The collection of Gender Across Borders blogs was wonderful and included a great diversity of topics. One particular blog post that struck me was the one by Danielle Prince on the women in Sudan. Prince describes her first trip to Sudan and her experiences with the women of the “post-conflict” country. One thing she notes is that “[these] women…are no strangers to war,” and from the interviews of the women, its clear that they have become independent out of necessity and are very strong women.
The interview with Susanna Deng exposed what these women experience daily. Deng talks about she must be independent and support her children, because her husband may take another wife at any time, which is “none of her business.” She says, “One day I could find out that he has another wife and that’s that.” These circumstances certainly don’t paint the men in a positive light, but show the incredibly low status of women in Sudan.
Monica Mou, the second woman interviewed, also seemed to be very strong and dedicated to her family. She discusses her average day, including taking care of her children and working at the tea shop she owns. Of her job, she says “If I’m not here, my children won’t eat.” Her husband has two other wives, and what shocked me is that Mou is the main provider for her family, not only in the sense of being the runner of the household, the one who takes care of her children, cooks and cleans, but also fulfills the role of provider, and receives apparently little or no help from her husband. What are the men doing here? The article left me with a number of questions, but overall it was very enlightening and definitely did make me think more about the women there, which was Prince’s goal.
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