Comments on: A perennial struggle: Women’s political representation in Sri Lanka

By: Geetha lakmini

Geetha lakmini — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 06:53:36 +0000

I am the secretary of National fisheries Solidarity movement and I too responsible for the gender and development work together with relevant training withing the movement.I wrote my thesis in 1992 for the university Political participation of women in Srilanka.I got fast job as a gender and development officer at Sanasa education campus and train lot relevant field and now representing APWLD net work in Asia ans IPC net work in World.This information is very much used full for my work and like to join and contribute for above field with my knowledge and the experiences.

By: ordinary lankan

ordinary lankan — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 15:04:32 +0000

Cannot disagree with you Belle – but remember we are talking ab a Govt that has taken tokenism and deceptive facades to unprecedented heights.

the proponents of this issue have themselves admitted there is a need for fresh thinking – because previous approaches have fallen by the way side – I would like to see that fresh thinking come out –

By: Belle

Belle — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 07:29:51 +0000

Ordinary Lankan,

“In her video Chulani said that one of her objectives is to secure the quota irrespective of the quality of representation. This opens the door to tokenistic conformity. It must be recognized that we are deeply concerned about the quality of representation (by both men and women) rather than a mere formal equality.”

Actually it isn’t tokenistic. Given that the area of political representation would be new to women, you can’t expect high quality from the get-go (unless they come from the political families), though you will probably get a lot of sincerity and hard work. They need time and opportunities to build on that experience. Chulani understands that people have to start somewhere. This is how affirmative action works.

By: ordinary lankan

ordinary lankan — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 05:55:56 +0000

Two more points

Just as women have a right to participate in politics – they also have a right not to participate – and not to be pushed by academics and other activists who have themselves chosen not to take part in politics directly.

Secondly – and this is a point that emereges from developmental psychology and the advances in science – theory of relativity etc. There are no men and women. Only the patterns of relationships they create. From this standpoint we must focus on the quality of relationships between man and woman – to treat either as static entities would to be get fooled by our own construction.

It is not that these points are foreign to feminism. They KNOW these things – but in SL they seem to be short on application.

best wishes

By: ordinary lankan

ordinary lankan — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 06:45:04 +0000

How can you make this relevant?

A democracy assumes a functional public realm; and a functional public realm assumes a functional private realm. The content of our character is defined by many things but a key influence is close relationships.

So my point is that the excessive use of reason you rely on for this issue (for example 52% are women and they have 2% representation, etc etc) is flawed because it fails to engage with the realities of the social realm.

Gender remains a terribly misunderstood concept – I suspect because those who promote gender equality (like many intellectuals who seek to promote human rights, democracy etc) have only a strong rational (as oppposed to a rational cum emotional) engagement with it. The sinhala words for gender are “shtree purusha samajabavaya” and for stereotyping (gathanugathika charyavan saha gathi pevathum”. Gender discrimination is an implicit reality but when we try to discuss it we get stuck.

One problem is that it is human nature to discriminate and gender is one of the most deep rooted forms. The challenge is to weave this thread into the whole fabric – to contextualize your point by promoting a balanced perspective rather than simply pushing the gender point.

In her video Chulani said that one of her objectives is to secure the quota irrespective of the quality of representation. This opens the door to tokenistic conformity. It must be recognized that we are deeply concerned about the quality of representation (by both men and women) rather than a mere formal equality.

You also overlook the major problem that we as a society have collectively forgotten the art of using legal and policy reforms for the public good. starting with the constitution legal changes are simply tools used by special interest groups to notch up a symbolic victory on paper. Reality does not matter because we all live in a make believe state where we fight for some narrow corner and are satisfied with narrow victories.

we need to move below the political level – work at the level of kantha sanvardana samithi where the poor are making a valiant effort to get on their own feet and seek changes at the interpersonal level first

By: Samanthi Gunawardana

Samanthi Gunawardana — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 22:10:03 +0000

It was interesting that this excellent documentary began with a man setting the scene and framing the context – sounds familiar no?! Nonetheless, this is a timely reminder about the abysmal level of women’s presence in political leadership. Sadly, this translates to all areas of leadership, from trade unions to corporations. Despite women in high ranking positions (President), we have not seen broader inclusion of women in various political processes.
As the documentary shows, women are committed and vital participants in the ‘unofficial’political processes but face barriers to institutional positions. In a 2005 report Prof Amrita Basu found that across South Asia, as individuals, women were relied upon by the major political parties, but were not addressed as a group that had faced discrimination (see http://www.unrisd.org/publications/opgp5).
What is striking about Sri Lanka is that there are vibrant provincial and national level women’s movements or networks that have worked tirelessly outside the more formal political processes. They’ve worked on broad issues such as war and reconciliation, workers rights and other human rights issues.
However, as Kumudini Samuel and Chulani Kodikaranoted noted in recent interviews on Groundviews, this participation does not translate into access to politics, even within progressive left parties.
I remember very vividly a conversation I had with a trade unionist and lifelong socialist who was committed to mobilizing more women for better working conditions in BOI workplaces. I had asked him to introduce me to some women leaders in the trade union movement. He laughed and told me, “It will be like finding the mythical tree in the mythical forest!” Yet, I found women workers informally worked together in the factories to better their working conditions and utilized whatever avenues were open to them to solve their grievances (via worker’s councils, going to a trade union or NGO, writing anonymous letters to management, speaking back to lower order supervisors, staging walk outs etc).
I also found that a common refrain from political parties and other groups like trade unions when asked why there wasn’t more women involved in their leadership, was that while women might be found in rank and file or committee positions, it was the women themselves that did not come forward (e.g ‘women are shy’ ‘women are not interested in politics’ ‘women can’t come to meetings or stay late because of their family duties’). Such convenient gendered attitudes must also change. As the women in this documentary show, Sri Lankan women from all walks of life are interested in politics, they are not shy and they can make the time to better their communities.

By: Samanthi Gunawardana

Samanthi Gunawardana — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 22:07:40 +0000

It was interesting that this excellent documentary began with a man setting the scene and framing the context – sounds familiar no?! Nonetheless, this is a timely reminder about the abysmal level of women’s presence in political leadership. Sadly, this translates to all areas of leadership, from trade unions to corporations. Despite women in high ranking positions (President), we have not seen broader inclusion of women in various political processes.
As the documentary shows, women are committed and vital participants in the ‘unofficial’political processes but face barriers to institutional positions. In a 2005 report Prof Amrita Basu found that across South Asia, as individuals, women were relied upon by the major political parties, but were not addressed as a group that had faced discrimination (see http://www.unrisd.org/publications/opgp5).
What is striking about Sri Lanka is that there are vibrant provincial and national level women’s movements or networks that have worked tirelessly outside the more formal political processes. They’ve worked on broad issues such as war and reconciliation, workers rights and other human rights issues.
However, as Kumudini Samuel and Chulani Kodikaranoted noted in recent interviews on Groundviews, this participation does not translate into access to politics, even within progressive left parties.
I remember very vividly a conversation I had with a trade unionist and lifelong socialist who was committed to mobilizing more women for better working conditions in BOI workplaces. I had asked him to introduce me to some women leaders in the trade union movement. He laughed and told me, “It will be like finding the mythical tree in the mythical forest!” Yet, when I found women workers informally worked together in the factories to better their working conditions and utilized whatever avenues were open to them to solve their grievances (via worker’s councils, going to a trade union or NGO, writing anonymous letters to management, speaking back to lower order supervisors, staging walk outs etc).
I also found a common retrain from political parties and other groups like trade unions when asked why there wasn’t more women involved in their leadership was that while women might be found in rank and file or committee positions, it was the women themselves that did not come forward (e.g ‘women are shy’ ‘women are not interested in politics’ ‘women can’t come to meetings or stay late because of their family duties’). Such convenient gendered attitudes must also change. As the women in this documentary show, Sri Lankan women from all walks of life are interested in politics, they are not shy and they can make the time to better their communities.