You’ve come a long way, lady

Ishara JAYAWARDANE

“In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.”
~ Eleanor Roosevelt ~

International Women's Day fell last week on March 8 . A woman is a creature that has captured the imagination of men throughout human history. Countless poems have been written about her. In literature she has been given pride of place like no other man. In many ancient societies she has been revered and on many instances been given the status of a goddess.

Way back in history during the 12th century B.C. one of the greatest wars in history was fought over one woman – the beautiful Helen of Troy. The famous Helen who eloped with Prince Paris of Troy. And on her account, on the account of one woman, Troy defended their gates against the soldiers of Greece and eventually burned. An entire war fought over one woman who had betrayed her husband Menelaus of Sparta.

We know that in ancient Sri Lanka women enjoyed a dominant place in society but what is the situation now? To find out the present situation, Daily News spoke to Senior Lecturer in Sociology University of Colombo, Dr. Subhangi, M.K. Herath. “Now in Sri Lanka, we don’t have such a strong feminist movement unlike in some other countries.

If you look at the female feminist movement in the Philippines, it is very strong. Even in India there is a strong feminist movement. But In Sri Lanka we have never had a very strong feminist movement. But there have been groups who talk for the rights of women from time to time. But we cannot say that all of them took a very radical approach to change the situation women face in this society. For various reasons they were organizing themselves in mobilizing other women as well as men. Certain groups were conservative with regard to their attitudes towards women,” said Dr. Herath “They are talking about women’s rights, but when it comes to family and responsibilities of women, they have conservative ideas. Not all of them are very radical who want to change the entire social situation for women. For example, they would say that it is still important to be a mother and a wife. But you can achieve certain things. As a woman you can study, you can educate yourself, you can do a good a job, you can take the leadership, you can be politically active.

These were promoted by these groups within certain circumstances. However, they were not really organizing themselves to become a feminist movement.

But they were promoting women sharing the responsibilities or women coming into what we call a public arena.”

Traditional societies

“If you go back to very traditional societies women were in the forefront of the society. Women were involved in economic activities because women were never dependant. Public and private spheres were not totally separated amongst the traditional women because they were actively involved in social activities. Even in sports at certain times, during the new year, women were also involved. And they were taking the leadership in certain social activities such as marriages and social and cultural ceremonies that were taking place in the village. So somehow I think with the Victorian ideologies, there was a change taking place because with the colonialism, we changed from a caste society into a class society.”

Under colonialism we changed from a caste society to a class society and those who became the upper class were not the same people who were at the top in the caste society. So men and women who got opportunities for English education and employment opportunities under the colonial rule became the upper class. Although they became elite women they were more or less controlled by the Victorian norms that came from the West, mainly from England. However, we have to give credit to colonial rulers for educating women.

Women’s education

But women’s education was totally based on the colonial Victorian ideologies about women. To become elitist women, they had to know certain things. They were supposed to be capable of entertaining their husbands, guests and friends. Arithmetic was important to maintain the household budget. Music was important; British history was important for them to be involved in the discussion.

There were certain requirements for that social class.“But one good thing that happened was that although they were psychologically shaped by the colonial thinking, they were also fighting for some rights. So during this period women’s franchise movement had started.

They were fighting for their rights and to be eligible for voting. This is where women could make a clear contribution to changing the position of women in the country.”

There was a group of Sri Lankan elitist women who organized themselves and who prepared a letter which was taken to England by a lady called Agnes De Silva. And the women’s movement in England also faced a lot of hardships. Some women were imprisoned. Women’s parades were attacked, women were beaten up. They got their voting rights only in 1927. And in 1931 Sri Lankan women got it without much effort so that is a very important juncture.

Actually it was only the elitist women who were working for women’s rights. However, women workers were also organized under the leftist movement. And like in any other part of the world they were fighting for workers rights as a whole, for men and women, not only women.

At the beginning in other countries also the socialist feminist movement started in order to support overall socialist movement .“They believed that achieving workers rights doesn’t mean that working women also get the same rights. Achieving workers rights very often means working men’s rights. Working women’s rights is a different thing because women are doubly oppressed. When they finish their work at the work place and come home they have to start their working day again.”

They could be beaten up by their drunken husbands when they come home after work. And they could be psychologically harassed. It was thought that they could go through any amount of harassment, pain and subordination because they are women. Not only because they are workers. They call it double oppression of women. This issue was taken up much later by the Socialist Feminist Movement. But at the beginning under the labor party movement in Sri Lanka we don’t see that women worked for working women’s rights specifically. But they were organized. After getting the women’s franchise there were many activities that were taking place.

“One is the development of the Mahila Samithi movement. Mahila Samithi is perhaps the first women only organization in Sri Lanka. But Mahila Samithi was doing a great contribution in promoting women’s activism at the grass root level. Because Mahila Samithi branches were formed in almost every village. Women were organizing themselves under Mahila Samithi. They had their annual exhibition/ sessions where they could exhibit their talents. They could earn an income through this and they could become popular, they could also develop their non economic extra activities outside home. Women entered politics through this.

This is a very important movement which brought women out of home and organized them at the grass root level and finally at the national level. When you look at it in a different way, Mahila Samithi was an attempt to maintain traditional ideals of womanhood on one hand and also bring women out of home and provide them an opportunity to develop and exhibit their skills and talents. So maintaining the traditional womanhood on one hand and making the woman a social person on the other hand.

That is why some people comment on Mahila Samithi as a conservative feminist movement. Like the conservative feminist movement that emerged through the church in the West.”

Overburdening women

“But on the other hand we are overburdening women. We are not asking the family to share the work between the man and the woman and the other members in the family; we are asking the woman to complete all the tasks in the family.

That is why I call Mahila Samithi to a certain extent a conservative feminist movement. Somebody might say:‘why do women want to come out of the household?’ My simple answer for that is : ‘woman is also a human being.

Woman also has humanly constructed aspirations’ All humans are social beings and they need a society, so women also need a society. Not only living in that limited scope of a household. They also have social aspirations. Women also have talents. So there should be a society open for them to accomplish their targets and aspirations.

New era of HOPE

Rupa Banduwardena

In early times the education did not expand beyond the narrow boundaries of the temple. That too was confined mainly to the male population who had close contact with the temple. The deep rooted history shows that Indian influence was seen in every aspect as the history and tradition in Sri Lanka is said to begin with the arrival of Buddhism from India. The Indian society too, did not give prominence to females except during the time of living Buddha. Sri Lankan women too remained the same due to the disregard shown to them in early times. The belief then, was that the woman's place was the house. They were considered as the weaker sex and confined to the four walls of the kitchen. So the saying goes and this became a topic for later debating teams in schools.

The door to the outer world was closed to them and also education of any kind was denied. Household work was entirely left to be handled by them. How many chores did she have to attend to at home? One cannot estimate the hard work gone through to mould the future of the then young girl.

There was a lot to be done to bring them to the level of mothers. They were lagging behind the rest with regard to their education which was non existent, health and living conditions. There was no solution or quick steps to overcome any of these ills, drawbacks or disadvantages. This had to be attended to gradually.

Transition

However, with the advent of western powers the conditions changed for the better. Their way of government paved the way for women to come to the fore-front in society. During this era the girls got the opportunity for schooling and spontaneously acquire vital skills and improve habits and talents.

To start with they attended schools only up to the primary level as the parents felt that it was more than sufficient if they could read and write. The western system of education, especially during British era provided them with an ideal opportunity to develop a well balanced personality. The mission at the moment was to educate the future mother by giving them a sense of dignity, responsibility and leadership to conquer the new changing world without losing our good old traditions. More so, to enable the future mother to lead the offspring through the correct path. Also, the proper education of the mother had a definite bearing on this worthy task and the social and political conditions of the country.

The realization of the dream of getting a better place became a success with the opening of several educational institutions for girls.

These laid the foundation for the upbringing of the correct women with perfect discipline and superior performance. Over the years, women entered a new era.

New Era

The attainment of Independence in 1948 contributed towards their march to success. The future woman to be was forging ahead with the commencement of educational facilities giving prominence to English. This enabled the girls of the day to find a place in society towards a hopeful future, giving them more refinement as it is always the mothers who cracked their brains tirelessly, for the benefit of the children.

The cream of the intelligentsia were benefited by the towering symbol of education set up during the immediate post Independence era. It was none other than the University of Ceylon whose “fundamental task was to produce educated men and women.” Today it remains a precious heritage in Sri Lankan education holding a pre-eminent place.

It was by all means the greatest blessing for those girls who worked hard to gain admission and the very word inspired them towards a new era of hope and happiness. There was great enthusiasm and awareness about the significance of the University studies and their future careers. Then there was the Civil Service Examination (CCS) begun during the colonial era later named SLAS for those best performers to hold the top most positions in the administration of the country and this no doubt provided the intelligent women with best career opportunities. Unlike today, as it was an era that modern technology and hightech facilities were unheard of, it offered the best for everyone including the fair sex.

The present day women have proved to be a great asset to the country holding responsible positions in all professions. They have been able to adjust and change continuously in keeping with the changing social and economic conditions.

In this fast moving world with changing globalisation where emphasis on knowledge based society reigns supreme the role of the present woman is a clear indication of her excellent performance to humanity.