International Women’s Rights Day 2025: Haitian women’s fight for equality, inclusion and empowerment is in freefall

By Aljarny Narcius
PORT-AU-PRINCE — For generations, women in Kenscoff, a commune in Port-au-Prince, have cultivated the land, growing vegetables to sell in open-air markets and to support their families. But recently, armed groups stormed the agricultural town, setting homes ablaze and forcing these women to flee with nothing. The attack not only robbed them of their livelihood but shattered their economic autonomy, making them more vulnerable than ever amid Haiti’s deepening turmoil.

“We left everything behind. I watched my house burn before my eyes, and since then, I’ve been sleeping under a tarp, not knowing what tomorrow will bring,” shares Nathalie Pierre, a mother of three who fled gang attacks in Cité Soleil and took refuge in Kenscoff.

On March 8, Haiti marks International Women’s Rights Day under the United Nations theme: “For all women and girls: inclusion, equity, and empowerment.” But beyond the slogans, the stark reality remains unchanged—Haitian women continue to bear the brunt of a country in collapse. Once a force for change, the nation’s women’s rights movement now stands at a crossroads, fractured under the weight of violence, economic hardship, and exclusion. Armed groups have seized vast territories, forcing thousands of women from their homes and marketplaces, stripping them of financial independence, and weaponizing sexual violence. Meanwhile, they remain locked out of decision-making spaces, erasing decades of progress in the fight for gender equality and participation. Without concrete action and genuine political commitment, Haiti risks further backsliding on women’s rights.

Like Pierre, thousands of women across Haiti are being driven out of marketplaces, lands and homes. Others, the pillars of the nation’s women’s rights movement, are unable to organize, mobilize, and continue their advocacy as violence and instability make political engagement nearly impossible—erasing decades of hard-fought progress. Once a force for change, the women’s movement is now fracturing under the relentless weight of Haiti’s crisis.

Today, the statistics from various national and international agencies underscore the multifaceted barriers Haitian women face in the pursuit of equality, economic advancement, political participation and justice:

• 5,400 cases of sexual violence were reported in the past year alone, with many more going unrecorded.
• More than 300,000 women and girls are now internally displaced.
• 13,000 Madan Sara or women retailers are financially ruined, according to Jocelyne Jean-Louis, a representative of the women traders’ organization.
• Only 4.7% of parliamentary seats have been held by women in the last 20 years, averaging 3.77% from 1997 to 2019, with a peak of 11.11% in 2010 and a low of 0% in 2016

No safe place for women: economic and political places under siege

The escalating violence has made daily life a battle for survival. In neighborhoods controlled by gangs, particularly in the capital, Port-au-Prince, women are targeted for sexual violence, used as pawns in territorial disputes, and forced to leave their homes. Most of the displaced are forced to flee their homes, live in precarious conditions with no access to basic healthcare services, and are exposed to further violence. Many sleep in overcrowded shelters or makeshift tents, struggling to find food and clean water, while mothers give birth on church floors and children go days without a proper meal.

The violence gripping Haiti is dismantling women’s economic and political agenda. With no economic security and no seat at the table, Haitian women are being pushed further into the margins, their hard-fought gains rapidly unraveling.

“Haiti’s systemic violence is not a coincidence but a reflection of a system that normalizes injustice, “ said Fabigaëlle Liboiron, a lawyer, feminist, and human rights activist. “ Women on the front lines suffer from this institutional brutality daily, revealing the urgent need for a profound transformation of our society. As long as the authorities do not implement concrete policies, we will remain in a perpetual fight for our rights.”

Street vendors face daily extortion, and thousands of Madan Sara have been forced out of business, leaving entire families without income. With no safe place to work and no room in leadership, Haitian women are losing hard-fought ground in both the economic and political arenas.

As survival takes precedence, the space for political organizing has all but disappeared. Once at the forefront of advocacy, women’s organizations can no longer hold large meetings, and many organizations are relocating repeatedly, seeking shelter rather than strategizing for change. Without a stable base or safe venues, the push for gender equality has stalled, leaving Haiti’s women further isolated from the political process. 

“In Haiti, women are on the front lines of social, economic, and political struggles because they suffer the most from instability. Yet their voices remain absent from decision-making spaces,” said Velphyne Pierre, a feminist activist and prominent figure of the LGBTQ+ community in Haiti.

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