Question: Do (women) work outside the home?
My own question (in conjunction with the one above): How do women contribute to the economy in Haiti?
Women in Haiti have always been necessary to the economic fabric, whether this was a form of paid labor or not. The economic divisions of Haiti greatly impact the people, women included. There is massive income inequality and production divide between urban and rural communities that dictates the differences in labor and impact how women contribute to the economy (N’Zengou-Tayo, 1998). Economic divides have their roots in unequal education across the nation. Rural women have been at a great disadvantage economically due to the lack of ability for rural women to go to or stay in school because of family needs for more income (N’Zengou-Tayo, 1998). Rural women also have a difficult time achieving higher social status or social mobility due to the type of relationships and work they do. Marriage and marketing or retail work is a status symbol for Haitian women, but rural women are typical agricultural workers in either common law unions or polygamy stemming from a history of slavery and sharecropping within rural communities in Haiti where the men obtain the land over women having ownership (N’Zengou-Tayo, 1998).
Women in urban communities have more opportunities. One of the most striking things I have found in my research on this topic is the respect and admiration for Madan Saras. The Madan Saras are respected, powerful businesswomen in Haiti. Madan Saras own their own business of retail selling all sorts of things. Etant Dupain writes about his mother being a Madan Sara, “a woman who engages in business activities that connect local goods from the countrysides to consumers in the cities.,” as his mother sold mangoes to supplement the family income. Along with their rural female counterparts, most Madan Saras cannot read or write as they were taken out of school early (Dupain, 2015). Dupain claims that in the last 30 years the economy of Haiti has changed so much that women, Madan Saras, have become the backbone of the economy. “Without the Madan Sara, there is no market, and without the market, there is no economy, and without the economy, there is no country,” (Dupain, 2015). These businesses enable women to be incontrol of their income enabling upward mobility (N’Zengou-Tayo, 1998).
Madan Saras operate their businesses in urban centers but are conducting business in a way that connects the rural economy to the urban not only creating wealth for themselves but stimulating the economy. The networks created by these women are massive. According to the Haitian Observer, these women connect more than 700,000 rural producers to buyers in the city (2013). In a country where women have been left out of land ownership, business ownership, and submitted to patriarchal rules women are finding their own business savvy but not without a price. Dupain, son of a Madan Sara, says it is incredibly difficult work due to the long journeys that lack transportation necessary. While it is not an easy goal to achieve, it is one that is worth it in Dupain’s eyes. “In the United States, they have the American Dream. In Haiti, we have the dream of the Madan Sara, and I am happy and proud to say that I am a Madan Sara’s dream,” (Dupain, 2015).
Dupain, E. (2015). Hats Off Madan Sara. Woy Magazine. Retrieved from http://woymagazine.com/2015/03/01/hats-off-to-madan-sara/.
N’Zengou-Tayo, MJ. (1998) ‘Fanm Se Poto Mitan’: Haitian Woman, the Pillar of Society. Feminist Review. 59: 118. https://doi.org/10.1080/014177898339497.
The Role of Women Madan Sara in Haitian Economy (2013). Retrieved from http://www.haitiobserver.com/blog/the-role-of-women-madan-sara-in-haitian-economy.html.