Haitian Women's Fight for Gender Justice

Abstract

This article examines the efforts of victims of political rape during Haiti’s 1991-1994 dictatorship to pursue justice against the perpetrators of their rapes. They seek to prosecute all those responsible for the rapes, including the top military leadership, as part of a larger effort to fundamentally transform the social, economic and political conditions that permitted the rapes to happen. They intend that their struggle change forever the way that Haitian women can and do respond to violence, by removing gender-based obstacles and empowering women through organization and education.