Illustration in struggle narratives is a vital facet of shaping public perceptions, coverage responses, and historic reminiscence. Conventional narratives of struggle are inclined to prioritise the experiences of male combatants and political elites, marginalising the roles, experiences and voices of girls. This exclusion reinforces present gender hierarchies and perpetuates the notion that warfare is inherently masculine (Enloe, 2014). Feminist students argue that the erasure of girls from struggle narratives will not be a mere oversight however a deliberate mechanism of structural energy that upholds patriarchal techniques (Cockburn, 2007). The absence of girls’s views in these accounts has tangible penalties, affecting post-war reconstruction efforts and policy-making, the place girls stay underrepresented in governance and transitional justice initiatives (True, 2013). Postcolonial feminist theorists (Mohanty, 1988) spotlight how representations of girls in struggle, significantly these from the World South, are sometimes framed by a Western-centric lens that reduces them to passive victims of violence. This narrative not solely distorts actuality but additionally influences worldwide intervention insurance policies that prioritise top-down approaches over grassroots, women-led options (Ticktin, 2011).
Frantz Fanon (1961) argues that colonial violence and its aftermath deeply form the roles of girls in battle, typically lowering them to symbols of cultural integrity whereas concurrently excluding them from revolutionary management. In his work The Wretched of the Earth, Fanon critiques how nationalist actions, regardless of counting on girls’s participation in resistance efforts, typically relegate them to the non-public sphere post-independence. Making use of Fanon’s framework to Sudan’s struggle narratives reveals how girls’s contributions to grassroots mobilisation and group resilience are acknowledged throughout occasions of disaster however systematically erased in post-conflict governance and decision-making. Moreover, the lived experiences of girls in struggle are formed by a number of and intersecting axes of oppression, together with race, class, and ethnicity. Making use of an intersectional lens to Sudan’s struggle narratives reveals how the experiences of Sudanese girls will not be monolithic however differ relying on their geographic location, ethnic id, and socio-economic standing.
Sylvia Wynter (1994) expands on Fanon’s concepts by emphasising how historic narratives are formed by Eurocentric frameworks that categorise individuals into hierarchical constructions, typically marginalising the voices of these outdoors dominant energy constructions. Wynter’s critique of the ‘overrepresentation of Man’ is beneficial in understanding how Sudanese girls’s roles in struggle are systematically excluded from official accounts in favour of militarised and elite-centric narratives. Equally, Walter Mignolo (2011) contends that the colonial matrix of energy continues to dictate which voices are thought-about authoritative and that are dismissed. His idea of ‘epistemic disobedience’ might be utilized to the context of girls in struggle, whereby reclaiming girls’s struggle narratives requires actively difficult these dominant frameworks and setting up different information techniques that centre the experiences of girls impacted by struggle.
An evaluation of historic silences demonstrates how energy determines which tales are preserved and that are omitted from official historic accounts. The exclusion of girls’s voices from Sudan’s struggle narratives is a part of a broader sample of erasing marginalised teams from mainstream historical past. The continued battle in Sudan will not be merely a wrestle for political energy but additionally a battleground for competing narratives of resistance and survival. The exclusion of girls from dominant struggle discourses mirrors broader world patterns, the place gendered experiences of struggle are sometimes side-lined in favour of militarised and elite-centric views. Understanding the Sudanese battle by this lens permits for a extra nuanced examination of how girls navigate, resist, and reshape their roles in war-torn societies.
Context
The continued struggle in Sudan, which erupted in April 2023, is rooted in an influence wrestle between two rival factions: the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) led by Common Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Speedy Assist Forces (RSF) commanded by Common Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also called Hemedti. This battle is the end result of a long time of political instability, militarisation, and financial crises, exacerbated by the nation’s colonial previous and subsequent authoritarian rule (Deng, 2010). Sudan’s failure to transition to civilian governance after the 2019 revolution created a vacuum the place navy factions competed for management, finally resulting in the present devastating battle (Abbashar, 2023).
Ladies in Sudan occupy numerous and multifaceted roles throughout social, financial, and political spheres. Traditionally, Sudanese girls have been central to civil society actions, together with the resistance in opposition to British colonial rule, the 1964 and 1985 uprisings, and the 2019 revolution (Sikainga, 2002). Their participation in commerce unions, scholar actions, and political organisations has formed the nation’s democratic aspirations, but they continue to be systematically marginalised from formal governance constructions. Economically, girls contribute considerably to each the formal and casual sectors, with many working as agricultural labourers, entrepreneurs, and educators, whereas additionally navigating restrictive authorized and social limitations (Badri, 2017). Within the home sphere, girls additionally take part in caregiving, typically performing as the first suppliers for households displaced by struggle and financial hardship (Abbashar, 2023).
The continued struggle has disproportionately affected girls, exacerbating present gender inequalities. Studies point out that ladies face heightened dangers of sexual violence, pressured displacement, and financial marginalisation throughout the nation (Abdelmoniem, 2023). Ladies have additionally performed essential roles in mitigating the results of struggle, partaking in grassroots organising, main humanitarian initiatives, and resisting militarisation by native peace efforts (Emad, 2025). Nevertheless, their contributions and experiences stay underrepresented in mainstream narratives, which proceed to prioritise the views of male political and navy actors.
Historic Precedents
The historic marginalisation of Sudanese girls in political actions displays broader structural exclusions which have formed the nation’s post-colonial trajectory. The 1985 intifada and the 2019 revolution had been defining moments of standard resistance, but girls’s important roles in these uprisings had been largely downplayed or erased from mainstream narratives. Ladies had been central to organising protests, main grassroots mobilisations, and sustaining revolutionary momentum, but their contributions had been typically relegated to the periphery of political discourse (Badri, 2017).
In the course of the 1985 unrest, girls’s activism prolonged past public demonstrations to vital logistical and organisational roles. They coordinated provide chains, disseminated data, and mobilised communities in opposition to the repressive rule of President Jaafar Nimeiri. Nevertheless, regardless of their integral position, girls had been largely excluded from transitional governance constructions, reinforcing a long-standing sample during which feminine activism is recognised throughout moments of disaster however dismissed in post-conflict political settlements (Elhussein, 2020).
An identical trajectory unfolded within the 2019 revolution. Ladies weren’t solely seen contributors but additionally key strategists within the mass protests that led to the ousting of President Omar al-Bashir. Their management within the resistance committees {and professional} associations was instrumental in sustaining the motion. The picture of Alaa Salah carrying Sudanese girls conventional fabric white toab grew to become emblematic of the revolution. After the autumn of Omar al-Bashir in 2019, the transitional interval signalled moments of hope for improved gender fairness and inclusion (Mohamed et al, 2023). Nevertheless, regardless of their visibility and management, numerous girls’s voices had been side-lined throughout this era (Mohamed et al, 2023), with their calls for for gender fairness overshadowed by elite negotiations between navy and political factions (Elhussein, 2020).
Michel-Rolph Trouillot’s (1995) idea of ‘silencing the previous’ offers a helpful analytical lens to grasp this erasure. Energy constructions decide which voices are preserved in historic reminiscence and that are omitted, reinforcing hegemonic narratives that privilege male management whereas rendering girls’s contributions invisible. This systematic exclusion not solely distorts historic accounts but additionally impacts up to date governance, as girls proceed to be underrepresented in decision-making our bodies and peace negotiations. The historic erasement of girls’s roles in these uprisings has tangible penalties for his or her political legitimacy in present-day Sudan. By neglecting their activism in resistance actions, each inside and out of doors of Khartoum, governance frameworks perpetuate their marginalisation, limiting their entry to management roles in transitional processes.
Erasure of Ladies’s Tales – Grassroots Organising and Humanitarian Efforts
Regardless of their pivotal roles in grassroots organising and humanitarian work, Sudanese girls are sometimes excluded from mainstream struggle narratives. All through this ongoing battle, girls have performed essential roles in offering support, coordinating reduction efforts, and advocating for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). As an illustration, emergency response rooms, many arrange and led by girls activists, have turn into vital hubs for coordinating reduction efforts, together with managing the distribution of meals, water, and medical provides to their communities (Badr et al, 2024). Moreover, mutual support efforts have been significantly vital in delivering assist to girls in war-affected areas, the place formal humanitarian operations are sometimes restricted by safety issues (Emad, 2025). Ladies activists have mobilised by casual channels, reminiscent of WhatsApp and Sign teams, to coordinate meals deliveries, share security alerts, and lift emergency funds for these in want. Within the absence of satisfactory state or worldwide intervention, these grassroots networks have turn into lifelines for a lot of civilians, significantly in areas the place violence has disrupted formal provide chains (Emad 2025). Lastly, they’ve additionally performed a big position in sustaining financial constructions regardless of immense precarity, sustaining households by casual economies and mutual support networks.
These casual assist constructions problem the dominant struggle narratives that depict girls primarily as victims reasonably than as brokers of survival and resistance. As a substitute of being passive recipients of support, Sudanese girls have actively formed disaster response methods, leveraging their native information and group ties to fill gaps left by each nationwide and worldwide actors. Many have taken on management roles inside displaced communities, making certain entry to important companies reminiscent of maternal healthcare, psychological assist, and authorized help for survivors of conflict-related violence. Their efforts, nevertheless, proceed to be ignored in each media protection and coverage discussions, which regularly prioritise militarised and male-dominated views on the struggle. Recognising the position of girls in humanitarian responses isn’t just about visibility, it’s essential to designing simpler, community-driven approaches to reduction and post-conflict reconstruction. With out acknowledging their contributions, efforts to rebuild Sudan threat reinforcing the very exclusions which have traditionally marginalised girls in political and social spheres.
Instrumentalisation of Ladies’s Struggling
The instrumentalisation of girls’s struggling in Sudan’s struggle presents a posh dynamic that each highlights and obscures their lived experiences. Whereas the crimes dedicated in opposition to girls are extreme and warrant pressing redress, they’re typically weaponised in political discourse in ways in which strip girls of their company and place their our bodies as contested websites of energy in warfare. The struggling of girls is steadily invoked to delegitimise one faction over one other. This selective outrage not solely obscures the complete scope of violence but additionally reduces girls to passive symbols of victimhood reasonably than recognising their energetic resistance and contributions to survival and restoration efforts.
Sylvia Wynter (1994) critiques how dominant narratives, formed by colonial and patriarchal frameworks, assemble struggling as the first lens by which marginalised communities, significantly girls of the World South, are seen. She argues that this erasure of company reinforces a dehumanising paradigm during which girls’s experiences are solely acknowledged insofar as they serve exterior political and humanitarian agendas. In Sudan, this performs out within the discrediting of girls’s energetic participation in grassroots organising, reduction work, and advocacy. Ladies’s our bodies have lengthy been weaponised as instruments of struggle, serving as websites the place political and ethnic conflicts are violently enacted. Rape and sexual violence will not be merely incidental however merchandise of struggle; they’re calculated methods of domination and territorial management meant to destabilise communities and instil concern (Mookherjee, 2015). In Sudan, as in conflicts in Bosnia, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, armed teams have deployed gender-based violence as a way of asserting energy, undermining resistance, and fracturing social cohesion. The management of girls’s our bodies turns into a proxy for controlling total communities and resolidifying patriarchal hierarchies that lengthy predate the battle itself. This dynamic underscores the urgency of reframing struggle narratives to focus on not solely the horrors of gendered violence but additionally the methods during which girls resist, endure, and reclaim company within the face of systemic oppression.
The authorized and social constructions that enable for the continued violence in opposition to girls are deeply embedded inside Sudan’s governance framework. The Sudanese authorized system, lengthy influenced by patriarchal interpretations of Islamic regulation, has traditionally constrained girls’s rights, significantly in relation to sexual violence and bodily autonomy. Even in peacetime, these constraints positioned important limitations to survivors’ entry to justice. In struggle, these similar constructions serve to legitimise impunity, reinforcing a cycle the place crimes in opposition to girls will not be solely tolerated however instrumentalised for broader political narratives. With out dismantling these systemic inequities, any try at addressing wartime violence in opposition to girls shall be superficial at finest.
Implications for Submit-Battle Sudan
The elimination of girls’s experiences in struggle narratives undermines their political legitimacy and perpetuates structural inequalities. Because the struggle wages on, and when Sudan ultimately transitions in the direction of peace, making certain girls’s inclusion in governance and decision-making processes shall be important. Nevertheless, this requires addressing the systemic and historic components which have excluded them, from patriarchal authorized frameworks to media and coverage biases. With out energetic intervention, post-conflict reconstruction dangers reinforcing the identical gendered hierarchies which have lengthy marginalised girls’s contributions to resistance, peacebuilding, and financial restoration.
The exclusion of girls from transitional justice mechanisms and political negotiations has profound penalties, as has been noticed in earlier post-conflict settings the place male-dominated governance constructions have did not combine gender views into coverage reforms (Enloe, 2014). Ladies’s calls for for justice, significantly regarding gender-based violence and financial displacement, have to be addressed by formal authorized mechanisms, together with fact commissions and reparations packages. Nevertheless, for such mechanisms to be significant, they have to be formed by these instantly affected. This implies creating areas the place Sudanese girls, significantly these from marginalised ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, have direct affect over authorized and institutional reforms. Along with numerous political inclusion, financial reintegration is central to rebuilding Sudan in a means that acknowledges and values girls’s contributions. A post-war financial framework that fails to account for these contributions dangers additional entrenching girls’s financial precarity. Insurance policies that prioritise girls’s entry to land possession, monetary assets, and employment in key industries shall be indispensable to constructing a sustainable and inclusive economic system.
Moreover, the position of media and historic documentation in shaping post-conflict narratives can’t be overstated. If the dominant narrative of the struggle continues to erase or instrumentalise girls’s struggling with out acknowledging their company, future generations will inherit a distorted model of historical past that perpetuates patriarchal energy constructions (Trouillot, 1995). Correcting this requires a deliberate effort to centre girls’s views in historic documentation, together with oral histories, archival tasks, and coverage discourses that body girls not as victims however as energetic brokers of resistance and reconstruction.
Conclusion
The erasure of Sudanese girls’s experiences in struggle narratives displays deeply embedded structural inequalities that persist past the battlefield. Whereas girls have been disproportionately affected by violence, displacement, and financial marginalisation, they’ve additionally been central to resistance efforts, humanitarian response, and grassroots organising. Nevertheless, their roles stay ignored in each nationwide and worldwide discourses. Recognising girls’s company requires a shift away from narratives that body them solely as victims, as a substitute acknowledging their management in shaping Sudan’s political and social panorama. As Sudan strikes towards post-conflict reconstruction, it’s crucial that ladies’s voices will not be simply included however centred on governance, authorized reforms, and financial rebuilding. With out this structural shift, the patterns of exclusion which have traditionally silenced Sudanese girls will persist, undermining any try at reaching lasting peace and justice.
References
Abbashar, Aida. Sudan’s Resistance Committees: Grassroots Democracy and the Wrestle for Political Change. PeaceRep, 2023. https://peacerep.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Abbashar-2023-Sudan-Resistance-Committees.pdf.
Abdelmoniem, Dallia M. “‘Don’t Let the Different Troopers Watch’: Rape as a Weapon of Conflict in Sudan.” Al Jazeera, August 14, 2023. https://www.aljazeera.com/options/longform/2023/8/14/dont-let-the-other-soldiers-watch-rape-as-a-weapon-of-war-in-sudan.
Amnesty Worldwide. Sudan: Sexual Violence in Battle. Annual Report, 2023.
Badr, Hiba Ahmed Khalil, Isadora Quay, and Sadia Najma Kidwai. “Ladies on the Frontline of Sudan’s Disaster Response.” InterAction, November 26, 2024. https://www.interplay.org/weblog/women-on-the-frontline-of-sudans-crisis-response/.
Badri, Balghis. “Ladies’s Political Participation in Sudan: Beneficial properties and Setbacks.” Sudan Journal of Human Rights, 2017.
Cockburn, Cynthia. From The place We Stand: Conflict, Ladies’s Activism and Feminist Evaluation. London: Zed Books, 2007.
Emad, Malaz. “How Mutual Assist Is Serving to Ladies Survive the Sudan Conflict.” The New Humanitarian, January 28, 2025. https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2025/01/28/how-mutual-aid-helping-women-survive-sudan-war.
Enloe, Cynthia. Bananas, Seashores, and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of Worldwide Politics. Berkeley: College of California Press, 2014.
Elhussein, Marwa. “Sudanese Ladies and the Wrestle for Justice: Classes from the 2018 Revolution.” E-Worldwide Relations, 2020.
Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched of the Earth. Translated by Richard Philcox. New York: Grove Press, 2004. Initially revealed in 1961.
Mignolo, Walter. The Darker Aspect of Western Modernity: World Futures, Decolonial Choices. Durham, NC: Duke College Press, 2011.
Mohamed, Souad, Aida Abbashar, and Hala Abushama. “Ladies’s Profession Motivation: Social Obstacles and Enablers in Sudan.” Frontiers in Psychology 14 (2023). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1153613.
Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. “Beneath Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses.” Boundary 2 12, no. 3 (1988): 333-58.
Mookherjee, Nayanika. The Spectral Wound: Sexual Violence, Public Recollections, and the Bangladesh Conflict of 1971. Durham, NC: Duke College Press, 2015.
Sikainga, Ahmad Alawad. Slaves into Staff: Emancipation and Labor in Colonial Sudan. Austin: College of Texas Press, 2002.
Ticktin, Miriam. Casualties of Care: Immigration and the Politics of Humanitarianism in France. Berkeley: College of California Press, 2011.
True, Jacqui. “Ladies, Peace and Safety in Submit-Battle and Peacebuilding Contexts.” NOREF Coverage Temporary. Norwegian Peacebuilding Useful resource Centre, 2013. https://peacewomen.org/system/recordsdata/global_study_submissions/Jacquipercent20True_NOREFpercent20policypercent20brief.pdf.
Trouillot, Michel-Rolph. Silencing the Previous: Energy and the Manufacturing of Historical past. Boston: Beacon Press, 1995.
Wynter, Sylvia. No People Concerned: An Open Letter to My Colleagues. Voices of the African Diaspora, 1994.
Additional Studying on E-Worldwide Relations
