Christina Meetoo

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Droits et libertés de la femme à Maurice : trop de discours, peu d’actions (DefiMedia)

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Article publié le 8 mars 2021 par Pradeep Daby dans le journal du Defi Media
https://defimedia.info/droits-et-libertes-de-la-femme-maurice-trop-de-discours-peu-dactions

La situation de la femme à Maurice et l’autonomisation (empowerment) de celle-ci sont fondamentalement tributaires des décisions politiques, mais celles-ci se heurtent elles-mêmes aux problématiques de nature religieuse qui souvent légitime une domination patriarcale. Dans une publication lancée le mardi 2 février 2021 et intitulée ‘The Gender Divides of the Mauritian Society : Re-appropriating the Empowerment and Citizenship Discourse’, les auteurs de l’ouvrage abordent cette thématique au terme d’une approche pluridisciplinaire.

L’ouvrage, publié sous l’égide du Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), vient à point nommé, à un moment où des études ont démontré que la pandémie de la Covid-19 affecte davantage les femmes qui se sont retrouvées sans emploi. Cette donnée empirique n’est pas fortuite, elle vient mettre de l’avant une situation qui perdure, malgré un arsenal législatif destiné à promouvoir l’égalité de droits aux femmes, accompagné de respect. Certes, il n’y a pas régression mais les avancées ne sont pas notables. Cet ouvrage collectif recense des ‘obstacles’ qui expliquent pourquoi un pays comme Maurice, encensé par MoIbrahim régulièrement, ne parvient toujours pas à adhérer complètement à l’ensemble des traités et protocoles dont il est signataire, à commencer par la CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women), jusqu’au Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, en 2005. Par ailleurs, même si l’île Maurice a adhéré à la SADC Declaration on Gender, notre pays ne parvient toujours pas à promouvoir la parité à l’Assemblée législative. « The actions should go beyond déclarations and should involve gender-oriented actions », écrit Verena Tandrayen-Ragoobur, éditrice de l’ouvrage dans son introduction.

Sept problématiques
Pour mieux cerner les thématiques liées à l’intitulé de celui-ci, les auteurs ont identifié sept problématiques, qui se déclinent comme suit : (1) une analyse des mouvements de libération des femmes à Maurice, (2) le nombre de femmes dans les médias mauriciens et leurs places dans la hiérarchie de ceux-ci (3) l’état de la violence à leur égard dans le secteur privé dans un contexte de changement des rapports de force (4) l’islam et les droits des femmes dans une île Maurice pluriethnique (5) la place citoyenne dans l’économie du point de vue du genre, la place des femme dans des emplois précaires (6) l’examen à la loupe ‘genrée’ du monde de l’entrepreneuriat et le monde des affaires et (7) une étude de la vie des Rodriguaises à Maurice.

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Telegram nudes scandal in Mauritius: Media people beware!

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If you are not already aware, a few days ago feminist activists have started talking about a group on the messaging app Telegram of which more than 1,000 Mauritian men are/were members. The group is/was sharing intimate pictures of both adult women and minors WITHOUT the latter’s consent. Some were asking for pictures of specific women and girls who have social media accounts, whether real pics or doctored ones. Again WITHOUT the consent of the latters. The group has been cloned multiple times and migrated to several other platforms as soon as the admins smelled trouble.
I put special emphasis on the LACK OF CONSENT of the girls and women concerned because some people have been going on their high horses about how the undoctored pics might have landed in the lap of the members of those groups. Some are saying there are lewd girls and women out there willingly sharing their own pics, some for money even (thus engaging in pornographic activity).
So, I want to get a few things right:
  • True, it’s best for anyone not to have shared with anyone else or to have posted any of their intimate pics as it makes them easy to share widely and quickly.
  • But, even if someone did the above willingly, shifting the blame to the victim only serves to exonerate the people who maliciously shared the pics with random dudes.
  • Even if a woman did engage in an illicit transaction (whereby both sender and receiver are guilty according to law BTW), that transaction was one-to-one. So, while she may be guilty of trespassing against Mauritian law by selling porn content, the man who illegally buys it and then reshares is distributing porn on a bigger scale.
  • Those whose pics were sent by mutual consent to a lover or partner, whether in a short-term or a long-term relationship, never intended those to be made available to other random dudes. So, this a breach of trust in a relationship, however short-lived the relationship might have been, and it is a sign of a deranged mind that indulges in the gratuitous exploitation of the image of a partner’s body for vile reasons, possibly for revenge porn.

Clearly, the intention is vile and abject. And we should start flipping the narrative against the perpetrators.

This is why I call upon all media people in my friendlist to report responsibly on the whole affair. As I just told a class of Media and Ethics students yesterday, you will need to tread cautiously when investigating the identities of those vile perpetrators (if you choose to do so). Do your homework, check, cross-check and double check. This is an agreed standard in the profession.
But, please be careful how you choose your angle and on whom you put the spotlight. If indeed there is an extensive porn market which exists within those groups, do not forget to put the spotlight on the clients and their misplaced sense of entitlement whenever they have paid a woman who they then think they own ad infinitum. Because if that dude paid Rs 500 or Rs 1000 or even a million, they cannot own the right to that woman’s image! The same logic applies to pics that were consensually exchanged. No-one can hold the right to a body and its image except for the person in question, whether that person is moral or not according to our society’s standards!
Investigate to find out who are the instigators of the groups instead of trying to find the identity of the girls or women whose pics were circulated, unless you intend to give them a voice that will not further exploit their misery.

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(Tirs croisés) La femme mauricienne : Où en est son autonomisation dans les divers secteurs ? (Journal Le Mauricien)

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Article de Sharon Leung-Ah Fat publié dans le journal Le Mauricien du 4 mars 2021

https://www.lemauricien.com/actualites/tirs-croises-la-femme-mauricienne-ou-en-est-son-autonomisation-dans-les-divers-secteurs/407218/

Selon les Nations unies, l’égalité des sexes et l’autonomisation des femmes peuvent avoir un effet transformateur et multiplicateur sur le développement durable et sont un moteur de la croissance économique dans les petits États insulaires. Où en est-on dans le processus d’autonomisation à Maurice ?

Trois coauteurs de l’Université de Maurice (UoM) se sont penchées sur la question dans une publication nouvellement lancée et intitulée The Gender Divides of the Mauritian Society: re-appropriating the empowerment and citizenship discourse. Elles partagent avec nous dans ces entretiens les points forts de leurs recherches. Verena Tandrayen-Ragoobur, Associate Professor au département Economics and Statistics à l’UoM, également éditrice et Project Leader de cette initiative revenant à Sheila Bunwaree, ancienne chargée de cours à l’UoM, rappelle que d’après le Global Gender Gap Report, Maurice est à la traîne surtout concernant le “political empowerment” et de l’“economic participation and opportunity”.

Elle fait ressortir que si la disparité entre hommes et femmes au niveau du “labour market participation” s’est creusée au fil des années, c’est parce que les femmes ont plusieurs rôles à jouer. Elle ajoute qu’il est difficile pour les femmes de pénétrer le monde du travail. « Il n’y a pas assez de mesures pour essayer de les intégrer. » Si depuis l’Indépendance, la situation de la femme a beaucoup évolué, s’il y a davantage de femmes sur le marché du travail par rapport à autrefois, elles sont toujours dans les “pink-collar jobs” ou les “administrative works”. Elle propose « d’intégrer la femme dans les diverses stratégies gouvernementales pour plus d’égalité et d’accès aux opportunités ».

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The Gender Divides of the Mauritian Society: Re-appropriating the Empowerment and Citizenship Discourse (Publication)

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This book by 9 Mauritian women scholars is published under the aegis of CODESRIA (Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa) and was launched on Tuesday 2 March 2021 in the context of the International Women’s Day. The editor is Associate Professor Verena Tandrayen Ragoobur.

About the book:
This book brings together a group of scholars and practitioners working in different disciplines to interrogate the concepts of empowerment, citizenship and gender justice from conceptual, contextual and strategic angles within diverse arenas. This interdisciplinary study fills in an important knowledge gap since it brings an important feminist analysis on current debates on development, empowerment and citizenship in Mauritius.
“Gender equality and women’s empowerment and the full realisation of human rights for women and girls will have a transformative and multiplier effect on sustainable development and is a driver of economic growth in small island developing states like Mauritius (UN, 2016). Women can be powerful agents of change.” This quote is the essence of this important contribution to gender equality, not only for Mauritius but also for the African continent. The publication contains important social research outputs from Mauritius on the three main themes covered, namely women’s engagement and power relations; power relations in the private sphere; and women’s agency and livelihood.
Professor Johan Strijdom, Namibian and Former AU Commission Head of Division: Social Welfare, Vulnerable Groups and Drug Control and Extraordinary Professor, North West University, South Africa.

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Structure of the book:
Part 1: Women’s Engagement and Power Relations

  • Finding A Common Working Terrain: An Analysis of the Women’s Movement in Mauritius by Ramola Ramtohul
  • Editorship, Agency and Content through the Gender Lens: An Analysis of Gender Balance in the News Industry and Its Output in Mauritius by Christina Chan-Meetoo

Part 2: Power Relations in the Private Sphere

  • Changing Power Relations: Violence in the Private Sphere by Fabiola Ramsamy and Pallavi Sharma
  • Islam and Women’s Rights in Multi-ethnic Mauritius by Firozah Cadinouche & Allia Syed Hossen-Gooljar

Part 3: Women’s Agency and livelihoods

  • Economic Citizenship from a Gender Perspective: Evidence for Women in Vulnerable Employment in Mauritius by Verena Tandrayen-Ragoobur
  • Interrogating Mauritian Business and Entrepreneurship with Gender Lenses by Harshana Kasseeah
  • Investigating The Rodriguan Migrant Women’s Lives In Mauritius by Deepa Gokulsing

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About CODESRIA
The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is headquartered in Dakar, Senegal. It was established in 1973 as an independent pan-African research organisation primarily focusing on social sciences research in Africa. It is recognised not only as the pioneer African social research organisation but also as the apex non-governmental centre of social knowledge production on the continent

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Giving back to the community

Proceeds of book sales are donated to the NGO SOS Femmes in honour of its founder late Mrs Rada Gungaloo.

The book is on sale at Petrusmok library in Hennessy Hotel and at Bookcourt at the cost price of RS 250. It will be available in other bookshops later.


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