Independence not Providing Dividends for Women in South Sudan

The briefing examines the gap between South Sudan's formal commitments to women's rights and the reality of their exclusion from political and economic decision-making. It highlights how women, who make up 65% of the population, are disproportionately affected by poverty and gender-based violence while remaining underrepresented in government appointments and diplomatic negotiations. The authors argue that sustainable development and peacebuilding require moving beyond basic infrastructure to include women as active agents of political change.

• Despite ratifying the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Maputo Protocol, and adopting the AU’s Post-Conflict, Reconstruction and Development strategy, women remain largely absent from official peace negotiations and economic rebuilding efforts.
• Women are disproportionately impacted by South Sudan's economic and humanitarian crises; over half of the 8.2 million people live below the poverty line of less than a dollar a day, and the majority of these poor individuals are women.
• There is a significant disparity between the Transitional Constitution's 25% affirmative action benchmark for women in the public sector and actual appointments, evidenced by only nine women being appointed as ambassadors out of 90 in March 2012, and only five women among 29 ministers in the cabinet.
• Severe health and human rights challenges persist, including widespread sexual and gender-based violence and a maternal mortality rate in June 2012 where over 2,000 women die from preventable causes per 100,000 births, which is four times the rate in other parts of Africa.
• The state-building project is characterized as non-inclusive because women are excluded from critical high-level diplomatic processes, such as the negotiations with Sudan led by the AU High-level Panel.

APA

Joala, R., & Oder, S. (n.d.). Independence not Providing Dividends for Women in South Sudan. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.org/iss-today/independence-not-providing-dividends-for-women-in-south-sudan

Chicago

Joala, Refiloe, and Sandra Oder. Independence not Providing Dividends for Women in South Sudan. Institute for Security Studies, n.d. https://issafrica.org/iss-today/independence-not-providing-dividends-for-women-in-south-sudan.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Joala |first1=Refiloe |last2=Oder |first2=Sandra |title=Independence not Providing Dividends for Women in South Sudan |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |url=https://issafrica.org/iss-today/independence-not-providing-dividends-for-women-in-south-sudan |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{joalandindependence, author = {Joala, Refiloe and Oder, Sandra}, title = {{Independence not Providing Dividends for Women in South Sudan}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, url = {https://issafrica.org/iss-today/independence-not-providing-dividends-for-women-in-south-sudan}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }