Feel the pulse of Lankan women

WOMEN: A special event took place last week at the BMICH, Colombo which was very important to all Sri Lankan women. The event was a landmark in history for Sri Lankan women and a reason to celebrate. Therefore, as Sri Lankan women we should discuss it in length.

Arrangements have been made to formulate a National Plan of Action for Women. We have to discuss this and present our proposals and ideas in order to make it relevant to all Sri Lankan women.

Child Development and Women’s Empowerment Minister Sumedha G. Jayasena also stressed this point and said it is important to consult and obtain proposals and opinions before formulating the final draft.

A workshop was held last week on this five year National Plan of Action for Women. Minister Jayasena pointed out that earlier the act on domestic violence was delayed due to lack of coordination among various stakeholders and it took a long time to amend the act and pass it in Parliament.

According to her, it was the Justice Ministry which handled the bill entirely without coordinating with the Women’s Affairs Ministry which is mainly responsible for the subject.

Having or not having decision making powers plays the main role in one’s well-being. When it comes to women’s welfare, the main issue connected to this is where women stand in decision making levels.

How much power women enjoy in decision making levels in a country will tell the exact situation of women in that country.

There is no point gaining anything else for women without the power of decision making.

When women do not decide what they want and what they do not want, one cannot expect any success in ensuring women’s welfare.

Therefore, we should pay our attention to bring more women to all decision making levels in Sri Lanka especially into Parliament which has a very low representation of women (4.9 per cent) at the moment. The National Plan of Action for Women should focus its attention on this issue.

The second most important issue is violence against women physically and psychologically.

There is physical and psychological violence executed on women within families, within institutions and in public. Still Sri Lankan women do not respond promptly when they are subjected to violence because they are worried about their safety.

When it comes to marriage and dowry Sri Lankan women are much more fortunate than Indian women who are being abused, burned and killed by husbands and in-laws due to dowry related issues.

But, we cannot be satisfied with our situation because Sri Lankan culture and society are being invaded by globalisation. Foreign violence has crept into Sri Lanka freely and speedily through media and other means. Violence against women in homes, workplaces and in public places, in secret should be prevented through amending the existing law.

Violence should not be interpreted as `domestic disputes’. This should be another concern when formulating the National Plan of Action for Women.

The other main fact is consulting ordinary women from all walks of life and not only NGOs which are limited to urban areas and for women who are in certain social classes.

When consulted, such NGOs present the ideas of rich and educated women who live in Cinnamon Gardens without knowing the Sinhala language or the pulse of poor rural women.

They do not have any idea about the harassment women undergo when travelling in buses/trains because they have never travelled by public transport.

Their knowledge on other factors is the same. May be such women will present ideas of their Westernised husbands who mentally live in foreign countries and do not have an iota of knowledge on the life, cultural and religious backgrounds of ordinary women.

Therefore, it is very important to consult rural women’s organisations which represent real Sri Lankan women.

Sri Lankan women have only one advantage. It is having a female Women’s Affairs Minister who know the pulse of rural women very well and who represents one of the most rural areas of Sri Lanka.