The Babiker Bedri Scientific Association for Women's Studies (BBSAWS, also written as "Babiker Badri") was formed in Sudan in 1979 after a symposium in February that year, "The Changing Status of Women in Sudan", at Ahfad University for Women in Omdurman. Open to educated women from Sudan, the association's early aims were to set up welfare and education programmes for women in the White Nile and Red Sea states, and to end female genital mutilation, which has a high prevalence in Sudan.[1] Asma El Dareer was one of the association's presidents.[2]
The association was named after Sheikh Babiker Bedri, who in 1907 opened the first girls' school in Rufaa, Sudan. This was regarded as the beginning of the women's liberation movement in that country.[3]
- ^ Badri, Amna Elsadik (1996). "Sudan: Women's Studies—and a New Village Stove". In Morgan, Robin (ed.). Sisterhood is Global: The International Women's Movement Anthology. New York: The Feminist Press at the City University of New York. p. 653.
- ^ El Dareer, Asma (1982). Woman, Why Do You Weep? Circumcision and its Consequences. London: Zed Books. back cover. ISBN 978-0862320997.
- ^ Badri 1996, p. 650.