Expected Impact 3: A Limited Perspective on Diversity has the Potential

EXPECTED IMPACT 3:

A limited perspective on diversity has the potential to negatively impact the majority of the population

The 2020 Global Health 50/50 report 31 , in its evaluation of gender parity in global health organisations, concludes that decisionmaking bodies are still male dominated. It stipulates that with the current noted trend, gender parity at the CEO level in the health sector remains forty years in the making.

In Mauritius, women are more than 50% of the population, yet continue to be under represented in decision-making positions in Cabinet of Ministers and Parliament, with only 20% of female Parliamentarians and no female mayor in the five municipalities. In the Private Sector, the Parliamentary Gender Caucus has highlighted that there is less than 8% of women at the decisionmaking/Board levels 32 . Whilst there has been an increase in the proportion of women holding senior positions in government services from 19.2% in 1997 to 40.0% in 2016, there has been a decrease to 37.0% in 2017 among women in the most senior positions.

COVID-19 is a gendered disease and requires a gender-sensitive response and in preparedness efforts. The importance of diversity in perspectives matters to ensure that responses take into consideration the gendered dynamics that result in women facing the brunt of the disease in a more disproportionate manner. Gender Experts should be consulted to do-away with actions which are ignoring, reinforcing or challenging gender norms.

In order to ensure gender mainstreaming for equity, there is a need to analyse the multiple dimensions of gender and COVID-19 to better understand the gendered impacts of the threat and embed gender concerns into every aspect of the response. A gender mainstreaming checklist should be used by relevant stakeholders to ensure that gender is mainstreamed in all aspects of COVID-19 interventions, and socioeconomic impact assessments.

At the community levels, the voices of women should be heard to identify women’s needs in remedial measures of deep socio-economic consequences and to speak to priorities to influence the policy agenda to address systemic challenges.

At the same time, Mauritius is experiencing a feminisation of the ageing population. It is noted that there has been an increase of around 11% in the age bracket of 60

31 Global Health 50/50, 2020, Available Online at https://globalhealth5050.org/2020report/, Last Accessed 21 April 2020 32 Parliamentary Gender Caucus, 2019, Participatory Gender Audit in the Private Sector, Available Online at http://mauritiusassembly.govmu.org/English/Pages/default.aspx, Last Accessed 18 April 2020