This paper explores gender inequalities and transformations following Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake. Post-disaster experiences of women are located in a wider context of a longer term gender crisis. The paper argues that patterns of gender exclusion occur on multiple levels from the transnational to the local, and identifies gender-specific obstacles in the recovery and reconstruction period. In Haiti, these include meeting family survival needs, violence and exploitation, and class and racially based stigmatisation.

This article examines some of the reasons why measures to ensure protection from gender-based violence (GBV) and sexual exploitation and abuse, do not always take precedence for humanitarian actors during an emergency response, and what can be done to support organisations to integrate this aspect of protection into their humanitarian work.