Mauritius women are more worried, feel unsafe to walk alone at night, says report

According to data from Global Women’s health Index 2021, which surveyed 127,000 people across 122 countries, two in 10 women in Mauritius (21%) in 2021 said they experienced worry (+3%), 18% experienced stress (-1%) during a lot of the day, 22%  experienced sadness (+4%) and less than one in 10 (7%) experienced anger (-3%).

Still, Mauritian women were ranked 5th worldwide in the ‘Emotional Health’ category – they were the least worried, stressed globally.

Overall, Mauritius ranked 19th globally – with a score of 69 out of 100.

However, the country fared pretty poorly in other areas.

Physical pain

While, individual health improved slightly, 26% of Mauritian women said experienced pain in the last day or they had health problems that prevented them from doing things people their age would normally do.     

The survey asked respondents: Have there been times in the past 12 months when you did not have enough money to buy food that you or your family needed? And, have there been times in the past 12 months when you did not have enough money to provide adequate shelter or housing for you and your family?

In Sweden and Singapore, only a handful of women responded “yes” to both questions — it’s in “the low single digits” according to the report. 

Yet in Mauritius, 35% of women said they could not afford food at times in 2021, while 22% (up from 16%) said they were struggling for shelter. Mauritius was ranked 71st globally in this category 

Despite hopes that the COVID-19 pandemic could be a leveller for women, the survey shows that women’s health is even worse off than during the pandemic when there were disruptions to essential health services.

Health & Safety

Mauritius also lost 6 points in the ‘Health & Safety’ category: Only 68% Mauritian women thought they were receiving high-quality Pregnancy Care (compared to 74% in 2020), while the number of women who had a good opinion of overall healthcare in the country fell from 82% to 75%.

Under the same category, the number of women feeling unsafe walking alone at night increased from 38% to 46%.

Globally, the Index shows most women’s health situations did not improve in 2021 and the health situations for many women who were already vulnerable worsened. 

Worldwide, as women struggled more to afford the basics and felt less safe — as of 2021, nearly 1 billion women do not feel safe walking alone at night where they live — their emotional health suffered. 

Source: Hologic Global Women’s health Index 2021