Seminar on the Participatory Gender Audit in the Private Sector in Mauritius

August 14, 2019

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Under the component of its present Country Programme on “Addressing Gender Equality Challenges”, the UNDP Country Office in Mauritius and Seychelles is extending technical assistance to the Parliamentary Gender Caucus (PCG) through the services of a National Gender Expert.

In 2018, the PGC established at the level of the Mauritius National Assembly has commissioned a Participatory Gender Audit in the Private Sector in Mauritius. The aim of the exercise is the establish the baseline situation on the status of gender equality and equity in the private sector in Mauritius.

The Study has now been completed and the PGC is disseminating the findings of the Study amongst all its stakeholders, including, Gender Focal Points, community based organisations, trade unions and representatives of the private sector. The aim of the Seminar is to present the key findings of the Study and invite stakeholder action to address the recommendatins contained therein.

The Study revealed that there is a positive gender sensitive institutional culture in the private sector in Mauritius. Amongst the other key findings, it was revealed inter alia, that amongst the Businesses that participated in the auditing exercise, the representation of women remain low, with 8%. Furthermore, the Study revealed that more women are represented in the Administration level, as compared to men who are present in larger numbers in the technical side. The Study also revealed that whilst women hold almost the same level of ambition as men in terms of aspiring to climbing to higher levels of decision making, and follow personal development courses to the same extent as men, their representation at the higher levels of decision making remain low.

The Seminar also saw the participation of two high level representatives of the Australia Workforce Gender Equality Agency who explained the importance of gender equality within the workforce. It was explained that gender equality is a business imperative. Given that the PGC remains at the level of the legislature, participants were invited to take on board the different recommendations contained in the Study for implementation at the level of the Executive.

In line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Work) and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities) -  and UNDP Signature Solution on Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality,  UNDP is supporting the Government of Mauritius to improve the socio economic and political empowerment of Women. It is presently also extending support to the Ministry of Gender Equality, Child Development and Family Welfare on women’s economic empowerment initiatives. It is to be noted that between 2017 and 2018, Mauritius improved its ranking on the Global Gender Gap (GGG) from 113 in 2016 to 112 in 2017 and to 109 out of 149 countries worldwide. Mauritius has closed both its educational attainment, health and survival gender gaps. Mauritius has progressed steadily from 2016 to 2018 on the political index of the GGG.

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