The story about two men raping and beating up a Czech tourist in Pointe d’Esny is beyond revolting. One can only imagine the trauma that poor woman went through, she who came to visit a beautiful tropical island renowned for its warm people and hospitality. Like everyone else, I find myself hoping these two sick men get locked up somewhere forever, but the whole episode leaves a bitter aftertaste I find difficult to get rid of. Because, let’s face it, it won’t be the last time something like this happens will it? I find that depressing.

I fear such incidents are the symptoms of a deeper malaise on our island. Namely, that some Mauritian men don’t have a basic level of respect of for women. Now, I said some, not all, so don’t start having a go at me for making sweeping generalisations! However I would go so far as to say that, if we took our society as a whole, the balance would still tip towards the sexist, misogynistic end.  If you think I am exaggerating, then you’re clearly not a Mauritian woman.  There is not one day that I have been out and about on my own where I have not been whistled at, leered at from the back of a bus, or thrown some sort of disagreeable comment.  Eloquent poetry along the lines of ‘psssst mamzel’ or  ‘ou zip bien courte, ou pas ti ena  assez latoile?’ form part of our daily lives as Mauritian women. Worst are the open stares: men staring at you straight on, as if it is their right.

Some would say that this is not so bad, and is only meant as light banter. It rarely goes further than that, others may add, and in some other countries women often get groped in public. Just laugh it off, or, even better, wear a longer skirt next time.  This makes my blood boil. What if we just want to go about our daily lives without some idiots feeling they have the right to throw insults at us or to look us up and down like a piece of meat? Should we merely be grateful that we’re allowed to vote and drive, and we need to shut up and deal with sexist behaviour? I refuse to accept this. It is time we recognise how ingrained this type of behaviour is in our supposedly progressive society, and it is time we eradicate it.  I have made my point previously about mixed schooling being a potential solution for the future.  But we all have a role to play. Mothers should stop telling their daughters that this is only to be expected, that men will be men. Fathers should teach their sons that this is not the right way to behave. And some men should just stop being assholes.

 Before you think I am on some sort of idealistic, impossible mission, please hear me out. Until recently, I was living in a beautiful, but very poor South Asian country with a culture even more conservative than our own.  I lived in Nepal for nearly three years: a patriarchal society where most of the population lives on subsistence agriculture, and where rural women are still expected to live in a shed every time she gets her period, as she is considered unclean.  Kathmandu is a vibrant, if ramshackle, urban sprawl where modern values regularly collide with traditional customs. Nepali women are forging ahead in their careers, they go to bars and wear miniskirts just like their counterparts here.  And never, in all my years living Nepal, have I ever been whistled at or sexually harassed.  Granted, I blended in well and often passed for a local: blonde tourists got far more attention. But that debate is for another time.  My point is, Nepali women go about their lives without daily harassment, and they probably have to fight harder than we do for equality at work and in the home. So how come Nepali men don’t leer at them on bus stops?  What makes them different to Mauritian men, given the latter are (in theory at least) better educated and wealthier? I suspect that, for all their traditional gender roles, men have a basic level of respect for women.  I wish I could say the same for my country, but we are not there yet.