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| Thursday, 4 December 2003 |
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Lesson from North on gender equality by Afreeha Jawad Although a little over half the Sri Lankan population are women, ironically their relatively low representation in the peace process is cause for both alarm and regret. Contrastingly, LTTE has outdone the Southern elite in endorsing female participation at all levels including the peace call. Among such women are Ms. Revathy, Deputy Women's Wing Leader LTTE - a political science graduate currently attached to the Institution of Policy Planning and International Relations 'Tamil Eelam' also team member Political Affairs Committee (formed at peace talks in Japan). Then there is also Ms Selvy (Karthikesan Subaithi) - Deputy Director Peace Secretariat - another political science graduate of the same institute and team member Political Affairs Committee formed at peace talks in Japan. These are but two in the list of numerous women that the LTTE has chosen - a gender free exercise towards egalitarianism and effective administration. To add to the current relatively low recognition of women in peace, women themselves are partly to blame as they have not strongly espoused the need for their presence in such forum, with the topic itself of women's low participation being taken up for discussion off and on at the numerous women's organization meetings. That's about it all. While womens' representation in the legislature is low, in working life many women who have made it sad to say, have been those that presented themselves more as exhibits to titillate male sensual taste buds and not out of intellectual acumen. That some men generally see women as playthings arises mainly out of the discriminatory socialization process in childhood years and is more a social construct than a fact of life. That this very socialization process could become a bio-genetic factor and resultantly ends up as reality goes without saying. For instance, when women in childhood years are not exposed to toy guns, aeroplanes and cars and are constantly recipients of dolls, flowers and toy cooking utensils, the bio-genetic factor becomes operative and a reality in the generations of women that follow - which exactly is what we see today. The Victorian ideal implanted for a woman to present herself as soft, feminine and lady like made matters worse for women - her role being confined only to home ,though the industrial and political economy gained much from relegating women to such interior levels. The all male labour force was fully facilitated by women who looked after male needs that helped foster the growing demand for industrial growth and material production. Thus we see the secondary placement of women emanates from the system and as the Northern command chooses to overlook this system, women in the North stand to gain comparatively. Bringing Southern women into mainstream politics and decision making process is long overdue. This writer recalls how once Minister Karu Jayasuriya sufficiently evidenced womens' non-participation in politics - "I believe what women cannot stand in all the slander they may have to face," he said. True enough and there's no better example than the President herself - often the victim of gender abuse. Keeping women cloistered within the social role cast on her despite giant academic strides will only shrink socio economic growth - particularly so when half the population are women. |
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