Glenda Simms
THE PRESENT political and social unrest in Haiti is tragically more of the same in the lives of the average Haitian man and woman. Two types of pictures are emerging in this latest situation. One is of bands of rebels and dissatisfied
citizens blocking roads, burning police stations, killing police officers and creating general disorder in an effort to force the democratically elected president out of power. In this picture, the dominant player that is captured is that of Haitian men taking centre stage to set yet another destructive course in the long history of this troubled society.
The other picture is the one captured on the front page of the Observer of February 18, 2004. In this picture, we are forced to acknowledge the dehumanising circumstances of this present
conflict in Haiti.
The majority of the people
grovelling to get a handful of the food being distributed by the international non-governmental organisation, CARE, are women and children. This picture is a statement on what wars, rebellions and unlawful and violent demonstrations do to the lives of women and children.
Like in all centres of modern-day conflicts, it is the women and
children who are the primary recipients of the negative impact of the struggles. And in a real sense, it is mostly the men of these societies that set the pace of the war, determine the weapons of war and benefit directly from the spoils of war.
Time and time again, in different regions, men wage wars along
ideological lines, ethnic divisions,
religious identification and other definitions of differences. In all of these scenarios, women are usually powerless and have very little say in what happens in their day to day lives. For instance, to date, news reporters have no time or interest in looking at the lives of the Haitian women in the towns and villages which are now being 'occupied' by the rebels and their supporters. Without having access to the language we instinctively know that our sisters in Haiti are forced to confront the terror that is being unleashed on them. Sometimes in order to save their lives, many women in zones of conflict have had to make some difficult choices.
Researchers who look at the situation of women in war zones argue that women are more likely to be dislocated than men, and as in times of 'peace' the women are the ones who end up as the caretakers for the sick, the elderly, and the wounded. This is particularly stark in 'rebel uprisings' which end up in anarchy and lawlessness.
Sometimes poor women in these situations have to exchange sex for food, drink and clothing. Others have to prostitute themselves and their daughters just to survive. Additionally, many poor women have to cope with children in very unsanitary and life-threatening
situations. And, as always, rape is a systemic tactic of war which is used to terrorise women and girls.
In addition to these atrocities media coverage of the Haitian conflict is, as usual, very slanted. Foreign journalists show roadblocks and garbage-strewn streets and angry crowds of mostly men with high powered weapons calling for the overthrow of a democratically elected government. Rarely do they take time to assess the human costs of the political and ideological excesses.
While it might be true that Aristide is as corrupt and dictatorial as the other men who have ruled his troubled land, at least he was elected.
In a real sense war and rebellion at this time are means of social and political dislocation. When all of this is resolved, the women will have to pick up the pieces at the level of the community but their stories will probably never be told.
In 1995, a UNESCO study pointed out that women make up only three per cent of the world media and because of this, women's initiatives to create peace in times of war, to support each other and to reach out to the women on both sides of a conflict are never given a spotlight.
Men will continue to wage wars, foment dissent against each other, fight for and hold on to power even when they are incapable of doing the jobs for which they fight.
The time is right for all women to rethink how they collude with "the dogs of war". They need to realise that sustainable peace requires the full participation of women at all levels. This was articulated in a programme called "Women Waging Peace" which was launched in 1999 in the United States of America to connect women in conflict areas to one another and to link policy shapers and other women worldwide. It is a broad-based coalition of women reflecting the important connection that women need to make across race, class, language, religion and ethnicity. This programme encourages women to work for peace by being actively opposed to war. They recognise that 'sustainable peace requires the full participation of women.'
There is a need to extend the spirit of such a programme to the CARICOM region because like in the Middle East and other contemporary zones of conflict. Indeed we need to keep a close eye on the Haitian woman who is amongst the poorest and most dehumanised in the region.
The desperate situation of poor women in Haiti was described in the September 19, 2003 edition of the Miami Herald. The newspaper, referring to the United Nations and World Bank report, informs us that in Haiti, women face a one-in-16 risk of dying during childbirth. This rate is 255 times that which exists in the industrialised world. This means that about 1,100 in every 100,000 births result in the mother's death.
Furthermore, only 24 per cent of births in Haiti occur with skilled attendants present because there aren't enough doctors and nurses. It is reported that the Jamaican authorities are drafting a plan to accommodate the refugees that might be forced to turn up on our shores by the current political crisis.
Now that Jamaica is in a
preparation mode to accept and house the refugees from Haiti we must make sure that if women and children are amongst them that their particular needs are not
subsumed in our effort to do right for the men. Let us be reminded that some of the worst atrocities against women and girls happen in refugee camps.
This writer is of the opinion that when the 'going gets rough' the very men who are trying to destabilise an already impoverished society will be the first to jump in the boats that will set out from Haiti. They will have no qualms in leaving the women and children behind. It is interesting to note that recently, a group of men with their weapons arrived in Jamaica by boat. So it would appear that when the rubber hits the road it is every man for himself and the women and children will be expected to sink or swim as they have always had to do. Also the poorest people will not get on these boats!
In the final analysis, the women of the world need to make more effort in building peace at the level of the community because women have a far greater vested interest in reducing armed conflict in their nations.
Dr. Glenda P. Simms is the executive director of the Bureau of Women's Affairs.
