# **4. FORMAL INSTITUTIONS: SETTING THE TONE FOR LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION**

The preceding section of this report presented a brief overview of the historical and demographic context, and the key labor market characteristics, of Sudan, especially for women and youth. In this section, Sudan’s legal and institutional framework is discussed. Particular attention is paid to formal institutions and the mechanisms that encourage, or discourage, women and youth from accumulating human capital and participating equally in the economy of Sudan. The section begins with a discussion of three laws that have been passed over the past 20 years that have had a lasting impact on women’s, and to a lesser extent youth’s, agency: the 1991 Muslim Personal Status Law (MPSL), the 1997 Labor Code, and the 2008 National Elections Act. Next, there is a discussion about land and property rights, as access to these types of assets can have a direct impact on the ability to access financing. Finally, there is a discussion about national machineries and strategies to improve women’s and youth’s economic opportunities as well as grassroots initiatives that women and youth have pursued on their own.

## **A legal and institutional framework with direct implications for women’s economic participation**

Sudan is one of the few countries that is not party to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The convention, known as the international bill of rights for women, provides the basis for realizing equality between women and men through ensuring women's equal access to, for example, education, health care, and employment.<sup>11</sup> The country has also not developed a National Action Plan for implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1325 which calls for the greater involvement of women in all peace and security efforts.

Women in Sudan enjoy less than a third of the rights men do related to their economic opportunities, according to the World Bank’s WBL 2021 report. The report explores the legal differences in men’s and women’s access to economic opportunities, measured through a series of indicators across eight dimensions: mobility, workplace, pay, marriage, parenthood, entrepreneurship, assets, and pension. Data from 190 countries are examined going back nearly 50 years. Each country is provided an overall score that is an average of their individual score for each dimension, ranging from 0 to 100, with 100 representing the highest score (that is, there are no legal differences in men’s and women’s access to economic opportunities in the indicators measured). Sudan has an overall score of 29.4, and the only three countries that score lower than Sudan are Kuwait, with an overall score of 28.8; Yemen, with an overall score of 26.9, and the West Bank and Gaza, with an overall score of 26.3 (World Bank 2020d; World Bank 2021).

Over the last decade, Sudan has not seen any improvements in the dimensions measured, and it scores 0 on the dimensions of mobility, workplace, pay, and marriage. For example, the legal restrictions the 1997

> 11 The other countries that have not signed are the Holy See, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Somalia, and Tonga. The United States and Palau have signed but not ratified the treaty. Recent media coverage in Sudan suggests that Sudan may change its position with respect to the treaty.

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