Women Underway

How to make the country progress? There’s a simple reply to this difficult question: get over half of its population involved in decision-making. Higher levels of estrogen can perhaps help rid this country of a lot of the nonsense we have seen in it lately. Let me give you a simple example: I was in a car accident this morning, involving another lady. We both looked candidly at each other, apologized for the mistake we were both somewhat responsible for, drew our yellow-chalk marks and met over coffee for the mutual agreement insurance paperwork. Simple. Imagine two guys in the same scenario… you can picture one of them in hospital already, can’t you?
Women need to get underway. Mauritius has signed up on the SADC Gender and Development Protocol… and only last night decided it was going to allow women one of their most fundamental rights: that of interrupting a pregnancy, although in very specific cases. There is progress in that new local government legislature says that a third of the local government seats must be held by either gender, meaning at least a third have to be women. This is good, but not enough. It’s only part of the issue being dealt with. Political parties have to review their internal structure so that uplifting women and getting them used to being in involved in decision-making is within its very core and culture. Women should stop being the saree-swaddled, flower-flaunting, tea-making bunch they are in all political events. Their voices have to be made to count within formal structures, whether in a party or country constitution. Without the entire population deciding about the good of the country, it can only make half progress… as it currently is with only half of the country holding decision-making power!