RESEARCH AND SURVEYS
Research on the perception of violence towards women, children and LGBT persons in Mauritius and Rodrigues, carried out by Kantar for KDI.
The major aim of the study is to understand the perception of violence towards women, children and LGBT in Mauritius. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches have been used to gather insights and relevant information.
Sub objectives of this study are to understand the:
- Perceived types of violence in Mauritius.
- Attitudes of Mauritians towards different forms of violence experienced by women, children and LGBT in Mauritius.
- Causes of violence towards women, children and LGBT in Rodrigues.
METHODOLOGY
- 500 face to face interviews, using the Computer Aided Personal Interview (CAPI) technique.
- Margin of error : +/- 4% at the 95% *confidence interval.
MAIN RESULTS
Violence towards children
- 53% of the respondents are of the opinion that Violence towards children is increasing.
- 68% of respondents have heard/seen/witnessed cases of violence towards children during the past 12 months. 8% personally know the victim and only 6% had intervened to help the victims.
- Both insulting or hitting a child, whatever might be the reason, are not acceptable by the majority of respondents. However, 3 out of 10 respondents are of the opinion that slapping a child for corrective measures is an acceptable form of violence towards children.
- Drug (69%), alcohol abuse (63%) and unstable family (60%) are the main perceived reasons which trigger violence towards children. ‘Tired parents’ has also been mentioned as a factor contributing to violence towards children (49%).
Violence towards women
- It is perceived that domestic violence is the main form of violence women mostly suffer from. There is a strong feeling that domestic violence towards woman is happening in several households but most women fail to lodge formal complaints as they are afraid of their spouses’ retaliation.
- 86% of the respondents are of the opinion that Violence towards women is increasing. 3 main types of perceived violence faced by women are : Domestic violence- physical abuse (89%), Domestic violence – emotional abuse (63%) and Rape (45%).
- 50% are of the opinion that the following cases are ‘extremely violent’ :’a husband having sexual relationship with his wife without her approval’ , ‘Harassing women: wooing, sexual harassment/unwanted fondling’. However, ‘a husband preventing his wife from going out’ is perceived to be relatively less violent.
- Drug (65%), infidelity of the husband (61%), infidelity of the wife (58%) and alcohol (58%) are the main perceived reasons which trigger violence towards women.
Violence towards LGBT people
- Compared to children and women, relatively less respondents think that violence towards LGBT is increasing (17%). Discriminations (48%) , public insults (44%) , rejected by families/friends (41%) and failed to be accepted by the society (38%) are the most common perceived forms of violence towards LGBT. 21% of respondents have heard/seen/witnessed cases of violence towards LGBT during the past 12 months. 3% personally know the victim and only 2% had intervened to help the victims.
- Nearly 50% reject the idea of an individual liking someone of the same sex but this does not mean that they will ignore that person.
- One third of respondents are not aware that LGBT are victims of sexual assault/harassment or physical violence.
- Fear of people’s perceptions/ judgements (43%), against religious convictions (38%) and against personal convictions are the main perceived reasons which trigger violence towards LGBT.
Legal Environment Assessment (LEA)
Un Legal Environment Assessment (LEA) a été mené en 2019/2020 pour faire un état des lieux de toutes les lois de la République de Maurice, les Conventions ratifiées pour la protection des enfants, femmes et personnes de la communauté LGBTQIA+, ainsi que des recommandations en lien avec ces lois.
Les objectifs principaux de ce travail consistaient en :
- Identifying and documenting
a) local laws and policies and
b) local, regional and international human rights instruments and mechanisms that exist to protect women, children and LGBT+ persons from all forms of violence
c) local laws, policies, and practices that are discriminatory against women, children and LGBT+ persons and pose barriers to preventing violence and accessing justice - Analyse an agreed list of prioritized, relevant national laws and regulations, relevant recommendations from the Universal Periodic Review and concluding observations from Treaty bodies, as well as case law, policies and practices where relevant, to determine how they undermine or support the targets groups
- Provide detailed and appropriate recommendations in regard to laws and/or regulations that need to be enacted, reformed or better enforced in order to afford better protection from violence.
Les recommandations qui figurent dans le LEA sont propres à l’auteur de ce travail et ne sont pas celles du Kolektif Drwa Imin.
Research on the perception of gender roles and gender based violence in Mauritius, by Kantar for KDI.
The objectives of the research has been to understand the:
- Perception of gender roles
- Perception of gender equality in mauritius
- Perception of gender based violence
- Perception of gender identity and sexuality
METHODOLOGY
Mixed methods of qualitative and quantitative | 750 respondents in Mauritius | sample is nationally representative in terms of ethnic group, socio-economic category, region and age group.
MAIN RESULTS
DESPITE BEING IN FAVOR OF GENDER EQUALITY, DISCRIMINATORY STEREOTYPES STILL EXIST
86% believe that gender equality is important while 71% are of the opinion that gender equality will contribute in reducing poverty.
Moreover 65% claim that gender equality may help in the elimination of domestic violence.
However, there is no consensus when it comes to take care of the home and cook for the family. 47% tend to disagree while 41% agree that it is the responsibility of women to carry such tasks.
31% of men believe that taking care of children is the responsibility of mothers.
GLASS CEILING IS PERCEIVED TO BE HIGHLY PRESENT IN MAURITIUS
45% tend to believe that men and women have equal rights in Mauritius while 38% disagree.
Gender equality is seen to be respected across both public and private sectors across all levels except when it comes to the higher management – men are seen to be given more opportunities than women to be leaders (mentioned by 13% of the respondents).
28% believe that there are some situations where women do not have equal rights to men.
READINESS FOR QUOTA IMPLEMENTATION TO PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY
On average 50% of respondents are for the implementation of a quota system to ensure gender equality at different levels (vs 20% respondents being against and 30% who cannot take a stand).
73% are for implementation of laws to promote equal salaries.
Men aged 45+ are noted to be more pronounced among those who are against the implementation of quota systems.
- 86% of respondents believe that gender equality is important.
- 38% disagree and 45% agree that men and women have equal rights in mauritius. The rest of persons interviewed are indifferent
- Of respondents believe that gender equality will contribute towards the elimination of poverty
- 65% of respondents believe that gender equality will contribute towards the elimination of domestic violence
- 78% of interviewed sample have heard of ‘gender equality’
- 80% are of the opinion that women must be able to take their own decision when it comes to medical treatment, without permission of the partner
- 50% are for the implementation of a quota system to ensure gender equality at different levels (20% against and 30% indifferent)
- 73% are for implementation laws to promote equal salaries
- 80% agree that access to educational facilities should be equal
- 72% agree that access to contraception should be equal for men and women, including minors
GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AND ITS IMPACT ON THE ECONOMIC COST IN MAURITIUS:
A VICTIMS’ PERSPECTIVE
Final Report
Presented By
Dr Soujata Rughoobur-Seetah, PhD, MBA, BSc (Hons)
Dr Sanju Naraidoo, PhD, MSc, BSc (Hons)
Mrs Yarti Deonaran, PhD under examination, MSc, BSc (Hons)
Dr Loga Devi Balla Soupramanien, PhD, LLM, BA (Hons)
