On what grounds is Sarojini Jugnauth making public speeches and inaugurating centres? There is only one. She is married to the prime minister. But, in the supposedly super-meritocratic and good governed Mauritius, should our choice of life partner be considered a ground for anything at all? Should it land us a spot on a podium, give us opportunities that others don’t have of expressing our opinion in front of an influential crowd and state media cameras?

The practice of treating the spouses of politicians as if they too were elected by the people is archaic. Medieval. A sad expression of a mentality that we wish was dead. In 2016, surely, it’s our achievements as individuals that decide how far we get in life. We are ourselves, not an extension of our spouses. Any organiser who invites someone to be the guest of honour at an official function should base the choice on the person’s merits. Not on her husband’s status.

It’s not just Mauritius that suffers from this unfortunate habit of giving VIP treatment to unelected spouses. Michelle Obama is one of the most famous women in the world – on the sole basis of who she married. The most tragic part of the story is that some un-elected spouses are convinced that they have achieved greatness simply by marrying the “right” person. They consider themselves role models.

“THE NAME OF OUR SPOUSE SHOULD BE OF AS LITTLE IMPORTANCE AS THAT OF OUR FATHER.”

When addressing a bunch of schoolgirls, Michelle Obama famously said “If I had worried about who liked me and who thought I was cute when I was your age, I wouldn’t be married to the president of the United States today.” As if the act of getting married to a man with high-status was a wonderful feat and something that young girls should strive towards. As if “marrying well” was equivalent to success. Any woman born before 1920 would probably have agreed. It was the time when marrying the right person was a woman’s only hope for a better life. We thank our lucky stars that society has progressed. But why on earth do we still, in 2016, hold on to the ridiculous habit of evaluating women based on who they married?

Marrying Barack Obama was not an achievement that should be admired. Neither was marrying Anerood Jugnauth. Until the day Sarojini and Michelle successfully run for elections, or we want to praise them for any accomplishment of theirs that is unrelated to who their husbands are, they don’t belong on a podium. If we are serious about the good governance and anti-nepotism ideals, the name of our spouse should be of as little importance as that of our father. Who we marry is a lifestyle choice. It shouldn’t, on its own, take us anywhere at all in life. That, in a meritocratic world, is up to ourselves.

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