their effective participation at all levels and to reducing poverty. Suggestions included empowering women in the 

agricultural sector, given that women constitute the majority of farmers in South Sudan.32

At present, 83 percent of the population lives in rural areas, and 78 percent of the households depend on crop farming, which is dominated by women. 

The government of South Sudan so far has taken several steps to empower women 

economically in various sectors. The Ministry of Gender, with funding from the World Bank, 

disseminated grants to 109 women, who started small businesses in all ten states.33 In April 

2011, the government launched a women’s vocational training institute in Aluakluak Payam 

(district), Yirol West County of Lakes state, the first of its kind in South Sudan.34 These 

efforts are encouraging. But the government also must ensure women’s access to decision 

making in the national economy and remove obstacles to their participation in it, in the 

public and private sectors and in the informal economy.35 Recent empirical global research 

by the World Economic Forum shows that empowering women can contribute to economic 

growth and that there is a strong correlation between gender equality and per capita gross 

domestic product.36

Empowering women could provide greater payoff, given the postconflict environment 

in which economic structures are still emerging. Supporting women in agriculture can 

strengthen the economy by diversifying its sources of income. At the state level, training 

women and facilitating their access to employment will ensure the growth of human capital 

and state resources. Women in the informal economy can also contribute to maintaining 

families and households, reducing poverty, building skills, and increasing the chances for 

employment elsewhere. 

Recommendations

The government of South Sudan and the international community should do the following:

•	 focus on empowering South Sudanese women through meeting their basic economic needs 

and ensuring their input into decision making in the economic sector;

•	 learn from best practices elsewhere in shaping economic policies that take the specific 

context of South Sudan into account;

•	 support South Sudanese women’s accumulation and control of assets, such as titles to land 

or homes;

•	 strengthen South Sudanese women’s economic participation through increased connectivity to 

active markets, including infrastructure projects such as building roads and transport;

•	 ensure women’s equal access to economic opportunities, remove barriers to women’s entry 

into the workforce, and support an expanded role for women in the agricultural sector.
 7

Gendering Constitution Making and Law Reform

Civil society organizations, especially women’s groups and networks, have worked tirelessly to 

influence constitution making in South Sudan. The Transitional Constitution of the Republic of 

South Sudan, which the president of South Sudan endorsed at independence, is an amended 

version of the 2005 interim constitution. It includes provisions that favor women’s participation and gender equality. Article 16 in the bill of rights accords women full and equal dignity 

of the person with men, the right to equal pay for equal work, and the right to property and to 

share the estates of a deceased husband. In addition, it stipulates that all levels of government 

should “enact laws to combat harmful customs and traditions which undermine the dignity and 

status of women”37 and “provide maternity and child care and medical care for pregnant and 

lactating women.”38 Finally, the constitution provides for a postindependence constitutional 

process to develop a permanent constitution. This process involves a national constitutional 

conference with wide participation, including by women’s organizations.39

Nonetheless, the interim constitution also recognizes customary law,40 which mainly 

facilitates access to property for women and girls through their fathers or husbands, and 

as such, often discriminates against widows and other groups of women. Practices that 

communities developed to maintain widows’ access to land, such as wife inheritance by a 

brother in law, often compound this discrimination.41 Widows can take their in-laws to court 

to retrieve their property, but it is very difficult to do so without economic resources or 

family support.42 Such services are almost nonexistent in South Sudan—even as the United 

Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Population Fund are supporting 

limited paralegal assistance for women, the New Sudan Women’s Federation has been running legal aid clinics since the 1990s, and South Sudan’s Law Society established a center in 

Lakes state to promote legal rights for women.43 Customary law also discriminates against 

women in claims of adultery.44 Women can be imprisoned for eight to twelve months on 

circumstantial evidence. Conversely, women’s adultery claims against men, if brought before 

customary courts, are rarely upheld.45

Recommendations

•	 Women should form at least 30 percent of the membership of the commission that develops the permanent constitution, and at least 30 percent of the delegations of different 

groups (identified in sub-article [1]) appointed to the national constitutional conference.

•	 The government of South Sudan and international partners should ensure that experts in 

gender and constitutional development advise the commission.

•	 Donors should support exchange visits for women’s rights activists and representatives of 

women’s organizations to countries such as South Africa and Kenya, which underwent constitutional processes resulting in documents with strong commitments to gender equality. 

•	 The government of South Sudan should instigate a wide debate among elders, judges, communities, and civil society organizations (including women’s organizations) to develop a common understanding of the local justice system and of the women’s human rights enshrined in 

international human rights agreements, especially the African Women’s Rights Protocol.

•	 South Sudan should ratify and implement the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms 

of Discrimination against Women and the African Women’s Rights Protocol, and ensure that 

both documents inform the permanent constitution.

•	 The permanent constitution of South Sudan should reflect a strong commitment to 

women’s rights and gender equality in all its relevant clauses.
8 

Gendering State Institutions and Structures

The process of building and consolidating state structures and institutions offers a unique 

opportunity for South Sudanese women and men to create an inclusive and functional 

state, and to make gender equality a central component of state building. The government 

of South Sudan started to form state structures when it became autonomous in 2005. 

This state building included establishing a gender ministry with a mandate covering social 

welfare and, until recently, religious affairs. The government has committed to appointing 

gender focal points in all ministries to support gender mainstreaming, though this has not 

been fully implemented due to lack of financial resources. The government also established 

posts of gender advisers to the governor, with a mixed success record that needs further 

examination. Meanwhile, several development partners supported initiatives to strengthen 

the Ministry of Gender in recent years, including a $10 million grant from the World Bank 

in 2010 for mainstreaming gender across ministries and sectors, building the ministry’s 

institutional capacity, and sponsoring a grants program to empower women and girls economically. But the ministry continues to receive the smallest budget allocation of all South 

Sudan’s ministries.46

There is no blueprint for gender mainstreaming that South Sudan can follow. There are, 

however, tools and methodologies that UN agencies and civil society organizations have 

developed since 1997 to meet their obligations of mainstreaming gender, including in 

programs in developing countries. There is also extensive literature documenting lessons 

learned and examples of good practice. A starting point is the UN Economic and Social Council definition. It maintains that gender mainstreaming involves assessing the implications 

of any process or action—including those connected to state building—on women and 

men, so that women’s and men’s concerns become integral to the design, implementation, 

monitoring, and evaluation of programs and policies in the social, economic, and political 

spheres. The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) has devised a tool for using a gender 

equality lens in developing policy for humanitarian and postconflict settings, which can be 

useful for South Sudan.47

Gender mainstreaming efforts in South Sudan will need to take into account the highly 

politicized ethnic diversity and great disparities between women in rural and urban areas of 

different social groups. The government must commit to gender mainstreaming at the highest level and allocate sufficient financial and human resources to its proper implementation, 

monitoring, and evaluation. The multiple challenges South Sudan is dealing with should not 

be used as an excuse to not act: Gender equality and women’s participation can facilitate 

peace and security, as women can play key roles in warning against violence and addressing 

intercommunity strife. 

Recommendations

With the support of development partners, the government of South Sudan should fully 

integrate gender into all levels of state building. In particular, the government should do 

the following:

•	 conduct a gender audit across South Sudan immediately;

•	 revise its gender policy based on the audit’s findings; 

•	 use the audit to inform planning, program development, budgeting, and policymaking in 

all sectors; 

•	 ensure gender parity in all government sectors and institutions; 

•	 provide training in all government sectors on gender, gender mainstreaming, gender equality, and women’s human rights;

Gender mainstreaming efforts 

in South Sudan will need to 

take into account the highly 

politicized ethnic diversity 

and great disparities between 

women in rural and urban areas 

of different social groups.
 9

•	 allocate sufficient resources to gender mainstreaming efforts and the Ministry of Gender; 

•	 develop clear indicators to measure progress on gender mainstreaming, gender equality, 

and women’s human rights;

•	 strengthen the production of gender-disaggregated statistics and data across sectors and 

at national, state, and county levels.

An Enabling Environment for Gender Equality and Women’s Human Rights

An enabling environment is essential to achieve gender equality and women’s human rights. 

The government of South Sudan and development partners should identify and address factors that limit women’s potential, such as GBV, lack of access to health, education, and other 

services, and aspects of culture that limit women’s potential. 

Address Gender-Based Violence

Security and GBV are key concerns for women and girls in South Sudan. Statistics on the 

prevalence and magnitude of GBV in South Sudan are unavailable, but it is believed to be 

high.48 Widely recognized as a public health and human rights problem, GBV can seriously 

limit women’s ability to voice concerns and access state resources. The physical, psychological, and social harm can destroy women’s confidence, constrain their movement, and hamper 

their ability to reach their full potential. GBV also increases women’s vulnerability to HIV and 

other STDs.49 It particularly affects communities that have experienced long-term conflict 

and can devastate postwar communities.50

The violence that women in South Sudan endured during the war, in conflict areas and 

as refugees and displaced persons, received little documentation or reporting worldwide;51

only a few studies documented these experiences.52 Among the factors fueling violence in 

South Sudan are a belief that domestic violence is a normal means to discipline a wife.53

Women also often face violence outside their households at the hands of insurgent groups 

and government military.54

Female former combatants and sex workers are particularly vulnerable to GBV.55 Out 

of 3,900 women associated with the armed forces in South Sudan, about 700 have been 

demobilized as of August 2010.56 Some of the former combatants have joined government 

structures, but many are stigmatized as their communities consider them “loose women who 

bring disease to the community.”57

South Sudan does not have a specific GBV law yet, but the penal code criminalizes various forms of GBV. Domestic violence is an offense that can carry a sentence of between 

one to seven years and a fine, depending on the severity of the attack. Rape and statutory 

rape carry a prison sentence of up to fourteen years. Women, however, are often silent 

about and rarely report incidents of violence, especially sexual violence, because of the 

stigma that survivors of sexual violence face.58 When women report sexual violence, they 

often first approach traditional judicial structures, which favor negotiated and restorative 

settlement rather than punitive action. Customary law often dictates that a girl who is 

raped should marry the perpetrator: It keeps her respectability while bride wealth provides 

redress to her family. Recent research indicates that women and their families continue to 

use the customary justice system, which consists of chiefs and heads of clans who implement traditional practices to restore justice as defined by communities because the police 

and the justice system are ill-equipped to meet community needs and because of the rigid 

legal framework.59

Interviewees for this report confirm the above findings, indicating that police officers 

often lack training to address the complex needs of survivors and victims of GBV, especially 

When women report sexual 

violence, they often first 

approach traditional judicial 

structures, which favor 

negotiated and restorative 

settlement rather than 

punitive action.
10 

sexual violence.60 Although the United Nations Missions in Sudan (UNMIS) and United 

Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) have established units within the police that address GBV 

and trained the police on women’s rights and the needs of female survivors of GBV, it has 

been difficult to ensure sustainability for the programs because trained officers are often 

redeployed elsewhere and given other duties. There is also a need for psychosocial support 

services for GBV victims and survivors.61 In a more positive development, South Sudan 

received a grant from the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, which 

the American Refugee Committee will use to assist the government in developing guidelines 

for the clinical management of rape survivors and develop an information management 

system to facilitate collection of timely data on incidents of violence.

Access to Services: Health and Education

Women in South Sudan lack access to health care and education. Marginalization and 

unequal development—both key causes and outcomes of the conflict in Sudan—resulted 

in very low literacy rates for women and girls, and in devastating statistics in health:62 All 

interviewees for this report identified health, especially maternal health, and illiteracy, particularly among women and girls, as key challenges and priorities that South Sudan faces. 

As the Honorable Elizabeth Mac, deputy chair of the Anti-Corruption Commission, Jonglei 

State, said,

Women’s health is a real problem. In many villages, women have no access to medical 

or health services during pregnancy. There are no clinics, no medicines, and no 

nutrition, and if a woman moves to town [to access hospitals] she will be killed on the 

way because of [lack of] security. The government should build clinics and women’s 

healthcare centers, especially in rural areas and provide medicines and equipment. . . . 

There should be trained nurses and clean hospitals, especially maternity wards.63

Education is another important concern. Despite women’s contributions as peacebuilders, 

farmers, and owners of small-scale home industries,64 lack of access to formal education limits 

their ability to participate effectively at various levels.65 Illiteracy and lack of education can 

also translate into other risks, such as exposure to HIV. The Sudan Household Health Survey of 

2006 found that only 45 percent of women ages fifteen to forty-five had heard of HIV and 70 

percent did not know three key forms of HIV prevention.66 High illiteracy also often obstructs 

communication through written material with women at the grassroots level.67

Since the signing of the CPA in 2005, however, the South Sudan Ministry of Education 

has achieved several milestones in education, including girls’ education. Primary school 

enrollment increased from around 800,000 in 2006 to 1.3 million in 2009. The government 

also established ten national secondary schools, recruited teachers and head teachers, and 

established four teacher training institutes. To avoid barriers to schooling, such as lack 

of access to food, the ministry trained a core team to address acute malnutrition among 

children.68 Several individuals and civil society organizations, such as My Sister’s Keeper, 

have also established schools in South Sudan. Hurdles are still prevalent, however, especially 

among disadvantaged communities in rural and urban poor areas, where parents cannot 

send their children, especially girls, to school due to limited resources.69 In addition, early 

marriage affects women’s and girls’ education and maternal health, as girls often have to 

drop out of school to get married and get pregnant before they are ready. The Transitional 

Constitution prohibits forced marriage, and the Child’s Act (2008) criminalizes early marriage. The government should enforce both provisions.

Investing in health and education can catalyze women’s economic and political participation and human rights in the long run, but these sectors receive a low proportion of the government’s total budget compared with other sectors. For example, in 2010 the government 

allocated 26 percent of its budget of 4.48 billion SDG to security, followed by infrastructure 

(13 percent), public administration (13 percent), and rule of law (11 percent). Education 

Early marriage affects women’s 

and girls’ education and 

maternal health, as girls often 

have to drop out of school to 

get married and get pregnant 

before they are ready.
 11

received 7 percent of the budget, and only 4 percent of the budget went to health.

In addition to addressing security concerns, a key strategy to free resources for health and 

education is to ensure transparency in oil revenue and reduce corruption in state institutions. 

Research in about 100 developing countries between 1996 and 2001 revealed that corruption 

reduces the amount of real public spending, and alters it in favor of fuel, defense, and culture 

at the expense of education and health.70 Women’s participation can enhance attempts 

to fight corruption. Officials in South Sudan’s Anti-Corruption Commission often highlight 

perceptions in South Sudanese cultures that women are noncorrupt,71 and the commission 

supported women running for elections in 2010 to embrace anticorruption practices.72

Recommendations

The government of South Sudan should do the following:

•	 continue to prioritize health and education in its public statements and in practice, and 

remove access barriers for women and girls;

•	 enforce deterring measures to prevent corruption and free up resources for health, education, and other services;

•	 finalize and implement, with development partners, a strategy to address GBV, introducing 

specific legislation and addressing the needs of survivors, including those who experienced 

violence during the war;

•	 establish integrated programs, linked to special police units, to address the specific needs 

of women and girls who face GBV. The units should include female police officers, psychosocial support counselors, and healthcare workers who are trained in women’s reproductive 

health and HIV/AIDS.

State-Civil Society Relations: The Role of Women’s Organizations

Women’s organizations voice the demands of women, girls, and communities within statesociety negotiations.73 South Sudanese women have developed remarkable peacebuilding 

skills and strategic thinking, emanating from their roles as spiritual and political leaders 

as well as their experiences of exile and displacement in war-affected areas.74 As Madam 

Rebecca Nyandeng De Mabior, widow of Dr. John Garang and former chair of Widows, 

Orphans, and Disabled Rehabilitation Association for the New Sudan (WODRANS) put it, 

We learned a lot from the first war [1955–72]. When this war started [in 1983], we 

[women] were able to organize ourselves, to identify . . . the role of women in the 

struggle, to raise the awareness of women and to [appreciate] the way the grassroots 

are suffering most.75

Rebecca Okwachi’s account of her experience in Ethiopia, Kenya, and SPLM-held areas in 

Sudan also reveals how South Sudanese women organized amid social, economic, and political adversity.76 Other accounts highlight the role of South Sudanese women in addressing 

the challenges of war and forced displacement.77

After the signing of the CPA in 2005, the majority of activists in women’s organizations 

assumed leadership and senior positions in the government of Southern Sudan and within 

SPLM structures. These positions meant a greater voice and role in decision-making for 

women, but it also deprived the women’s movement of most of its leadership, who became less 

active in civil society due to political and time constraints. Women’s organizations,however, 

continue to carry out advocacy regarding peacebuilding, elections, and articulating women’s 

priorities.78 Various organizations also address women’s practical needs and rural development, and advocate on HIV and peace.79 Nonetheless, activists in women’s organizations 

stress the need to further build the capacity of women’s groups and obtain sustainable 

funding instead of working with their current project-based short-term funding regimes.80 

South Sudanese women 

have developed remarkable 

peacebuilding skills and 

strategic thinking, emanating 

from their roles as spiritual 

and political leaders as well 

as their experiences of exile 

and displacement.
12 

Short-term funding prevents women’s groups from developing, advocating for, or implementing their own agendas and priorities, or establishing sustainable programs. Several activists 

also complained that government officials at times obstruct their work unless they develop 

a project in a village of the area of the official or pay a bribe.81

Recommendations

Donors should

•	 commit core funding for women’s organizations in South Sudan and in the diaspora and

•	 support exchange programs for women’s organizations, depending on the area of focus, to 

sister organizations in Africa, especially in countries where civil society, including women’s 

groups, have accumulated experience in areas of GBV, HIV/AIDS, reproductive health 

issues, women’s human rights, and customary law.

The government of South Sudan, UN agencies, and partners including the United States 

should

•	 prioritize women’s participation in all policy initiatives focusing on South Sudan; 

•	 ensure freedom of expression and organization for all;

•	 ensure access to long-term funding so women’s groups can set and implement their 

priorities.

Women’s organizations should 

•	 develop a clear vision (or visions) for the future of South Sudan that reflects the views and 

immediate- and long-term needs of diverse women across South Sudan and 

•	 develop advocacy strategies that engage the support and collaboration of development 

partners and other relevant parties. 

Conclusion

Independent South Sudan has a rare opportunity to ensure that state structures, institutions, strategies, plans, budgets, and monitoring and evaluation all reflect and meet the 

aspirations, priorities, and needs of all South Sudanese, including women, and that these 

activities result in gender equality and women’s human rights. The government of South 

Sudan, with the support of the international community and regional partners, should 

ensure a strong voice for and meaningful participation of women at all stages of state building. It should also create a conducive environment for women’s participation, human rights, 

and gender equality by addressing women’s immediate needs of access to quality health and 

education, and help them in their quest to live in a country free of all forms of violence. 

The women’s movement in South Sudan can integrate the demands and priorities of 

women and wider communities into the process of state building. It should be able to operate in an open and free environment and access resources that can facilitate the articulation 

and implementation of the visions and agendas of women and women’s groups in South 

Sudan. With clear political will and action to ensure gender equality and women’s human 

rights, the government of South Sudan will not only be meeting important obligations and 

political commitments; it will ensure a strong economy and a functional state, setting an 

example for other countries emerging from conflict in Africa and elsewhere.

Short-term funding prevents 

women’s groups from developing, 

advocating for, or implementing 

their own agendas and priorities, 

or establishing sustainable 

programs.
 13

Notes

1. In this report, gender is defined as the social, historical, and cultural construction of differences between the 

sexes, including the roles, responsibilities, and value that communities allocate to men and women and the 

definitions they give to masculinity and femininity.

2. State building involves deliberate actions by national or international actors to establish, reform, or strengthen 

state institutions and build state capacity and legitimacy while negotiating mutual demands between state and 

citizens (Jones and Chandran, 2008). See B. Jones and R. Chandran with E. Cousens, J. Slotin, and J. Sherman, 

“From Fragility to Resilience: Concepts and Dilemmas of State-Building in Fragile States,” research paper for the 

Fragile States Group of the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Co-operation 

and Development (OECD DAC), Paris, 2008.

3. In 1997, the UN Economic and Social Council defined gender mainstreaming as the process of assessing the 

implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies, or programs, in all areas 

and at all levels. It makes women’s as well as men’s concerns integral to the design, implementation, monitoring, 

and evaluation of policies and programs so that women and men benefit equally.

4. There are two approaches to gender and state building: the instrumentalist and the normative. For details, 

see Kathleen M. Jennings, “Gender and Post-Conflict State-Building,” Ralph Bunche Institute for International 

Studies Program on State and Security, City University of New York, undated, http://www.statesandsecurity.org/

_pdfs/Jennings.pdf; see also Nada Mustafa Ali, “Gendering ‘Asmara 1995’: Women and the Sudanese Opposition in 

Exile,” paper prepared for conference on The Aftermath: Women in Postconflict Situations in Africa, University of 

the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, July 20–23, 1999. An instrumentalist approach can help certain 

women avoid backlash after conflict; see Jennings, “Gender and Post Conflict State Building.” However, it may 

not lead to lasting transformation of gender relations in a way that impact diverse women; see Ali, “Gendering 

‘Asmara 1995.’”

5. Jane Edward, “Women and Political Participation in South Sudan,” Sudan Tribune, September 7, 2011, http://www.

sudantribune.com/women-and-political-participation,40086; South Sudan Women’s Empowerment Network 

(SSWEN), Women and the National Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan (Juba: SSWEN) on 

file with the author. 

6. Ali, “Gendering ‘Asmara 1995’”; Edward, “Women and Political Participation.”

7. Patti Petesch, Women’s Empowerment Arising from Violent Conflict and Recovery: Life Stories from Four Middle-Income 

Countries (Washington, DC: U.S. Agency for International Development, 2011); Ali, “Gendering ‘Asmara 1995.’”

8. This does not mean these countries have overcome gender inequality; see Amnesty International, Liberia: A 

Flawed Post-War Process Discriminates against Women and Girls (London: Amnesty International, 2008).

9. In-depth interviews with several SPLM male and female leaders and Union of Sudan African Parties leaders by 

the author in 1998–99 indicated an understanding of the specific effects of the conflict on women and an 

appreciation of women’s contributions, including as peacebuilders. See Ali, “Gendering ‘Asmara 1995.’”

10. Interview with H.E. Maria Deng Ngor, minister of social development, Warrap state, Juba, February 23, 2011.

11. See article 24 of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1996, adopted by the Security Council at its 6576th 

meeting on July 8, 2011.

12. UN Security Council Resolution 1996, article 9.

13. Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), “Analysis: Republic of South Sudan Faces Precarious Start,” 

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportID=92340.

14. Interview with Honorable Elizabeth Mac, deputy chair of the Anti-Corruption Commission, Jonglei state, Juba, 

February 21, 2011.

15. SSWEN, “Integrating the Women’s Agenda into the Post Referendum Arrangements.” Juba: SSWEN, 2010.

16. Nada Mustafa Ali, “Gender and the South Sudan Referendum,” talk at the Sudan Advocacy Network’s conference 

on the South Sudan Referendum, Phoenix, AZ, June 2010, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11Ka1884_7A&

feature=related and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay4eF5tdLxc&feature=player_embedded#!.

17. United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), “Sudan Weekly Humanitarian 

Bulletin,” July 8–14, 2011.

18. SSWEN, Women and the National Transitional Constitution.

19. Group interview with gender officers at the UN Missions in Sudan, Juba; communication with Sudan program 

officer at the International Centre for Transitional Justice.

20. The above discussion on the legitimacy of an occupation with gender in conflict-affected settings is also based 

on extensive research and praxis by the author among the Sudanese opposition in exile in the 1990s and after 

2005. See Nada Mustafa Ali, “Thorny Issues and Perilous Coalitions: Addressing Women’s Human Rights in the 

Context of Conflict and the Struggle to Restore Democracy in Sudan (1989–2000),” Al-Raida, vol. 20, no. 101 

(2003), pp. 31–38, www.iiav.nl/ezines/email/AlRaida/2003.pdf.

21. Jok Madut Jok, “Diversity, Unity, and Nation Building in South Sudan,” Special Report no. 287, U.S. Institute of 

Peace, Washington, DC, 15.

22. Nira Yuval-Davis, Gender and Nation (London: Routledge, 1997).

23. Jok, “Diversity, Unity, and Nation Building,” 15.

24. Tilman Bruck and Marc Vothknecht, “The Impact of Violent Conflicts on Economic Opportunities for Women,” in 

Kathleen Kuehnast, Chantal de Jonge Oudraat, and Helga Hernes, eds., Women and War: Power and Protection in 

the 21st Century (Washington, DC: USIP Press, 2011).

25. Charlotte Onslow and Steven Schoofs with Sarah Maguire, “Peacebuilding with a Gender Perspective: How the EU 

Can Make a Difference,” Synthesis report, Initiative for Peacebuilding, Brussels, December 2010, 12.

26. Anne Itto, “Guests at the Table? The Role of Women in Peace Processes,” Accord, no. 18 (2006), http://www.

c-r.org/our-work/accord/sudan/women.php. Itto is currently the minister of agriculture in South Sudan.

27. Interview with Honorable Betty Ogware, chair of the Women’s Parliamentary Caucus, Juba, February 23, 2011.

28. Itto, “Guests at the Table?”; Edward, “Women and Political Participation.”

29. Edward, “Women and Political Participation.”
14 

30. In-depth interview, name and date withheld.

31. Cordaid, “Gender-Responsive Peace and State-Building: Changing the Culture of Power in Fragile States,” 

policy brief, September 2010, http://www.epp-women.org/images/dbimages/docs/DraftPolicyBriefGenderResponsivePeaceandState-building-A.Zonneveld.pdf; Clare Castillejo, “Strengthening Women’s Citizenship 

in the Context of State-Building: The Experience of Sierra Leone,” working paper, Fundación para las Relaciones 

Internacionales y el Diálogo Exterior (FRIDE), Madrid, August 2008, http://www.fride.org/descarga/WP_Women_

Citizenship_ENG_aug08.pdf; Wendy Harcourt, “Literature Review on Gender and Fragility,” European Report on 

Development, 2009, http://erd.eui.eu/media/review-by-w-harcourt.pdf; Steven Schoofs and Rosan Smits, “Aiming 

High, Reaching Low: Four Fundamentals for Gender-Responsive State-Building,” Policy Brief no. 13, Clingendael 

Conflict Research Unit (CRU), The Hague, 2010, http://www.clingendael.nl/publications/2010/20100300_cru_

policy_brief_13_rosan_smits.pdf.

32. Interview with Adak Costa Mapuor, governor’s adviser for gender and human rights affairs, Lakes state, Juba, 

February 22, 2011.

33. Interview with H.E. Agnes Lasuba, minister of gender, children, and social welfare, Juba, February 2011.

34. Manyang Mayom, “Women’s Vocational Center Opened in Lakes State,” Sudan Tribune, April 29, 2011, http://

www.sudantribune.com/Women-s-vocational-center-opened,38736.

35. For a discussion on Iraq see Manal Omar (lead researcher), “Windows of Opportunity: The Pursuit of Gender 

Equality in Post-War Iraq,” Women for Women International briefing paper, Washington, DC, January 

2005. See also Tracy Fehr, “Window of Opportunity for Women in South Sudan,” February 14, 2011, 

http://www.enoughproject.org/blogs/window-opportunity-women-south-sudan and Ali, “Gender and the South 

Sudan Referendum”.

36. Ricardo Hausmann, Laura D. Tyson, and Saadia Zahidi, The Global Gender Gap Report 2010 (Geneva: World 

Economic Forum, 2010), 29–31, http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GenderGap_Report_2010.pdf.

37. Article 16.4.b of The Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan (2011). 

38. Article 16.4.c of The Transitional Constitution.

39. Chapter II, article 202 of The Transitional Constitution. Interview with H.E. Jemma Nunu Kumba, minister of 

housing and physical planning and member of the Constitutional Review Commission, Juba, February 22, 2011.

40. For an extensive discussion of customary law and local justice in South Sudan, see Cherry Leonardi, Leben Nelson 

Moro, Martina Santschi, and Deborah H. Isser, Local Justice in Southern Sudan (Washington, DC: USIP and Rift 

Valley Institute, 2010).

41. Nada Ali, “Women and HIV/AIDS in South Sudan,” in F. Babuenzar and O. Stern, eds., With Pain, Hope, and 

Patience: The Lives of Women in South Sudan (Cape Town: Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, 2011).

42. Focus group discussion, Juba, August 4, 2010.

43. Interview with Adak Costa Mapuor.

44. Interview with Florence Bayoa, Juba, August 2, 2010; focus group discussion in Juba, August 4, 2010.

45. Kathambi Kinoti, “South Sudan: What Will Independence Mean for Women?” interview with Manal Allagabo, 

March 11, 2011, Association for Women in Development, http://awid.org/News-Analysis/Friday-Files/SouthSudan-What-will-Independence-mean-for-Women.

46. Interview with H.E. Agnes Lasuba.

47. Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), Women, Men, Girls, and Boys: Different Needs—Equal Opportunities 

(IASC, 2006), 9.

48. The United Nations Population Fund has introduced a system to monitor incidents of GBV among women (and 

men) seeking healthcare after an assault.

49. J.C. Campbell, M.L. Baty, R.M. Ghandour, J.K. Stockman, L. Francisco, and J. Wagman, “The Intersection of 

Intimate Partner Violence against Women and HIV/AIDS: A Review,” International Journal of Injury Control and 

Safety Promotion 15, no. 4 (2008), 221–31.

50. R. Jewkes, “Comprehensive Response to Rape Needed in Conflict Settings,” Lancet 369 (2007), 2140–41.

51. Nada Mustafa Ali, “Meet Mary Apai: Gender, Culture, and Conflict in Sudan,” interview article, Agenda, no. 43 

(2000), 67–71. 

52. See Anyieth M. D’Awol, “HIV/AIDS Policies and Programming in DDR and SSR Activities in Southern Sudan: A 

Post-Conflict Analysis,” AIDS, Security, and Conflict Initiative Report no. 16, Social Science Research Council, New 

York, 2008; Mary Anne Fitzgerald, Throwing the Stick Forward: The Impact of War on Southern Sudanese Women 

(Nairobi: UNIFEM and UNICEF, 2002); and Stephanie Beswick, “‘If You Leave Your Country You Have No Life!’ 

Rape, Suicide, and Violence: The Voices of Ethiopian, Somali, and Sudanese Female Refugees in Kenyan Refugee 

Camps,” Northeast African Studies 8, no. 3 (2001), 69–89.

53. Bethany Aquilina, Faika Farzana, Rachel Goldstein, Ashley Marcus, Lindsay Stark, Mihoko Tanabe, and William 

Wells, “Today’s Challenges, Tomorrow’s Potential: Findings from a Rapid Population and Reproductive Health 

Analysis for Sudan,” Columbia University and UNFPA, 2006; interview with Zeinab Osman, Juba, August 2010.

54. United Nations General Assembly, Report of the Secretary-General on the Implementation of Security Council 

Resolutions 1820 (2008) and 1888 (2009), presented to the General Assembly 65th session, November 24, 2010, 

A/65/592–S/2010/604, 7. 

55. Ali, “Women and HIV/AIDS in South Sudan.”

56. Interview with Otim Julious, gender and HIV specialist at UNDP’s DDR Program, Juba, August 2, 2010; see Ali, 

“Women and HIV/AIDS in South Sudan.”

57. Interview with Otim Julious; interview with Sekina (not her real name, age concealed) former SPLA combatant, 

Juba, August 6, 2010.

58. Interview with Zeinab Osman, Juba, August 3, 2010; see Ali, “Women and HIV/AIDS in South Sudan.”

59. See T. Mennen, “Lessons from Yambio: Legal Pluralism and Customary Justice Reform in Southern Sudan,” Hague 

Journal on the Rule of Law 2, no. 2 (2010), 218–52; see also Leonardi, Moro, Santschi, and Isser, Local Justice in 

Southern Sudan. Leonardi and colleagues acknowledge that customary law may also reproduce existing unequal 

relations within families or in communities. They recommend dialogue among elders, judges, and civil society to 

establish an understanding within the local justice system. 
 15

60. Interview with Mikelina Emilio, Moliphone Virachth, and Margaret Joshua, Gender Affairs Officers at UNMIS, Juba, 

February 24, 2011.

61. Interview with Emilio, Virachth, and Joshua.

62. Interview with Adak Costa Mapuor.

63. Interview with Honorable Elizabeth Mac.

64. Interview with H.E. Jemma Nunu Kumba.

65. Interview with H.E. Agnes Lasuba; interview with H.E. Jemma Nunu Kumba.

66. Sudan Government of National Unity and Government of South Sudan, Sudan Household Health Survey 2006 (Juba 

and Khartoum, 2006). 

67. Communication with Lillian Rizig, executive director of SSWEN, August 2011.

68. Edward Kokole, “Approach to Social and Human Development,” Ministry of Education, Government of South 

Sudan, Juba, November 2010, 6.

69. Focus group discussion with Mubaderoon, February 2011.

70. Clara Devallade, “Public Expenditure in Developing Countries: How Corruption Influences Its Amount and 

Allocation,” ROSES, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, undated, http://roses.univ-paris1.fr/evenements/

papiers/CD_250205.pdf.

71. In 2009, Dr. Pauline Riak, chief executive of the Anti-Corruption Commission, told Women’s Agenda that “our 

society regards women as not being corrupt.” Odhiambo Orlale, “Sudanese Polls to Be Graft-Free,” South Sudan 

Women’s Agenda, no. 1 (August 2009).

72. Interview with Honorable Elizabeth Mac.

73. Schoofs and Smits, “Aiming High, Reaching Low”; Castillejo, “Strengthening Women’s Citizenship”;

74. Women interviewed by the author in 1999, 2010, and 2011; Ali, “Gendering ‘Asmara 1995’”; Nada Mustafa Ali, 

“Endangering Peace by Ignoring Women,” Forced Migration Review, no. 24. (2005), 50–51, http://www.fmreview.

org/textOnlyContent/FMR/24/27.htm; and Ali, “Women and HIV/AIDS in South Sudan.”

75. Interview (by the author for doctoral research) with Madam Rebecca de Mabior, Nairobi, March 17, 1999.

76. Susan Van Schoonhoven, ed. Emiko Noma, “The Sacrifice of Honey: Stories of the Life and Work of Rebecca 

Joshua Okwaci of Sudan,” Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, University of San Diego, 2006, http://

www.sandiego.edu/peacestudies/documents/ipj/WPMNarratives/RebeccaJoshuaOkwaci.pdf.

77. Jane Edward, Sudanese Women Refugees: Transformations and Future Imaginings (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 

2007); Jane Edward, “Reflecting on Untold Stories of Southern Sudanese Women,” Sudan Tribune, March 5, 2010, 

http://www.sudantribune.com/Reflecting-on-untold-stories-of,38193.

78. South Sudan Women’s Empowerment Network is currently mapping women’s organizations in the ten states of 

South Sudan; from communication with Lilian Riziq.

79. Interview with Adak Costa Mapuor.

80. Interview with Sarah Rial, Boston, June 15, 2011.

81. Interviews; names withheld.
Of Related Interest

•	 Women and War: Power and Protection in the 21st Century by Kathleen Kuehnast, Chantal 

de Jonge Oudraat, and Helga Hernes (USIP Press, 2011)

•	 Diversity, Unity, and Nation Building in South Sudan by Jok Madut Jok (Special Report, 

October 2011)

•	 Dowry and Division: Youth and State Building in South Sudan by Marc Sommers and Stephanie Schwartz (Special Report, November 2011)

•	 Toward a New Republic of Sudan by Jon Temin and Theodore Murphy (Special Report, 

August 2011)

•	 Gender, Conflict, and Peacebuilding by Kimberly Theidon and Kelly Phenice with Elizabeth 

Murray (Peaceworks, September 2011)

•	 Youth and Post-Conflict Reconstruction: Agents of Change by Stephanie Schwartz 

(USIP Press, 2010)

•	 Oil and State Building in South Sudan by Jill Shankleman (Special Report, July 2011) 

•	 Local Justice in Southern Sudan by Cherry Leonardi, Leben Nelson Moro, Martina Santschi, 

and Deborah Isser (Peaceworks, October 2010)

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Washington, DC 20037

www.usip.org

An online edition of this and related 

reports can be found on our Web site 

(www.usip.org), together with additional 

information on the subject.