The Displaced Women Inside Khartoum City Center ( Shambat Al –Aradi ) : The Dynamics of Coping Strategies

Abstract

In Sudan as in most societies of developing countries particularly among the rural population, women play a crucial role within their households. This study is an attempt to review the traditional role of the rural women before the event of the mass migration and the phenomenon of displacement and residence in the capital of Sudan, Khartoum. The study reviews the disasters in Sudan, which result in substantial death, destruction and migration to urban areas. It investigate the reasons of migration of the rural population to the urban areas and their settlement in the shantytowns and the Displacement Camps around Khartoum city center. It is also highlighted the study area Khartoum and its urban growth. The thesis studied the socio-economic criteria of the displaced women who prefer to settle inside Khartoum city center as a coping strategy to survive and investigate into the importance of women effective contribution to the household economy. In respect, the study explores different aspects of rural women’s life inside Khartoum city center. The study tries to establish that the inner city displaced women activities are not only confined to their daily routine in the houses, but also to cover income-generating activities. Although there are differences among the varied groups of women in the study area, women continue to play a crucial role within the household. They contribute to the household economy and shoulder responsibilities of their family and their children. So the burden on women to maintain and sustain their households is increased and they concentrate their efforts to adopt ways and means to generate income for their families. They work in informal sectors in petty trades. The study reviews the different activities in which women are engaged, domestic activities around the house, childcare, social life and their relation with their well-off neighbors inside the city center. Despite the adoption of several survival strategies and mechanisms they fell short to satisfy their basic survival needs. Tools such as questionnaires, group discussions, interviews as well as the researcher own observations were simultaneously used to generate data and information at the households as well as the community levels taking a random sample of 150 households as samples within Shambat Al-Aradi; a first class residential area in Khartoum North