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]