The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) estimates that women perform 66 percent of the world’s work and produce fifty percent of its food, thus it is fitting that women in Haiti call themselves poto mitan, or “the pillars of society.” However, it can be said that the foundations supporting our societies are precarious, because despite their contributions women only earn ten percent of the world’s income, own just one percent of global assets, and make up seventy percent of those living in poverty. Still the women at the base of Haitian society, the factory workers who make the equivalent of $1.75 a day, have found a way to use their collective strength to support each other and to launch local campaigns for fair treatment.
Haiti, like too many other low-income nations, is gripped by violence, extreme poverty, and bitter classism, leaving its population at large politically, socially, and economically disenfranchised. For Haitian women, the added disadvantages of poor educational opportunities, job discrimination, and the responsibility to care for their families usually as single household heads, only exacerbate the challenges they must face.
In the documentary Poto Mitan: Haitian Women, Pillars of the Global Economy, five Haitian women discuss their lives and the trials of living as women in impoverished communities. These women were forced from their relatively safe homes in the countryside for a combination of reasons, including: a lack of educational opportunities, and a pressing need to financially support their families. In Port au Prince they live in the most dangerous neighborhoods and work for minimal wages under poor working conditions. Their hardships notwithstanding, these women continue to stand as pillars in their communities, uniting in informal alliances that champion the needs of poor working women.
The Committee to Defend Working Women’s Rights (KODDF) is one such association started by Haitian working women. KODDF’s primary focus is the women it serves. Fundamentally, the committee promotes a democratic voice for low-income women, be that in the home, the community, or the workplace. The committee empowers women by sharing knowledge about women’s rights as workers and as equal Haitian citizens. KODDF’s members interviewed in Poto Mitan include women who have played active roles in their communities – organizing public health awareness movements, and campaigning to enforce employee fair-treatment laws in the export-processing industry. KODDF itself has successfully overseen wage negotiations between workers and factory employers.
The collective action of Haiti’s working women demonstrates the significance of forming coalitions in promoting democratic causes and demanding women’s economic empowerment. One woman standing alone may not have the strength to carry more than herself, but as a group women even in the poorest and most desperate circumstances can be the pillars of society.
Published Date: November 18, 2009