My paper will analyse the way women where portrayed and the important role these Haitian women played, especially during and after the Duvalierist regime. I will talk about the way in which they where reduced to inferior in their status and also about the violence that they were subject to, paying a particular attention to the rape of women. I will also take a look at the emergence of the many women's movements in Haiti and the ones started by Haitians in Canada or the United States. Finally I will look at women writers and their role. My attention will be focus on two novels by Edwidge Danticat: Krik? Krak? and Breath, Eyes, Memory. This paper will try to show how women reclaimed their identity and their right

women were the one that were raped or their daughters. Men were not facing the same punishment. Except if we take into consideration when the father was having sex with his daughter. Instead of just putting the women in jail, they preferred to sexually abuse them. These rapes were unpunished and legalised by the corrupt government. In fact, it is very likely that the rape campaign was ordered by the corrupt government at the time. Later, even when the Duvalierist state was overthrown its 'special army' still continued to rape and terrorise the nation.

Women writers used their skills to write about what they had experienced and the struggle of other Haitian women. Eventhough they are not as popular or as numerous as men writers, they still had a good impact in the literary world and were able to tell stories of Haitian women to the rest of the world. Both Haitian women and men writers were concerned about their country, but women took a more personal approach of their lives and of other women's lives in their books. By using the first person narration "I", they personalised their work and made it seem more personnel and true. It seem like it is not a story imagined, but a true account of their life. It was a redefinition of the self of women. Women writers have developed narrative strategies in order to voice, sometimes in muffled tones, their views on specific aspects of women's lives#. Books were a tool that they used as a mode of communication. Women writers are trying to create a protected space from which will emerge new prospects for their country#.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Independence Constitution, Peasant MovementMPP, Edwidge Danticat, Eyes Memory, York It's, Women Haiti, Krik Krak, Haiti Haitian, Macoute Duvalier's, York Montreal, haitian women, women's movements, women writers, women women, women raped, edwidge danticat, breath eyes memory, reclaim identity, breath eyes, eyes memory, corrupt government, played role history, krak breath eyes, krik krak breath, create women's movements,
Approximate Word count = 3529
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page double spaced)