Mauritius: The Government of Mauritius organized a four-day workshop on the theme ‘Women Legal Literacy- a Tool for Women’s Empowerment” being organized by the National Women’s Council (NWC) at Paillotte Women’s Empowerment Centre.
The aim of the workshop is to raise awareness of women’s legal empowerment about basic legal rights and remedies provided under various laws to make women fit to face challenges in real-life situations.
The resource person during the four days is the Legal and Gender Trainer, Mrs Mokshada Pertaub. It is recalled that the NWC conducted a Participatory Needs Assessment, and it was highlighted that many women are not aware of their rights due to a lack of awareness of legal issues. Moreover, marginalized women and girls are unable to take recourse to legal advice due to financial constraints.
In this context, the NWC came up with a programme to sensitize women on their legal rights. It is targeting a batch of 100 women in the nine Districts across the island over the year. The programme kick-started in Flacq, followed by a second batch in Rivière du Rempart and is now being implemented in Plaine Wilhems.
During the four days of training, participants will be apprised of the various types of machinery and organs of the Justice delivery system available to redress women’s problems and grievances; the procedure of approaching and utilizing various channels available to redress their grievances, that is, the Police, the Executive and the Judiciary; and the role of Courts in achieving gender equality, most importantly the concept of public interest litigation.
Many residents of Mauritius residents attended the workshop, and one of the attendees said, “It’s a knowledgeable workshop, and this knowledge will come in use in my business, and I will try my best to share my knowledge with my colleagues so that they can also get benefits.”
