Women and economic empowerment.

Name: Maurice still far from the desired equilibrium.

Name of publication: Le Defi Quotidien.

Name of Journalist: Kervin Victor.

Date: 7 March 2013.

Country: Mauritius.

Theme: Role of women in the economy.

Skills: Sources.

Genre: News.

Gem classification: Gender Aware.

Description:
On the March 8, 2013, the world celebrated Women’s day. Where is Mauritius situated when it talks about the emancipation of the latter in the economic empowerment ? Besides getting hired in areas reserved exclusively for men in the past era, Mauritian women occupy more positions which have high status. However, the transition is perceived to be very slow.
Maurice is probably not a living example of gender equality. The progress is there, but the country still has a long way to go. Maurice ranked 63 on a ladder of 146 countries, established by the United Nations, and this despite the fact that the female population of Mauritius is greater than men. There are 97 men for every 100 women in Mauritius and less than half of the population is active, only 43.7% of women against 75.5 % men. In 2011, 191,800 jobs were there for women, or 35.7% of the total number of employees in Mauritius. Women are said to be better educated than men, 22% of them have a university degree against 17% for men. 12.5% of women are unemployed, against 5.2% for men.
There are more women who occupy high positions in the public service. According to the barometer of the SADC for Mauritius on 869 boards of directors in the private sector, 53 are women and for the chief officers, 32 out of 386 are women.
Mauritius is in the lower bottom of the standings in the region of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) regarding the role of women in economic decision making. The SADC ‘Gender Protocol’ provides that the States should, by 2015, ensure the equal participation of women and men in the political arena.