Eritrean Women Refugees in Khartoum, Sudan, 1970–1990

This paper discusses the changing roles of women in Eritrean society and assesses the impacts of the refugee experiences on Eritrean women refugees in Khartoum by looking at the adjustments they have made to life in exile. The findings show that they have experienced loss of traditional roles, responsibilities and supportive networks. The majority are former urban dwellers and they were not, therefore, socialized for an independent livelihood. However, their cultural backgrounds and the institutional constraints operative in the, country of asylum notwithstanding, they exhibit remarkable openness to change and to assuming new and unfamiliar roles in an environment characterized by malevolence to women's independence and self-assertion. The factors that predispose them to adapt to downward status mobility, the roles they play in sustaining the lives of their relatives/friends and the sufferings they experience are examined.