Loga Virahsawmy
18 April 2008
Port Louis — Article 21 of the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development that is going to SADC Heads of States in August highlights that State parties shall, by 2015, review, adopt and implement legislative and administrative measures to ensure: equal pay for equal work for women and men; eradicate all employment discrimination; recognise economic value and protection of persons engaged in domestic work; and prohibit the dismissal or denial of recruitment on grounds of pregnancy, maternity leave or chronic diseases including HIV and AIDS.
How is the Government of Mauritius proposing to meet these commitments?
Mauritius has no problem with all the issues you have raised since we are already meeting these commitments. We have eradicated discrimination against women in terms of equal pay for equal work in the law and in practice. In the government sector, female public officers get the same salaries as their male counterparts for the same job. There is no difference in terms of sex. It is the same for the private sector. All discrimination against women has been removed in our Constitution, in our laws and in the budget as well.
But there is a difference in terms of gender as we now need to devise a strategy to put women in responsible posts. There are now more men than women in posts of decision. At the level of the government of Mauritius, we are making sure that this is done especially at the level of permanent secretaries and principal assistant secretaries. Unfortunately, things must follow their natural course and the point of entry where women started can make things difficult. We now have another scenario with all these young women coming out of university. They are doing better than boys. This will definitely reflect on recruitment and the economy.
How has the Empowerment fund set up by the government in its budget 2007/08 helped women to come out of poverty?
We have worked on several fronts. We are giving training as well as reskilling women who have lost their jobs in the EPZ and manufacturing sector as well as other sectors. We want to train them so that they can secure employment in other sectors. We are helping them to enter the macro enterprise. We are encouraging them to work at home in terms of outsourcing activities while looking after their children. They are regrouping their activities in the fields of costume jewellery and textile work. A budget has been specially allocated for women in the empowerment fund and they are also financed by the empowerment programme.
How do you propose to eradicate poverty in Mauritius?
Poverty is relatively low in Mauritius compared to other SADC countries. We have 1.5% people living below the poverty line of one dollar a day. If we look at the medium income of 50%, then we have 8% of the population living in poverty. It is also true to say that women are disproportionately represented in this 8%. This is why there is a need to focus on education, training and lifelong learning. The unemployment rate for women is 14% compared to almost 0% for men. Our policies are therefore targeted towards women to alleviate poverty through job creation and micro enterprise opportunities. We want to bring this figure down within the next ten years.
What is your position on targeting?
Once we target poor women, we can give them education, training, better housing, social accompaniment, design policies for them and obviously they will have a better chance to get out of poverty.
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