Topic: International Women’s Day And The Haitian Woman (
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International Women’s Day And The Haitian Woman.
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by Jano on 4/22
Haitian Women organizations have been key to advances made so far by Haitian women.
More Haitian women are being vocal and active in social, political, and economic issues since the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship in 1986. Though it has not come easily, their progress in changing gender relations of power within the home, within social movements, and within the nation has been steady.
One factor that has allowed Haitian women to make these advences are Radios.
The importance of radio cannot be overstated in a country such as Haiti where 45% of men, and 49% of women, are illiterate.
Nor can the significance of women taking the microphone, in a country where aggressive patriarchy in the home and society, as well as violence from male partners and the state, have tried to keep them silent.
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by The Media on 4/7
Throughout the world there is a major push by global leaders to promote the importance of women in socioeconomic development.
It is not just about the ability to nurture or there realization directive that everyone is important, it is about the balance that women can bring to sustaining equality and positive change.
With so much disarray in Haiti women that are empowered to lead at the community level can begin to provide some direction and develop strategies during the overall development process.
What this enables, is creating a peaceful, non-confrontational setting that can minimize the chaos amongst the Haitian people.
Studies show that where there are women empowered societies there is existence of "social and economic policies (that) give more support to traits and activities such as caregiving, nonviolence, empathy".[
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by Roland on 4/2
Haitian women were noticeably absence from the landmark Haiti donor conference on 31 March.
Haitian-born Massachusetts State Representative Marie St. Fleur, who represented the diaspora community at the main conference, said she was not surprised to look across the room and see few other female faces.
The text of the Haitian government’s Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA), a blueprint plan for recovery, offered a similar lack of gender diversity, she explained.
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by The Media on 3/11
Article re-published.
Hundreds of thousands of Haitian families are sleeping on the streets of Port-au-Prince.
Each night, women rock their babies to sleep, hush their children, and try to rest. Many nights, worries keep these women awake: the children are hungry; the rains are coming; the baby is sick.
In this broken city, women also fear violence.
Husbands, brothers, and neighbors patrol the makeshift camps to protect them from strangers.
But, for some women, the very men standing over them are the ones to fear: who can these women turn to for hope and protection?
Three women-Myriam Merlet, Anne Marie Coriolan, and Magalie Marcelin -- could have provided the answer and some refuge.
These women rights' advocates created support services and fought on behalf of women facing domestic violence, rape, and exploitation.
All three lost their lives in the earthquake.
In their absence, we must carry on and provide hope through solidarity with the women of Haiti.
Solidarity must start today, International Women's Day. It can begin with an effort to join forces across the gulf of experience to learn about each other's lives.
For Haitian women today, solidarity means seeking an end to the gender-based violence that can flourish in disasters.
It also requires countering the structural violence of hunger, contaminated water, and unsafe housing -- violence that was part of the daily lives of many Haitian women well before the earthquake struck.
Ensuring women's immediate needs in these desperate days is not enough; women's voices must also be heard for the long term. Government officials in Port-au-Prince, Washington, and donor countries around the world must ensure that women are empowered to change the future of their country.
Empowering Haitian women now will mean better outcomes in the rebuilding efforts.
Today, women face enormous obstacles, especially when they have been raped or sexually harassed.
Long treks to collect water often keep girls out of school and stymie their opportunities to escape poverty.
Women die during pregnancy and labor at a rate far higher than anywhere else in the region.
Plans for Haiti's future should ensure access to justice for women who have suffered rape or sexual harassment.
They should reduce the time women and girls spend collecting water each day by building accessible public water systems.
Public health systems should be strengthened with the aim of improving maternal health.
Healthy mothers translate into healthy families.
And the right to education -- protected in the Haitian constitution -- should be made a reality for every little girl across Haiti.
Educated women are drivers of sustainable development around the world.
For the women who lost their lives in the earthquake, for the women sleeping in the streets, and for the women who seek a brighter future, we must stand, side by side, and demand results.
We, who live in wealthy countries like the United States, must demand that our governments keep their promises to the women of Haiti.
Keeping these promises could help Haiti's women change the future of their country, for good.
Article from;
Berlotte Israel is Human Rights Advocacy Coordinator and Chair of the Survivors' Advocacy Board at Dwa Fanm, a Haitian women's organization in Brooklyn.
Margaret Satterthwaite is a Faculty Director of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University School of Law.
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by J. Simon Derose on 3/10
I am all for Haitian women to continue to progress.
However, they are the ones who are working against their own causes.
How do you imagine that some haitian women believe in cheating, not wanting to stay with one man, and not caring about her own children.
I recently went to similar experience.
My wife to whom I have been married to for over 12 years suddently decided to have an affair.
We have three children together.
Now we are going through a divorce, and my children are suffering
Any comment about this B...
ch...
(Reply)
by Roseline on 3/9
The biggest problem in the haitian family is the arrange marriage started from early 1980's by both parents for men from overseas (diaspora)making it difficult for local men to get a women.
Here the general process: there was no love from the bigining, no courtship; for example a girl would drop out from school, come to live with the man 's parents and become their slave.
The man would come to marry the girl and spend only a few weeks and go back to where he came from, and get the girl to come in america after a long wait, she become pretier and look younger, she start seing things differently and people do change.
Since there was no foundation of love now what to expect?
I have a cousin in haiti, her husband left for over 22 years now and yet to return to his wife and five children, the sad thing is that his has another woman and kids with him in america.
Some men would use a fault birth certificate to get marry, after the honeymoon, they are gone for ever. Right now 90% in my parish are still practising this thing and I even witness relatives play the groom role in weeding ceremonies for their brothers absence and the pastors encourage it just for the money.
these are just few examples of thousand cases that I know for sure. There would be no safety for haitian women until they open up their eyes and rebuke the arrange marriage thing that gives more power to men, abuse from men and in-laws, cause them to have a divided family where husbands are gone forever, children growing up without fathers'love and presence, contribute to their unloyalty with no husband on their side to protect them. Therefore Haitian women are not safe now than before.
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by Astride on 3/7
i think there is a big problem about of the haitian mentality .usually, people forget that women have to be protected by men. the men traite women in the bad way, it's not fair, because woman is created by one of man's symbol, not with his head for be above him, either his feet to be trampled, but with his heart to be his equal, for be protected and loved.
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