Group of Women Parliamentarians ENG (website) | Page 36

Moving from Formal to Substantive Equality

she said. This hurts women, and while many men may be ready to support women’s equality, the road ahead is a long one.

Ms. Etienne contextualized the political struggle for women’s equality in Haiti and shared discouraging numbers. In the Chamber of Deputies, women only comprise about 10% of members. Meanwhile, there are no women in the Haitian senate – for this reason, advocacy efforts have been focused in the upper chamber.

She shared her personal challenges in reaching her current position in her chamber. In 2006 when she decided to run for election, she faced great resistance from her family. She also experienced constant public intimidation on her way to and from the parliament building, and was forced to live in a hotel over a period of many months.

The weight of tradition and hundreds of years of oppression forces women to expend great amounts of energy, courage, determination, and strategizing to put up a fight in politics. But overcoming the obstacles is well worth it.

When women reach positions of

power, real differences are seen.

For example, a landmark victory in 2011 amended Article 17.1 of the Haitian constitution to guarantee a minimum of 30% for women’s participation “at all levels of national life, especially in

public service.” Yet she emphasized that in practice, women are severely underrepresented in all political spaces, and it is a great struggle to enforce the quota.

In Ms. Etienne’s view, the presence of women in the parliaments in all of the countries represented at the Gathering is testament to a happier and more peaceful future.

It is neither the strongest, nor the

fastest that will win, it is those who

never give up.

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