Protection for the weak and democracy

The past few months alone would have proved the degree to which the lives of Lankan women and children are greatly imperiled. We would not be wrong in saying that these categories of humans are proving to be the most vulnerable among us. To the extent to which this proposition is true, to the same degree is the dignity of women and children grossly violated locally.

It is with unsettling regularity that the lives of women and children have even been snuffed-out in this country and we hope the necessary statistics in this regard are being maintained by the authorities because they are of vital importance when it comes to initiating remedial action to stem the scourges in question. However, it is with immense relief that the sensitive and socially-conscious sections among us are likely to welcome the news that the Child Development and Women's Affairs Ministry will be launching Children and Women's Units countrywide to stem violence and other forms of abuse against our women and children. It is our hope that this long overdue project would prove absolutely beneficial to the targeted sections of our populace.

The increasing vulnerability of women and children needs to be pondered on very deeply by the state and all civic-conscious sections. If this has been happening over the years, it is because women and children are being rendered increasingly powerless in relation to the adult male segment of the local population. In other words, the power relations in local society are weighted strongly against women and children.

It is this strong imbalance in the relations of power that needs to be rectified. Essentially, it is the progressive empowerment of our vulnerable sections that needs to be achieved. While installing the necessary law and order machinery to check the multifarious abuses against women and children is the right way to go, it is the increasing democratization of the Lankan polity that would shift the local power balance decisively in favour of our women and children.

It goes without saying that this is a long term project which would take some time to bear fruit. Nevertheless, the project should be given serious thought and implemented to the best of our ability. Put simply, the empowerment of women and children must be speeded-up and the relations of power within society changed progressively in their favour.

Unfortunately, we live in a strongly adult male-dominated world and the structures that make this possible are deeply entrenched. This entrenchment has been happening over the centuries and diminishing their presence is not going to prove easy, but it is an essential undertaking if the vulnerable among us are to be endowed with the capability to protect themselves against inimical forces.

It needs to be stressed that it is the quality of local democracy that would bring about the empowerment or otherwise of the weak. This would seem a very befuddling pronouncement to make considering that Universal Adult Franchise has been operational in this country for decades. However, it is an open question whether vulnerable groups, such as women, have benefited fully from this measure, which is, of course, an asset of the first importance.

Apparently, the vote alone would not do. Women in increasing numbers must take to politics and run for public office. They must have a strong presence in the legislature, for instance, if their essential interests are to be looked after. In the absence of this factor their needs would be neglected, resulting in their vulnerability. This is the reason why the local democratic structure must be constantly modified to permit weaker sections to have a decisive voice in it. This is just one factor which would impart more quality to democracy.

Accordingly, we cannot be satisfied with simply possessing the vote. More must be done to ensure that the local democratic system is increasingly representational. That is, it must be made to ensure that the voice and will of weaker sections are more tangible within it. This is the prized objective the local polity must work towards.