Gender and Violence in Haiti: Women’s Path from Victims to Agents by Benedetta Faedi Duramy

Excerpt

Gender and Violence in Haiti: Women’s Path from Victims to Agents uses rich qualitative data to raise awareness of the extent to which gender-based violence has entrenched itself deeply into the fabric of Haitian society. Benedetta Faedi Duramy outlines the gruesome circumstances that large sectors of the female population endure: rape and sexual assault, the prolonged institutional enablement for such violence, the infrastructural problems which further exacerbate the crisis, and challenges to accountability that plague both local and international justice systems when it comes to protecting basic human rights. These circumstances are situated in a long history of oppression toward women. For instance, women have collectively endured institutional subordination during periods of war as well as negative peace, when lack of equity and justice has made the ideal of positive peace unattainable. “Almost never reported because of social expectations and the fear of stigmatization, domestic sexual abuse and violence against girls are generally perceived as unfortunate events of life rather than as crimes against the integrity of the victims’ bodies,” writes Duramy (43). In cases where women or girls are victims of rape, their victimhood becomes further compounded as they endure community shunning with low prospects for marriage. Negative sanctions for sexual violence victims who publicly seek justice include negative stigmatization and spousal abandonment. In societies with extreme patriarchal privilege, women are likely to experience significantly high levels of life-threatening poverty as a result of their economic dependence on men, as well. …