It’s easy to forget the challenges Haiti faces but it’s a mistake the U.S. and other countries can’t afford to make, said Rep. Donna Edwards, at an event on Haiti hosted by USIP.

“Unfortunately, as has happened in the past, our attention on Haiti has waxed and waned,” she said Nov. 29. “I think we have to change that story.”

The congresswoman made brief remarks at a “Haiti Working Group” event at USIP headquarters, the last of a series of working group events this year. This one centered on the role Haitian women can and are playing in rebuilding the country, almost two years after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake centered in Port-au-Prince killed more than 200,000 people.

Haitian women are often portrayed as being passive victims, a false perception Edwards and others believe ignores their robust contribution.

Edwards, who represents a suburban Maryland district, met with members of a Haitian diaspora community there that wants Congress to remain focused on the problems Haiti faces. Many people say they support the rebuilding of Haiti, but don’t do a lot more, Edwards said.

“Not to be disparaging, but I do think we give a lot of lip service… about the importance of investing in women, and the importance of investing in Haiti, but we haven’t really put the meat to that bone,” she said. Michele Montas, a former spokesperson for the U.N. Secretary General, and a journalist and consultant on human rights and media issues, spoke about the pressing needs among women in Haiti. Violence against them, especially in the many encampments that dot the country after the 2010 earthquake, has risen dramatically. And reporting is a problem because many women fear reprisal attacks. Pregnancy rates, already high in Haiti, are higher now and 60 percent of women can’t read or write.

The key issue, though, is increasing women’s voices at the community level as well as across society and professional organizations, said Montas. “Many men’s organizations can lead the way,” she said.

“Preventing future conflict in Haiti is paramount,” said USIP’s Kathleen Kuehnast, who moderated the panel discussion She says women can play an important role in rebuilding the country but already have much on their plate.

“The country was fragile to begin with, but after the earthquake women are stretched beyond capacity in terms of everyday survival issues, thus women have very little bandwidth to be part of the problem solving and decision making efforts underway today.”

Kuehnast noted that women make up about 57 percent of the Haitian population, making it imperative they are engaged fully in the reconstruction process, and thus need access to political posts, economic opportunities and education.

Barbara Guillaume, who along with the actress and activist Maria Bellow, co-founded the women’s group We Advance. Guillaume is also a candidate for mayor in one of Haiti’s biggest slums, Cite Soleil. During the panel discussion, she rose to express the resolve and strength of all women with an impromptu song. Amid budget cuts to U.S. foreign affairs budgets, it’s important to remember that the affairs of countries around the world affect all Americans and American aid is extremely important, Edwards said. It becomes a question of making a strong case to Americans why that support is so important – but make sure all American aid is a cost benefit.

“We have a real challenge in this country getting people to understand the value of that aid; but we need to make sure there really is a value to it.”

But Haiti, she pointed out, is in America’s backyard and therefore needs all the more attention.

“I think we prove something to ourselves and to the rest of the world when we have a thriving Haiti that survives in our own hemisphere,” she said.

Explore Further

• Haiti: Reconstruction and the Role of Women
  USIP Event | November 29, 2011