Labor Code differentially imposes on men and women affect the score of the pay dimension in particular, which measures laws and regulations concerning job restrictions and the gender wage gap.

**Box 1. Sudan’s legal system and Constitution**

**English common law, Islamic law, and Sudanese customary law form the basis of Sudan’s legal system.** Sudan was subject to Anglo-Egyptian co-rule from 1899 until 1956. During the 1960s and early 1970s, there were several attempts by interim Sudanese governments to replace British legal precedents with, for example, Egyptian legal precedents that were based on the French civil code. However, these changes did not take hold. Beginning in the late 1970s, Sudan’s leaders began drafting legislation to bring Sudan’s legal system in line with Islamic law. In 1983, Islamic law, specifically Sharia law, was adopted, a change that was not embraced by everyone, especially those in the south.

**Sharia law was reaffirmed following the 1989 coup that brought Omar al-Bashir to power.** Article 65 of the 1998 Constitution, which replaced the 1973 Constitution, independent Sudan’s first Constitution, stated that: “Sources of legislation [are] Islamic law and the consensus of the nation, by referendum, Constitution and custom shall be the sources of legislation; and no legislation in contravention with these fundamentals shall be made; however, the legislation shall be guided by the nation’s public opinion, the learned opinion of scholars and thinkers, and then by the decision of those in charge of public affairs.” Following the conclusion of the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983–2005), the 1998 Constitution was superseded by the 2005 Interim Constitution. ‘Sources of legislation’ are discussed in Article 5 of the 2005 Interim Constitution which addresses north and south separately. Article 5 begins: “Nationally enacted legislation having effect only in respect of the Northern states of the Sudan shall have as its sources of legislation Islamic Sharia and the consensus of the people.”

**The 2005 Interim Constitution was amended in 2017.** Then, in April 2019, President Omar al-Bashir, who had been in power for 30 years, was deposed in a coup. In August 2019, the transitional government drafted a ‘constitutional declaration’ which is intended to guide the country through a three-year transition period during which a new Constitution, and various pieces of legislation, are intended to be produced.

_Sources_ : An-Na'im 2017; Metz 1991; 1998 Sudan Constitution; 2005 Sudan Interim Constitution; UNDP 2018.

Married women are required by law to obey their husbands, but they can still obtain a national ID card in the same way as married men. There is no legal provision that prohibits or invalidates child or early marriage nor are married women legally protected from domestic violence or marital rape. Annex 3 provides an overview of how Sudan fairs across all indicators measured.

There is a mutually reinforcing nature between a society’s formal legal framework and its norms and customs **.** Two pieces of legislation passed in the 1990s that have arguably had a greater impact on Sudanese women’s, and to a lesser extent Sudanese youth’s, economic potential than any other pieces of legislation are the 1991 MPSL and the 1997 Labor Code. In addition, the 2008 National Elections Act introduced a quota for women’s representation in the Parliament.

# **_Family roles defined in the Muslim Personal Status Law_**

Islamic family law governs Muslims’ behaviors in different family roles, for example, husband, wife, father, mother **.** Muslim personal status laws stipulate how family members are supposed to act in, for example, matters of marriage and divorce. Sudan’s 1991 MPSL is primarily concerned with matters of guardianship, marriage, including polygamy and divorce, custody, and inheritance. According to the 1991 MPSL, a wife is obliged to obey her husband, which means that a husband can, among other things, deny his wife the opportunity to seek employment outside the home. If a wife disobeys her husband by seeking 24