According to the author, raising awareness on social issues is good but finding solutions is better. And to do that, we should include more women at the discussion table.

You name it and you will see that women are the primary victims on any social problems. The recent report of the World Bank makes me shiver. I am now questioning myself whether Mauritius is a good place for women. The report not only highlights the gender gap but shows that women are those most affected by poverty. This growing gender gap is alarming. Have the authorities ever tried to investigate into the root-cause of all these problems so that sustainable actions can be put in place? I am not sure. The authorities will certainly keep on saying that social aid is on the increase and uniforms and school materials are given to children from poor families. Is this not a quick fix approach to seal our lips?

It is worrying to read in the report that “the incidence of poverty was higher among people living in female headed households”. The report goes further to say that most of the female headed households are not educated. If we keep on with our one size fits all approach, women will find themselves in a dire situation. A situation that will perpetuate as the system of education is producing illiterate people. Mauritius is most probably the only country in the world where the mother tongue is not used in schools.

Social aid has not curbed down poverty. On the contrary, according to the World Bank Report, relative poverty has increased over time from 8.5% to 9.8% and middle class families might find themselves in this category. Poverty is not only a question of being able to keep the pot boiling. We must have a holistic approach and look at poverty and gender based violence, poverty and climate change, poverty and health, poverty and literacy.

The pictures of the recent floods due to climate change are desolate. Social aid to victims of climate change is not enough. We need long term strategies. Climate change affects men and women differently. Given the gender inequalities, climate change places a greater burden on women. Women are affected differently being given their societal and cultural roles in the families and the communities. Have we ever thought of gender sensitive climate policies? Women are absent at the discussion table but those at the grassroots can certainly help at decision making levels if they do get a place at that table. We have to learn from other countries. We, certainly, do not want to see a situation like in the Democratic Republic of Congo where women are raped because of climate change. They have to walk long distances to fetch water and on their way back in the dark some of them have known multiple rapes. Coming back home, they face domestic violence as their husbands and in laws refuse to have raped women in the house.

(...)In Mauritius, we do have a Family Protection Unit and unless proven wrong, children do form part of a family. Why can’t the police help them? There is the law and the spirit of the law. In cases of emergency when lives are at stake, we certainly cannot be so rigid. Imposing 60 years imprisonment will not bring Stacey back to life but can make us see the weaknesses in our systems to prevent the murders of other Staceys. Changing the laws, giving more severe punishment,giving life time imprisonment,are only deterrent. We must stop putting our heads in the sand and look at piecemeal solutions.

‘‘We must stop putting our heads in the sand and look at piecemeal solutions.’’

For God’s sake let us all do something. Walking with our white flower does bring awareness but this will not stop cases like 11 years old Eleana Gentil, who was raped and murdered in April 2015; Marie Anita Jolita, two years old, raped, sodomised and murdered in 2006; Annegenia Jennia Arekion, four years old, who died in the hospital in 2006 after sexual abuse. As for Joannick Patricia Samuella Martin, seven years old, she was raped and burnt alive by her uncle in 2010.

2014, the year that Stacey was murdered was a dark year for women. The atrocious murder of so many women and young girls in paradise island, Mauritius, is so horrific that one would believe that Mauritius is a stage and we are all taking part in one of those crime serials.(…)

Voices of Women, especially those at grassroots level, must be heard. They must form part of high level meetings when Climate change, poverty, gender based violence, violence against children and other social issues are discussed. Giving a seat to NGOs in these Committees will certainly contribute to find concrete solutions.