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Importance of being a Sri Lankan Woman

Women: International Women's Day (March 8) is symbolic of the struggle for equality, justice, peace and development of women around the world. From early 20th century women from developed countries have celebrated different days in March as Women's Day until the UN recognized 8th March in 1975 as the International Women's day.

In Sri Lanka, the struggle of women and on behalf of women to be given equal and deserving opportunities in life is still only partly realized. The following remarkable achievements could be listed.

1. Women enjoy equality in universal adult franchise since 1931.

2. According to the Census conducted in July 2002 (other than in the North and East) there are more women in Sri Lanka than men, 52% to be exact.

3. In law and medical colleges, female students out-number men

4. Sri Lanka produced the first Woman Prime Minister and the first woman UN Under Secretary General in South Asia.

These few statistics show that the status of female child has changed in Sri Lanka and is bound to undergo even more radical changes in the coming years. But still, as we see it, women have a long way to go to liberate themselves to be equally influential and be instruments of history before we can say we have a society where all human beings could be deemed equal.

I think it was Dante who said Mother and the Mother Country are the two most revered things in human life. I am rather sceptical of reverence of motherhood rhetorically and then only to relegate the mothers to bear and rear children and attend to the needs of the Husbands and Fathers.

All those hosannas paid to the mothers have not elevated women from the white slavery of unpaid housework and paved their entry into the discussion chambers of governance as equal citizens.

We know that the few tradition-bound and romantic among these women would continue to enjoy the subservient role. As long as the majority of women continue to think in that manner, Sri Lanka will remain economically backward, for after all as the Department of Census has stated the women form the majority in this country.

Let us forget the rhetorics of lovely motherhood. Both Religion and History in my view has conspired to make women the subservient gender. Look at the great religions of the world, which had moulded the different civilizations.

Who founded them? Gauthama the Buddha, Jesus the Christ, Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) Zoroastor, Confucias, the great Siva and Vishnu, Bahadulla of Bahai religion. Is there something common to these great religious leaders? I think you guessed, they were all men.

We will tell a story from the Buddha's life where he consoled a distraught king Kosala when he heard that King Kosala's queen had given birth to a baby girl. "Don't be disheartened oh King.

Your daughter is bound to beget a son who will be a Chakrawarty" again the Motherhood. Of course Buddha compared the journey to Nibbana to a chariot ride where both men and women can equally travel and establish the Bhikkuni order and thousands of women attained Arahanthood...

What about history? History is all about men. The single most important determinant of human political history had been war. The wars determine the fate of countries and who our heroes are.

We talk of Dutugemunu, Vijayabahu, Parakramabahu, or going to world history we talk of Julius Caesar, Alexander, Napoleon, Hitler, Winston Churchil and General Giap and so on. These warriors made and unmade countries at will.

War, religion and history have relegated women to a secondary human group. Perhaps one may argue that women given the chance could be more successful than men. We may mention how Boadecia trampled the Roman Legions or how Mary Tudor and her Sister Elizabeth the First hoodwinked the Spaniards or how Lady Godivia rode naked to bring down the taxes.

Or we may take from modern history and show how Iron lady Thatcher defeated the Argentineans, Golda Meier the Arabs and Indira Gandhi, the Pakistanis. But these are exceptions.

In South Asia all women who ascended to power were propelled by the sympathy vote of the death of their husbands or fathers, Indira Ghandi, Benazir Bhutto, Kalida Zia, Sheik Hasssin. Aung San Suki or Megawathy or Gloria Macapagal and Cory Aquino, and our own Mother and daughter Bandaranaikes combination. They were all women of pure destiny.

Coming to Sri Lanka we are a unique nation where men live on the sweat of women. We are not talking about the unpaid domestic work that women do by looking after the children and their husbands. They earn a major portion of our foreign exchange.

First comes the Foreign Domestic Employment, Legal and Illegal. According to the Labour Department statistics 1.5 million workers are employed abroad and remitted Rs 198 billion in 2005. 85% of these workers are women. Social and sexual harassment that these women undergo to send this money has been documented. The stories are pathetic.

Then the absence of mothers from homes have destroyed many households. Abuse and incest had become rampant according to newspaper reports.

In the second and third place, in foreign exchange earnings are garments and tea exports where women play the key role.

Women in Sri Lanka form the majority and earn the major share of foreign exchange. But the representation level in Parliament is less than 5%. On this International Women's Day let all Men and Women resolve to change this.

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Substantial equality as the bedrock of justice

Justice Shiranee Tilakawardana

justice: In a country where women constitute more than 50 % of the population it is incumbent upon the State to make policy and provide the opportunity and mandate to make laws more responsive to the realities of women's lives. A review of women's constitutionally entrenched rights conveys the disparity between legal theory and social and sexual practice.

The provisions of the Constitution that claims to equality and equal life, liberty and security of the person are presently at variance with women's everyday fear of assault, fear in the assault, and fears of the response of the criminal justice system to the assault.

The Constitutionally guaranteed equality of rights should be used to interpret, support, and possibly change the laws, which seek to shelter women from the sexual violence they experience and fear.

In formulating the content of theses rights and applying them in the context of women's disproportionate sexual victimization, we members of the legal fraternity are reminded of the challenge and necessity of including women fully in the field of constitutional protections, of recognizing women specific realities as equally meritorious, and fashioning gender inclusive norms of justice.

The rise in sexual violence is thus the proof and practice of the gender inequality, which exists in our society. Sexual violence is sex based discrimination and it illustrates one way in which gender hierarchy and power imbalance is maintained. Sexual violence against women participates, at a core level, in maintaining women's disadvantaged social situation.

It is simultaneously part cause and part effect. Studies have revealed that women who participate within the legal paradigm and justice system as elsewhere experience gender bias.

Gender bias can be defined as behaviour or decision-making by participants in the justice system which is based on or reveals stereotypical attitudes about the nature and roles of men and women, or of their relative worth, rather than being based upon an independent valuation of individual liberty, life experience and aspirations.

Gender bias also arises out of myths and misconceptions about the social and economic realities encountered by both sexes. Gender bias is reflected not only in actions of individuals, but also in cultural traditions and in institutional practices.

To the extent that lawmakers themselves labour under certain biased attitudes and myths and misconceptions about women and men, the law itself can be said to be characterized by gender bias.

As a result of gender bias in the laws, and in the application and interpretation of laws, women are not always treated fairly by the justice system. To the extent that the justice system suffers from gender bias, the system fails in its primary responsibility to deliver justice impartially.

As a consequence, the administration of justice as a whole suffers and in the resulting alienation from the justice system, the legitimacy of the system itself is brought into question.

The values reflected in a system of administration of justice are indicative of the values of the society in which that system operates.

The treatment of women by the justice system reflects the treatment of women in the society in general. Gender bias in a legal system is reflection of gender bias in the larger society.

The society from which our current system of justice is derived was very much a male dominated society. As long as an exclusively male perspective on the world characterized society at large, then it was to be expected that the legal system reflect and express this male perspective. As our society adopts a more balanced perspective, these changes must be reflected in the system of administration of justice.

The achievement of gender equality in the justice system must be an explicit goal in the administration of justice. Gender equality can be said to exist when all personal and cultural bias about gender is absent from the operation of the justice system. Only then can we speak of equality of women and men before and under the law.

In a case where the inequality in treatment of children was recognized, in Sheila Barse V. Secretary, Children's Aid Society, the Petitioner complained about the state of affairs in an observation home for children.

While issuing directions to the State of Maharashta, the Supreme Court held that the international instruments, which had been ratified by India and elucidated norms for the protection of children, cast an obligation on the State to implement their principles. The Court said:

The meaning and content of the fundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution of India are of sufficient amplitude to encompass all the facts of gender equality including prevention of sexual harassment or abuse. Independence of Judiciary forms a part of our constitutional scheme.

The international conventions and norms are to be read into them in the absence of enacted domestic law occupying the field when there is no inconsistency between them.

It is now an accepted rule of judicial construction that regard must be had to international conventions and norms for construing domestic law when there is no inconsistency between them and there is a void in the domestic law.

Incorporating these standards, which are universal and accepted by all strata of a civilized and sensitive society would be a beginning of the social change that must inevitably follow including change in attitudes.

Substantive equality, where the system disadvantages are accommodated by the judicial system, should be the loadstar that must guide us in the course that steers towards the ideal standards of equality of women, men and children safeguarded in our Constitution.

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Human Rights: Dr. Radika Coomaraswamy, Chairperson, Human Rights Commission, UN special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict was interviewed by Daily News Legal Aid page.

Ms. Coomaraswamy, a lawyer by training and currently Chairperson of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission, is an internationally known human rights advocate who has done outstanding work as Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women (1994-2003).

In her reports to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, she has written on violence in the family, violence in the community, violence against women during armed conflict and the problem of international trafficking. A strong advocate on women's rights, she has intervened on behalf of countless women throughout the world seeking clarification from Governments in cases involving violence against women.

Ms. Coomaraswamy was appointed Chairperson of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission in May 2003. She is also the Director of the International Centre for Ethnic Studies in Colombo.

She is a member of the Global Faculty of the New York University School of Law and teaches a summer course at New College Oxford University every July. She has published widely, including two books on constitutional law and numerous articles on ethnic studies and the status of women.

Question - 01

Prior to your high appointment as a UN Under Secretary General you also worked as a special Rapporteur for the UN Human Rights Commission at Geneva on Violence against Women. What are your main findings?

Answer

The main findings were that violence against women is a worldwide phenomenon and that it cuts across all groups regardless of nationality, religion, ethnic group, caste or class.

However in the last decade practically every country has started to do something about this phenomenon, whether by passing domestic violence legislation, setting up special police desks, training the police force, setting up shelters for women, raising awareness among health professionals or conducting consciousness raising classes among women themselves.

Despite all this, the situation on the ground has not changed very much and WHO statistics seem to imply that this violence is still very endemic.

Question - 02

Can you as a leading international Human Rights Activist tell us what steps should be taken to strengthen the Gender Equality?

Answer

First there must be constitutional provisions and statutory provisions that entrench the standards of the Convention on the Elimination of Violence Against Women in the legal framework of the country. We have still not done that despite promises by successive governments.

We should have a specialized Commission whose purpose is to look into complaints of discrimination, to lobby for gender sensitive practices in society and to raise awareness about gender equality. Finally whether in the home or the workplace, we must create a culture of respect for everyone regardless of gender.

Question - 03

To be more personal, when did you get first interested in Human Rights Activities?

Answer

I was a student in the United States and I became involved in the Anti-Vietnam War Movement and the Civil Rights Movement that fought for equality for Black Americans. The sixties and seventies were exciting times in the west though now the same places have become right wing and conservative.

Question - 04

What were your achievements as the first woman Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission in Sri Lanka?

Answer

It is for others to say what our achievements are. I think some of our relatively successful programmes have been the Zero Tolerance Policy on Torture, the special unit to assist Tsunami victims called the Disaster Relief Monitoring Unit, our reports on the Eastern Province and Child soldiers, our special unit on the rights of the Internally Displaced, our "surprise" visit programme which visits and monitors jails, prisons, children's homes, psychiatric homes and women's homes and our special programmes for women migrant workers and people with disabilities.

We have also set up a special Committee for the North and the East to look at human rights issues resulting from violations of the Ceasefire. These are some areas of work.

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Domestic Violence Act No. 34 of 2005

Question

* What is an 'act of domestic violence'?

Answer

It is an tact of physical abuse or emotional abuse occurring between persons who stand to each other within certain degrees of relationship recognized under the prevention of Domestic violence Act No. 34 of 2005.

Question

* What relief can be obtained under the Act?

Answer

A person against whom an act of domestic violence has been committed or a person who expects that such an act will be committed (a victim), can apply to a Magistrate's Court to obtain a Protection Order prohibiting the person who is causing violence or is likely to cause violence, (the aggressor) from committing or causing the commission of an act of domestic violence.

The Protection Order can also impose other prohibitions on the aggressor to ensure the safety of the victim. The court can also make Supplementary Orders to provide for the safety, health and welfare of the victim. Relief can be sought against the aggressor, whether man or woman and irrespective of the age.

Question

* What are the acts of physical abuse against which relief can be sought?

Answer

Acts which mount to offences under Chapter XVI of the Penal Code (which deals with offences affecting the human body) and Criminal intimidation (Section 483 of the Penal Code) and extortion (section 372 of the Penal Code), are recognized as physical abuse under the Domestic Violence Act.

Chapter XVI offences include hurt, grievous hurt, culpable homicide, murder, wrongful restraint or confinement, force, assault, sexual harassment, rape and incest.

Question

* What are the acts of emotional abuse against which relief can be sought?

Answer

Emotional abuse is defined in the Act as a "pattern of cruel, inhuman, degrading or humiliating conduct of a serious nature directed towards a victims". Emotional abuse is not known to the criminal law.

It should be noted that a single act of cruelty or offensive conduct will not be recognized as amounting to emotional abuse. There should be a pattern of offensive conduct which is of a serious nature.

Question

Who can make an application for a Protection Order?

Answer

Where the victim of abuse is an adult - The victim can make an application or a Police Officer can make an application on behalf of the victim.

When the victim is a child (under 18 years) - a parent or guardian, or a person with whom the child resides, or a person authorized by the National Child Protection Authority or a Police Officer, can make an application on behalf of the child.

Question

* Who are the persons against whom relief can be sought?

Answer

A spouse, ex-spouse or co-habiting partner of the victim, as well as ascendants (father, mother, grandparent stepfather/mother, aunt, uncle), descendants (son, dauther, grandson/daughter stepson/daughter, niece/nephew) and collaterals (brother, sister, cousin) of the victim or of the spouse, former spouse or cohabiting partner of the victim.

The Act refers to such a person as a "relevant person". When an application is made to court for a Protection Order, the relevant person against whom relief is sought becomes a 'respondent'.

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LAC Centre at Bandarawela Courts

The Legal Aid Commission would open its 21st centre at the Bandarawela Courts on March 5 on the invitation of the Bandarawela Lawyers' Association. LAC Chairman, S.S. Wijeratne and the Director General, Justice Hector S. Yapa and the President of the Bar Association of Bandarawela, K. Anton Peiris would participate at the opening ceremony.

The opening ceremony would be followed by the Lawyers Training Programme in which lectures on writ jurisdiction of the provincial High Courts, injunction and alternative dispute settlement methods would be discussed.

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