A small group of women in colorful shirts, jeans and skirts stands in a circle, singing and clapping. Some are smiling. All are dancing, shaking their bodies to the sound of their voices strong and loud.

FRIDAY FILE: The impact of natural disasters is gendered and therefore responses to these disasters must be gender responsive. Six months after the earthquake in Haiti MADRE's Yifat Susskind spoke with AWID about the gendered impact of the earthquake, and described what a gender responsive approach to addressing the crisis would look like.

Lawyers collect rape survivor accounts and plan legal strategy

Haiti's earthquake made women and girls more vulnerable to sexual violence and abuse.

In Creole

Anthony Advincula

Almost three months after the Jan. 12 earthquake that devastated Haiti, women advocates and UN officials are increasingly worried that Haitian women are being sidelined in national relief and reconstruction efforts.

Women and gender issues were glaring in their absence from the March 31^st Haiti International Donors’ Conference held in New York when billions of dollars were pledged to finance Haiti’s reconstruction.

by Beverly Bell

"The way you saw the earth shake, that's how our bodies are shaking now," said a member of the grassroots anti-violence group Commission of Women Victim-to-Victim (KOFAVIV by its Creole acronym). She was speaking at a meeting about violence against women and children since the earthquake January 12.

In recent weeks, Haitian government officials and global stakeholders representatives have worked to draft a Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) to serve as a blueprint for Haiti’s reconstruction. Although the PDNA is comprised of eight themes: governance, productive sectors, social sectors, infrastructure sectors, territorial development, environment and disaster risk reduction, economic analysis and cross-cutting sector (including gender, youth, culture, social protection, etc), only one theme (cross-cutting sector) peripherally addresses gender.

Women and even children who survived Haiti's devastating earthquake say they now fear sexual assault in the hundreds of makeshift camps that have been set up for the homeless. U.N. officials in Haiti say they are increasing security measures to target sexual and gender-based violence.

In recent weeks, Haitian government officials and global stakeholders representatives have worked to draft a Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) to serve as a blueprint for Haiti’s reconstruction.

María Suárez Toro, FIRE

While I lay in a tent in FIRE´s camp in Haiti I remember one of the first popular songs that changed social consciousness regarding violence against women, at a time when the subject was a well-known secret and there was no political, social and cultural acknowledgement of violence against women as a violation of the human rights of women.

Maria Suarez Toro, FIRE

It is the eve of the 8th of March 2010, the centennial of International Women’s Day. The immense mass of rubble in what was the Ministry of Women’s Conditions and Rights has been completely cleared to make way for the installation of an enormous tent that shelters more than one thousand activists, waiting for the inauguration of an event to honor the women, especially those who lost their lives in the earthquake on the 12th of January almost two months ago.

Authors: A coalition statement submitted by the Huairou Commission on behalf of United Methodist Women, Caribbean Association for Feminist Research & Action (CAFRA) ,CAFRA Haiti, MADRE, Women in Cities International, CDD, Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir Mexico, Ipas Mexico, GIRE, Grupo de Información en Reproducción Elegida, GROOTS International, Huairou Commission, Gender and Disaster Network, AWID, AJWS

The earthquake in Haiti has created a humanitarian disaster of immense complexity that brought a massive humanitarian response. However, integrating human rights concerns into the relief operations is essential to protecting the well-being of Haitian victims, especially women, children, and other vulnerable groups.

By Bernice Robertson

The quake claimed the lives of Haiti’s best-known feminist activists. How the rebuilding efforts should advance gender equality—and honor their memories.

Elaine Zuckerman, President of Gender Action and the former Inter-American Development Bank Programs Officer for Haiti, writes about what needs to be done to make sure that aid to Haiti does not repeat the mistakes of the past

Donors have contributed just 6 percent of the funds sought for post-earthquake nutritional assistance to women and children in Haiti, according to the UN.

By Marguerite A. Suozzi

Women's rights and development activists working in Haiti say that greater attention must be paid to the immediate needs of women and girls, as well as their role in the long-term reconstruction of the devastated country.

By Maria Suarez

The state that did not exist, exists again in Haiti, with the first legal charges in the midst of the aftermath of the earthquake.