Personal/Political
Photo courtesy Abdul Halik Azeez In September 2013, I lost my mother. 8 months after that, in May 2014, I lost my brother. They were significant people, in more ways than one. There…
Gender
Invictus: Stories of Resilience from Mannar and Mullaitivu
In the post-conflict narrative, there are stories that are glossed over, or never told. November 25 is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. To mark this day, travelled…
Trigger Warning
America just chose a rapist to be their president. Let that sink in. Let that properly sink in. Let’s put aside the politics, policies and international relations aside for a minute and…
Countering Sexual Harassment in the work place: Interview with Mihiri de Silva
Sexual Harassment in the work place is seen as a common occurrence. Compounding the issue is the fact that when sexual harassment victims do report such instances, they do not have a…
Sexism is on the rise
Photo courtesy the BBC Chaucer’s notorious should be safeguarded from an excessive display of sin-inducing, female flesh. It seems as if nothing has changed since the time of Adam and Eve as…
SUBMISSION ON LGBTIQ PERSONS AND TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE MECHANISMS
Photo courtesy TO THE ZONAL TASK FORCE AND THE CONSULTATION TASK FORCE FOR RECONCILIATION MECHANISMS Introduction We present this submission as individuals self-identifying as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, and Queer (LGBTIQ),…
‘Let Her Cry’ is not a male fantasy on women
Photo via Fragments A university professor named Carmen Wickramagamage has written a long article to (Let Her Cry)”. About two weeks ago, I also wrote a small write-up after watching this movie….
A Meaningful Right to Equality and Non-Discrimination: Recognising Sexual and Gender Identities
Image from 30 Years Ago In response to the call by the Public Representations Committee (PRC) for public submissions relating to proposed constitutional reforms, the following submission was made to the PRC…
Increasing Women’s Participation in Politics: Solving the Problem or Veiling It?
Featured image courtesy CEPA Celebrating a long fought victory, the Sri Lankan women’s movement was recently able to receive assurance of an increase in women’s political participation in Local Government institutions. Sri…
Deadlier than the Male
Featured image courtesy Kentridgecommon I have just read Kishani Jayasinghe’s excellent article ‘My Experience of Independence’, published in The Sunday Times ‘Plus’ of March 6, 2016. In this, she expresses her perceptions…
It’s time to rethink the feminist agenda!
Photo courtesy Hispanichorizons, via SoundCloud Today is the International Women’s Day. It is 41 years since this day came out as a result of an event the Socialist Party of America organized….
Mapping Street Harassment This Women’s Day
Featured image courtesy Streetharassmenthurts “Virtually unreported, condoned and invisibalised”. These are the words used in Women and Media Collective’s December 2015 Country Profile on Universal Access to Reproductive Rights to describe street-based…
The Quota for Women in Local Government: A pledge for parity and a parody in parliament?
Photo courtesy Women and Media Collective The theme for International Women’s Day this year is “Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step it up for Gender Equality”. A good day to reflect on the…
Of rape, killings, impunity and our Collective Amnesia
Images provided by WATCHDOG As women’s rights groups and activists mark International Women’s Day tomorrow (8th) and the month of March as ‘Dark March’[1], we hope that we can take a long,…
Urgent Need for Comprehensive Age-Appropriate Relationship Education
On the 21st of January 2016 the published ‘Wariyapola Hit by HIV’ – a news report outlining that “The Kurunegala district has the second largest number of HIV infected cases among all…
