Women of Haiti: A Violent History and Uncertain Future

By Liza Doubossarskaia, NOW Communications Volunteer

March 9, 2010

Haiti's history is distinguished by terrific triumphs and equally terrific tragedies. The country's slave revolt and subsequent expulsion of colonial powers established Haiti as a nation with undeniable democratic roots. Yet, Haiti also has undergone periods of despotic rule that considerably undermined its founding principles. Women, especially, suffer as a result of Haiti's political instability and severe poverty.

Despite what might seem like insurmountable circumstances, Myriam Merlet, Magalie Marcelin, Anne Marie Coriolan, and Myrna Narcisse courageously fought for the recognition of women's rights in Haiti. Tragically, all four died in the Feb. 14 earthquake. To fully appreciate the work of these feminist leaders, one must examine how women have been relegated to the status of second-class citizens with little claim to justice or legal protection.

After President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in the military coup in 1991, the new regime employed systematic rape of women and girls as a tool of political oppression used against supporters of the democratic government and their families.

Aristide was restored to power and then ousted for the second time in 2004 during an armed rebellion. In the period of civil unrest that followed, rape was once again used as a weapon. According to research published by The Lancet medical review, an estimated 19,000 per 100,000 girls were raped in Port-au-Prince area between February 2004 and December 2005.

At present, rape remains a common practice among criminal gangs, and rape survivors are continually failed by their communities and law enforcement authorities. A blame-the-victim attitude continues to oppress all women in Haitian society. Until 2005 rape was considered a crime of passion, with monetary compensation or marriage to the rapist offered as restitution. According to an Amnesty International report, "victims of rape in Haiti are often unwilling to report the crime, largely due to shame, fear and social attitudes that tolerate and legitimize male violence." In addition to societal barriers to reporting rape, survivors are often threatened by their perpetrators, while police services remain disastrously inadequate.

Merlet, who served as the Chief of Staff of the Haitian Ministry of Women's Affairs, fought to bring international attention to rape as a political weapon and worked tirelessly to expose Haiti's rape culture. Together with Coriolan and Marcelin, she lobbied the United Nations to pressure Haiti to categorize rape as a criminal offense and pass sexual assault laws.

Rape and violence are also a grave reality of women's lives in the domestic sphere. A survey produced on behalf of the Ministry of Health found that out of 10,757 surveyed women ages 15 to 49, 10.8 percent reported experiencing sexual violence from an intimate partner.

Violence within a family is still viewed as a private issue. However, Marcelin determinedly sought to transform this attitude. She founded the Kay Fanm organization, which tackles the problem of domestic violence and provides women with shelter and services. Marcelin also packed courtrooms with women in order to hold judges accountable, a daring move in Haitian society that led to the conviction of a man who battered his wife.

Marcelin's Kay Fanm organization also gave out microloans to domestic violence survivors. Women, who head 46 percent of Haitian households, are disproportionately affected by poverty. In urban areas, for example, two in every three women-headed households live in extremely destitute economic conditions. As a result, at least 225,000 children have been forced into unpaid domestic servitude because their parents cannot afford to take care of them. Girls, who make up around two thirds of child laborers, are subject to sexual, psychological and physical abuse.

This horrendous situation is further exacerbated by the government's trampling upon women's fundamental reproductive rights. Abortion is illegal in Haiti, and anyone convicted of performing the procedure can receive up to nine years in prison. A woman who obtains the procedure or carries out her own abortion is also subject to penalty of imprisonment. Back-alley and self-induced abortions carry a high risk of infection and death, and many women are reluctant to go to the hospital because of the social stigma attached to the procedure. According to a 1999 Ministry of Public Health report, eight percent of maternal mortality cases resulted from complications of underground abortions.

When a woman does decide to carry her pregnancy to term, she is faced with tremendous difficulties. Amnesty International reports that "only one in every four births (26 percent) is assisted by qualified medical personnel," and that "pregnancy-related complications are responsible for nearly a quarter (24 percent) of all deaths of girls aged between 15 and 19."

Haiti also has the highest mortality rate of children under five in the Western Hemisphere, with 12 percent of children dying before their first birthday and another one third dying before they turn five. Haiti has been hit hard by HIV/AIDS, with 200,000 children orphaned as a result. And only half of primary school-age children are able to attend primary schools.

Merlet, Marcelin, Coriolan, and Narcisse fought to break the self-perpetuating cycle of poverty and violence that traps so many Haitian women. While significantly more progress still must be made, these leaders laid a firm groundwork upon which to build a safer and more just society. Their deaths were a tragic loss, but their contributions will become a part of Haiti's remarkable history and an inspiration for generations to come.

Read more from NOW: Haitian Women's Desperate Lives -- Education and Reproductive Health Care Must be Addressed in Re-Building Efforts

Resources:

Amnesty International: Don't Turn Your Back on Girls, Sexual Violence Against Girls in Haiti (Note: Link is to a summary page. If you want to read the full report, the PDF download is slow.)

Slate: The Earthquake Killed Haiti's Feminist Movement

CNN: Women's Movement Mourns Death of 3 Haitian Leaders

USA Today: 225,000 Haiti Children in Slavery

UNICEF: At a Glance: Haiti

GlobalSecurity.org: Haiti - Introduction

UNICEF: Statement at The International Donors Conference on Haiti

The Washington Post: Haiti Earthquake Relief is Stifled by Chaos in Port-au-Prince