The country is getting ready for elections and campaigning has already started. We are about, to once more show, to the rest of the world how governments change/alternate peacefully in Mauritius and how good we are at conducting ?free and fair? elections. The good conduct of elections with all norms and procedures being respected makes the Mauritian system very ?legitimate?. Elections are administered in a politically unbiased manner through an institutional framework accepted across the political spectrum. Good measures of legitimacy involve levels of voter participation, the predisposition and willingness of all stakeholders to accept the results, and the commitment to participation by all political parties. Mauritius scores high on all these counts. But state legitimacy does not only depend on the above ? it also depends on an adequate participation and representation of all citizens irrespective of gender, on voters making informed decisions as well as on the nature of state society relations that get articulated. It seems rather difficult to speak of a legitimate and a democratic state when parties securing a relatively high percentage of votes are unable to find their way to Parliament and when 52% of the population i.e the women of this country continue to be inadequately represented. We all know how aberrant the present electoral system is and how Mauritian politics of recognition and representation continue to occult large sections of Mauritian society, particularly women.

Needless to say that most international institutions have recognized the central role that gender plays for development and how genderising/engendering development can promote state legitimacy. Without ?engendering? development, the latter itself will be ?endangered?. To avoid this, it is therefore important to address the history of political exclusion that women face and have recourse to some kind of affirmative action so that more women can access decision making positions, particularly in the political field. Mauritius has ratified a number of conventions in this regard but the long awaited electoral reform which could have addressed the under representation of women, what Albie Sachs calls the ?gravest democratic deficit? of Mauritius is still yet to come.

It is a well known fact that a Proportional Representation (PR) would have enhanced the chances of every single woman candidate to be elected provided of course that more women are fielded as candidates. All countries with a certain dose of PR including the SADC countries have improved their gender representation in parliament but male dominated Mauritius has decided that the time is not ripe for the electoral reforms. What is very sad however is that some of our parliamentarians (both men and women) have been silenced or have chosen to silence themselves on the issue. We have been told that there was no consensus on the question and that was the end of the ?debate?.

I am of course not suggesting that state legitimacy would improve by simply bringing more women in. It demands a modicum of intelligence to understand that we are not looking at the question of women representation only as a numerical issue or as a move towards attaining a critical mass but rather as a rights issue and at the same time as reflecting women?s and therefore societal interests. Most issues pertaining to women have been driven by the Ministry of women ? irrespective of which government has been in power. Whilst it is to the credit of various women who have occupied important positions in government to have pushed for legislations which have to some extent improved the fate and lives of women, one can argue that there is still a long way to go especially in these neoliberal times when the ripple effects of joblessness are making themselves felt in the context of a growing feminisation of poverty.

Various factors such as the electoral system, socialization and patriarchal culture, job security and financial resources, foul language and sullying women candidates as well as lack of education generally contribute to the low representation and participation of women in Parliament. These have been well documented the world over but some of these factors especially the educational dimension is not quite relevant to Mauritius. Free education which was introduced by Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam in 1977 has contributed to a pool of highly competent, able, honest, hardworking citizens including women but education is certainly not enough in politics. Financial resources as mentioned above is also a very pertinent element when it comes to participating in politics but women are generally the most under resourced. This barrier could have been somewhat eased if the funding of political parties became conditional on their gender representation but the funding issue together with the electoral reform have conveniently been closed at the bottom of some drawers.

There is no doubt that Mauritian women can and should be part of a political elite so necessary to improve the human condition, to work towards a more socially inclusive citizenship and thus help to improve state legitimacy. The argument that there are not enough women willing to come forward and engage in politics is rather ?depasse?. The reality is that the political space is appropriated by men. In fact the United Nations Human Development Report (1999) argues that ?the political space belongs to all citizens but men monopolise it? and it is obvious that men have in more ways than one made it ?their? space. This is confirmed by the multiple local voices that we heard at the recent workshop organized by Media Watch. One participant argued: ?L?effort est encore timide, pour rattraper le retard, il faut taper fort? whilst another one pointed out: ?Les femmes sont prêtes, mais il reste un fossé entre vouloir et pouvoir. Pour que les femmes aient leur place, il faut qu?il y ait des hommes qui cèdent. Combien sont prêts à le faire? Il y a beaucoup de ?mere talk ? sans grande conviction? (L?express, 20 Feb 2005)

It is often argued that gender equality in politics and decision making is both a human right and a democratic imperative. If democracy comprises a government of the people, by the people and for the people, then a government by men can only be for men and cannot be democratic nor legitimate. The consolidation of democratic governance is becoming a subject of intense debate in Mauritius. According to some, the nomination of Paul Bérenger- a Franco Mauritian being appointed as Prime Minister in 2003 was an indication of a mature democracy but that same P.M. who calls himself a ?féministe réaliste? together with others who are genuinely concerned about consolidation of democratic governance should see to it that more women get not only into Parliament but cabinet as well.

A few positive discriminatory instruments could be used as temporary measures- the 30% SADC quota, the party list and more recently at the Media Watch workshop, I also suggested the replacement of the existing Best Loser system based on ethnicity and communalism by a Best Loser system reserved for women only whatever be their ethnic/communal groups. It is rather comforting to see that there are some fellow citizens who are keen not to treat women as ?second class? citizens and who are pointing to how humiliating it would be for women if that were to be the case. Such empathy and understanding is most welcome but will not suffice. Addressing histories of exclusion and ?institutionalised? inequalities is not an easy task and it is urgent to start somewhere.

What is even more worrying at the moment is that women run the risk of being marginalized even further from the political space. The making and undoing of alliances that we seem to excel at, has every potential to push women to the fringes, to make them even more ?invisible?. Given our current political context, it is therefore important for each political party to take the firm commitment to field at least one woman candidate per constituency for the forthcoming elections. It is perhaps equally if not more important for the political parties not to wait for the last minute to render official and transparent their list of candidates. The electorate should know fairly well in advance who they are going to vote for and have enough time to gauge as well as make some kind of ?informed? decision on their representatives to be. Let us start by leveling the playing field so that women and men can complement each other and can together consolidate democratic governance as well as state legitimacy.

Sheila BUNWAREE The author holds a PhD in Sociology. She teaches and researches in both Sociology and Political Science. Email address: [email protected]

PR would have enhanced the chances of every single woman candidate to be elected provided of course that more women are fielded as candidates. What is very sad is that some of our parliamentarians have been silenced or have chosen to silence themselves on the issue.