The Gender Country Profile (GCP) for the period 2021-2027, was presented, today, by the Minister of Gender Equality and Family Welfare, Mrs Kalpana Devi Koonjoo-Shah, and the European Union (EU) Ambassador to the Republic of Mauritius, Mr Vincent Degert, in Port Louis.
The GCP includes an updated sector wise gender gap analysis in line with the EU Gender Action Plan (GAP) III. The GAP III is an ambitious vision on gender equality and women's empowerment for EU external action. It seeks to catalyse progress on empowering women and girls, and safeguard gains made on gender equality since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and its Platform for Action in September 1995.
In her address, Minister Koonjoo-Shah highlighted that the Report comprises six thematic policy areas set out by GAP III. They are: ensuring freedom from all forms of gender-based violence; promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights; promoting economic and social rights and empowering girls and women; integrating the women, peace and security agenda; and addressing the challenges and harnessing the opportunities offered by the green transition and the digital transformation.
She stated that the GCP aims to reduce existing inequalities and establish a baseline to present the achievements and challenges regarding GEWE and assess in a holistic manner. It also represents an important guide for the Government of Mauritius as well as civil society and other development partners to assess the existing situation regarding GEWE in their respective areas of interest.
The Country Profile will also support the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Welfare in its mandate to spearhead and coordinate gender mainstreaming in development policies, programmes and implementation of strategies and plans. The Report will provide the foundation for a national level database and contribute to the empowerment of women. Girls and young people to fully enjoy and benefit from their rights and increase their
She observed that the Republic of Mauritius continues to make progress in advancing women's and girls' rights and the attainment of gender equality in the country. The findings of this study show that significant progress has been made towards removing formal barriers to achieving gender equality, she added.
Speaking about gender equality and women's empowerment (GEWE), Mrs Koonjoo-Shah stated that they are recognised as a pre-requisite for socio-economic development in the gender normative framework such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women; the Beijing Platform for Action; as well as the 2030 Development Agenda.
She recalled that Mauritius has ratified major international and regional protocols related to GEWE adding that this demonstrates the Government's commitment to respect gender equality and upholding democratic rights.
Furthermore, she observed that the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Reports for Mauritius show an improvement in the overall ranking at 110th position in 2021 amongst 156 countries worldwide compared to 115 in 2020. This reflects an improvement due to the good standing of Mauritius on Educational Attainment, and Health and Survival indicators, she rejoiced.
She also highlighted that Mauritius is doing well on freedom of movement, women's decision to work laws, women's earnings laws, women's entrepreneurship and gender equity in property and inheritance. According to the 2022 index of the report published by the World Bank on Women, Business and the Law, Mauritius was ranked 1st out of 53 African countries and 41st worldwide, she underlined.
Furthermore, she stated that Government recognises gender equality and women's empowerment as a long-term commitment and this ideology is enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Mauritius which provides for non-discrimination.
The Government, she said, is also conscious that the implementation of the normative frameworks and policy documents require substantive equality for women and girls. To that end, my Ministry is currently working on the Gender Equality Bill in the context of the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic where the gender imbalance has been exacerbated, she added.
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For his part, Ambassador Degert underlined that for the EU, gender equality is a fundamental value, a universally recognised human right, which is enshrined in its founding treaties. He added that the EU aims to make gender equality a cross-cutting and systematic priority in all its external actions, as well as a central issue in the dialogue with its institutional and non-institutional partners.
He observed that the findings of the GCP demonstrate that significant progress has been made in removing barriers to gender equality in all spheres of society. The data in this gender analysis also confirms that much remains to be done to ensure that young girls and women are able to be both agents and beneficiaries of change, he said. According to him, they represent a formidable potential, still largely untapped, not only at the economic level, but also politically and more generally in everyday social life.
