Many people typically get the wrong impression of our Sudanese culture and may even represent it inaccurately.
This piece I read also discusses the traditional Sudanese clothing for women. The writer is called Richard Dixon, who judging by his name is definitely not Sudanese. Dixon breaks up his explanation of Sudanese women's attire into six paragraphs, each with a subtitle that explains what will follow. This is a terrific approach to making it easy for readers to return to a specific section of the article whenever they want without having to struggle to find it.
However, Dixon's article lacked any kind of in-text citation, and everything he wrote appeared to be pure speculation because there was no supporting evidence. For example, he mentioned that “By law, Sudanese women must wear a certain type of clothing that covers almost the entire body.” Although the "Toub" he mentions serves the intended purpose of covering the woman’s body, I myself have never heard that wearing the Toub is required by law. My research and questions to family members about the veracity of this statement led me to the conclusion that wearing a Toub is not and has never been required by Sudanese law; rather, it is merely a tradition. But I also learned that, until 2019, "Article 152 of the Sudanese Public Order Legislation provides penalties if a woman is found guilty of wearing a "revealing costume," even though the law does not define "revealing" in any way. I got the impression that this was a saying of his own that wasn't supported by anything, and his statements almost sounded like he was accusing Sudan of forcing women to wear the hijab and always cover themselves.
Dixon also states that “Unlike the toub, women can remove the hijab inside the house” but this is not true because we can take off both the hijab and the toub. Sudanese women are free to wear whatever they want in and outside of the house, and while many prefer to wear the toub it is still not a requirement. Additionally, Dixon mentions that the “women wear the toub over a short dress” but the toub is also often worn over a long skirt or dress and it is very rare that women wear it over a short skirt. Dixon may have some knowledge about Sudanese traditional dress, but it is undeniable that he did not conduct enough research, as evidenced by the fact that his study does not contain all relevant data and insights regarding women's toub in Sudan.