© UNICEF/Stevie Mann (2002)

Southern Sudanese mother attending a special class for women who have missed out on schooling

NAIROBI, 20 Aug 2003 (IRIN) - While the international community watches Sudan's leaders edge closer to a peace deal, the average southern Sudanese woman, although desperate for peace, has more immediate concerns.

Historic under-development, over 20 years of war, and inequalities in traditional power structures have left southern women in a precarious position - they now suffer some of the poorest quality of life indicators in the world.

In some war-affected areas the rate of maternal deaths rises as high as 865 per 100,000 births, according to a UNICEF-sponsored study by Nimila Chawla entitled, “From Survival to Thrival: Children and Women in the Southern Part of Sudan”. This compares with a rate of 550 per 100,000 births across the whole of Sudan, as reported in the UN Human Development Report for 2003.

In addition, estimates made by a group of major aid agencies in 1998 suggest the literacy rate among women in parts of southern Sudan could be as low as 10 percent. Even among literate women only a small number have had the luxury of attending secondary school.

Apart from deprivations resulting directly from war and underdevelopment, a drastic reduction in the male population in some areas has placed additional responsibilities on many of the women left behind.