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SEYCHELLES
INTRODUCTION
The country is made up of a group of 115 islands scattered over 1.3 million km2 of the Indian Ocean. It is a micro State with a population of 70,000. The economy of the Seychelles is dominated by tourism and fisheries, both vulnerable to the exogenous forces of international trade. The economy is
constrained by the absence of economies of scale, lack of natural resources, over-dependence on imports,
high cost of public expenditure per capita and high costs for the general population.The Government is at present passing through a challenging and active phase, a period of transition
to multi-party democracy requiring economic stability and social peace in order to achieve the goals of
sustainable development.The principle of gender equality is enshrined in the society at all levels. Women have a high profile
in public life, political office and in the administrative hierarchy of the public sector. The Government, in
order to achieve the effective utilization of its human resources, is pursuing the integration of gender concerns at all levels into the National Human Resources Development Plan (HRDP).SITUATION ANALYSIS BY SECTOR Political participation/decision making
In spite of their high profile in public life, women in the Seychelles still do not share power and decision making on an equal basis with men. However, since 1977, women have progressed rapidly to high office due to the recognition of their ability to perform.
At the parliamentary level, a high percentage of women have been elected. In 1980 and 1985, 41 per cent of the elected National Assembly members were women but in 1993, the figure went down to 27.5 per cent. At present, women ministers make up 25 per cent of the 12 posts in the Government, holding three major portfolios: Foreign Affairs, Planning and Environment, Tourism and Transportation, and Local Government, Youth and Sports. At the international level, half of the ambassadors in the early 1980s were women though no women were appointed in the 1990s. Women's participation in the public sector has also greatly improved. In 1994, there were three (25 per cent) women principal secretaries, 37 and 40 per cent directors-general and directors, respectively. At the management level, there are 353 senior posts in both the public and private parastatal sectors, with women occupying 78 (22 per cent) of the posts. In the parastatals in 1994, only three (15.8 per cent) women hold the chair of the board of Directors; similarly, 6.5 per cent of managing directors for 31 parastatal companies are women. In the private sector, only 25.8 per cent of all businesses were registered to women in 1980; this has varied to 9.5 per cent in 1985, 16.4 per cent in 1993 and 17.7 per cent in 1994. In 1994, only eight women (10.7 per cent) were heads of some 75 NGOs or associations with two women directors representing foreign donor organizations.
It is thus clear that power-sharing and decision making in the Seychelles, though more favourable to women than in other countries, is not equitably shared between men and women.
Education
Education is free at all levels with possibilities of access to university scholarships. There is a high literacy rate of 86 per cent for women and 79 per cent for men. The literacy ratio is 85.7 and 85.7 per cent
respectively for men and women but this deteriorates with age groups, with women always higher than men.Primary enrolment is 100 per cent and women show a near parity in enrolment at primary, secondary and
polytechnic levels. Girls tend to enrol in subjects such as education, clerical, community and health studies so that beyond polytechnics they are in the minority with much lower transition rates to higher education.
In 1994, out of a total of 245 students on overseas training, only 93 (37.9 per cent) were women.
At the national level, there are no marked differences in attainment between men and women in all grades except for the university level. Though women are in the majority in the middle level, they are not significant in vocational categories. Training expenditure per person is much higher in the capital-intensive sector occupations and these tend to be for male-dominated occupations.
Health
Demographic trends show that, in general, the quality of life is high compared to that in some developed countries. The Government has made considerable investment in health, allocating 12 per cent of its budget to health consistently between 1987 and the early 1990s. In 1990, life expectancy was 67.5 for males and 73.2 for females. Infant mortality improved from 35.4 in 1975 to 17.9 in 1985 and was 11.9 in 1992-1993. The total fertility rate has declined over the last 15 years from 5.05 in 1975, 3.28 in 1985, to 2.71 in 1992.
Family planning services are widely available though illegal abortions are on the increase with an estimated 400 cases in 1992. In 1991, 14 per cent of all live births were to teenage mothers and most births are attended by trained personnel. There is no malnutrition in the Seychelles and little prevalence of anaemia; immunization is at 100 per cent.
HIV/AIDS: The percentage of women found to be HIV-positive is very low; up to 1994, only 24 cases were diagnosed. However, implications for an island culture and tourist destination are quite worrisome.
Employment
In general, women accounted for 645 (78 per cent) of all active job seekers from December 1987 to end of 1992. A disproportionate number of women is unable to find jobs because of lack of technical skills. Women in general are still not equitably represented in the labour force, being relegated to less prestigious and lower paying jobs despite the fact that 85 per cent of women in the Seychelles are literate and they constitute 41 per cent of the working population. In the Ministry of Education, over 63 per cent of all employees are women and at the administrative level, there is an equal proportion of men and women.
In the hotel industry, large numbers of women are employed in lower paying and less prestigious jobs as cleaners, home maids, sales assistants, typists, with few appointments in senior decision-making posts.
In summary, women workers are significantly under-represented and are only predominant in traditional areas which are compatible or are extensions of their domestic functions.
Women's access to resources
Credit: A woman's easy access to credit for personal and social development is a strong indication of her ability to control her life situation. There are many lending agencies, among which are: (a) the Seychelles Credit Union which is a cooperative savings bank; (b) the Development Bank of Seychelles whose objective is to promote development activities in the country, particularly by smaller entrepreneurs; (c) the Seychelles Housing Development Corporation, a government housing agency which provides loans on a sliding scale interest rate based on the needs and the social group; and (d) the Banque commerciale francaise, a private commercial bank.
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