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More women to the fore

by Nadira Gunatilleke

Women's Affairs Minister Amara Piyaseeli Ratnayake has made arrangements to increase women's participation in politics in the forthcoming Provincial Council Elections to be held in March, Coordinating Secretary to the Minister Major V. B. Karunaratne told the Daily News yesterday.

Major Karunaratne said that according to the existing election rule, 40 percent of nomination lists should be allocated for youth. Responding to a request made by Minister Ratnayake, the UNP Working Committee has already agreed to allocate 20 percent of their nomination lists for young women in the upcoming Provincial Council Elections. This is one of the initial steps that can be taken to increase women's participation in politics without amending the existing election rules.

The Minister has already addressed all party leaders by letter requesting them to include more women candidates in their nomination lists, said Major Karunaratne.

According to the statistics women's representation in parliament is only 4 percent and it is only 3 percent in Provincial Councils and one percent in Pradeshiya Sabhas. In the SAARC region women's representation in politics is over 10 percent. In scandinavian countries, women's representation in politics is about 40 percent, he added.

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