Life for women in Haiti is especially difficult. While international women's rights groups recently celebrated a landmark UN agreement that set women's equality as a goal, there is still a long way to go before equality is a reality here. Many of the poor live in Cite Soleil, the country's largest slum. Open sewage and knee-deep garbage are a common sight in this dense shantytown that is home to some 300,000 people. There are times when the stench is overwhelming.
Flies are everywhere.
Children play in the dirty river that winds through the area, their protruding bellies evidence of malnutrition. Others run naked and barefoot through alleys of tiny homes made of cardboard, tin and plastic tarps. Many of the homes are so small that family members must take turns sleeping. It is a difficult place to raise a family, but most women do the best they can. In the shadows of one of the shanties, a mother braids her daughter's hair using colorful barrettes and ties.