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| Wednesday, 29 September 2004 |
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Threat to female-headed households Gender Dialogue by Nadira Gunatilleke According to Women's Empowerment and Social Welfare Ministry statistics twenty two percent of Sri Lankan families are headed by females who are the breadwinners of these families. At the moment they are subjected to all types of abuse and harassment. Therefore their voice should be heard everywhere, especially whenever decisions are being taken for the welfare of people. According to the same statistics, sectoral distribution of percentage of female-headed households shows that 23.3 percent are located in urban areas, 20 percent in the rural and 17.3 percent in the estate sector. One in every five households in Sri Lanka is headed by a female. 65 percent of female heads of households are widows. According to the survey data, the number of households below poverty level is over 50 percent. Poverty is one of the main problems faced by those women. The social stigma is another burning problem that affects female-headed households. In Sri Lankan society female-headed households are considered inauspicious and always overlooked whenever there is a special occasion, such as a wedding ceremony, new year festival etc. Still, traditional society considers widows inauspicious. Fatherless children are often ill-treated by society. Female-headed households are always under threat of rapists, womanizers and often become easy targets of criminals. Still a section of society believes that female-headed households should not exist!. It is very important to change the people's, especially men's attitude towards gender mainstreaming and gender related issues. The existing attitude towards this issue is not positive and it is one of the hardest tasks for the relevant authorities and community leaders. For example, the attitude towards female-headed households is not positive and should be corrected before implementing any type of welfare program for them. If not this unhealthy attitude will be further strengthened and female-headed households will be further harassed. Equal rights and opportunities should be granted for female-headed households. In traditional Sri Lankan society the role of the males and females are demarcated. Based on the demarcation of activity patterns a power structure among males and females was created which resulted in a more male dominant society than one with equal opportunities and rights for men and women. At the National level, although poverty does not appear to vary with gender, certain other qualitative measures indicate discriminatory behaviour towards female-headed households. For instance, in areas such as land inheritance and land rights on State land; rural women abandoned by their husbands tended to be treated as outcasts by villagers. Considering the economic hardships of these families, the relevant authorities should intervene to provide employment opportunities for these women. Support for children of this group to ensure education is required by the same authorities through provision of additional support to reduce cost of education in terms of books, uniforms and other needs. Similarly targeting of Samurdhi and other State benefits to poor female-heads needs to be strengthened. For this a divisional level information base is required to assess the magnitude of the problems. Protection issues also need strengthening to reduce harassment. |
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