In 2005, 6.1 million persons had been displaced in Sudan (including areas that are now part of South Sudan).<sup>8</sup> In 2019, the year the survey data used in this paper were collected, the number of IDPs was still estimated at 1.87 million, with 446,441 of these located in North Darfur. In that year, 54,028 people returned to their homes in North Darfur (UN OCHA, 2019), but lack of protection, risks of gender-based violence, political uncertainty, and lingering disputes over land still prevent most IDPs from returning (Elzarov, 2019).

Since 2017, the numbers of new displacements have been relatively low, but the manifold challenges discussed above make it difficult to build sustainable livelihoods for IDP and non-IDPs, leaving many extremely vulnerable and strongly dependent on aid (UN OCHA, 2020). Many IDPs are also vulnerable to mental health issues, such as posttraumatic stress disorder, which constrains livelihood strategies available to IDPs even further (Hamid and Musa, 2010).

The majority of displaced households arrived at their destination with very little and needed to build new livelihoods, which in some contexts led to a diversification of livelihood activities (Saeed Ali, 2014). Furthermore, the structure of many families changed due to displacement, which also shapes livelihood choices and sometimes forces women to take on new roles (Young and Jacobsen, 2013).

In addition to factors characterizing the displaced population (displacement characteristics), existing reports emphasize that displacement status also plays a key role for the livelihood strategies of the displaced. Compared to their places of origin, employment opportunities might increase (George et al., 2019), but institutional and safety challenges prevail in many places, which often leaves women struggling to find decent employment and having to work informally, without any protection and safety (Young et al., 2005; George et al., 2019). Thus, identifying and addressing gender-specific issues is considered an integral part of understanding and improving livelihoods, and ultimately of reaching durable solutions.

# **1.3 Gender inequality in Sudan**

Gender inequality in Sudan is extremely high, even in comparison with most other low-income countries. Sudan consistently ranks among the bottom 10 or 20 countries in common statistics, such as the Women, Peace and Security Index (GIWPS and PRIO, 2019) or the Gender Inequality Index.<sup>9</sup> Sudan’s laws are based on Sharia and common law, and although women's advancement and awareness of gender issues are stated as formal objectives, only little progress has been made.<sup>10</sup> For instance, forced (child-) marriage and rape are not (clearly) illegal (UNICEF, 2017). The burden of proof is on the victims, and seeking legal support raises concerns of stigma and risk of punishment (Tønnessen, 2019). Gender-based violence more generally remains a key concern and 88% of the female population are reported to have undergone genital mutilation/cutting, putting their health in extreme danger.<sup>11</sup> Furthermore, men continue to have a strong say in women’s decisions. For instance, a man is entitled to denying his wife to work outside the home and to limiting the use of contraceptives (UNDP, 2018). All these risks often affect IDPs in particular. For example, it has been documented that displaced women are at increased risk when they are traveling to agricultural plots and collecting water or firewood (UN OCHA, 2021).

Women’s empowerment and economic opportunities also remain curtailed, including issues such as low access to formal employment, poor education and legal discrimination. In rural areas, educational facilities are often lacking and many girls receive less education than boys (UNICEF, 2019). Patriarchal and traditional norms that deny women land ownership combined with a lack of

> 8 See https://www.internal-displacement.org/countries/sudan (accessed June 30, 2021).

> 9 See http://hdr.undp.org/en/composite/GII (accessed June 30, 2021).

> 10 Throughout the last years, however, some progressive laws, as allowing women to travel without consent (July 2020) or declaring female genital mutilation as illegal (May 2020) have been adopted. 11 See https://www.who.int/teams/sexual-and-reproductive-health-and-research/key-areas-of- work/female-genital- <u>mutilation/prevalence-of-female-genital-mutilation (accessed June 30, 2021).</u>

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