By Naveed Rozais
Women’s rights are human’s rights. This was the view shared at the landmark World Conference on Women held in Beijing 25 years ago. The 25 ensuing years have seen great strides in the field of women, but for each step forward, we take two steps back.
Sri Lanka has taken many measures to promote gender equality and has achieved gender parity or near-parity in education and health through the introduction of free health and educational services. However, many challenges remain in addressing gender equality and ensuring women and girls can have a life of dignity and respect. Only 34% of Sri Lanka women are a part of the workforce, and out of Sri Lanka’s 225 Members of Parliament, only 13 are women. Women also need to be entitled to equal pay.
The need for the Women’s Wellbeing Survey (WWS) was highlighted in 2016 when Sri Lanka collected its first set of national data on the prevalence of violence against women as part of the 2016 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS). The limited number of questions in the survey’s domestic violence module found that the rate of intimate partner violence faced by women was concerning and needed further research through a dedicated survey.
Responding to this need, in 2019, the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) launched the WWS, the first dedicated national prevalence survey on violence against women in Sri Lanka. The WWS is also the first survey of its kind in Sri Lankan to use the World Health Organisation (WHO) methodology. The WWS covered all 25 districts in Sri Lanka and interviewed more than 2,200 women aged 15 and above. Fieldwork took place between March and September 2019, collecting data through computer-assisted personal interviews.
The findings of the WWS, released this week, revealed that women in Sri Lanka are more than twice as likely to have experienced physical violence by a partner (17.4% of all women experienced this in their lifetime) than by a non-partner (7.2% experienced this since age 15).
Partner sexual violence is also more prevalent than non-partner sexual violence, although the gap for this is not as large as for physical violence. 24.9% of women have experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence; 18.8% of women who have been in a relationship have experienced some form of physical and/or sexual violence by their intimate partner in their lifetime.
In light of this, The Morning Brunch spoke with DCS Director General Dr. I.R. Bandara, who shared that the WWS was the successful result of years of collaborative effort. “The fieldwork of the survey was done in 2019, and data processing and report writing was done after that. Other than a brief interruption because of the 2019 Easter attacks, there were no delays. We completed the work as planned. During the pandemic, our officers continued their work from home by connecting through virtual platforms like Zoom,” Dr. Bandara said.
Now that the WWS has been published and shares a comprehensive look at the issues facing women and their physical and emotional health, focus now moves on to what happens next. Dr. Bandara commented that the WWS was conducted to gauge a specific need.
“The WWS is no annual survey. It depends on the requirement of the Government. After publishing the report, we hope to launch it for the relevant officers to take action. Our partner, the UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund), will support us in arranging this,” Dr. Bandara added.
(The complete Women’s Wellbeing Survey 2019 can ve viewed on the Department of Census and Statisitcs website at www.statistics.gov.lk/Resource/refference/WWS_2019_Final_Report)
The need for the Women’s Wellbeing Survey (WWS) was highlighted in 2016 when Sri Lanka collected its first set of national data on the prevalence of violence against women as part of the 2016 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS). The limited number of questions in the survey’s domestic violence module found that the rate of intimate partner violence faced by women was concerning and needed further research through a dedicated survey.
Responding to this need, in 2019, the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) launched the WWS, the first dedicated national prevalence survey on violence against women in Sri Lanka. The WWS is also the first survey of its kind in Sri Lankan to use the World Health Organisation (WHO) methodology. The WWS covered all 25 districts in Sri Lanka and interviewed more than 2,200 women aged 15 and above. Fieldwork took place between March and September 2019, collecting data through computer-assisted personal interviews.
The findings of the WWS, released this week, revealed that women in Sri Lanka are more than twice as likely to have experienced physical violence by a partner (17.4% of all women experienced this in their lifetime) than by a non-partner (7.2% experienced this since age 15).
Partner sexual violence is also more prevalent than non-partner sexual violence, although the gap for this is not as large as for physical violence. 24.9% of women have experienced physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence; 18.8% of women who have been in a relationship have experienced some form of physical and/or sexual violence by their intimate partner in their lifetime.
In light of this, The Morning Brunch spoke with DCS Director General Dr. I.R. Bandara, who shared that the WWS was the successful result of years of collaborative effort. “The fieldwork of the survey was done in 2019, and data processing and report writing was done after that. Other than a brief interruption because of the 2019 Easter attacks, there were no delays. We completed the work as planned. During the pandemic, our officers continued their work from home by connecting through virtual platforms like Zoom,” Dr. Bandara said.
Now that the WWS has been published and shares a comprehensive look at the issues facing women and their physical and emotional health, focus now moves on to what happens next. Dr. Bandara commented that the WWS was conducted to gauge a specific need.
“The WWS is no annual survey. It depends on the requirement of the Government. After publishing the report, we hope to launch it for the relevant officers to take action. Our partner, the UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund), will support us in arranging this,” Dr. Bandara added.
(The complete Women’s Wellbeing Survey 2019 can ve viewed on the Department of Census and Statisitcs website at www.statistics.gov.lk/Resource/refference/WWS_2019_Final_Report)