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Gendering War: Women’s Resilience Amid Conflict in Sudan, South Sudan & Northern Nigeria

Author: Nafisa, Tamsin & Sixtus June 29, 2025

The experiences of women and girls in Sudan, South Sudan and northern Nigeria during armed conflicts/wars reveal a dimension of war that too often remains hidden behind numbers and battle lines. Warfare is not gender‑neutral: it reshapes social roles, exposes pre‑existing inequalities, and unleashes specific threats such as sexual violence, forced displacement, and household collapse that disproportionately afflict women and girls. “Gendering War,” a webinar co‑hosted by AEGIS and the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA), on 19 March 2025, brought together three experts to explore how conflict in Africa not only endangers women’s lives but also creates spaces for resilience and activism.

The conflict in Sudan, now in its second year, provides a stark illustration of these dynamics. Since fighting began in April 2023 between the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces, more than 40 million people have been internally displaced, half of them women and girls. Acute hunger has driven 18 million into food insecurity, while education for children has been disrupted on an unprecedented scale. Professor Nafisa Bedri of Ahfad University for Women drew upon field reports to show that incidents of gender‑based violence in Sudan have more than doubled since hostilities erupted. Yet, she also highlighted the quiet heroism of women‑led marginalisation on the frontline that, amid scarce resources and mounting dangers, continue to provide frontline care, legal aid, and psychosocial support. Their work, she argued, underscores a critical point: even when conflict erodes formal structures, women’s networks often become the bedrock of survival and recovery.

Moving south, the legacy of protracted civil war in South Sudan has similarly exacted a gendered toll. Professor Tamsin Bradley, AEGIS’ Co-director at the University of Portsmouth described how, since gaining independence in 2011, South Sudan has cycled through waves of internal conflict that have claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced over three million people. Surveys conducted in the Nimalay and Yei regions reveal high rates of sexual violence, economic exploitation, and forced migration, patterns that perpetuate women’s marginalisation long after frontline fighting subsides. Yet, as in Sudan, local women’s groups have devised innovative strategies such as community storytelling, peer‑support circles, and legal aid clinics, that challenge the normalisation of violence. By foregrounding women’s own experiences and solutions, these initiatives not only address immediate needs but also lay the groundwork for more inclusive peacebuilding.
In northern Nigeria, displacement and insecurity have converged in a particularly complex form. Mr Sixtus Onyekwere, PhD candidate at the University of Portsmouth and research fellow at CSEA, presented preliminary findings on violence against women and girls within internally displaced persons (IDP) camps across the northeast, northwest, and north‑central regions. Here, the twin threats of Boko Haram insurgency and pandemic‑era lockdowns have compounded pre‑existing gender inequalities. Restricted movement and breakdowns in justice systems heightened the experiences of exploitation and abuse among many women in IDP camps, while NGO and governmental responses have frequently fallen short of their needs. Oyekwere’s research calls for interventions that integrate women’s voices from the outset, treating displaced women not merely as beneficiaries or data but as partners in designing protection and recovery programmes.
Despite the diversity of contexts, common themes emerged. First, gender‑based violence surges wherever war disrupts social and legal norms. Second, displacement both magnifies women’s vulnerabilities and offers new opportunities for solidarity. Third, while international aid often focuses on immediate relief, long‑term recovery depends on strengthening women‑led structures and addressing psychosocial as well as material needs. In the closing discussion, participants underscored the stakes of aid withdrawal—how the termination of key funding streams can unravel fragile gains, and the need for sustained advocacy to ensure that gender‑sensitive policies remain central to humanitarian agendas.
“Gendering War” thus reframed our understanding of conflict: not only as a series of battles, but as a series of gendered experiences that extend into homes, communities, and future generations. Recognising women’s dual roles, as those most at risk and as indispensable agents of change, demands that aid agencies, governments, and civil society adopt more nuanced, participatory approaches. When women lead on mental‑health initiatives, legal accountability, and livelihood support, they do more than restore what war has destroyed—they help to build foundations for lasting peace.
As we reflect on the lives disrupted in Sudan, South Sudan, and Nigeria, one message stands clear: strengthening women’s resilience is not ancillary to humanitarian work, it is its very cornerstone. By channelling resources toward women‑led organisations, creating safe platforms for displaced women to speak and plan, and embedding psychosocial support in every stage of relief, we move closer to a world where the ravages of war no longer consign half the population to invisibility and despair.