Abstract
Duramy’s (2014) book, Gender and Violence in Haiti: Women’s Path from Victims to Agents, is not easy to read. It is replete with accounts of nightmarish violence against women and descriptions of the harsh conditions in some of the worst slums of one of the most poverty-stricken nations on the planet. As though that were not enough, the concluding chapter describes the enhanced misery wreaked upon the Haitian populace by the 2010 earthquake.
Duramy’s research is qualitative in nature. From 2006 to 2008, she made several trips to Haiti and interviewed victims of violence, representatives of nongovernmental organizations, representatives of government agencies, and academicians. The discussion of the methodology is of interest not because the methodology was by any means rigorous, but because of the difficulties Duramy faced while conducting the research. The study focused on residents of slums in Port-au-Prince, Cap-Haitien, and Gonaives, but due to security concerns Duramy conducted the interviews in safe locations such as a U.N. mission and a hotel rather than in the slums. Duramy’s candid descriptions of fearing for her own safety and the psychological problems she developed while conducting the research—specifically, her acknowledgment that she “developed groundless and irrational worries for my family in Europe or faraway dear friends” (p. 9)—should be of interest to students of ethnographic research.
After the introduction, Duramy provides an informative summary of Haiti’s history of colonization, revolution, and military tyranny. Next, she describes the miserable living conditions in the slums, the different types of armed organizations in Haiti such as the Organisations Politiques (political organizations), Front de Resistance (paramilitary organizations), and Baz Arm groups (organized adolescent gangs), and the myriad forms of violence against Haitian women inclusive of political and gang rape. Duramy argues the home is where violence first begins, with males asserting their dominance via the abuse of their spouses and daughters. Of particular note is her description of “Restavek,” the practice of impoverished families sending their daughters to work in economically stable households wherein the girls are frequently overworked, inadequately fed, sexually abused, and even trafficked into the Dominican Republic.
Chapter 3, “Understanding Women’s Violence in Haiti,” contains the heart of Duramy’s analysis. She argues that Haitian culture is permeated by patriarchal violence and that females participate in armed violence owing to the need for protection, anger at the economic inequality and poverty they endure, and retaliation against the injustices of Haitian society. Afterward, the book becomes temporarily bogged down in a verbose description of the evolution of the international recognition of women’s rights. Duramy discusses the Hague Convention, the 1979 U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the adoption of U.N. Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security by the Security Council in 2000, and the list goes on. The gist of this material could have been presented more concisely.
Duramy then provides a scathing critique of the Haitian criminal justice system and the callous posttraumatic treatment of rape victims by criminal justice officials. According to Duramy, the police in Haiti discourage the reporting of rape, neglect to investigate rape, and rape women in their custody. Then, the judicial and prosecutorial officials either neglect to adjudicate the rape cases or render dismissals. Duramy references a study which showed that, of the 224 incidents of violence against women handled by the Haitian judicial system in 2006, a single case (a gang rape orchestrated by a police officer) resulted in a conviction and a lenient sentence for the primary perpetrator.
As to proposals for reform, Duramy suggests Haiti should ratify international conventions on human rights and conform to international standards of human rights and domestic law. Especially interesting is Duramy’s argument that females need to be included in Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) programs designed to reintegrate former members of armed groups back into society. Because females often hold subservient positions in armed groups and are not classified as combatants, females are denied access to DDR programs. Duramy also offers suggestions for programs and policies tailored to the needs of women, addresses the need for female involvement in Haitian politics, and recommends an overhaul of the Haitian criminal justice system.
Although Duramy’s work in Haiti is laudable, it is unlikely that her book will become a classic in the field of criminology. Duramy’s argument that violence and the victimization of women are fueled by patriarchal cultural values is neither novel nor notably elaborate. Additionally, Duramy neglects to address the matter of whether violence against women is more pervasive in Haiti than in other equally impoverished regions or consider whether patriarchal values in Haiti are in any significant manner different from patriarchal values in other cultures. And the reforms she proposes are rather idealistic. Duramy calls for measures such as new legislation banning the sexual exploitation of girls, the hiring of female police officers, and judiciary reform, but it is naive to think such measures can be effectively implemented in a politically unstable nation where roughly 7 of every 10 people exist on less than US$2 a day. Although Duramy argues that violence in Haiti is fueled by poverty, she offers no substantive suggestions on matters such as economic reform, education reform, political stability, or infrastructure development. In brief, Gender and Violence in Haiti will likely be of more interest to women’s rights activists and international lawyers than it is to criminologists, comparative criminal justice scholars, and developmental sociologists.
Finally, Duramy’s descriptions of life in Haiti are by no means well rounded. She occasionally makes mention of strong communities, but because her most detailed accounts of life in Haiti focus on the perpetrators and victims of violence the reader is presented with a portrayal of the Haitian people as inconceivably savage. Duramy depicts the armed groups as inhuman thugs who arbitrarily rape women with the barrels of their guns. Duramy describes fathers being beaten and forced to watch the rape of their daughters who then, after the rape, shun the girls for dishonoring themselves. She describes Haitian women as either helpless victims of unthinkable violence or egocentric criminals who rejoice at being selected to join a gang and willingly lure kidnap victims into traps. Duramy discusses Haitian women who “force their husbands to organize or participate in kidnapping operations” and, if their husbands refuse, the women “take over the leadership of the groups and conduct the operations themselves” (p. 73). As for government officials, Duramy describes the Haitian police as nothing more than deranged cowards, afraid to face the armed organizations but willing to kidnap and rape virgins. In comparison to the ample descriptions of human depravity, Duramy affords scant attention to families that care for loved ones who have been victimized, the women’s groups that offer aid to rape victims, or the community-based organizations struggling to improve life in Haiti. While there is no question that life in Haiti is harsh, the ongoing joint efforts between international aid groups and the Haitian people indicate there is hope for the future. Some discussion of this would not have hurt Duramy’s book.