Violence against women gets worse during disasters

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Natural disasters, says Denyse Cote, are when women’s rights matter most. Which is why the sociology professor at the University of Quebec in the Outaouais agreed so readily to be part of Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean’s small official delegation to Haiti this week.

The invitation came only a week ago, and Cote admits she was surprised by it. But with deep ties to Haiti’s women’s movement, she felt it was important to travel to the Caribbean nation.

Sexual aggression and violence against girls and women often go hand in hand with the breakdown of social order during a catastrophe such as the Jan. 12 earthquake that pulverized parts of Haiti.

“We’ve heard a lot of architects and urban planners but they don’t think about these things. They don’t necessarily think about how to build a city that would be women friendly or family friendly, where schools are close to homes” for instance, she said.

But leaders must move forward on women’s issues even during disasters so that greater equality gaps don’t result in the aftermath of the catastrophe, she said. Cote acted as the Canadian delegate to a roundtable on women’s issues that Jean was to attend Monday in Port-au-Prince.