CNN reports that men are openly being denied food in Haiti

To clarify, the comment following that list is:

"Together with our NGO [non-governmental organization] partners we are working with the local authorities, churches and other civil society organizations to ensure that all male-headed households and others with special needs are not excluded from these distributions," Prior said.

The World Food Programme (which Prior is representing) is the one currently only distributing food to families via women only. The other groups are their NGO partners who the quote above suggests are working to also help "male-headed households".

WFP on their site lists their emergency-response programs as: "At this stage, local community leaders work closely with WFP to ensure rations reach the people who need it most: mothers, pregnant women, children and the elderly", however I checked out a few such as Save the Children, Catholic Relief Services, and World Vision and those 3 do not mention women-only programs. Now "on the ground" it doesn't mean it isn't happening, but I don't think we should draw the conclusion that they're all doing it from the wording in the article.

I checked out one more, ADRA, and found this in their mission statement:

• That age, gender, race, culture, and families enrich the communities with whom we work, and are assets to be respected and affirmed.
• In non-discrimination and respect for differences, accepting people as equals regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, political, or religious affiliation.
• In participatory development which utilizes both men and women’s capabilities and provides equal opportunity to individuals of differing ethnic, religious, and cultural backgrounds.
• That all people have the fundamental right to care, basic goods and services.

If anyone emails them to inquire about their practices in Haiti and other disaster relief programs I'd be interested in knowing if they participate in gender-specific food distribution, and if they feel it's at odds with their mission statement.

My email to ADRA:

"Your program was recently mentioned in a CNN article regarding ongoing relief efforts in Haiti, as an NGO partner working with the World Food Programme. Specifically the article discussed food distribution strategies where only female-headed households were provided food.

I am wondering if ADRA participates in this strategy, or if inline with your mission statement you are providing assistance across gender, race, ethnic, political and religious lines? I feel as a small donor it is that much more important that I be sure money I donate is going to the right places, and I would not feel comfortable donating to an organization that would turn away assistance to an individual in need based on their gender."

I will post any reply I get.

Sorry for all the posts, but I decided to finish what I started.

ACTED and CARE mention women as being the focus of their work, GOAL targets the "most vulnerable" members of society, but doesn't explain who they consider vulnerable. Samaritan's Purse from what I could tell is helping all those in need.

All the information in this post and my previous ones came from a few minutes on each site, in any relief specific pages, about us pages, mission statements, etc. Obviously communication from the group itself would supersede anything on their site. I've contacted ADRA as they are the only ones I found which say on their site they provide relief across all boundaries.

Women have been used to subdue the men for centuries. Nothing really new here. Most men will hook up with a woman to survive. It will be interesting to see how they take advantage of this situation to re-educate the populace. It would seem like a perfect opportunity.

David A. DeLong

The rationale given by the "gendered approach" people is that if the food is given to men, they will use it to control and oppress women and children. That is in fact what has ben stated explicitly and implicitly on web sites and in statements released by these organizations and the feminists who support them.

However the CNN article is saying that despite the fact that men without the "right female connections" are getting nothing to eat, nonetheless, the distributions are orderly and violence-free.

So tell me, if males will use force to get the food if denied it, and this forms the basis for the women-only distribution campaigns, then how's come the whole island is not aflame with men using rocks, guns, and knives to get to the food?

Simply what we are seeing here is life-threatening misandry. If you can't see it by now, you'll never see it. A "gendered approach" that excludes women and allows only men to get the food? A possibility? No. This? Sure, and with NGO and trans-national gov'tal support.

The world hates men, period, in case you hadn't noticed, so much that in such cases, we are fit merely to be left to starve.

The entire rationale is bullshit. If they gave a toss about the needy they would give to the needy - under this program it is a given that women with nobody else to feed are getting rice while men who are the only adult left to look after several kids are missing out simply because they are men. Christ, if i was ever in a room with one of the men quoted as supporting this act of hatred i would be on him like Fifty Cent on a Klansman.
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Rise, Rebel, Resist.

Anyone ever seen the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights? Article 25 in essence says that what these "gendered solution" aid organizations are doing is wrong. Just read it:

'Article 25.

* (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
* (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.'

The part about motherhood is obviously part of the typical "women and children first" thing; at first I thought this article was in essence contradicting itself. Then I realized that while one may interpret parts 1 and 2 to be in conflict, they are not in the case of Haiti, since the situation there is not that very scarce food and other resources are being prioritized for the benefit of mothers and their children ahead of anyone else, including women who are childless; the situation in Haiti is that one must be a woman *period* to get a claim of right to collect food being given away by these aid groups. The woman need not be a mother. Thus they are indeed violating the UN UDHR.

Not that anyone gives a crap.

Supposedly the women collecting at these women-only food drives have been given food vouchers that were handed out to families, so it may be the case that it's only women with children/families getting the food, but there's just not enough details about their programs to know for sure.