There’s something fundamentally wrong with Sri Lankan society. Despite thousands of years of women in leadership positions, our culture continues to prevent women from achieving even a semblance of equality. It’s time for a radical change in this culture, through the establishment of a National Gender Equality Authority.  Queen Kuveni was Sri Lanka’s first monarch, head of State, and head of Government in written history. That was 2,500 years ago. No fuss. Accepted by everyone.  Fast forward to today, where an outcry is raging about the Fundamental Rights case filed by a group of male police officers versus the country’s lone female DIG. Coincidentally, in another case currently before the Court of Appeal, a group of eminent cricket administrators are calling for radical reform of Sri Lanka Cricket, and one point they have made is that there are no women on the SLC Board, despite women’s cricket being controlled by SLC.  We will not comment on the ongoing police case before the Supreme Court, as Sri Lankan law prohibits us from commenting. However, this case demonstrates the need for drastic reform in the structure and the psychology of the Sri Lanka Police Department, and in fact throughout Sri Lanka’s state and private sectors. We take a look at the situation of women in police departments and traditional men’s occupations in some of the more progressive nations of the world.   A long history of women leaders    Sri Lanka is not an outlier among nations in accepting and in fact welcoming the leadership of women. Apart from the fabled Queen Kuveni, we had Queen Anula in the 1st Century BC, Queen Sivali in the 1st Century AD, and Queen Chattagahaka Jantu in the 5th Century AD, all of whom ruled in Anuradhapura; Queen Lilavati in the 12-13 Centuries AD, and Queen Kalyanavati in the 13th Century AD, both in Polonnaruwa. The ascension of Sirimavo Bandaranaike as the first woman head of Government in the world through popular vote in 1960 created distinction for our country. Yet today, women are still fighting institutionalised discrimination across an enormous number of institutions.    Women in the labour force    Sri Lanka’s economy would crumble overnight if not for the work of our women. Our labour force is replete with examples of women playing instrumental roles in the largest and most important sectors of the country’s economy. The apparel industry and the tea industry rely on women; so traditionally has the rice industry.  Our economy would also have collapsed decades ago if not for the enormous amount of foreign exchange sent back by our female domestic workers in the Middle East, Singapore, Hong Kong and other countries.    Fundamental right to equality    The right to equality is enshrined in our Constitution. Yet, this right is too often ignored and withheld by the very structure and nature of our institutions. It’s not a matter of a few men’s personal bigotry towards women. It’s an organised set of rules and regulations in many institutions, which patriarchal men thumb their noses at the constitution. Sri Lanka does not fare well in global indices of women’s equality. The Women’s Workplace Equality Index assessed women's equality in the nations. While women's disparities remain globally, policymakers in many nations recognise the cost and take action. Women are subject to a number of factors from the underlying circumstances to social expectations to their access to work and economic opportunities. The World Bank Women, Business, and Law study 2018 outlines seven ways current laws can prevent the work of women.  -   Top 10 countries are Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Spain, Mexico, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the UK, Lithuania, Iceland, and Latvia. All the top countries have a minimum score of 90 out of 100 in protecting women’s access to institutions and use of property.  -   Sri Lanka was global ranked 110 out of 189 countries, with a score of an abysmal 61.5    Separate and unequal    Women entered the Police department decades ago. But sexual discrimination was institutionalised by placing them in a different stream with far fewer career prospects. In progressive nations, women are allowed to compete with men in police forces.  Sri Lanka, on the other hand, created posts of WPC, WSI, WIP, WASP, WSP, WSSP. Technically, there are no posts for WDIG and WIGP, so women cannot go further than a handful of WSP and WSSP posts. The men simply felt threatened, and didn’t want to compete with women!  Yet Sri Lanka’s policewomen have long been on the frontlines of law enforcement, playing roles in the civil war, facing down mobs of demonstrators in the streets, etc. Women in the police are also important to dealing with domestic and sexual abuse, trafficking in human beings, and other ongoing issues that affect mainly women and children.    Discouraged by society    In Sri Lanka today, women graduates outnumber the men, proving that in our country women are more talented academically than men. Graduates are expected to gather work experience and slide into leadership roles in the public and private sector. Yet there has been little headway made in this regard. The variety of reasons why they don't includes cultural and social factors which are based on chauvinism – they need to stay at home and take care of the family.  The challenges faced by women working in societies dominated by men are many. There are a number of issues facing women employed in male dominated industries including: 

• Social perceptions and assumptions about the capacity of women to lead 
• Labelling them with stereotypes like “caring mothers” or the “office housekeeper” or “housewife” 
• Lack of mentorship and opportunities for career growth 
• Sexual harassment 

  Global situation – women in Police forces in other countries    The UN Office for Drugs and Crime figures indicated that a significant gap remained in the number of men and women in the police world, with women's average representation in the police at just 15.4%. However, this is in a world where many regressive countries openly discriminate against women in all walks of life.  When women had actively participated in law enforcement at all levels and in every role, law enforcement contributed more to the society it served, and symbolised it. The significant presence of women in law enforcement increases the quality of operations, strengthens community morale, and reduces corruption. Nonetheless, in law enforcement across Asia and the Pacific, women remain chronically underrepresented. 

• In South-East Asia, the Maldives has the highest percentage of women police officers 

Women have been recognised internationally as important in fostering gender equality and improving the organisational successful use of the law enforcement system. In the recent past, many Asian countries gave their attention to the gender component.  Gender dimensions are pivotal for handling victims and the organisational capacities required by law enforcement agencies to analyse, prosecute and tackle crimes on the local and transnational level. Resistance to change of gender equality reduces somewhat as the nature of police, crime, and criminal investigations continues to change.  Most countries usually have an official quota or target between 10% and 30% for female recruitment or overall representation. The 10% quota was used for annual women's hires in some of the ASEAN countries.  A barrier towards women leaders seems to be one of the hurdles in most ASEAN countries, as most work in employee/administrative positions. The number of women who are future managers is poor due to a lack of women in operational areas. 

• Gender distribution in police departments: A regular review of the composition of the staff is essential, so that the strengths of a diverse, flexible, and adaptive workforce are developed. It is essential to identify a gender-equal workforce as enhancing the capacity of law enforcement to build confidence and legitimacy, and to fulfil mandates in fighting and preventing crime, ensuring social order, and serving communities more effectively 
• Women's participation reduces corruption: Researchers have also examined the relationship between gender and corruption based on observations that women are more altruistic and pro-social. Corruption is fundamentally opposite to altruism – it means that an individual is being called upon to provide money to support them, and it undermines the wellbeing of the person paying the bribe strictly. Women are less prone to bribery. The 2020 Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International ranks Sri Lanka at 94 among 180 countries 

Women in traditional men’s jobs in other countries 

• In the US, women comprise 5.2% of airline pilots and flight engineers, and 7.8% of aerospace engineers are women

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- The US – Combat Pilots: Women piloted aircraft as far back as the 1930s, pushing aviation borders alongside their men, as civilian and military liaisons. In the recent past, Air Force Capt. Emily Thomson was the first woman to fight with the new state of the art F-35A Lightning II.  Russia – Heavy Vehicle operators in World War II: As of the First World War, first utility vehicles were used to carry medical devices and wounded troops. Those vehicles were mostly carried and loaded by medical staff and nurses, from the fighting front. The start of the First World War marked the beginning of a women-dominated industry, while men were away at war.  Sri Lanka: Based on the National Police Commission (NPC) 2019 report, women make up just less than 10% of 83,820 members of the police force (this excludes the special task force and police support services).    History of Policewomen in Sri Lanka  1952: First women recruited  1976: Woman Sub Inspector's rank formed and two women promoted to the post  1989: Women directly appointed and enlisted as Sub Inspectors    Sri Lanka’s private sector  Bashing the police department is not enough. Take a look at the websites or annual reports of all of Sri Lanka’s blue-chip companies. Look closely at the photographs of the Board of Directors and the Senior Management Team. How many photos do you see in which there are equal numbers of women and men? Enough said.    Way forward 

• Establish a National Gender Equality Authority with powers to set and enforce minimum quotas in all state and large-scale private sector institutions, including recruitment, training, assigned positions, equal opportunities, and career progression 
• Establish or enhance the execution of system-wide gender mainstreaming policies through integrated monitoring and assessment for law enforcement and other agencies 
• Enforce statutory requirements for female officer recruitment criteria 
• Review quotas and/or expectations for women in different ranks to ensure that they are able to maximise the opportunities of women rather than restrict them 
• Focus on strengthening a national and regional network of formal or informal peers’ support and advocacy for women 
• Build infrastructure and facilities that allow more women participation, for example changing rooms, sanitation facilities to be deployed separately in all police stations or offices without restrictions 
• Raise awareness and advocacy. To enhance gender equality, we need additional budget funds and to raise awareness of the work and engagement of women peacekeepers in the police 

 

Copyright Niresh Eliatamby and Nicholas Ruwan Dias  Dr. Nicholas Ruwan Dias, BSc, MSc, PhD, and Niresh Eliatamby, LL.B., LL.M., MBA, are Managing Partners of the Ruklife Lanka Foundation (Ruklife.org), a non-profitable organisation committed to the protection of Sri Lanka’s environment. Dr. Dias is a digital architect and educationist based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He may be contacted via ruwan@cogitaro.com Eliatamby is an author and educationist based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He may be contacted via niresh@cogitaro.com