Ruby Moothien Pillay : “We are moving towards a gender parity era”

The International’s Women’s Day being celebrated on 8th March, we approached the first woman director of the Mauritius Oceanography Institute (MOI) for an interview. Dr Ruby Moothien Pillay not only shares with us her objectives as Head of the Institute but also her views on the place of Mauritian women in our society, in science and regarding gender parity.

Background

In early 1990s, Ruby Moothien Pillay joined the Ministry of Fisheries as a junior researcher. This was the start of her career in Marine Science. Subsequently, she was granted a scholarship to further her education in Australia for a Master’s degree in Marine Ecology and Fisheries Science. In 2001, after returning from Australia, she was offered a researcher’s position with the Mauritius Oceanography Institute.

Through collaborative research projects with Japan, she then pursued her studies up to the doctoral level in Fisheries Science with specialization in Molecular Genetics. After having spent nearly 16 years, first as a Project Officer then as a Principal Research Scientist at the Institute, Ruby was appointed as Director in July 2016.

What are your feelings being the First Woman Director of the Mauritius Oceanography Institute and what are your objectives?
I feel extremely privileged to have been given the responsibility of leading the team of highly knowledgeable, skilled and committed young scientists of the MOI towards achieving the Institute’s vision of excellence in oceanography in the region.

My main objective is hence to position the MOI as a leader in the field of Oceanography in the Indian Ocean region and as an organisation trusted by multiple sectors and interests. I am also working towards developing partnerships with a diversified range of collaborators for the Institute to engage in innovative, results based and demand driven projects that are in line with the Government’s vision of the Ocean Economy.

We celebrated the International Women's Day on Thursday 8th March. What are your views about the Mauritian women and their place in our society?
Mauritian women have progressed from house-bound jobs to various fields of work in the Mauritian society. Women are no longer limited in their choice of careers and have evolved from their dependence on their male counterparts.

They are now more financially independent, which thus enables them to take better control of their decisions, choices and life in general. As shown by our secondary school results, girls have been consistently outperforming boys in education (e.g. passing rate at HSC level for 2017 stood at ~78 % for girls and ~70 % for boys), which denotes the drive of girls to excel in the Mauritian society.

This is also reflected in all the women being recognised and honoured for their contributions and achievements in the Mauritian society.

This year's theme for the International Women's Day is 'Press for Progress' (a call to motivating communities to think, act and be gender inclusive). Do you believe that gender parity is a reality in Mauritius?  What are your views on gender equality when it comes to holding top leading positions in our institutions?
I think that in Mauritius, we are moving towards a gender parity era, courtesy of free education and many incentives available to women. I believe that although opportunities exist for women to hold top positions, they are not supported enough on other fronts which would ultimately help and enable them to shoulder higher responsibilities at work.

The glass ceiling has not been broken yet, even though it has been cracked. Women are just as capable as men and should be given opportunities to occupy leadership positions. We still have much ground to cover in this area.

Being a woman in science, what can you tell us about the status of Mauritian women in science and their involvement in this field?
There are now many women in Mauritius involved in various disciplines of science at different levels, for example laboratory attendant, technicians, teachers, lecturers and scientists, among others. For instance at the MOI, we have nearly the same amount of staff from each gender, which denotes the choice of women to opt for science subjects. We do see a difference, nonetheless, in the scientific field chosen by the genders, for example, women are more likely to choose biology over physics.

We do get the occasional woman physicist however, which shows the slow, but steady change in mindset and attitudes towards gender stereotyped subjects and career choices. However, women remain vastly underrepresented at the senior management level but we should create opportunities for ourselves.

Are female scientists fewer than their male counterparts in Mauritius? Why so and what should be done to encourage more women to choose science?
Currently, the exact figures on gender proportions in the field of science are not known. Importantly though, there is, in general, a decline in the number of students (irrespective of gender) choosing science subjects and thus scientific careers in Mauritius, which raises an important question about the importance of science in Mauritius versus other areas.

However, women in science definitely need to be encouraged to shoulder more responsibilities at work. A lot needs to happen first in the Mauritian society for this to occur. Firstly, mindsets need to be improved pertaining to gender stereotypes and this should start at home and reinforced at all levels of education - at nursery, primary, secondary and tertiary levels - keeping in mind that both genders should be promoted on equal grounds.

Additionally, flexible schedules should be encouraged at work so as to encourage not only women but also men to shoulder their responsibilities equally, and thus balance their work and personal lives which would ultimately produce better individuals in our society. Importantly, the inquisitive nature of children should be nurtured, as it is this very inquisitive nature that ultimately generates great scientists.

Moreover, women who have built successful careers in the scientific field should be promoted as role models to motivate our youngsters, especially our young women to embrace careers in the scientific field.

We should organize talks, workshops and use social hubs to promote science and there should be more platforms like the recently launched National Chapter of OWSD, where women scientists could meet to network and discuss the role of women in science and undertake actions for the promotion of science.

What are your views about the future of Mauritian women?
People with the right skills should be given opportunities to climb up the ladder, irrespective of gender. There should be no glass ceilings. I strongly believe that Mauritian women have a great future ahead, as we are living in an era where no boundaries to success exist.

Most people have realised the inequality among the sexes and I think in Mauritius, we have been actively working towards the reduction of this gap. As a result, there are now more laws and legislations tackling the issues of gender parity. In the years to come, things will hopefully only get better.

Although there are a lot of women in the field of science, we are still the minority at top levels, for instance in key-decision making posts such as in Managerial posts, on Boards, etc. I believe this is, however, due to the facts that we have traditionally been a patriarchal society and although women are more independent today, they are still more inclined to prioritise their home/personal responsibilities over their work loads.

For example, the majority of Mauritian women are more likely to choose their personal responsibilities over long hours at work, which are routinely required in top leading positions. This change is happening already in a few households though and we see many women successfully balancing their personal and work lives.

And so, we have several women holding top positions in leading institutions, in both the public and private sectors - we just need to have this change on a bigger scale to empower more women.