Minister of Gender Equality and Family Welfare, Mrs Kalpana Devi Koonjoo-Shah, announced during a Press Conference held, on 20 February 2024, that International Women’s Day 2024 will be celebrated on Sunday 25 February 2024 at the Swami Vivekananda International Convention Centre (SVICC), in Pailles.
She highlighted that the theme chosen this year “Invest in women: Accelerate progress” aims to achieve gender equality in all aspects of life to create prosperous economies. The theme focuses on five key areas, namely: investing in women, ending poverty, implementing gender-responsive financing, shifting to a green economy that includes women’s voices, and supporting feminist change-makers.
Speaking on the stand that Mauritius has taken as regards the inclusion of women in decision-making and their emancipation in politics, Minister Koonjoo-Shah emphasised the presence of five women in the Cabinet, a first in Mauritius.
She also spoke about the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women which will be held from 11 to 22 March 2024 under the theme “Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective”. To achieve this, the Minister underlined the necessity to embrace the goal of eradicating poverty, strengthening our institutions, and moving towards financing from a gender perspective.
As regards the National theme for this Women’s Day, “Plis pouvwar a nous bane madame,” Mrs Koonjoo-Shah observed that it must act as a reflection on how our society is fundamentally changing, stressing the need to acknowledge that women have untapped potential which requires a universal commitment to destroy and break down the barriers that exist and that prevent them from connecting with their real potential and moving forward.
Furthermore, she remarked that more than 8,000 women coming from different associations, enterprises, and the civil society will be participating in the celebrations of International Women’s Day at the SVICC.
On that day, the Gender Equality Seal for the Public Sector, a Seal of dedication for those institutions and Ministries that receive funding to set up gender equality projects and excel in achieving this objective will be launched, and the Most Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur Award will also be held.
