Women in Haiti
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Women in Haiti have equal constitutional rights[2] to men in the economic, political, cultural and social fields, as well as in the family.
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A Haitian woman | |
| General statistics | |
|---|---|
| Maternal mortality (per 100,000) | 350 (2010) |
| Women in parliament | 3.5% (2013) |
| Women over 25 with secondary education | 22.5% (2012) |
| Women in labour force | 60.6% (2012) |
| Gender Inequality Index[1] | |
| Value | 0.635 (2021) |
| Rank | 163rd out of 191 |
However, the reality of what women experience in Haiti differs from the word of the law. Structural issues and patriarchal views limit Haitian women's ability to experience full autonomy. These trends have been consistent throughout the history of the country in both times of peace and times of political unrest.[3]
Women and society
Some Haitian scholars argue that Haitian peasant women are often less socially restricted than women in Western societies or even in comparison to more westernized elite Haitian women.[4] Compared to their Latin-American counterparts, the participation of Haitian women in agriculture, commerce and industry has been high.[5] During the US occupation of Haiti (1915–1934), peasant women actively participated in guerilla warfare and anti-US intelligence gathering to free the country.[6] Because of their involvement in commerce, Haitian peasant women have accumulated resources independently of their partners, in contrast to more westernized elite Haitian women.[7]
Political representation
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The Haitian government has a Ministry of Women's Affairs, but it also lacks the resources to address issues such as violence against women and harassment in the workplace. A number of political figures such as Michele Pierre-Louis, Haiti's second female prime minister, have adopted a determined agenda to fight inequalities and persecutions against women. Her position in office as Prime Minister had positive effect on female political leadership in a country where the percentage of women in government at ministerial level was 25% in 2005.[8]
History of the Haitian women's movement
Women have been involved in social movements in Haiti since the battle for independence.[9][10]
In the 1930s, following an economic crisis, a women's movement emerged in Haiti. The crisis is thought to have forced middle-class Haitian women to work outside of the home–like their lower-class counterparts–for the first time.[4] This was also a time at which more elite women began to pursue post-secondary education and when L'Université D'Etat d'Haiti opened its doors to women.[4] The first Haitian woman to receive a secondary education graduated during this period in 1933.[4]
One of the first established feminist organizations in Haiti was called the Ligue Féminine d'Action Sociale (Feminine League for Social Action) and was created in 1934.[11] Its mostly elite initial members included Madeleine Sylvain, Alice Garoute, Fernande Bellegarde, Thérèse Hudicourt, Alice Mathon, Marie-Thérèse Colimon, Léonie Coicou Madiou, and Marie-Thérèse Poitevien.[12] The Ligue was banned by the government two months after its founding.[12] The league was re-established when it agreed to study its goals instead of immediately implementing them.[12] The league is credited with the granting of voting rights for women in 1957.[12]
In 1950, writer and feminist Paulette Poujol-Oriol joined the league. She later served as President of the League from 1997 until her death on March 11, 2011. She was also a founding member of L'Alliance des Femmes Haitiennes, an umbrella organization for more than 50 women's groups.[13]
Under François Duvalier, some women were appointed to government leadership positions: Rosalie Adolphe (aka Madame Max Adolphe) was appointed head of the secret police Volontaires de La Sécurité Nationale, also known as the Tonton Macoute; Lydia O. Jeanty was named Under-Secretary of Labor in 1957; and Lucienne Heurtelou, the widow of former president Dumarsais Estimé, was Haiti's first female ambassador.[14] Marie-Denise Duvalier nearly succeeded her father in 1971.[4]
In 2010, Rezo Fanm Kapab Dayiti, a network of women's rights organisations founded by Tina Nadine Anilus, was established.[15]
Sexual violence
Women in Haiti may suffer threats to their security and well-being because of rape, kidnapping and human trafficking.
Documented cases of politically motivated rape, massacres, forced disappearance, and violent assaults on entire neighborhoods increased greatly at the end of 1993, under the military dictatorship of Raoul Cédras. Reports from women's rights groups in Haiti revealed that women were targeted for abuse in ways and for reasons that men were not. Uniformed military personnel and their civilian allies threatened and attacked women's organizations for their work in defense of women's rights and subjected women to sex-specific abuse ranging from bludgeoning women's breasts to rape.[16]
The troubles before the 2004 coup were seen by most of the nationwide women's group as a reminder of the 1991–94 coup d'etat tactics with the use of rape, kidnapping, and murders as forms of intimidation. Although most of the feminist activists in Haiti campaigned for the election of Jean-Bertrand Aristide before his first term (1991–1995), many of them, especially intellectuals like Myriam Merlet or Magalie Marcelin, condemned how the first democratically elected president of Haiti ruled the country during his second term (2000–2004).[17] Other observers, more favorable of the Fanmi Lavalas party, were more inclined to criticise the period after the coup as a "rewind" back to the same dictatorship tactics: "a terror campaign employing rape, murder and disappearance as tactics, and rapidly increasing insecurity undermining all economic activity of the informal sector."[18]
To this day, Haiti is "gripped by shocking levels of sexual violence against girls;" of particular concern is the number of cases of sexual violence reported in the run-up to or during Carnival.[19]
Amnesty International[20] and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights[3] have laid particular pressure on the duty of the state to act in due diligence necessary to prevent and eradicate violence and discrimination against women.
Despite the MINUSTAH's peace-keeping mandate, a number of cases have arisen where the UN soldiers were found to have abused women.[21]
Education
Women's education history
Women in Haiti have had unequal access to education for a long time, since a male-dominated society with colonial origins did not allow girls and women to go to school.
This formally changed with The Constitution in 1843, but the first actual account of a primary school established for girls was in Port-au-Prince the following year, in 1844. Although the political leadership tried to address unequal education at the time, economic and social barriers made it very difficult to reach that goal, and it wasn't until 1860 that there was an increase in the number of girls going to school. However, secondary education for women developed faster than primary education for girls. The first secondary school for women was established by Marie-Rose Léodille Delaunay in 1850. Organized after the law of 1893, by 1895 the government had established six secondary schooling institutions for women.[22] Though most Latin American countries have achieved universal or near universal primary education for all children, in Haiti the primary school enrollment rate for boys was still somewhat higher than that of girls in 1987.
The overall system
The education system in Haiti is underdeveloped. Although there are primary, secondary, and tertiary schools, attendance and graduation from these schools, and upper levels is low, being that the majority of the population are combating poverty and are focused on labour income in order to live. In the Haitian school system, formal education begins at preschool followed by 9 years of fundamental education. Starting from the second year of secondary education, students are allowed to seek vocational training programs. Higher education after the completion of second year studies is not common but is highly appraised since most children do not have the chance to begin in the first place. Tuition rates have dramatically increased in the past starting from the preschool level. What once cost 1628 gourdes ($41) in 2004, increased to 4675 gourdes ($117) in 2007. This increase was 187% in the three years that most families simply cannot afford,[23] especially for families in rural Haiti. The rural-urban difference is also considerable as nearly 25% of the women in urban areas have finished secondary school, compared with less than 2% in rural areas. Women in rural areas are also blocked from educational opportunities as many young girls have to work to support their families. [24] Overall, according to a study by the Haitian Institute of Statistics and IT, 39% of Haitians have never attended school. In the 6-12 age range, it is 37.7%.[23] Situations only worsened after the 2010 earthquake.
Post-2010 earthquake
More than 4,000 schools (preschool fundamental, secondary, higher education, and vocational institutions) were damaged by the 2010 earthquake, and over 1,200 were destroyed. The deaths of teachers and students were plenty more. The entire education system had to be shut down, not least because the Ministry of Education itself collapsed.[25] "With a lack of stable infrastructure. supplies, and a high demand for educated school officials, children, especially women, had to help their family in informal ways. A pre-earthquake study by the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights concluded that almost all Haitian girls work in the informal market, primarily between the ages of 5 and 9. Although sources would like to announce that educational inequality is narrowing as the average growth enrollment has been significantly greater for girls than for boys, it is simply not the case. As of 2015, only 60.7% of the population is literate.[26] Males are more educated; about 64.3% of them know how to read and write. Constricted by gender roles and violence, only 57.3% of women know how to read and write.[27][28][23] Sexual violence also plays a role in the lack of education and literacy rates for women aged 15–19.[24]
