MAINTAINING MOMENTUM, SECURING FEMINIST FUTURES

Despite some participants being fatigued from the challenges of the formal job search, some have used their newly acquired skills to volunteer and help in their communities in hopes of maintaining their knowledge and establishing a professional track record in the local market. In doing so, women are utilizing their resources and skills to find new avenues to succeed in non-traditional employment. The increased presence of women in non-traditional places of work undoubtedly serves to normalize the image of women in these spaces and ultimately shifts perceptions. However, until women’s employment in new workforces is normalized, women’s safety is in question. During discussions with SIHA staff on the anxieties surrounding women’s safety as they break through gender stereotypes, Wafa Adam commented:

“There is power in women holding tools. I believe that women who are holding these tools will be less prone to sexual harassment. Women who are comfortably and confidently participating in non-stereotypical spaces can intimidate men.”45

Wafa speaks of the symbolic power of women holding and handling tools traditionally used by men in spaces traditionally occupied by men. In other words, by holding tools, women are summoning dominant gendered norms and are deliberately confronting and resisting them. This is not to say that women who occupy male-dominated spaces can easily bypass sexual harassment in this way. Rather, it speaks to the power of women’s resilience and willingness to defy gender stereotypes, and how this disrupts patriarchy.

The responses of interviewed men of varying professional backgrounds (teachers, government officials, mechanic shop owners) concerning the question of women’s employment in maledominated sectors reveal a theme of conditional acceptance. One interviewee noted, “It is acceptable if it is undertaken in ways that do not harm their femininity seeing as often, women take on more masculine attitudes to survive.”46 Respondents addressed the so-called ‘dangers’ of women who must compromise their femininity in order to assimilate and protect themselves in such places as the industrial area. While accepting of women’s vocational employment, which indicates a shift in gender stereotypes, men insist that a woman’s femininity not be

45 FGD, Khartoum, SIHA Staff, February 6th, 2020 46 FGD, Khartoum, Vocational Training Staff, February 7th, 2020

compromised in the process. Therefore, this understanding and acceptance of women’s employment is conditional on women adhering to other traditional forms of femininity such as modes of dress, language and other behaviors. Within this framework, women can be allowed entry into male-dominated fields as long as it does not substantially threaten male dominance.

Women are not exempt from perpetuating traditional ideas about gender. Women too, can act as enforcers of gender norms that limit women’s participation in different aspects of life, including employment. An interview with a manager at the Khartoum Employment office highlighted this harsh reality. When asked about women’s employment in open workshops, she responded:

“I’ve seen a few women at the industrial area sitting under cars and fixing them. It is inappropriate and I do not condone it, personally. Women are incapable of navigating these spaces and they should remain in more feminine fields.”47

When asked about what she thought about the women working at the industrial area she commented, “Ma manzar leha”48 translating to ‘it is not a good look for her,’ referring to the inappropriateness of a woman being in a space dominated by men.

These two examples show that women’s efforts to redefine norms and spaces are often met with considerable disdain from all actors in society. Even so, women participants from BGS are eager to challenge norms and have been successful in breaking into new spaces. Although the success of BGS demonstrates a substantial shift in perceptions about women’s employment, it should not be celebrated in a vacuum. The conversation must recognize the stubborn patriarchal notions that remain a problem as seen in the conditional acceptance of women in the workplace. In order to achieve transformative change and more political guarantees for women, the previous system must be overhauled with a completely new consciousness. The building of new norms and the reshaping of women’s existence in society must be rooted in feminist practices that are deliberate in changing all forms of oppression even beyond gender. Without this knowledge, change will be limited, and patriarchy will prevail.

47 Interview, Khartoum Employment Office, January 14th, 2020 48 Ibid.