Women's situation in Haiti

There is a lot to be disturbed about when one is immersed in life in Haiti. I guess the situation that bothers me the most is that of women. They get up at the crack of dawn and cook and clean and wash and try to sell some shit until it's dark and they're too exhausted to do anything else. It's sweaty and it's dirty work. And then do the same thing the next day. And the next day. Now that the conditions have worsened, with so many families still basically living outside, things are even tougher. Domestic violence and sexual assault have increased significantly since the earthquake. With many people sleeping on the streets right after the event, women were particularly vulnerable to sexual assault.

Women do resist when they can - they sing, they form groups devoted to micro-enterprise and domestic violence reduction, they laugh, they talk, they support each other. But, the men here have a huge investment in maintaining the very little power that they have in this world. And so, change is not exactly on the horizon. Just talking about these issues and making some small gestures towards women's equality, which is partially what we are doing here, is significant.

I've only been here 10 days and I'm just sick and tired of the sexist attitudes toward women - including me, yes I am one - some subtle and some not so subtle. I have been doing an exercise from the Theater of the Oppressed with some of the various groups I am working with which allows people to experience and reflect on being both oppressed and oppressor. Some of the insights have been profound, from people who descended from slaves who staged the only successful revolution in world history.

I don't know how social change really happens; I used to think that conscientization was the be all and end all. But, now I realize that small changes in material conditions are really, really important. Having just slept my first night with a fan in 9 nights, I understand what a huge difference something like that can make.