INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY – INSPIRING CHANGE

Many people around the world will be celebrating International Women’s Day on 8 March. The theme this year is “inspiring change”. I have met many women from across Sudan who are doing just that: inspiring change in business, in education, in civil society or in their local communities.

There are many examples of the positive role women play in Sudanese society and public life. Afhad University for Women is a pioneer for women’s education in Sudan and is home to some of Sudan’s top graduates. Quotas ensure that women make up at least 25% of parliamentary representatives and there were calls this week to double this. Women play a central role in Darfur. It is important that they are involved in peace-making given that their children and homes are affected.

Many successful Sudanese business women are paving the way for others to continue to make an important contribution to the country’s economy. Samah Al Gadi, winner of the successful “Mashrouy” series, will hopefully inspire many more young women to seek opportunities to explore creative entrepreneurship in Sudan.

These successes are over-shadowed by the significant challenges women still face around the world as well as Sudan. The global event “One Billion Rising” on 14 February highlighted one of these, calling for an end to violence against women.  The following week an Ethiopian lady was found guilty of gross indecency while her allegation of gang-rape was not investigated. In Darfur, there are continued reports of widespread sexual violence against women and children. More must be done to tackle this.

The UK will host a global Summit in London on 11-13 June 2014 on ending sexual violence in conflict.  It will be the biggest summit ever held on this issue and will seek agreement to practical steps from states to shatter the culture of impunity for war zone rape once and for all. All of the 137 States who have so far endorsed the Declaration of Commitment to End Sexual Violence in Conflict which the Foreign Secretary launched at the UN General Assembly last year will be invited.

Building on the political commitment and global momentum that currently exists to end sexual violence in conflict, the summit will deliver practical and ambitious agreements that bring together conflict and post-conflict affected countries, donors, the UN and other multilateral organisations and civil society.

Sudan has not yet signed the Declaration but is a signatory to the Great Lakes agreement. Combating sexual violence is also a key element of the Government of Sudan’s Action Plan on Combating Violence Against Women. The challenge is putting this commitment into action.

Sudan is not alone is tackling these issues of course. In the UK, where an estimated 66,000 women and girls have been victims of female genital mutilation (FGM), a 17-year old student, Fahma Mohamed, has been leading a campaign to help end this barbaric practice. Fahma came to the UK from Somalia when she was 7 years old. She wants the Government to do more to tackle the issue and has been actively engaging Ministers to act. It is of course illegal in the UK.

Her personal involvement and collaboration with other campaigners has really brought the issue into the public domain.  She said recently: “We are not going to be quiet. We are not going to shut up. It has taken this long just to get people talking about it – we don’t care how long it takes to make people listen.”

Building success is a question of opportunity. Fahma Mohamed saw an opportunity to initiate real change and is an inspiration to us all.