Ahfad University for women Institute of women, gender and development studies in collaboration With the social research

center American university Cairo Path way to well being and justice: Constructing concept of women's Empowerment Aim National work shop

Women Work and Voice 1. Current researches, research gap and priorities in issues of women work and voice

Presented by Dr Mai Izedeen Osman Institute of women, gender and development.

Women Voice and Work The aim of this paper is mainly to review and give background information to wom en work and voice. Also to review researches whether don by student from different universities, o r institutions and academic research centers in Sudan. The paper also tried to identify the research gabs on women work and voice, in o rder to sugest research areas for future. The paper divides in to two parts: Part one women voice. Part two women and work. We surveyed 3 universities are Ahfad, Khartoum and Juba university and three ce nters .centre of Sudanese studies , Khartoum centre for developmental studies an d centre of peace and development. And we also surveyed the researches in woman 's voice, and work since (1996 to 2006) to find out that there are urgent, impor tant areas of researches werent clear through reviewing all the headlines of the researches that handed woman voice and work. Sudan witnessed an important political, economical, social changes in which a s pecial care should be taken to these changes in relation to the women's position in various fields generally and in voice and work specially. The paper obtained data from surveying researches from different Sudanese univer sities, and academic institutions and centers. Such as (Ahfad university, joba, Khartoum university) centers and institutions such as (women gender and developm

ent institute, center of peace and development, center for Sudanese studies). In addition to reviewing, reports, books, web sites and researches on topics dea ling with work and voice.

A-Introduction: Situation of Sudanese women started to develop during the Turko, Eygption rule a nd mahdia in relation to the beginning of girl's education .After half a century the result was number of participating educated women who led the women movemen t in Sudan. The women movement was to express, the women's voice, present its demands and to find out solutions for its rooted problems in the system of the Sudanese soc iety. Accordingly, the educated women took the initiative from 1940 to organize unions and associations e.g. women's club, girl's culture club, Sudanese women elevati on association .Women's participation started in union activity and established Teachers union which was change into Teachers syndicate in 1951. Women's Union was established by 1952.It represented the women's voice through a ims of which the most important was improving the level of Sudanese women social ly, economically and culturally bearing in mind that these aims represent all wo men's sectors and differences In Sudanese society. Putting these demands before the decision makers and politicians in Sudan. Along with this activity, that period witnessed women's journalist activity by publishing Bent Alwadi magazine in 1946 and Sawt Almaraa in 1955 as one of the most important ways to raise women's awareness and make the women's voice be hea rd in their different issues and burdens. The political situation was generally known of its instability as it rotated bet ween democratic and military rules which resulted in short periods of democratic rules. The women's organization work was affected accordingly as they were comp elled to stop during the military rule period and have to restart when the democ ratic period prevails. Sudanes women's economical and political profile;Here we will identify sudanes women's economic and public participation situatio n through statistics. 4. The Indicator of Economical Participation Table No.14: The Sudanese woman Indicator of economical participation: The Indicator Female Male Percentage of economical contribution 26% 71%

Table No. 15: The Indicator Urban Countryside Public Sector Private Sector Percentage of worker women 32,1 % 76,9 % 25 % 74,9 % Percentage of unemployed women 35,4 % 98,7 % N/A N/A Source: Immigration and workforce scanning in 1997. Table No.16: The Indicator Women Men Urban countryside urban Countryside Percentage average of women and men in paid up work per hour 75,8 % 32,2 % 56,9 % 34,1 % Percentage average of women and men in unpaid work, per hour 1,3 % 98,7 % 6,7 % 93,6 % Source: Immigration and workforce scanning in 1997. Table no. 17: Economical participation indicator of women in sectors The Indicator Percentage Percentage of women management post in public sector 35 % Percentage of women management post in private sector 10 % Percentage of women in agriculture, breeding, fishing and service sector 80 % Percentage of guide women in agricultural sector 21 % Percentage of participation women in unpaid work in a level of family 54 % Source: Immigration and workforce scanning in 1997. Table no. 18: Women participation in Activity Women 20 80 40 60 50 50 50 50 2 98 5 100 50 50 50 50 50 50 90 10 Marketing 10 100 55 Source: FAO in 1995 traditional agriculture (cure and peanut) men Women percentage 20 90 90 90 5 5 90 90 90 90 90 90 95

5. Women's Participation in Executive Authority Indicator Table no. 19: Employee Indicator in union sectors and states The Indicator Year Total (Male Female) Female No. Percentage Workforce in Federal Ministries 2003 28365 14558 51 % Number of Employees in Leadership Position in Federal Ministries 1642 343 20 % Number of Employees in Leadership Position in States 2003 10448 29 % Source: Chamber Affairs of Service, Ministry of Work qqqqqq

2003 3241

Table no. 20: Indicator of men and women on different level of position from ninth grade to ab ove in public sector The 1st Special The 2nd Special The 3rd Special The 1st Grade The 2nd Grade The 3rd Grade The 4th Grade The 5th Grade The 7th Grade The 8th Grade The 9th Grade

Men 13 27 18 135 3875 2082 Women 7 1182 2453 Percentage 31,4 30,3 117,8 Source: Bothina El Khrsani in (2001) Table no. 21: Participation indicator Provincial Minister Gender 620 176 54 1 20 6 620 189 58 16 6.8 Source: Public union of

183 9 5,2

394 36 3,8

592 93 9

1594 364 13,4

2341 735 22,8

of women in Ministries State Minister Country Minister 27 Males 2 Females 29 Total 6.8 Percentage Sudanese women in (2003)

Federal Minister

Table no. 22: Type of Ministry position that occupied by women since 1973 Year Position 1973 Minister of Health and Sport 1975 Minister of Social Affairs 1988 Minister of State for Social Affairs 1989 Minister of State for Education 1993 Minister of State for Information 1993 Minister of South Tropical 1994-1999 Ministers of State in different states (26 States) 1999 Minister of Health 2001 Ministry Social Care Women's economic and political empowerment:Women's empowerment can be understood as a process whereby women ,individually a nd collectively, become aware of power structures, processes and relationships o perate in their lives and gain the self confidence and strength to challenge the resulting gender inequalities. Women need to be able to assert their own agency to break out of gender discrimi nation. Empowerment involves awareness raising, building of self confidence, exp ansion of choices, involvement in decision-making and increased access to and co ntrol of resources. While empowerment is most often thought about in the context of the community it is also important to consider empowerment with in the house hold or family. In addition, it has to be recognized that gender differences and inequalities, whic h give rise to women's subordinate position and powerlessness in many societies, are experienced differently by specific groups of women, and that gender relati on, such as those based on class, race, ethnicity and age. Empowerment is also much more than simply facilitating an increase in women's pa rticipation .It must also include processes that lead women to perceive themselv es as having rights and entitlements and to be able to voice their demands as we ll as provide improved access to decision-making opportunities. Empowerment shou ld lead to concrete action to bring about changes in laws, in access to resource s, and in public and private institutions that reinforce women's subordination. The process of empowerment involves changing consciousness, identifying areas ne eding change, developing strategies and action to be taken, and monitoring these actions and their out comes. B Women's different voices:

1- Sudanese Women's union It predominated the women's activities, and was considered the women's voice whi

ch demands for her rights and supported her issues; as well it expressed all the sectors and diversities of the Sudanese women. One of its members participated in the current constitution in the country which allowed the educated women to vote during that period. And they took part in th e graduate's election in 1953. Through which the Sudanese women's voice raised r equesting the full political right and the right in work and payment equality. I ts major achievement was acquiring the full political rights in 1965 and payment equality in 1968. This period witnessed women's gaining to their rights in elections and to be ca ndidate. On top of the women's Union endeavors was their successful achievement through the participation of some of the women's Union leaders in the government at that time. This participation had a role in achieving what the women's union was working fo r to change some of the suppressed laws. As a result was the employment of women in the public sector, and minimum limit up to 10% was put for women representat ion in local council and public comittees. As Bilges Badry (2005) identified that since 1951 to 1971 it was civil society f eminism geared towards institutional changes in laws related to women's rights i n politics and work. Assessing the union 1972 - 85 these who held political offi ce didn't address institutional issues of representation in executive bodies. Of establishing women's council women's neither ministry nor help campaign to fill seats of 25% reserved for women in the national assembly at 1977.83 The period 1980 2005 is characterized by the rule of Islamic political party hol ding power after military coup from democratically elected government. The period witnessed replacement of civil society activism but till by 1993 a gr adual process of revival started when the government established the women's uni on of Sudan. 2NGOs level and civil society

The civil society of NGOS networks and non profit companies are diverse; both wer e being classified as pro-government in dependent or anti-government. As well as it is diverse in its programs, size of funds, institutional and human resources capabilities. The NGOS undertakes, different activities as development, income generating for women, credit, education etc. These organizations are sometimes characterized being dominated because some of them besides denoting countries have conditions and prioties, and the transfer i s not done unless these conditions are full filled .The role of these charities is creating women's voices in different areas. This results a kind of mistrust b etween these NGOS and the concerned women category. It creates another problem i n which the beneficiaries become recipients only not participants, active or def ormed. 3- Participation of women in Unions: women Participate on the level of executive committees and a activities of unio n work, where the students forms the highest percentage of the beneficiories,hen ce many of the unions used to give university students the priority in organizin g hostels in the cities. Generally speaking women's participation in different k inds of unions is weak because the unions work is shared and mostly predominated by men who have the resources financially and time more than women in addition , most of the unions dont have offices ,so holding meetings mostly be in times an d places usually not comfortable for women, culturally and socially. However gro ups of women are endeavoring to prove their capability to over come these obstac les and barriers and show their equality to men. 4- Networks: The women had experienced the network formation through working in peace netwo rk and anti females circumcision network .from here other groups started formati on of networks.Inspite of the lapse of many years still the work in such network

is difficult and it appears that these networks are facing challenges and barri ers that it couldn't confront. 5- The women work in syndicate The women work in syndicate started since the forties of the last century when the women participated in syndicate established after the independence of Sudan. In spite of the increase of working women through the seventies, her participat ion is limited and did not exceed 5% of the labour force because of lack of awar eness about the syndicate activities and limitation of women's time. Though the syndicates regained their activities during the democracy period 85-86, there wa sn't any presence of women's enlighten or empowerment for syndicate work. As for the period 1989-up to now syndicates are governmental organizations and the inc rease in women's number doesn't reflect changes in women's situation because the participants were not elected neither the participating number represent the gr eat increase which occurred in the number of women participating in other occupa tions. 6- The women in political parties: The role of women emerged after the independence in 1956 and before having her full political rights, some women were members in political parties like the com munist party democratic union party and Uma party. Women Corporation was established in the democratic national union party in 19 65 along with the women corporation of Uma party and democratic public party. Th e southerner women union which emerged as a political organization after the app raisals of Oct.1964 from 1970-1985 the women activity was obvious in the governi ng party where the women participated in secret work with the diffused parties . The women attempted work with other parties during the democratic period 1986 19 89 In the military rule since 1989, the women's work became less in the diffused parties. Most of the current parties have offices for women .Women's member ship in most of the registered and unregistered parties rates from 5% to 16% and from 17 Par ties 8 of them have 6% women member. Most of the political parties put a limit for women's membership as not exceedin g 20% but some parties put a limit of 20% as minimum percentage and it is not ye t accomplished. 7- Women in parliament While Sudanese women's participation in the national parliament has increased si nce 1965 this increase has been uneven, and representation varies across Sudanes e states and regions. Although more women have been appointed to parliaments during military regimes a nd their number have generally increased their influence and impact on political decisions was not in line with that. Table (1) successive national assemblies, number of seats and women representati on.

E 1954 1985 1960-64 1965 1968 1972-73 1974-77 1978-80 1980-81 1982-83 1986

All seats 95 95 233 1 233 255 14 250 12 304 13 368 18 153 14 272 2

Women seats

1 10 4

Elected Appointed Multiparty Military 0.4 Multiparty // // // // 5.5 // // 4.8 // // 5.9 // // 4.9 // // 9.2 // // 0.7 // //

%Women Remarks

1992-96 301 1996 400

24 20

24 21

7.9 5.7

// //

// //

Complied from different sources 8- Women voice media and Media is very important means in relation to women voice. It can help women to a ddress their problems and demands. Media affects by different factors, the main one is the system which rules, and it is clear in democratic period, media becam e more beneficial for women voice, but in military systems, women and other sect ors of society suffer from media domination by certain group of people. More over media is affected by the culture system in Sudanese society, and socio -economic factors. Media is not only dominated by male, but even the few number of women in media didn't address women voice as important issue, but they insist on the traditional stereotype ideas and images of women in society. Over the past twenty five years, analytical critique of the interconnections bet ween women media institutions and media content has come to occupy an ever more control place of the international agenda. Despite today's theoretical sophistication, and even though the global political and communication environment has changed dramatically over the past twenty or thirty years, the issues that need to be addressed are fundamentally the same as they were ever. They still revolve around the most basic questions of power, va lues, access and exclusion. Local media appears to be ignoring certain groups of women considering them as invisible. This is particularly true to older women, stereotype and lack of olde r women need to address. The different international conferences emphasis on the fact that women have the right to participate in political decision making, for reasons of equality, dem ocracy and legitimacy. The empowerment and autonomy of women and the improvement of women's social, eco nomic and political status is essential for the achievement in all areas of life . C-Who raises voice and to whom do they speak:There is a strong argument around the demands, and women's right every where in the world. Raising the queries of who has the right of representing, deciding an d putting women's demands, needs, rights and priorities. These debates took many dimensions in consideration like race, socio economic class, culture diversitie s, the political system and even the local system in which women lived. so often we get to know that the women of the third world are not indulged in the demand s of the western women and the modern world and they consider them as had some p riorities which are for the western women only .This kind of debate threatened a ctually the notion of women's sister hood thus women's one agenda was still the most important challenges facing women's activist and feminist in all over the w orld, Arab world, African women. Networks among activist women, or let us say, the women who take the responsibil ity to raise grass rout voice and the grass rout is weak and sometime not existi ng, also activist tackling women issues they bring with them their political and economical background and other differences, in away that destroys their object ive as women's unions. The questions which still exist when we talk about women's voice who has the leg itimacy to raise other women voice? Who voices for the concerns, demands and rig hts of which women and to whom do they speak? D- Women's voice barriers and difficulties: 1. Delaying women's education, which resulted in a kind of gab in education , participation in public sector, and being in the position of taking and making the descions?

2. The existence of women under the poverty line and her preocupation in re moving the burden of poverty. 3. The culture and traditions in society which constrained women in terms o f her space and time. 4. The domination of one party system in ruling the state, which deprived w omen out side this party to participate. 5. The increasing gab between the elite women and women grass rout. 6. The weaknesses of networks among elite women, among grass rout women, an d among grass rout and elite women. E-the different national organizations, centers and associations working in this field in Sudan:Center of Sudanese Study, Salma Centre, Mobaderat Association, Gender Center, F-We found that there is clear gap in the research areas around this kind of Top ic and most of researches which had been done were around these areas: Women's political rights between theory and practice. Sudanese women in public life. Degree of women's awareness of her law full rights. Women's participation in development and r???????. Sudanese women's role in different periods. The political participation of Sudanese women in military system. The role of women movement in Sudan. Women's activity fund in between barriers and accomplishing. Women and personal law. The working women and syndicate work. Most of the researches were found to be concentrating around these above concept and issues.

G-There is a need for researches in the following areas: There is a shortage in researches on participation of women in local governance: Participation of women in local governance is often easier to achieve than parti cipation at the national level, because eligibility criteria are less stringent on the local level, and local government is the closest to the women's sphere of life, and easier to combine with rearing children. It can be the first level th at women can break in to and as such it can serve as springboard to national pol itics, by developing and gaining experiences. There is also a need for researches that show women's vision of how women's invo lvement in politics makes a difference: women need a shift in political prioriti es and outcomes, behavior and practices, and a broader and enriched political pr ocess. Politics should be more responsive to the people's needs in particular, and show a move towards true gender equality. It will lead to better democracy, increasing transparency and improved governance. With more human and gender sens itive political approach citizens will get more confidence in politics. Also there are needs of researches to trace women changing the political system in terms of:Change in perception of women and men politications as well as in the expected d ivision of lab our between men and women in any society. Chang in discourse .Discourse refers to the language, actions, means of referenc e, and spheres of influence, among other things. Women who participate political ly and lead public lives have, in some countries, managed to impact on the way t hat women in general can and should be referred to. This, in part by becoming in volved in areas which were traditionally seen as, men's affairs, or hard politic s e.g. defense, finance, foreign policy. As well as insisting and redefining and prioritizing soft issues such as education, welfare and maternity leave. Change in policies:-This includes among other aspects, times and /or locations o f meetings, speaking priorities, training measures and themes.

 Research that identify the barriers of women public participation :Individual factors. Institutional factors related to the organization of society, its norms and valu es. Institutional factors related the political system. Researches on participation of women in voting Civic/voters education. Awareness rising of rights to vote, the link between women voters to women candi dates. Electoral system and access to voting. Research on issues of woman as candidates in different level Capacity building level. Networks level. Partnerships level. NGOs who organize support for women candidates' level. NGOs who lobby for changes in the electoral system level. Research as data base Data base seem to be Avery effective tool to fight for equal participation of wo men and men. 1. Setting up data base with statistics helps to make unequal participation of women more visible. Project of original empirical research and statistical compilations that will pr ovide an accurate assessment on the status of women. This information constitute s one of the most important tools for implementing policies of positive action. 2. Setting up data base with names and profiles of women candidates for dec ision making posts in government, political parties, organizations and committee s serves as resource for women who will increase the participation of women. 3. Collection of data on how women politicians have managed to make differe nce through their legislature will be very helpful for other women politicians. Research targeted politicians in order to identify how they can create networks and promote partnership between politicians and women of different countries. Research on and review of existing laws and design of new laws and policies. 1-Reviewing the constitution, to guarantee equal rights for women and men and a gender neutral language. 2-Legal and sociological research on current and proposed laws to investigate th e possible impact of laws on the position of women. 3-2-Build networks between women's organizations and gender sensitive politician s. 4-Research deal with how to make legal services available to women. Research on women's participations in politics and governments and how we can en hance women's influence and leadership in public life. Research to answer the question do women and men have equal access to the politi cal process. There are also some suggestions to researches on women and media as very importa nt means fore women voice: Women, media and democratic society in pursuit of rights and freedoms. Participation and access of women to the media and the impact of media on and it s use as an instrument fore the advancement and empowerment of women. The Arab world and introducing of gender sensitive communication policies. H-The out put of the national work shop which held on 2/9/2006 in Sudan: The work shop participant agreed with:1-The need of conceptualizing and defining the women's voice. 2-To consider women's voice in domestic sphere, as the first step to women's soc ial transformation. 3-The need for more specification on the tools, strategies, and methodology, to enable women's voice to be heard. I-Areas of researches recommended by participants:1. How different actors define voice segments of society. 2. How can the voice less (disadvantage, poor) voice their concerns?

3. Strategies and tactics for raising women's voice heard in order to chang es in different actions and policies. 4. Women's voice challenges. 5. Voice on house hold level

Part two Women and Work In spite of the importance of womens work which supports her economical independe nce some economical, social and cultural factors negatively affect their work. One of these factors, the inefficiency of the economical policies to enlarge the production rate to accept the increasing labour force in the Arab world. The in crease in the percentage of idleness in some Arab countries lead towards solving it on the womans account. In addition to the inefficiency of the helping facilit ies presented to her to be able to carry out her bi-role indoors and outdoors wh ich doesnt help her to perform properly and waste the principle of equality in op portunities. In spite of the obvious improvement in the average, outdoor activities of women in the last three decades, on regional Arabian level, this average latitude is g oing up slowly and its quantities rather than qualitative. This make one predict s that change in women situation won't be visible and won't make a radical devel opment in the quality and quantity of fields in which women are expected to cont ribute in the next century in a way that matches her participation in working fi elds. Factors that affect woman contribution in work: The legal, social, cultural, economical, political frameworks in addition to the inefficiency of the educational system. These considered as major barriers in w oman contribution in the work force. The presence of one or more of these barrie rs could affect negatively womens participation in work.

The educational situation: 1- Education is considered as one of the factors that determine womens participat ion in economical activity and public life in Sudan, through training and capaci ty building it offers to enable women to work and practice her social, political and cultural roles. Through exposing the educational situation in Sudan. aThe percentage of female to the male students decreased. They were 42.8% in (primary) and 57.5 %( university) in 90/91. No doubt this causes a qualitat ive gap for the male's benefits. This gab has its negative effect in the availab le chances of working to women in the future. bPoverty and the increase in educational cost in Sudan lead to an increas e in the percentage of drop out in general and female in particular, where Sudan ese society is dominated by patriarchal culture to which males come first. 2- Social and cultural factors: The women suffer conflicts of different kind, between traditional concepts and c oncepts of modernity which elevate women's position and ensure here equality to man as a qualified person .In addition to the dulling of roles inside the family . And the conflict between motherhood emotion and working obligation in herself. The effect of social and cultural factors appears clearly up on the kind of job s they perform in the private sector in the Sudan. The jobs notate in the some c ycle of her house. The Still there are jobs women do not undertake because cult

urally they consider it mens jobs e.g. plumbing, blacksmithing and electricity.

3- Legal sides and managing systems: Work laws do not distinguish between man and woman, while civil service laws giv e her equal rights in wage, promotion and leaves putting in consideration her pe rsonal circumstances. Whether the organizing rules of work are fair or not it doesnt benefit her becaus e of the clear gap between implementing the laws and practicing it, which constr ain her from participating in labour market. In equal pay for equal work we notices that although the law insures that the mi nimum rate of wage is equal for men and women but actually it is not implemented especially in the informal sector in many cases. Laws in Sudan do not include most of Sudanese women working categories, where th e situation of maids and women working in the market ensures the absence of the laws which protect their rights. Under the roof of patriarchal society and subordinating concepts, labor leave, w orking in exceptional night shifts are considered as a most benefit the employer , thus women are excluded in such jobs. It is also noticeable that there is a lack in strategies that helps laws to be i mplemented e.g. the means of transport which enable the women to benefit from he r vocation hour leave, a nearby nursery, let alone woman ignorance to their work ing laws and rights, therefore they are not able to face the discrimination agai nst them or pursuing their rights. 4- Economical factors: Sudan didnt include any extra aims to increase the participation of women in her economical policies, and didnt aim at removing the inequalities and discriminatio n in the woman economical situation. Woman's work was affected by machinery in agriculture as a result of confining and distributing the agricultural guidance on men rather than women. The limited number of women that benefit from the small families credit projects and progra mme makes her included in certain traditional activities thus subjected to a str ong competition from the importers or big companies likely. Finally the structur al adjustment and privatization led to the inflation and increased of prices in Sudanese society for both men and women and to work in non informal sectors whic h doesnt include any kind of protection. Table (1): Indicator Women Men Total Population under poverty line 57.7% 52.3% 100% Income of women as a percentage of men's income 41%

59%

100%

Political situations: Most of the constitutions in Arab countries approve the woman's right and her eq uality to man, but it is notice that the Arabia constitutions arent a result of p eoples struggle but was implemented by the men of law in agreement with the gove rning systems. In spite of the ideology of these constitutions, a gap had happen ed between what is on them and what is actually implemented. In Sudan there is a n absence of legacies that aim to fill in the qualitative gap in the participati on of woman in political work. This absence lead to decrease the chances of wome n's participation in political activity compared to man though she participated since the independence where she joined work, the shortness of democratic period s (1956-58-64-69-85-89) didnt allow developing the awareness of women's problems. From the sixties there was participation for some women in the exclusive and jud icial departments. So, she entered the parliament in 1968 and was appointed in p eoples and patriotic fields during the military rule and some women occupied dif ferent ministry rank. This participation was still very weak whether in the parl

aying in ranks. Woman and syndicate work: Though her work in this field started in the forties till this century, her part icipation remarked very weak where the percentage of women and members of execut ive committee of syndicated reduced about only 5% in 1982. The weakness of repre sentation and participation in syndicate labor is due to many reasons of which t he most important are: aAbsence of democracy for along time. bPredomination of men on the general syndic labor. cThe many roles of women and her obligations with no strategies to decrea se her loads. Absence of efforts that raise working women's awareness of her rights and commit ments. Researches had been done on master level: 1Sudan Economic Crisis: Gender Dimensions and Survival Strategic. 2Employed Women and Domestic Responsibilities: Perceptions, Challenges an d Strategies. 3Female-heads of Households: Depend Versus Independent Perceptions. 4Women Executive Managers in the Sudanese Baring System Experience and Ch allenges. 5Credit Approach and Its Impact on Women's Situation, Case Study of Area Development Scheme Central Butana. 6Women in Home. Based Activities Conditions of Work and Empowerment. 7Gender Differential in Division of Labor time Use and A Space Boundaries of Children in Khartoum State. 8Employment Refreshment in the Public Sector in Sudan during 1990s: Exper iences of Dismissed Males and Females. 9Women's Work in Petty Trade of Handicraft Productions in Omdurman Market . 10Gender Sensitivity in Sudanese Labor and Employment Laws Working Women V iews and Experience. 11Women and work: An Examination of How Women Manage their Triple Roles. Researches, which had been done on the institute and centers level: Women and Work Comparative Studies between Lebanon, United Emirates and Sudan. Women, Work and Decision Making Process it is also Regional Research between Sud an, Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia. Findings of the researches survaye:1Most of these researches whether done by students or through institutes or research centre, were not action researches. 2Reflecting women's situations and reality rather than policy oriented or transformative researches. 3Targeted small number of women , so that there is difficulties in genera lization of findings. 4The research methods which had been used were qualitative and quantitati ve method of research. 5Questionnaire, interviews, focus group discussion and content analysis ( rarely used), were the only methods of data collection which had been used. The future researches: Analysis of women's agency, changing gender identities and women's capacity to c ontest oppressive practices at work. Review the discourses of women, work and the economy through the debate of the s exual division of labor in the formal and informal sectors of the economy to mak e women's work and women's contribution visible to the economy. Patriarchal institutions are obstacles for women's access to resources and women 's employment, women's work is affected by family laws, education and health iss ues as well as employment laws and regulations. Researches on economic improvement and poverty alleviation. Economic empowerment of Arab women.

 Researches on globalization, gender and Arab women's economic participation in t he Arab world. Feminization of unemployment. Measuring the informal sector. Gender specific trends in informal sector employment in the Arab world. Gender and home-based work. There is a shortage in researches that assesses the paid and voluntary work of a large number of women in the private sector of the economy, both formal and inf ormal and in non-governmental organization. Women and work, the impact of global economic policy on Sudan is a move towards privatization and NGO isation and on women work. The state and public polices. Economic policies: Economic stabilization policies: E.g. liberalization taxation policies. * Gender implementations of economic reform policies. * Globalization, gender and labor: - Gender and globalization. - Feminization and de-feminization of labor. - Globalization and the rural economy. - Persistent occupational segregation. Areas of researches recommended by work shop participants:1. Women's work in post conflict areas and its effect in gender relation st ructure. 2. Women's economic empowerment and domestic violence. 3. Nuclear family and its impact on women's work (collapse, of the extended family). 4. Women's work and the private sector rules and regulations. 5. Women's work environment in Sudan. 6. Reproductive role affects negatively women's work and rights in Sudan. 7. Impact of the changes of the political regime on women's work. 8. Rules and regulations affecting women in the informal sector.

Table (2): Indicators of family-supporting women Indicator City Family supporting women 11% 41% Source: The safe motherhood scanning in 1999. Table (3): Indicator of Education Level: Indicator Males Females Education level 66% 41% Table (4): The Sudanese woman Indicator of economical participation: Indicator Males Females Percentage of economical contribution 71% 26% Source: Population in 1993. Table (5): Indicator City Public sector Percentage of working women's 23.1% 76.9% Percentage of unemployed women 35.4% 64.4% Source: Immigration and work force in 1997. Table (6): Indicator Private sector 25% 74.9%

City

Public sector

Private sector

Women and men in paid job/hour 75.8% 32.2% The level of women/men in non paid jobs 1.3%

65.9% 98.7%

34.1% 6.7%

93.4%

References:1. Arab women's development report, globalization and gender. economic part icipation of Arab women,2001 2. Feminist perspectives in Sudan, paper presented on the workshop in free university, 2005. 3. 4. 5. , . , ,2001