ESI on Gender Statistics, 2018

In 2018, the population comprised 639,273 women compared to 626,030 men. Women outnumbered men by 13,243 as they live on average 6.4 years longer than men.

Diabetes mellitus, heart disease, cerebrovascular disease and hypertensive disease together accounted for 57.6% of all deaths among women against 53.5% among men.

More women than men are enrolled in tertiary institutions, but there are fewer women in research (PhD, MPhil and Doctor of Business Administration).

Working women are more likely than men to be employees and contributing family workers, but less likely to be heading a business.

In spite of being fewer in the labour force, women are more numerous among the unemployed.

Unemployed women are generally more qualified than their male counterparts.

Average monthly income tends to be lower for women than men – Rs 18,600 against Rs 24,400 in 2018.

Women are more likely than men to live in poverty. Poor households are more likely to be headed by women.

Women are largely under-represented in decision making at higher sphere of society. The number of female ministers was only 2 out of 23 and the number of female mayors was 1 out of 5 in 2018.

The proportion of women in the most senior positions in government services (Senior Chief Executive, Permanent Secretary, Deputy Permanent Secretary, Director, Manager, Judge and Magistrate) has remained around 37% in 2017 and 2018.

Women are more likely to be victims of domestic violence than men.

Men are more likely to be victims of homicides and assaults, while women are more prone to sexual violence and sexual exploitation.

Men are more likely than women to participate in sports as high level athletes.

Between 2017 and 2018, Mauritius improved its ranking from 112 to 109, out of 149 countries worldwide with regard to Global Gender Gap Index (GGI) of the World Economic Forum. The GGI seeks to measure gender equality across four key areas, namely: (a) economic participation and opportunity, (b) educational attainment, (c) health and survival and (d) political empowerment.