Although Haiti's 2010 earthquake brought to light the inconceivable poverty existing in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti's struggle for economic development long pre-dated that earthquake. One problem in Haiti is the high level of gender inequity, and we argue that human development theory is the best mode for change. We provide a brief background of Haiti's economic development over the last several decades, along with the status of women's rights and gender-differentiated socioeconomic outcomes.

Le Centre de Ressources en Information (CRI) a organisé, le 20 avril à Port-au-Prince, sa deuxième conférence-débat dans le cadre d’une série sur la participation des différents secteurs de la société haïtienne dans la reconstruction du pays après le séisme dévastateur du 12 janvier 2010. Cette conférence a fait suite à une première, axée sur le rôle de la société civile, notamment les associations caritatives, dans le processus de reconstruction. L’idée est de mettre à la disposition des acteurs des informations qui leur serviront à faire des plaidoyers.

Background In 2010, an important earthquake devastated Haiti and caused thousands of deaths. In a social context where women are particularly vulnerable, this cross-sectional study examined the associations between sexual assaults experienced by women before the earthquake, the earthquake exposure, the traumatic consequences, and their satisfaction of social support received.

Rape is not a new problem in Haiti, where it seems as though acts of sexual violence have been committed with astonishing impunity for decades – even becoming a relatively common method of political leverage during the country’s frequent periods of upheaval. This text narrates the personal experiences of rape many women in Haiti have lived through after the 2010 earthquake. It describes how rape has been dealt with in the Haitian legal system for the past 30 years and how the earthquake wiped out this modest progress.

Ce document présente les résultats d’un sondage sur la violence basée sur le genre en Haïti, mené en janvier 2011 par le CHRGJ auprès de 365 ménages dans quatre camps de déplacés internes autour de Port-au-Prince. Il traite en particulier des violences sexuelles et de leur inquiétante prévalence. Le texte fournit une analyse préliminaire des données recueillies et souligne des enjeux qui ont été relevés au cours de l’enquête.

Tous droits réservés. Republié avec l'autorisation du·de la détentur·rice du droit d'auteur, Center for Human Rights and Global Justice.

This study examines the trajectory of rural women’s labor in the wake of post-earthquake land appropriations in Haiti. Drawing on ethnographic field research conducted between 2010 and 2013, it explores gendered access to land in Haiti in both historical and contemporary contexts, paying attention to the nature of rural gender relations and how they influence women’s access to land and their roles in petty commerce. The study describes the stratification of rural market women, their lived experience, and how losing land access will affect their traditional roles as market women.

This chapter contextualizes the crisis ensuing from the 2010 earthquake by looking at the rhetoric surrounding U.S. aid and intervention in Haiti. It explores what a Marshall Plan for Haiti would look like and whether or not such a plan would require an ideological shift in the ways in which Haiti’s place in history might be reconceived so that such a plan might actually create results that, to date, have escaped the engagement of the international community.

Ce mémoire porte sur l'expérience de la grossesse survenue à l'adolescence chez les jeunes femmes vivant dans un camp d'hébergement en Haïti. Après le tremblement de terre du 12 janvier 2010 dans le pays, de nombreux cas de grossesse ont été enregistrés chez les adolescentes vivant dans les camps d'hébergement. Des études réalisées auprès de la population habitant ces camps parlent d'une augmentation du taux de fécondité chez les femmes haïtiennes de façon générale et des adolescentes en particulier.

Haitian women and girls began last year bereaved, traumatized, injured and displaced by the January 12, 2010 earthquake. Over the past twelve months, as they have sought to begin to rebuild from the disaster and tend to the many vulnerable children, disabled and elderly people in their care, the women of Haiti have faced another catastrophe: an epidemic of sexual violence.