# **Private sector engagement preferred over public sector employment**

Public sector jobs used to be preferred by women. As mentioned above, as well as earlier in this report, many women who had been working in the public sector in the early 1990s had lost their jobs by the late 1990s. While public sector jobs were lower paying than private sector jobs, with women generally earning less than men, women tended to prefer public sector jobs to private sector jobs for their hours and their benefits. The KIIs and FGDs revealed that women still primarily seek jobs in the public sector. However, when given the choice of a public sector or a private sector job, many women—and youth—would prefer a private sector job and a major reason for this is the higher wages. Public sector salaries in Sudan have been decreasing for years. Between 2009 and 2014, wages in administrative and support service activities as well as in education declined 10 percent per year; in human health and social activities, the decline was 9 percent per year; and in public administration and social services and defense, the decline was 7 percent per year (World Bank 2019c). This, coupled with rising inflation, has really eroded the value of salaries. Note that the transitional government increased civil servants’ salaries in May 2020.

Higher wages is not the only motivating factor in seeking a job in the private sector. Workers’ rights, opportunities for professional advancement, travel, and networking opportunities also play a role. For example, a woman from Khartoum who had a university degree but was not working said that between public and private sector employment she would prefer the private sector, “Because they give their employees their complete rights. If I was able to work in the private sector, they will deal with me in a good way, they will offer me a good salary and even the benefits they will provide will be comfortable. They provide benefits, money and even the moral and psychological way of dealing is better in private sectors.” A male youth from Khartoum who had a university degree but did not have a job said, “Private sector for sure. Private sectors are definitely better financially that is the first thing, plus you can transfer and move from one company to another more easily than in public sectors.” A woman from Madani who had a university degree but did not have a job said, “Because the private sector is somehow affording you the specifications you are seeking nowadays. If you are seeking promotions and retirement pension and so on, you may find it at a governmental job. Yet the private sector nowadays provides you what you wish for. Most of the people are aiming at travelling abroad ... So, the private sector is more comforting in that regard if I’d say so.” While a female youth from Madani who had a university degree but was not working said, “I prefer the private sector. First of all, because of the salary, it’s better. Also, in the private you can increase your relations but the government the field is kind of limited.”

# **Low access to banking and finance limits entrepreneurial activity**

One of the main obstacles to improving Sudanese women’s economic empowerment is that assets and credit are difficult for Sudanese women to obtain. This was noted in the 2007 Women Empowerment Policy document, which identified six “areas of concern,” one of which was “economic empowerment,” and where it was specifically noted that investment policies favor large-scale projects over medium- and small-scale projects in which women are more likely to become engaged. A 2016 study based on a crosssectional survey of 250 women from Sinnar State reaffirms this observation, showing that 79 percent of the women who did not possess any assets were classified as poor (Elsheikh and Elamin 2016, 198). The study concludes by suggesting that, “In order to enable women to develop their full economic potential 37