Can We Talk About "Celebrating" International Women's Day?
International Women’s Day is a particularly relevant moment for us, as it coincides with our founding 15 years ago. Since that day, we have struggled to fight for the rights of women and girls who have suffered from sexual and gender-based violence through the Commission of Women Victims for Victims (KOFAVIV) in Haiti.
International Women's Day was observed on March 8, a moment during which women can gather around the world and also in the four corners of every country to discuss.
For us women of Haiti, we will have the opportunity like all women in the world to celebrate on March 8th, but it must be said that we are in a very special situation. It is quite different for us.
Because of the situation in which our girls and women live, we wonder if we too can talk about ‘celebrating’ International Women's Day.
It is true that we are all women with aspirations, whether we are white, black, yellow or blue. In all societies and all countries, women are victimized but for us Haitian women, our situation is worse. We cannot talk about celebration.
For the women who are rich, they can sit down and take a moment to reflect on the significance of the International Women's Day, but for the women who are vulnerable, can they talk about the celebration? At this very moment, these women are experiencing really difficult situations. I think it's time for them to sit down and talk to see how to get out of a terrible situation. It's a good time for all the women of Haiti to sit together to discuss and see how to get out of this situation that I call 'Inhuman.’
International Women's Day is also an important date for us because it coincides with the anniversary of KOFAVIV’s foundation and our mission to fight for women and bring to justice the perpetrators.
March 8th, 2019, was another opportunity for us to make recommendations to the international and national community to work with us in order to help to help Haitian women get out this difficult situation. That does not mean only women from Haiti are victimized but for us, it's worse when compared with others. When we talk about gender equality, we also talk about sexual violence against women. Women have to participate in these discussions because it is up to them to make their situation known. They are the only people who really know their pain and suffering. No one else can defend us better than the women themselves.
It is true that International Women’s Day’s chosen theme of balance for change is really appropriate, really beautiful. The theme talks about women's innovation without partiality, but let's say it out loud with all our hearts because I dream one day of a March 8 for all women, when the women from Haiti can gather to really have a celebration of the International Women's Day.
She Will Rise!
Young girls from Northern Uganda were ambitious and had dreams like children born in different parts of the world. They had dreams of becoming great leaders, doctors, pilots and engineers but all these were shattered when they were taken into captivity. They were forced to drop out of school and were made to leave everything behind. This was the beginning of a nightmare, one that still resonates in their wakefulness.
Some were given guns and were told that was all they needed for survival, to be great, to achieve their dreams. They were told the making of dreams needed sacrifices; of watching their siblings killed, friends mutilated, and their homes set ablaze. Escaping was never an option. Escaping was death.
And so, many made a life in captivity. They made friends and enemies and lived in fear of the people who promised them salvation and glory for fighting in a war they would never understand the cause. No one knew exactly what the fight was for; maybe it was God’s calling for the leader who insisted he led the “Lord’s Army.” It could have been for the rulership of a nation that had to start from somewhere and it started from their homes. It could have been both, but one never really knew. They just survived day after day.
They were forced to become wives to commanders randomly assigned and picked and thrown around, divided and shared like they were nothing. They become mothers at ages they needed mothering themselves but they had to love their children and teach them that the life they lived was somehow reality, hoping one day real salvation might come their way and show them a better life.
Most of them came back as child mothers with their children from captivity only to be rejected by their own families, who often looked at them as a burden. Tracing the families of the fathers of their children was almost impossible, and they had to keep suffering even in a better environment.
They have had to toil to get shelter, feed and educate their children. Lacking academic qualifications means being in the low levels of casual labour and not being able to compete with those who had better opportunities and a less gruesome past.
Most of these women, still young, have remarried so as to survive and provide a good life for their children, but some end up in a life of domestic violence and or separation with even a much bigger burden than when they went into these marriages. One of the major reasons is their past and the burden of the children they came with. The question is: What future do these children have?
The dreams of these women are to be economically empowered, independent and having their children educated. We at Youth Leaders for Restoration and Development (YOLRED) have trained some of these young women in financial literacy, that is to say generations of business ideas, how to start and improve a business, group dynamics, and village savings and loan associations (VSLA) to enhance their business and saving skills. We also gave them financial support to help them improve their businesses. In order to enhance the physical, psychological and mental healing of these child mothers, we always organize a yearly cultural festival which is also a platform for dialogue.
And once all these are achieved, maybe a better future is still ahead. Surely, she will rise again!!
Reflections on International Women's Day
It is with joy, pride and expectations that I share some thoughts on the celebration of Women’s History Month, recognizing the achievements born amidst struggle, bias and inequality on many levels. The advances occurring are accelerating but it has been an arduous endeavor and a long way yet in reaching our ambitions.
The Goldin Institute is proud to support leaders across the globe who are making real progress in raising the spirit and conditions of their community. After sixteen years of developing strategies and solutions with grassroots leaders, our GATHER platform has proved a success in extending the methods by which leaders are able to learn and work together to attain their goals.
Our survival and accomplishments could certainly not have been possible without the support of global partners and associates to whom we are forever grateful. Our inspiration is fueled by the dedication and results particularly of women who are leading the fight on urgent issues such as female education, rights and empowerment. These women are and will always be foundational to our global work.
World travels have expanded and deepened a compassion and commitment in me to those steeped in poverty and discrimination with little or no resources by which to escape. Women, especially, bear the burden of laboring and suffering for the entire family. I’ve listened, watched and absorbed what it means to be a person, a woman, who bears the agony and, too often, atrocities, to survive another day for her children.
[quote]Their fortitude, spirit and strength fills me with reverence.[/quote]
I want to relate an experience in which participating in a village meeting conducted and attended by men. As we met to discuss urgent issues in the village, I was curious about the women gathered at the open windows and peering through the door. Questioning the lead man of the group, I was informed that women are not included as they are uneducated and cannot read. In further discussions about identifying and leveraging resources, I pointed out the valuable contribution women were lending to the community: planning, organizing, raising and educating children, field and livestock work, feeding many with just a handful of rice. It is undeniable: women know how to DO things.
This conversation was not warmly received, but I knew there were layers of discrimination and cultural expectations that take time to affect.
Sometime later, a second visit to continue the conversations proved amazing as to my awe struck, teary eyes were two women sitting at the table in the meeting room. They were now committee heads, leaders who gave forth their reports while more women sat within, not outside the room. That is WOMEN RISING!
With the increasing number of women entering political arenas, winning elections, we will have our place at the table and our reasoned voices in the process of creating and governing equality.
