A case for empowering women and youth

Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa has made the very pertinent point that more women and youth need to be represented in the legislatures of this region and his statement should be a talking point in knowledgeable circles if we are serious about enhancing democratization and ushering in more people’s empowerment. The Speaker was addressing the 5th Conference of SAARC Speakers and Parliamentarians in New Delhi; a most appropriate forum for raising an issue of this kind.

The issue of increasing the representation of women and youth in our legislatures is not unfamiliar in this country. It has a tendency to be a focal issue of discussion now and then but it could be argued that nothing of a very substantive nature has been done over the years to increase the presence of our women and youth in our prime law-making body. This is a pity because representation in Parliament is a yardstick of a group’s degree of empowerment in society. To the degree to which a group is poorly represented in Parliament, to the same extent would it be weak and ineffective.

It is most appropriate, therefore, for those holding high office in Sri Lanka to raise this question of adequate Parliamentary representation for our more vulnerable groups, because the issue should not only be kept alive but be debated with a view to doing something concrete in the direction of empowering them. As is well known, women constitute well over 50 percent of our population but our number of women Parliamentarians is woefully inadequate. Likewise, young persons are growing in number among us but the number of young Lankan lawmakers is comparatively small. The old continue to outnumber the young among this country’s law makers.

What all this boils down to is that these groups are relatively powerless in Sri Lankan society. As said before, to the extent to which a social segment could be represented in Parliament and help shape legislation to further its legitimate interests, to that degree would its well being be looked after. To the degree to which it lacks representation in Parliament, to the same extent would it be powerless.

Comparatively, our youth have received more attention than local women in terms of remedial measures to these problems. For instance, a Youth Commission, consisting of eminent persons, was appointed in the early nineties, to probe youth issues and to propound the necessary remedial measures to these problems, in the wake of the second Southern failed bloody youth uprising. It was as a consequence, that legislation was subsequently brought in to make provision for a measure of youth representation in Parliament.

It is an open question whether these measures have proved effective but the current administration under President Mahinda Rajapaksa has considered it fit to establish a separate ministry for Youth Affairs and this is a measure of the fact that a lot remains to be achieved by way of alleviating the problems of our youth. Unemployment in particular is of the first importance and the state needs to be complimented on ushering programmes on skills development and vocational training for particularly school leavers and we urge the sustenance of these efforts.

However, on the issue of acceptable youth representation in Parliament, it needs to be pointed out that adequate provision must be made for not only persons under 40 years of age to have a presence in our legislature but for the more disadvantaged youth to have a say in the shaping of legislation as well. This means that money, wealth, social status and other like factors, which have little or nothing to do with a person’s intrinsic worth, should cease to be important in the selection of candidates by political parties to run for Parliament. This would ensure better representation of the problems of our youth in Parliament.

On the question of empowering women, not only do we need measures that would ensure more sizeable women’s representation in Parliament, but this segment should be encouraged more and more to take an active part in public affairs. Right now, numerous factors militate against this essential requirement. It is vitally important that there is wide recognition of the essential dignity of women in this country. If this is achieved, their empowerment would not be hard to establish. There is a need to gradually do away with repressive patriarchal structures that hamper the growth of women. On the other hand, unqualified respect for womankind will be a stepping stone to ensuring their complete effectiveness.