Structural Adjustment and Haitian Women
Women’s Critical Role in the Economy
www.haitireborn.org In addition to playing a vital role in Haiti’s struggle for political change and democracy, Haitian women have long been the potomitan -- the centerpost, of the Haitian economy. 55% of Haiti’s work force is made up of women. In the assembly sector industries and the commercial sector, 70% of the workers are women, while 49% of all agricultural workers are women. And, without the Madan Sara -- women merchants, commerce would collapse in Haiti.
In spite of their tremendous contributions to the economy, to building local communities, and to raising families, women face insurmountable difficulties.
More than 70% of Haitian households are headed by women, often with o support from men. Women’s income usually support 5 or more people. Yet, they are usually paid less than men for the same work. Women typically bear primary responsibility for keeping children healthy, yet only 13% of households have access to drinking water. Worse yet, Haiti has one doctor per 7,180 citizens. Life expectancy for Haitian women is 57 years.
To survive, those women who manage to get jobs must work very hard for very little. They often have no job security or labor rights --- as domestic workers for example; and sometimes are driven to work in very dangerous conditions. In addition, as in other parts of the world, women often have to endure beatings and violence within their own homes.
It is generally acknowledged throughout the world that any successful development process must build on the strength and creativity of women and eliminate the obstacles to their well-being.
As their incomes rise and as women are given control over that income, children eat better, are healthier, and attend school. In addition, women are usually responsible for ensuring the nourishment and ability of the male workers in the household to work. Thus, if their condition deteriorates so does that of the work force. When women are mired in profound poverty, it has ripple effects throughout the population. Women know how to address the needs of their families and communities, and they must by listened to.
Facing the Future
Haitian women now fear that even though some political space has been created with the end of the coup d’état, their difficult struggle to survive and support their families will become even harder. Decisions about the Haitian economy may not be made in Haiti, but in the United States, by the IMF, World Bank, U.S.AID and other agencies pushing neoliberalism and structural adjustment.
Experience in other countries and evidence show that neoliberalism and structural adjustment programs hurt women particularly hard --- more so than men. Poorer women are hit the hardest. This fact is very difficult for neo-liberal economists to grasp, since women’s work at home or in the informal sector is never included in official statistics, and since women are generally left out of decision-making. Under neo-liberal plans, women must bear an increasingly heavier economic burden.
For example, in countries undergoing structural adjustment, when there are cuts in government spending --- especially social services –these mainly affect women, who must provide many services in the home and community formerly provided by the government.
As food subsidies are cut, women spend more time working to buy the same amount of food. Increased hunger and ill-health affect girls and women worse. With transport fares higher, women also spend more time walking and are less able to access jobs and markets farther away from their homes. With mothers working harder to help the family to survive, their daughters take on added responsibilities, which further limit their ability to go to school. With cuts in workers’ jobs or simply because of lower wages, economic pressures on women to earn income and buy food for their families grow even more.
Yet, women’s rate of unemployment are much higher than men’s, pressuring women to accept exploitative jobs and lower benefits. Even when women get jobs in export industries, they tend to be temporary and unsafe. When agricultural exports are promoted at the expense of local food production and rural credit is concentrated among large businesses typically run by men, the peasant household --- often run by women --- suffers. When land ownership titles are granted, women do not usually gain access to property and are often subjected to more domestic violence and stress under the pressure of growing poverty.
What Haitian Women Want
In Haiti, women continue to struggle for economic and political justice, demanding a better life. For example, in March 1995, the Haitian women’s organization, SOFA (Haitian Women’s Solidarity), declared the following to be women’s rights and synonymous with human rights:
The right to life;
The right to organize;
The right to speech;
The right to justice;
The right to control their bodies;
The right to education;
The right to their own space;
The right to participate in national political decisions;
The right to live as people, as women.
A report on the first HAITI women conference, which occurred in Boston in October 1994 with women from Haiti and the Haitian Diaspora, recommended that the Haitian society adopt a people-oriented economic development framework which promotes sustainable development and empowers women.
This would include validating and disseminating knowledge that the Haitian people already have; making employment for women a priority; giving support to women’s cooperatives and credit unions; promoting women’s organizations at the workplace; promoting market women’s organizations; giving women economic leadership; legally recognizing their roles as heads of households when there is no partner; providing paid maternity leave and day care; promoting food self-sufficiency so that food aid does not undermine local production; avoiding any international aid that undermines the democratic and economic development agenda of peasant and worker organizations; and unity throughout the Caribbean and internationally to ensure Haitian economic security, sovereignty and well-being.
Around the world, as well as in Haiti, women have been organizing to oppose neo-liberal economic policies and to gain a voice in their governments and with international organizations like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in designing the economic policies and programs which affect them.
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