Policy makers of Civil Service to act as catalysts for change

Speaking on behalf of the Vice-Prime Minister, Minister of Local Government and Outer Islands, Minister of Gender Equality, Child Development and Family Welfare, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mrs J. Jaunbocus, said that the meeting will allow policy makers to reflect on means to effectively address gender gaps in the public service. She recalled that in 2015 Mauritius adopted the Sustainable Development Goals and that the Minister Mentor, Minister of Defence, Minister for Rodrigues, Sir Anerood Jugnauth, pledged at the United Nations General Assembly to sustain Government efforts to mainstream gender in all its policies and programs, thereby enabling women to enjoy their fundamental rights whilst addressing gender gaps.

Gender mainstreaming, she said, remains high on the Government’s agenda adding that Mauritius in terms of achievements has come a long way from a women development approach to that of a gender and development approach. The change of appellation of the Ministry of Women’s Rights, Child Development and Family Welfare to that of Ministry of Gender Equality, Child Development is a strong signal that the Government wants to achieve gender equality by addressing prevailing gender gaps, she added. She also emphasised on the need for the country to accelerate its policy interventions to address barriers that continue to impede on the achievement of the commitment taken at various gender mainstreaming forums.

Her Ministry, she mentioned, through the Gender Unit as the National Gender Machinery has the mandate to ensure that all Ministries are successfully integrating a gender perspective in their respective policies. To that end, Gender Cells have been set up as an institutional mechanism, whose primary task is to have permanent line of communication with members of the Gender Cells of all Ministries.The overall purpose, thereof, is to identify challenges, being encountered at Ministries’ level in so far, as mainstreaming gender is concerned, she added.

Mrs J. Jaunbocus appealed to the higher officials to act as catalysts for change at the institutional, operational and programmatic levels. “Together we must consolidate our interventions regarding gender equality so that each Ministry becomes a solid institution which recommits itself to complete the Beijing Platform for Action and the gender implications of the Sustainable Development Goals”, she said.