A Woman President for Mauritius

Dr David B. Lingiah

Something special happened in India this year. A woman for the first time in Indian history became president of the nation. Many people around the world congratulated her including Mauritius. Women around the world who suffer all kinds of discrimination, abuse etc feel they are going somewhere. She is the first women, the twelfth person, to occupy this position following sixty years of independence as a nation.

 Mauritius has a close link with India. Leaders of Women’s movements felt encouraged that such a move could influence an improvement in the plight of Mauritian women who are the target of daily abuse and even death. Mauritian women from all social backgrounds and political persuasion are now watching the developing situation.

Around the world women have been gradually moving up to occupy positions as prime ministers and presidents of their countries. Some of the political pioneers are:

* Indira Gandhi was India's first female prime minister, serving twice, from 1966 to 1977 and 1980 to 1984. She was assassinated by her own guards.

* Julia Tymoshenko was Ukraine's first female prime minister, coming to power in the orange revolution this year. Her government was fired amid allegations of corruption.

* Sirimavo Bandaranaike, born in 1916, was the first elected female leader. After the assassination of her husband, the amiable housewife became prime minister of Sri Lanka four times.

* Mary Robinson, born in 1944, was the first female president of Ireland, from 1990 to 1997. As a senator she had campaigned for contraception.

* Isabel Peron, born in 1931, a former nightclub dancer, was Argentina's first female president, after the death of her husband, Juan Peron, in 1974.

* Golda Meir was premier of Israel from 1969 to 1974. Born in Kiev in 1898, she was Israel's first ambassador to Moscow and a cabinet minister from 1949 to 1965.

Only recently in Liberia, Africa - Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a graduate of Harvard University,  67-year-old World Bank economist and grandmother, was sworn as war-battered Liberia's new president, making history as Africa's first elected female head of state and pledging a "fundamental break" with the West African nation's violent past.   She had hoped her win would "raise the participation of women not just in Liberia but also in Africa". It is a historical phenomenon, which is going to be an example to other African countries. Her slogan was: "All the men have failed Liberia; let's try a woman this time.”