In 2016, mapped incidents of street harassment for International Women’s Day. None of these incidents had been reported to the police. Those who contributed their stories to the map recounted experiences that remained…
38-year-old Saraswathi wakes at 5.30 am to send her children to school before she heads to work. In this video, produced by Selvaraja Rajasegar of , she readies her children for school, in…
With two of my colleagues, I was on a rollercoaster last week at Sarasvathi cinema hall in Trincomalee, watching the new South Indian blockbuster film by Siva, “Visvasam” (Loyalty). No escape whatsoever…
The 16 days of Activism Against Violence Against Women, begins on the 25th of November and ends on the 10th of December, on International Human Rights Day. These 16 days of activism…
On November 28, a nonpartisan group of women (and a few supportive men) walked from Galle Face Green to the Presidential Secretariat. It was raining heavily, but the group was firm in…
“” George Orwell “.” Alexander Solzhenitsyn There is no gainsaying in condemning the current parliamentary violence. Nevertheless, our reactions to such violence—surprise and shock—imply that we think such abhorrent uncivilised behavior is…
The Indian Supreme Court’s landmark ruling sweeping a colonial-era law that criminalised same-sex sexual behavior into the dustbin of Indian history has made worldwide headlines. The credit must go, of course, first…
“If you are not in favour of legal abortion, then you are in favour of illegal abortion” Prof. Arulkumaran On October 28, 2012, Savita Halappanavar, a young Indian dentist, died in Ireland…
Many knew Asma Jahangir for her brilliance, and for the celebration of diversity that she always was. She was a beacon of hope as a dogged defender of human rights and a…
In the year 2018, the divide between online and offline worlds has become increasingly blurred. Behaviour seen in digital spaces and the language used in the dissemination of content mirrors offline practice…
Drawing on the idea that the personal is political and challenging the notion that political empowerment can be measured solely with a seat in a legislature, this article focuses on the forms…
Despite the drive for gender equality promoted at the Beijing UN World Conference on Women in 1995, the Sri Lankan State appears to have taken little responsibility for narrowing the gender gap…
Rights activists have been abducted, detained and assaulted in the pursuit of their work in Sri Lanka, both during and after the war. Even under the present government, the crackdown on the…
There has been a marked increase in female-headed households in the North and East of the country as a consequence of the war in Sri Lanka concluded in 2009. Women in Sri…
Initially, Bisliya, a women’s rights activist based in Puttalam and researching on female participation in politics, didn’t want to enter the arena herself. Her interests lay more in working to get more…
