PresentationHaiti

JICA SEMINAR: GENDER MAINSTREAMINGPOLICIES FOR GOVERNMENT OFFICERS

Prepared byMarrie Claude DorceJICA SEMINAR: GENDER MAINSTREAMINGPOLICIES FOR GOVERNMENT OFFICERS

Capital : Port-Au- Prince.
Surface : 27 750 km2.
Diaspora: 1 to 2 million people
Population: 9,776, 000 people.
Currency: gourd.
Mode: semi presidential, semi member ofparliament

JICA SEMINAR: GENDER MAINSTREAMINGPOLICIES FOR GOVERNMENT OFFICERS

Head of the state
Chief of the government
Political system: democratic. A lot of politicalpartiesLife expectancy for the women: 53 ans.
Life expectancy for the men : 47 ans.
Rate of illiteracy : 47 %.
Official languages: the Creole (since 1979) andFrench (spoken per 10 % about the population).
National festival: January 1

Haiti is in the Caribbean Sea, on theWestern part of the island of Haiti, whose
east is occupied by Dominican Republic. It
faces Cuba and Jamaica, which is to 190kmof its coasts.
The country offers a mountainous
landscape. Its climate is tropical wet. Thereis a strong intense deforestation practicedby the population, which heats itself by thecharcoal fault of electricity. The forest field istiny room to 3% to 5% of the surface of thecountry.

The Haitian population is very young: morethan 40% of the Haitians have less than 15years. Only 6% have more than 60 years,
and the life expectancy is weak: 47 years
for the men, 53 for the women. The
population remains rural (nearly 70% live inthe countryside) but poverty pushes people
towards the Capital and its shantytowns.
Port-au-Prince counts now more than 2,4
million persons.
.

MISSION OF THE MINISTRYThe Ministry of feminine condition and women rights hasfor mission to formulate, apply, and to make thegovernment’s politic been respected in the parietal gender
matter. The Ministry has two essential functions:• Promotion and protection of women Rights: This function
has to aim at to correct injustices and historical
discrimination women have been object for ages. This taskof promotion has been assured by the direction ofpromotion and protection of women Rights. This direction
has implanted a program to aim at to sensitize thepopulation to adopt non sexist behaviors.
• Generalization of the Gender approach: this function aim
at that all state institutions considered the specifics needs
and the strategic interests of men and women in theirj tSince 1994, date of his creation, the Ministry
has deployed a lot of efforts to promote sexes
equality. Some great progresses have beenrealized. But the questions referring to genderaren’t integrated so as systematic in the publicpolitics.
Since 2004, the Ministry has implanted a new
direction: the “Analysis Gender Direction”. TheDirection is the main section charging for thegeneralization of the social gender’s relations
analysis in the all the actions of theGovernment.

-Documentation service and data
management- Orientation and monitoring service.
I work as a technician at the orientationand monitoring service. My tasks consistof doing promotion of gender equality, toaccompany other structures to integrate
gender in their projects.

WOMEN SITUATION
The women are especially confronted with someproblem referring at their subordination position in
the Haitian society. In fact, in spite of the different
commitments taken by the Haitian State as forexample his membership at the action plan of Beijing
in 1995 and also the ratification of the CEDAW
without forgetting the efforts deployed by the ministry
so that the Haitian legislation delete all trace ofdiscrimination. As salaries equality between men
and women, the rape criminalization, the women are
still in a vulnerable situation.

In Haiti, about 50% families have been managed bya woman. Most of them work in the informal
economic sector. When we know the disadvantages
that present this sector, we understand well theirprecarious situation.
We saw while this ten last years, to develop aphenomenon setting fire to the public markets. Thisis the women who are the main victims, and thenthey aren’t compensated.
In the crisis period, they are subjects physical andsexual aggressions. This affects not only women but
also the children.

A few years ago, Haiti comes to be confronted at alot of problems in order social, economic and politic.
And this moment, the country is still difficult situation.
For fighting against the poverty the Haitian
government has chosen the national strategic
document for growth and reduction of the poverty(DSNCRP).
Inthisdocument,awholerecommendation has been given by the Ministry offeminine condition and women Rights for fighting
against the feminization poverty
and to reducematernal mortality. Gender budgeting aims the major
way we have to follow in the public administration(ministries).

Problems• Poverty• High maternal mortality rate
• Low female participation in politic

The challenges/Obstacles• Traditional Gender Bias still remain• Lack of resources (human& budget)• Weak mechanism of gendermainstreamingObjectives of my participating in the seminar
I would like to have a largest vision of theequality men and women problematic. The
objective of equality is to eliminate the gates
which prevent the access at the same
opportunities: economic, politic, educational
and legal. I’m persuaded that thedevelopment of countries will happen
essentially by an equality report between
sexes.

Objectives of my participating in the seminar• In the seminar, the subjects which most interest
me are: gender budgeting, women‘s participationin politics and their leadership, gender sensitive• I think that the women’s politic participation aims
major problem to resolve in Haiti. We count only 4women deputies on 99 at the parliament.
• I hope that at the end of the seminar I ‘ill be able
to work at the development in the progress of thegender problematic in my organization.

Action Plan on Gender Mainstreaming
Project Title : Gender mainstreaming and political participation
Overall Goal:
Get a better representation of women in the Haitian parliamentSpecific objectives• Educate the parties to choose women as candidates.
• Support structures feminist parties so that they form groups
that may drive the change in parties• Improve media information
Give a better visibility of women politicians

Activities• Setting up a monitoring committee for theimplementation of the Action Plan
• Conducting workshop on gender awareness withparty leaders.
• Advocacy on the grounds of temporary special
measures and structures of women in party with
political leaders• Disseminating information on the commitment madeby the state ratifying conventions such as CEDAW andthe International Covenant on Civil and Politicalthrough the media by targeting the general population

Activities•Develop and disseminate spots advertising throughradio and TV• Prepare the meeting between women politicians andgirls at senior high schools in the metropolitan air• Do celebration of women on the political scene
during the past 20 years• 4 training sessions in female leadership

Expected outcomes• The committee is composed and functional• Commitment of parties elaboration of the plan fora clear policy on the political advancement ofwomen.
• Parties are convinced of the necessity of thespecial measures• Substantial portion of the population is informed.
• More women interested in politic• Women capacity in leadership are increased

Thank you for your pay attention