Women's Empowerment and Good Governance Through - amarc

Best Experiences for an Action Research Process 110
Chapter 22.
Women and Governance in Haiti
By Marie Guyrleine Justin (50)
Haiti, a mountainous country that shares the Island of Hispaniola with the Dominican
Republic, was the first black republic in the world. Two hundred years after the
country’s giant victory over Napoleon’s troops and the coming of independence on
January 1, 1804, Haiti remains a troubled country after decades of political violence, persistent
poverty and difficult living conditions for the women, who form the majority in its population of
8 million inhabitants.
Despite this numeric superiority, women are still marginalized from decision-making spaces,
notwithstanding the struggles led by feminists. Women did not have the chance to participate
fully in the establishment and building of their country because of a lack of education, since the
social structure reserved roles for them in relation to their sex, that is, the reproductive role assigned
to them by the patriarchal system. This sexual division made men citizens and women
minors. It took until 1950 before women became citizens and, this, after fierce struggle. The
difficult period Haiti has endured for the last two decades, has increased women economic
constraints, the feminization of poverty, illiteracy, violence against women, the lack of basic
services, constraints to political participation. The difficulty women have affirming themselves
as social and political actors, raises the question on the challenges for women to be truly able
to exercise citizenship.