Documents
Research
papers, case studies, situationers and other documents on Sri Lankan
women, their rights and their involvement in politics, governance and
decision-making
This paper attempts to review the achievements in the area of social
development in Sri Lanka and to analyze successes and lapses of the
government's commitment towards the Copenhagen and Beijing declarations.
Women in Political Purdah? (2001)
The October 2000 election led to a decrease in the number of women
MPs from 4.8% to 4%, with only one woman on the national list. The
proposal for a 25% quota for women in local bodies was dropped in
the latest draft constitution presented to parliament but withdrawn
last year. The excuse was that the Muslim and Tamil party leaders
opposed the quota on the grounds that they would not be able to find
women candidates. This is not only an absurd argument but also reflects
badly on the minority parties who claim equal rights for all communities
but are lagging on the issue of gender equity. Politically, women
are not in purdah, but given the chance will enter politics in large
numbers.BACK TO TOP
There are no constraints to women in Sri Lanka reaching the height
of political power as President or Prime Minister. Below this level,
however, women's representation in legislative bodies and in politics
and in decision-making positions in the public and private sector
is very poor. Only 5% of Members of Parliament and 2% - 3% of members
of Local Government Councils are women. Although currently around
12% of Ministers are women, few women head local government bodies.
Reasons for low participation are complex. The multiple roles and
time constraints of women, socio-cultural norms of male leadership
and the prevailing climate of violence limit the number of women who
come forward to be candidates for election. Political parties and
Trade Unions which nurture leadership are seen to be gender insensitive
in their choice of officials or candidates. A recent proposal that
25% of candidates in local elections should be women has not seen
successful fruition although local elections are scheduled next week.
T traditional, colonial, and postindependence societies, by relatively
liberal traditional laws and gender inequality reflected in the legal
system, and by norms introduced during the British colonial administration.
In the transition years following colonial rule, Sri Lankan policymakers
introduced a social policy package of free health and education services
and subsidized food, which dramatically improved women’s quality
of life. Compared to the rest of South Asia, Sri Lankan women are
very well-off, enjoying high life expectancy (74 years), nearly universal
literacy, and access to economic opportunities, which are nearly unmatched
in the rest of the subcontinent. Download the document.
Despite impressive human development indicators, Sri Lanka still has
a long way to go in fully utilizing the skills and talents of its
female citizens to move the country's development and peace processes
forward. According to the 1998 UNDP-Human Development Report, although
the level of gender development in Sri Lanka is higher than average
for an Asian country (69%), gender empowerment (compared with modern
standards) is relatively low (20%). This despite its being the first
country in the world to produce a female head-of-state. Find out more
from this article
from the Third World Network. BACK
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Asoka Bandarage is an associate professor at Mount Holyoke College
and author of Women, Population, Global Crisis: A Political Economic
Analysis (1999). She is currently working on a field project on women
in organic agriculture in Sri Lanka, and a theoretical work on Buddhism,
feminism, and ecology. In this paper, Bandarage discusses her experience
in his work in Sri Lanka and the relationship between activism in
the countries of the North and South. BACK
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Sri
Lankan women in agriculture, environment and rural production (1998)
Fact sheet of Sri Lankan women's involvement in agriculture, environment
and rural production. Includes profile, statistics, and report.
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Books:
Post Beijing
Reflections: Women in Sri Lanka (1995 - 2000)
Published by CENWOR
Reviews the progress made in the situation of women in Sri Lanka and
examines how their concerns are met by polices and/or actions by state
and non state agencies. This publication is a review of the developments
since the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action in 1995.
To order a copy of this book, please contact CENWOR:
Address: 225/4 Kirula Road, Colombo-5 Sri Lanka.
Tele/Fax : 941-502-828 / 941-502-153
E-mail: cenwor@panlanka.net
and cenwor@slt.lk
Political Violence in Sri Lanka:
Dynamics, Consequences and Issues of Democratisation
by Sasanka Perera - 100p.
The publication presents a brief overview of the different contexts
and processes of political violence in Sri Lanka, how it has become
a central aspect of contemporary Sri Lankan politics, the manner in
which that violence has impacted upon the lives of Sri Lankan people,
including women and children, the methods they have adopted to cope
with the situation, and an assessment of what these issues collectively
mean in so far as future of democracy in Sri Lanka is concerned. For
this analysis, the violence in the north-east and the south of the
country has been taken into account.
To order a copy of this book, please contact CENWOR:
Address: 225/4 Kirula Road, Colombo-5 Sri Lanka.
Tele/Fax : 941-502-828 / 941-502-153
E-mail: cenwor@panlanka.net
and cenwor@slt.lk
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