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Addressing Intersectionality – Elderly Women
for sexual harassment, development of apps with games that develop self-assertiveness, leadership, positive thinking
Setting up of a Digital Toolkit App for access by women and men in situations of violence and communicating there-with 51.
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Carrying out Training of all HR Personal on GBV and Institutionalising an Anti-Sexual Harassment Policy in all Government departments, including parastatal bodies
5.f
Adopt gender-responsive budgeting practices as a strategy to address GBV
Policy Priority 6:
Addressing Intersectionality- Elderly Women
Appreciating the diversity in the situation of older women requires a variety of policy responses. Demographic change is resulting in unprecedented number of older people, comprising in majority of women in Mauritius. The Confinement period brought by COVID-19 and its impact on the elderly population paves the way to a reflection on the socio-economic status of elderly women and their quality of life. A category of the young-old still have opportunities to engage in decent employment, while the middle-old have different interests. The higher number of women transitioning into these two categories presents an opportunity to promote age-sensitive programmes and prioritise a life-course approach there-in.
6.a
Ensure age-sensitive and gender responsive programming so that the interests of the three categories of the elderly population (the young old; the middle old; and oldest old) are accounted for in national programmes and budgets. Policies formulated should be underpinned by the guiding themes contained in the UN Principles for Older Persons; namely, Independence, Participation, Care and Self-Fulfillment.
51 See https://www.techsafety.org/text-best-practices for examples
6.b
Provide opportunities for willing and capable older persons to participate in and contribute to the ongoing activities of society.
Establishing an all-inclusive infrastructure such as a Day Centre for the Elderly that is likely to improve their well- being through recreational, artistic and socialisation activities; provision of independent living skills; participating in courses leading to income-generation, and provision of internet skills to access online platforms.
Setting up a mentor/buddy programme to bridge inter-generational gap between generations of women
6.c
Leverage on the ability of the elderly to use rapidly advancing technology to enable, particularly elderly women and those with disabilities to achieve a better quality of living, specifically through tailor-made ICT programmes
06 Conclusion
With a population of 50.5% of females, emergency responses which may be limited in their focus on gender issues and intersectionalities are likely to exacerbate existing inequalities, with direct and indirect negative impacts on gendered relations and women’s socio-economic status.
This note has provided several policy recommendations to address the impacts of COVID-19 in Mauritius.
In the immediate term, a gender sensitive socio-economic impact assessment of COVID-19 is of the essence to better situate the gendered impacts of the pandemic and come up with evidence-based solutions.
In addressing the economic impact on COVID-19, it would be crucial to ensure that gender equity measures are taken into consideration so that women benefit equitably from schemes or stimulus packages in their respective sectors. The tertiary sector would require a more detailed gender analysis, underpinned by intersectional frameworks, given that it employs a higher proportion of women.
As importantly, domestic violence against women and children remains an issue of urgent tackling. The appropriate approach to addressing domestic violence remains through the strengthening of the existing institutional capacities including multi-sectoral responses, referral pathways and 24x7 hotline equipped with free, chat and sms services for prevention and increased attention to victims and perpetrators through targeted community communication campaigns; leveraging on the use of online technologies and mobile applications to respond to domestic violence cases; and upgrading of shelter services from a more integrated perspective. In parallel, implementing the perpetrator rehabilitation programme through an institutionalised referral pathway remains on the agenda to ensure that perpetrators are held accountable and are equipped with skills to address their criminogenic needs, risk factors and triggers.
Addressing gender equality in COVID-19 responses should be multi-dimensional. Its impacts are the results of the intersection of economic, structural and social inequalities where women are already affected in a disproportionate manner.
The impacts of COVID-19 remain two-folds: they deepen inequality for women and, render these inequalities more visible. n
