An Uneven Playing Field: Jeevanee Kariyawasam
‘When you’re having a conversation, your message might reach four or five people. With technology acting as a mouthpiece, you can reach thousands at a time. And when you don’t see the…
Gender
An Uneven Playing Field: Rosy Senanayake
‘In the 21st century, the digital sphere nearly outweighs that of physical human interaction’ says Rosy Senanayake, who was officially appointed the first female mayor of Colombo recently. She notes that the…
An Uneven Playing Field: Jegatheeswaram Jeyachandrika
Contesting under the UNP for the Arayampathy ward in Batticaloa, Jegatheeswaram Jeyachandrika, or Meena as she is known, counts the threats she has received on her fingers. There was the time people…
LEAKED: Report of the Committee Appointed to Consider Alternatives to MMDA
was sent a copy of the Justice Saleem Marsoof (JSM) Committee report on the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA), leaked from a reliable source. Download it here. The Marsoof Committee was…
An Uneven Playing Field
The implementation of a 25% quota for women’s representation in local councils at Sri Lanka’s 2018 Local Government Election was a welcome move, and the result of years of advocacy and activism…
Women’s Groups and Activists Express Concern in Kathua Rape Case
25th April 2018 H.E. Taranjit Singh Sandhu High Commissioner High Commission of India Colombo 3. Your Excellency, The Rape and Murder of an eight-year-old in Kathua: Women’s Groups and Activists Express Concern…
Sri Lanka’s Pandemic of Sexual Violence
The recent sexual assault of tourists in Mirissa has made headlines but the only unusual aspect of the incident was that it received substantial media attention: Sri Lanka has a national pandemic…
On Sexual Harassment and the Portrayal of Women in Corporate Advertising
It certainly was a good Women’s Day this year, when I read on about two very brave women who related their experiences of sexual harassment, one in the public service sector here…
Sex and gender in the anti-Muslim riots
As the debris settles in Kandy and Ampara, Sinhala Buddhists are faced with yet another moment of reckoning: how do we change the ways in which we think about citizenship and belonging…
A Hellish Year: Misogyny in the Public Service Sector
The post itself was perfect at a glance – everything I could have imagined and more, and even stood up against my questioning nature. Regardless of the name of the position and…
Change is not Courage in a Boy’s Club
The office – a reknowned Sri Lankan company specialising in the manufacture of lingerie for worldwide brands. This was my second stint at this establishment. Previously, I worked here for almost 10…
MMDA: Groping in the dark?
Photo courtesy The long-awaited report by the ‘Justice Saleem Marsoof’ (JSM) committee that was set up to ‘consider and propose reforms to the Muslim personal law and Quazi Courts System’ delivered its…
Independent Woman
This collage examines women’s status in society, before and after colonisation. Pre-colonisation, women had a certain status (albeit never equal to a man) in society. Today, there is still a need to…
Against All Odds: Sri Lankan Women at the 70th Year of Independence
The email from Groundviews asking me to contribute to this series came on the same day that President Sirisena decided that a law prohibiting women from being involved in manufacturing, selling or…
70 Years of Independence | Vicky Shahjahan
What does it mean to be Sri Lankan? 70 years after independence, our identity is defined mostly along majoritarian lines, which can be traced back to the divisions created under British rule….