Photo by Mia Abeyawardene
Women in Sri Lanka shun participating in politics for numerous reasons including hostility, harassment, threats, intimidation, violence and personal attacks on all fronts. While women consist 52 percent of the country’s population and 56 percent of the total voters, their representation in parliament is a meagre 5.8 percent consisting of 12 women out of 225 MPs. In the 2024 presidential election, there was not a single woman candidate among the 38 candidates.
In an attempt to redress this imbalance and encourage women to enter politics, a 25 percent quota for women in local government bodies was introduced in 2016. The impact of the quota was evident in the 2018 local government elections where women’s representation surged from two percent to 29 percent. This increase highlighted the effectiveness of affirmative action policies in enhancing women’s political participation.
In order to assess the impact of the quota system, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems commissioned a study funded by the Australian government, which found that while the numbers of women increased, the quota did not address entrenched gender inequalities within the political system, lack of democracy within political parties and general bias against women in society. However, the quota broke the glass ceiling for women to get elected to local government.
The study noted that that women councillors developed strategies to deal with the rigid and abusive structures including by forming cross party alliances.
The increase of women in local government bodies throughout the country showed a significant positive impact in areas such as sanitation, environment conservation, maintenance of maternity centres and library services, it said.
In Sri Lanka, politics is still viewed as a man’s domain and women are not seen as political leaders. However, these attitudes are changing. A case in point is the Batticaloa District where women’s representation in local government rose to 21 percent after the quota system was introduced.
The traditional leaders and male politicians were compelled to change their attitudes towards women and welcome them rather than opposing. The sea change has come about because there are more Muslim women attending universities around the country where they interact with people of all communities and are exposed to different ideas and cultures. They are moving away from traditional women’s jobs such as teaching and seeking employment in private sector companies and government service and also foreign jobs. In Batticaloa, several high ranking government administrative posts are held by Muslim women, acting as role models for young women.
“Men’s attitudes are changing. Progressive Islamic leaders are preaching about how Islam has given freedom and rights to women. Islam has given rights but they were denied by men. Now they are giving opportunities to their daughters and wives. Madrasas are also more progressive and teaching the children how to live in a multi-ethnic country like Sri Lanka. There are scholars who are expressing progressive thoughts about Islam and how to live with other cultures. The youth are learning a lot and they like to mingle with other communities. That’s a definite change,” said Aneesa Firthous, founder of the Islamic Women’s Association for Research and Empowerment (IWARE), which has been empowering women to participate in politics with awareness raising and capacity building programmes for many years.
However, a study carried out by IWARE to assess the impact of the quota system showed that the increased number of women councillors does not necessarily reflect in the decision making positions in the councils. In the Batticaloa District, only two women were in key positions and there were just 53 women in the 12 councils consisting of 146 councillors.
Faizul Maha is a 22 year old student at the Southeastern University in Oluvil, in her second year of studying political science. A first time voter, she is also contesting the local government elections from Kattankudy. At first Faizul faced resistance from her family and community when she wanted to go into politics but now they have come around and are supportive. She was encouraged by her friends and decided to take the opportunity the 25 percent quota had given her.
“My area is very poor and backward. It’s on the edge of Kattankudy. There are only few schools so we need more facilities and a library. There are drainage issues and waste management issues. There’s no proper water, drainage or sewage management. When there are floods the water mixes with dirt on the road and people get skin diseases and rashes,” she pointed out.
“I go from house to house campaigning and meeting people. I meet the family. I am not afraid to meet men. Men accept me as leader and talk about economic difficulties. I go on to the stage and speak,’ she said, adding that she sees a change in society where women are freer and more accepted as leaders.
While 30 percent of women have entered politics as their own choice, about 70 percent of them have been forced by political parties or communities in order to meet the quota. Some of them, who had come at the demand of the communities, are now interested in politics and community service and actively engage in their role, the IWARE study found.
The local government election in 2018 broke the history of influence of the family political background, where majority of the women engaged in this election have no family political background or influence. It has proved women’s ability to become politicians not as a daughter or wife of a politician. Most of them have clearly stated that they are fully supported by their family members particularly by their husbands and parents, the IWARE study revealed.
“We found out that the women had certain issues where they could not function properly although they had expectations to do more work. Also there was verbal harassment by the male members in the councils,” Aneesa said.
“Even when meeting the media they were not given opportunity to speak, so they felt like they are underrepresented. But after capacity building sessions, we found them more energetic, more enthusiastic and most of them were encouraged to go for the second term,” Aneesa said.
The capacity building sessions included gender budgeting, how to face media, how to speak in public and the roles and responsibilities of a council member and the functions of councils.
“Earlier if there was a political campaign, you can see only men. Now you see women attending the meetings. There is an eagerness to learn. They will also be more inclined to go and vote. Maybe earlier they would not bother to go and vote or they were told who to vote for by the male member of the family. But now it’s not like that. The husband could be supporting one party and the wife another,” Aneesa pointed out.