Occasional Paper

Engendering Democracy Through the Ballot Box in The Mauritius 2005 Elections

“This paper examines the causes of lack of advancement of women in decision-making in Mauritius by reviewing the literature on gender and democracy, the religious and cultural factors that might be the basis of women’s insubordination and uses the 2005 elections and campaign to reflect on why the Mauritius democracy has not had a statistically significant effect on the percentage of women in Parliament. This paper argues that the extraordinary under-representation of women in Mauritius must be considered a serious problem for democracy in that country.”