This report describes in great detail the state of women’s living conditions in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake concerning: access to aid and immediate needs such as potable water, shelter, medical attention and physical safety. By surveying and interviewing surviving women, it also examines long-term issues such as schooling for children and job opportunities for women. It identifies mid- to long-term priorities for reconstruction and recovery.

In June 2014, the government of Haiti published a paternity act that recognizes equal rights for children born within and outside of marriage. This act represents an important legal shift, enshrining the principle that all children are on an equal footing. The USAID-funded Health Policy Project AKSE documented the gaps that the law fills and why this achievement is so important for the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, the women’s organizations that fought for it, and for children in Haiti.

This gender assessment was requested by USAID Mission in Haiti for their country strategy. The assessment aims to identify how USAID programs may affect or be affected by gender relations and certain gender-based limitations. This document represents a review of research and program documents as well as interviews with USAID staff and partners that identifies and assess gender relations and gender-based constraints that impact USAID programs. It specifically considers the impact of gender relations on program results and the impact of the program on the relative status of men and women.

This assessment examines gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE), its advances and gaps, and how USAID and other donor programming have addressed them. It concentrates on four key focus areas: 1) food and economic security; 2) basic services (health and education); 3) democracy and governance; and 4) water, sanitation, and hygiene, with climate change and disaster risk reduction. It also addresses crosscutting themes, including governance and the safety and security of women, girls, LGBTI, and persons with disabilities (PWD).

This report provides a gender profile of conflict in Haiti from the 1950’s up to 2004. Beginning in 1956 during the Duvalier regime, this report outlines the countless ways in which women and children in Haiti have continued to suffer from chronic political unrest. The report describes political, humanitarian, and economic problems that have impacted the lives of many women and children such as political rapes under the Duvalier regime or the HIV/AIDS epidemic that is ongoing.

The January 2010 earthquake devastated Haiti. Described by the UN Secretary-General as “one of the largest, most serious natural disasters in recent decades”, the earthquake unleashed a humanitarian crisis demanding unprecedented international action.1 More than 230,000 people were killed and 300,000 more injured. Large parts of Port-au-Prince, Jacmel and Léogâne and other smaller towns and outlying areas were turned to rubble,
leaving nearly 2 million people homeless.

Haiti is prone to natural disasters of many kinds: cyclones, tropical storms, landslides, floods and earthquakes. In less than twelve years, two earthquakes have shaken the country, bringing enormous damage in human life and losses of all kinds. The country had yet to recover from the aftermath of the first 7.0-magnitude earthquake in 2010 when, on 14 August 2021 a second of magnitude 7.2 struck the south of the country where the majority of the affected municipal districts are remote and difficult to access.

Sixteen-year-old Blanche left her grandmother's home in the Carrefour Feuilles neighborhood at dusk. She went to a nearby square to do her homework.
Like many other schoolchildren living in areas of Port-au-Prince without electricity, she was going to do her homework by the light of one of the only streetlights in the neighborhood still working.

While she was studying, a man approached her. She asked him to leave. He did so, but returned soon after, accompanied by other men who pointed guns at Blanche while the first man tore off her clothes and raped her.

Le séisme de janvier 2010 a dévasté Haïti. Depuis cette catastrophe, les besoins spécifiques des femmes et jeunes filles qui vivent dans des camps en ce qui concerne la prévention des violences liées au genre et les mesures à prendre pour y faire face n'ont pas été suffisamment pris en compte. Les risques de viols et d'autres formes de violences liées au genre dans les camps haïtiens ont atteint des proportions effrayantes au cours de l'année qui vient de s'écouler.

En Haïti, la violence sexuelle contre les femmes et les filles est omniprésente, et vise essentiellement les mineures. On estimait qu'en 2007 plus de 100 000 filles âgées de six à dix-sept ans étaient employées comme domestiques. Ces mineures courent tout particulièrement le risque de subir des sévices physiques et sexuels. Les enfants employés de maison sont souvent issus de milieux très défavorisés.