No gender equality for women in politics and commerce

Sirimavo Bandaranaike, in 1960, became the first democratically elected female Prime Minister in the world, and went on to serve three terms as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. Chandrika Kumaratunga, her daughter, later became the first and only female President of Sri Lanka. However, they don’t represent the average women who aspire to enter politics, as their families, husbands, fathers, the men in their lives, had strong political connections.

It is 60 years since Sirimavo’s election, but women’s political representation, in the Sri Lankan, Parliament, is still abysmally low. In 2020, only 5.3 percent — 12 out of 225 legislators are women. This figure has not changed much during the past 10 years. This contrasts with Bangladesh at 20% and Singapore at 30%.

52 percent of the electorate and 56 percent of the registered voters are female. Sri Lanka ranks 182nd out of 193 countries, in the database that ranks countries by the percentage share of women in their national parliament. In South Asia, only the Maldives has fewer women politicians in its Parliament. In the local government, prior to the 2016 amendment, women’s representation was only 2%. The previous Sri Lankan government introduced a 25 % HYPERLINK “http://www.documents.gov.lk/files/act/2016/2/01-2016_E.pdf”mandatoryHYPERLINK “http://www.documents.gov.lk/files/act/2016/2/01-2016_E.pdf” HYPERLINK “http://www.documents.gov.lk/files/act/2016/2/01-2016_E.pdf”quota for women to enter the local government, and in the 2018 elections, 17,000 women ran for elections out of the more than 56,000 candidates for over 8,000 posts. Female representation in leadership roles jumped from 89 to 2,300 in 2018. However, even in a Ministry that is of greater importance to women and children, Dinesh Gunawardena is State Minister of Women and Child Development, Pre School and Primary Education, Three major limitations are encountered by Sri Lankan women trying to enter politics. First, stereotypes and social norms, where girls are not encouraged to pursue politics as it is seen as a male bastion. Second, Sri Lankan political parties have hidden barriers of entry for women interested in politics. Without men’s extensive networks and patronage, the small number of women, who are in the Sri Lankan Parliament, have entered mainly through their relation to male politicians. Third, few women have the finance to effectively run campaigns that can cost as much as 25 HYPERLINK “https://economynext.com/what-is-holding-back-sri-lankan-women-from-entering-politics-lihini-fernando-decodes-72416/”millionHYPERLINK “https://economynext.com/what-is-holding-back-sri-lankan-women-from-entering-politics-lihini-fernando-decodes-72416/” HYPERLINK “https://economynext.com/what-is-holding-back-sri-lankan-women-from-entering-politics-lihini-fernando-decodes-72416/”rupees throughout a district. Politics is largely male-dominated, and campaign financing can involve many different routes that are not open to women.

For the few women seeking high political positions, sexism can remain pervasive in Sri Lanka. Past research has shown that women have to constitute at least 30 percent of the decision-making body to exert influence and promote pro-women policies. Sri Lanka remains far from meeting that goal. In nine domestic licensed commercial banks, research indicates there are 13% of female participants in the managerial positions in banks, and in commerce there are 9% of females on director boards, 16% in corporate management and 13% in management teams. Yet there are more females than males graduating from universities.

Women in the workplace have not been provided with equal opportunities to achieve leadership positions. The only limiting factor should be the relevant levels of education, but there seems to be a hidden culture operating in many of the economically active areas of work. The main agriculture sectors of tea, rubber and coconut employ more women in labour positions as pluckers, tappers and coir workers respectively, while an insignificant number occupy management positions. The garment sector employs more women workers but fewer women in management positions. Sri Lanka’s biggest foreign exchange earners are migrant workers among whom, women comprise a large percentage, mainly in the form of domestic labour, but very few in managerial employment. At present with the male dominated Cabinet of the Rajapaksa family, there seems little likelihood of change.

LAKMAL BANDARA