The Pitfalls of Women and Peacemaking in Sudan — Shifting Feminist Narratives in...
Author: Raga Makawi
Sudanese women have long been central to the nation’s social and political transformation, yet their roles in peace-making remain marginalized, contested, and shaped by both internal patriarchy and external intervention. This policy brief analyses the shifting feminist narratives in Sudan from the 2019 revolution to the outbreak of the 2023 war.
Drawing on interviews conducted abroad, both in person and remotely in 2024, and using grey literature, it shows that while women’s mobilization during the revolution represented one of the most visible forms of gendered political participation in the Arab world, subsequent transitions exposed deep fractures within Sudan’s feminist project.
The findings reveal a cycle of empowerment and erasure. During the 2019 revolution, women’s activism embodied radical civic participation (Medaniya)—reshaping Sudan’s democratic imagination. However, this momentum was quickly undermined by militarization, donor conditionalities, and competing feminist ideologies. The result has been a fractured feminist landscape: liberal NGOs emphasizing inclusion through quotas, grassroots networks resisting co-optation, and revolutionary women activists struggling to retain legitimacy amid repression and war.