CHALLENGES TO WOMEN’S SAFETY IN NON-TRADITIONAL WORKSPACES

The interviewee redirects the question, restructuring the conversation to whether women are willing to forego their femininity to actively participate in the field. This perspective is problematic as it positions femininity as a barrier to this field of employment and removes responsibility from all other actors. The reference to women’s need to adhere to the uniform required for the job (commonly trousers) juxtaposes the abovementionedIslamic dress code, which was imposed by Presidential decree, and the public order laws that made women’s ‘immodest’ dress punishable by law. Due to the arbitrary nature of the law, women wearing trousers were frequently labeled immodest and punished by means of imprisonment, flogging and monetary fines. Refocusing the discussion with this knowledge highlights the obstacles placed on women entering the industrial area for employment. The incompatibility of women’s work attire and public norms concerning women’s dress, places women in a conundrum. If the state-regulated dress code is not adhered to, women are exposed to the unpredictable punishments of the law. So, if women dress appropriately and according to the code of their work place in the Industrial area, they are left vulnerable and susceptible to street harassment and societal shaming for being ‘immodest’ according to the law. This constitutes a very real hardship for women and a significant barrier to entering certain fields and public spaces.

In recognizing that women’s occupancy in these spaces exposes them to more harassment, men of varying political and ideological backgrounds, place the responsibility on women to have the right character or as one interviewee described it, ‘charisma’ to subvert sexual harassment in the workplace.30

“If a woman is in front of a man, of course he is going to at least catcall her. It’s totally natural! It is on the woman to be trained in combating men’s natural behavior.”31

Similarly, an employee at a mechanic shop in Khartoum stated, “Women can find good opportunities in this field but they have to be strong enough to handle the difficulties of being a woman on the street. Eventually, it will be normalized but they have to fight through this

30 FGD, Khartoum, Vocational Training Staff, January 7th, 2020 31 FGD, Khartoum, Vocational Training Staff, January 7th, 2020

stage.”32

Though respondents are cognizant of the violence experienced by women in male-dominated spaces, little responsibility is put on the male harassers. Men’s violent behavior is considered ‘natural’ and therefore beyond their control. This leaves women burdened with having to challenge an uncompromising force of gender-based harassment. It also reveals the underlying resistance of men to accommodate women’s rights to equality and to be active participants in given spaces. The focus group discussion with women participants explored what women would need in order to feel safe in male-dominated fields of employment and education. It was important for the women participants to deeply reflect on the steps required to ensure women’s safe entry into new employment markets. A debate was sparked among participants on whether it is safer for women to be working in open or closed spaces. Some women felt that the open workshops exposed them to street harassment and moral policing of their activity. However, other women felt that a closed space full of men would be intimidating and potentially unsafe. Those in favor of working in open spaces also noted that a closed space would likely result in questions about why one sole woman is in an enclosed space with a number of men. A similar remark was made in an interview with an employer who spoke about Asia’s employment (graduate of BGS):

“This is my first time employing a woman and it has been good so far although home visits have been an obstacle. Sometimes, customers are not home during our maintenance hours and just leave the key out for us to enter. It becomes tricky when a woman technician is with us. It looks inappropriate and difficult to explain. For that reason, I think women are better off in open workshops.”33 (Ehab Mahmoud, Asia’s employer)

As the women participants predicted, Asia’s employer insinuates the immoral aspect of a woman and a man who is not her relation being together in a private residence. He suggests that it will be perceived as shameful for the woman and ‘difficult to explain’. This scenario shows women as sexual objects and accuses them of partaking in immoral activity, therefore revealing the deeply internalized resistance to women working in particular fields. Despite accompanying other technicians who are men, the woman’s presence is met with accusation and shame. Her professional ability is completely overlooked. This shows how the state ‘presumes that all

32 Interview, Khartoum 3 Mechanics Shop, February 2, 2020 33 Interview, Khartoum Industrial Area, February 6th, 2020

encounters between women and men are sexual in nature’ and how the state has influenced the ‘physiological and psychosocial development’ of Sudanese people.34 This behavior has its roots in the codification of laws that regulate gender relations in the public sphere. The sexualization of women is often tied to other aspects of their identity namely, their ethnicity or race. SIHA staff commented on this stating:

“Urban poor women often bear the worst of sexual harassment. The assumption is that because women are from low-income backgrounds, they are more willing to engage in sexual activity. People view these women’s bodies as lesser than and that is because of these low-income women’s race and class. The intersection of their oppressed identities renders them powerless in these cases.”35 (Nahla Medani, Program Assistant, SIHA Staff)

An understanding of the sexualization of a marginalized group, in this case low-income and internally displaced women, requires us to circle back to the establishment of regional hierarchies in Sudan. As already discussed, the state established regional hierarchies on the basis of ethnicity and race, producing stereotypes that marginalized women who were not of the Northern Arab category, the ‘ideal woman citizen’ category. Women’s migration to the urban center, Khartoum, resulted in their ‘outsider’ label and consequential label as sexually deviant. This analysis allows us to understand how sociopolitical discourses cultivate the ways through which women and men experience space differently. Moreover, a closer look exposes how classism and regional hierarchies exacerbate the laws governing the gendered nature of Sudanese citizenship. Finally, this analysis reveals the relationship between gender, ethnicity, sexuality and class, and how they play out in the context of women’s non-traditional employment. In conclusion, the expectations concerning women’s sexual modesty define their mobility and act as a barrier to women’s employment. The question still remains as to whether open or closed workshops are safer for women because in reality, they both pose a risk that women will be exposed to harassment.

34 Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa, Redress Trust (2017) Criminalisation of Sudanese Women: A Need For Fundamental Reform. Retrieved from http://sihanet.org/wp- content/uploads/2018/02/Criminalization-of-Women-in-Sudan. pdf 35 FGD, Khartoum, SIHA Staff, February 6th 2020