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Gender Equality Bill final draft to Prez within this month

12 Sep 2022

  • Plan to increase female participation in politics to 30%
  • Quota to be allocated for women in P’ment
By Mirudhula Thambiah   The final draft of the gender equality and women empowerment policy in Sri Lanka, upon which the long-awaited Gender Equality Bill will be based, is expected to be submitted to President Ranil Wickremesinghe by the end of September, The Morning learnt. The main goal of this policy would be to increase female representation in politics to 30% and to provide a permanent quota for female representation in parliament, which is only 5.3% at present, until that target is achieved, sources from the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs told The Morning yesterday (11). When contacted, Women Parliamentarians’ Caucus Chairperson Dr. Sudharshini Fernandopulle told The Morning that a preliminary draft of the policy initiated by the caucus on gender equality and women’s empowerment was taken into discussion last week. “In Sri Lanka, we have achieved gender equality in certain aspects. Although we have the power of education, women related issues seem to prevail. There are more girls than boys entering universities, but this fact is not reflected in formal employment statistics,” she said. Dr. Fenandopulle further said women at decision-making levels are few and far between, and there are issues affecting gender equality, and as a result, this policy was drafted. The Bill on Gender Equality will be prepared based on the draft policy. “Since it is in the draft stage, it is too early to mention whether there will be any opposition, but the policy should be circulated to obtain concurrence from civil society and women representatives. We have approval at the highest level – the President is very committed and he has submitted a Cabinet memorandum on the need to draft a bill. Gender-based violence is also relatively quite high,” she said. She went on to mention that this Bill would ensure the representation of the women in society, who make up 52% of the population.  “This underrepresentation has remained the same from the day we achieved universal suffrage, and has not increased beyond that. This would be a point of importance in our draft bill. We made representations to other relevant committees. We are asking to maintain a gender balance of 30-70%.  “Right now, women still have less opportunities to enter politics. There isn’t female representation in the nomination boards of some political parties. The key party positions are very often not held by women. They are usually in the women’s wing of the party. We want women to hold main positions in political parties. Provide opportunities to women who are interested to enter the stream of politics,” she said. “Currently, women are afforded the opportunity to enter politics only if a male in their family dies. This is the only time a woman gets the chance to contest elections. This chance is also given because there is a readymade voter base – that is the only reason why party leaders provide such opportunities,” she said.  “This is why we are determined to pass this Bill. We want women also to gain opportunities to contest. If they want to engage in politics, they must be given the opportunity. We are not asking for a permanent quota, but until this error is rectified I believe that a quota should be allocated. Our final aim is to provide women equal opportunities to request nominations and contest at elections,” Dr. Fernandopulle noted. Accordingly, recommendations to the draft Bill includes the establishment of a “National Women’s Commission”. This will hold the mandate of providing leadership on legal and policy reforms, while monitoring and implementing laws relating to women’s rights and gender equality. Proposals also highlighted the appointment of an ombudswoman to deal with gender issues and expedite cases relating to violence against women and children.


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