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Culture

Gender Equality in Haiti Largely Unrecognized Despite Good Intentions

The government of Haiti (GOH) guarantees women many basic civil rights, but in truth the female gender suffers blatant discrimination in many areas. The island, unlike many developed countries, remains a steadfastly patriarchal nation. Although many laws exist that acknowledge women's parity with men, they are not well-written and unlikely to be enforced.

The GOH does not take seriously any of the legal protections afforded women for gender equality. It has signed many international conventions, yet Haiti is listed as 158th among187 countries surveyed under the Human Development Index.

In social, work, finance, and family matters contradictions appear between what is written and what is practiced. For example, the social role of men is as leader of the family, empowered to make all financial decisions. But statistically, 42% of women are the primary decision-makers in their homes. In work situations, women's labor is subsidiary to males, frequently resulting in no wages due to their inferior social status.

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What is Mawoule in Haitian Culture?

Carole Demesmin, a Haitian artist, made the name Mawoule popular through his song titled 'Maroule'. Maroule reflects the resilience and endurance of Haitian people. Maroules actually refer to people who are known for traveling from countryside to Dominican Republic and Haitian border and sometimes to Port-au-Prince with their cows. They travel by foot and they cover long distances anywhere between 70 and 160 miles to reach the destination. Maroules are people who come from different places of south Haiti.

As the story goes, one group of Maroules consisted of 2 to 3 people who traveled with around 20 to 30 cows. They traveled from one place to another in an attempt to sell these cows. This extraordinary travel by foot generally takes place during the night so that day traffic can be avoided. The travel beings somewhere at 9:00 P.M. and ends at around 5 P.M.

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Haiti Birth Rate

The oldest independent black republic of world, Haiti gained its independence in 1804. Haiti is a small island country that shares the island with Dominican Republic. The total land area of Haiti is 27,750 sq. km. or 10,714 sq. miles. The country is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. According to CIA World Factbook, the birth rate of Haiti in February 2013 was 23.87 births every 1,000 population.

Birth rate is defined as average number of births annually for a given year in a population of 1,000 people. This birth rate is also known as the Crude Birth Rate. The birth rate is the parameter that is used for determining the rate of population growth in a country. This birth rate is dependent on population's age structure and fertility level.

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Fete Champetre, Major Cultural Event in Haiti

Tourism has been on a substantial descent over the last 20 years. But one series of events, the Fête champêtre, continues to give hope to a struggling industry as tourists, local, from the Diaspora, and international, flock Haiti to witness the countryside festival.

One of the main avenues for entertainment to the 18th century elite, a Fête champêtre (a country feast or pastoral festival) was a type of garden party much loved at court. With pretensions to simplicity, the Fête champêtre was patronized by the well dressed, entertained by musicians hidden in the trees, as they enjoyed the beauty of landscaped park.

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The Role of Women Madan Sara in Haitian Economy

Ornithologists study birds; but in the case of Haiti's most celebrated bird, the Madan Sara, a science of a different kind is needed. It has long been the view of anthropologists that the women who take their name from the birds purported to be quite boisterous in their noise-filled lives are critically involved in the Haitian system of marketing.

The statistics are glaring; 70% of the workers in the commercial sector and assembly industries are women. In the agricultural sector they're just shy of equaling men at 49%. As the responsible party in most households for the wellbeing and education of the children, women have a struggle to provide their families with life's necessities. As a Madan Sara (twin to the 'market mammy' of West Africa), some women find a foothold as the spoke in the agricultural industry that makes the whole sector work.

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Arab-Haitian Rise to Prosperity

In Haiti several ethnicities comprise the populace: French, Spanish, African, and the indigenous people, the Taino, are a well-documented part of Haiti's mixed-race heritage. But little is known about the Arab-Haitians, who have lived on the island for decades.

The first migration of Arabs to Haiti came from Syria, the Lebanese in 1890. During this period, German and Italian immigrants held sway in the business community in cities like Port-au-Prince. Facing racial prejudice, Arabs moved to rural areas and set up shop in small villages. Beginning by selling imported fabrics in market plazas, they eventually profited enough to start their own brick-and-mortar businesses.

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Homosexuality And Voodoo

Homosexuality is still a sensitive issue in Haiti. Gay people are often discriminated and condemned and many of them are unable to express and show who they really are. However, not everything shuns homosexuality as there is one religion that accepts people of the third sex and that is Voodoo.

Voodoo religion has been linked to zombies, black magic, cannibalism and orgiastic rituals but what many people do not know is that this religion also worships one God. Voodoo practitioners have faith in one God and believe that they are guided by spirits called "loas" and "Iwas." And the doctrines of Voodoo are gay-friendly.

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People from Zimbabwe, Haiti, Bulgaria and Lebanon, see gloomy future

The Caribbean Islands, once you see one you see them all

A field research study on the subject of optimism has been conducted, and the results written up in the current issue of the Journal of Personality publication. Undertaken by Boston University social-science researchers, the study project correlated emotional, mental, and physical states in relation to levels of optimism or pessimism in study subjects' attitudes towards life.

Researchers interviewed 150,000 people living in 140 nations. The Caribbean nation of Haiti ranked third as the most pessimistic place in the world, behind Zimbabwe and Egypt at numbers one and two. Two characteristics were discovered that play a significant role on the rates of pessimism found in Africa and the Caribbean, those of poverty and illiteracy.

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World Day of Social Justice Honors Haiti Social Activism

The World Day of Social Justice began in 2009 at the behest of the United Nations. The General Assembly believed the ideals of social justice, in theory and practice, needed to be accorded global recognition to further progress in developing democracies around the globe.

The World Summit has created a corpus of ideas that encompass principles of social justice defined by social-policy advocates. These principles are based on a society's progress in the areas of human rights, solidarity, accords, and parity within and among government institutions locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally.

In pursuit of a just and equitable "society for all", governments have pledged to create a structure of actionable guidelines. If transgressed, it will lead to legal sanctions against the renegade state. For developing economies, it is incumbent on emerging-nation governments they foster principles of equality and social justice, honoring basic human rights and freedoms.

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The Argument for Professional Haitian Creole Translators

Haitian Creole Translation

Like any other languages, Haitian Creole is not something that you can teach or translate easily. It would take a professional to translate such language efficiently. Just because it is derived from the French language does not necessarily mean that a French person can successfully translate it. Keep in mind that Haitian Creole and French have a lot of differences. Though Haitian Creole draws a huge influence from the French language, it also has touches of Native American, West African, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic languages. With this, the only one who can accurately translate it is a professional Haitian Creole translator.

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