NO LABELS: International Women’s Day 2014
If there were no division, there would be no sides to be taken. We take stances as women’s organizations, LGBT collectives, racists, classists, as men as women. We call each other names…
Gender
Who is a sex worker?
Image courtesy Global Press Journal Who is a sex worker? Is she an attractive woman with loose morals who is too lazy to find any ‘real’ work? Is she a young desperate…
Should a Muslim eat wedding cake? A note on interpellation and agency
A few days ago, at the wedding of two Sri Lankan Muslims, both of whose families hail from Mannar, families forcibly evicted from their homes by the LTTE in 1990, a married…
The niqab and the University of Moratuwa
Photograph courtesy The Agenda My name is Fathima Sahar, a first year student at the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Moratuwa. I am one of three students who are affected…
A Call for Accountability: Death of a Young Woman in Kilinochchi
On November 28, 2013 a pregnant mother from Malaiyalapuram North[1] (Malaiyalapuram) in Kilinochchi District died at Jaffna Teaching Hospital. She was 17 and 2/7 weeks pregnant at the time of her death….
Co-operatives as a means to uplift war affected women in Sri Lanka
Photo courtesy UNDP Sri Lanka (A presentation made on 16th November, 2013 at London at a meeting of Charitable Organisations working with war victims in Sri Lanka) The end of the war…
Women and children in the North: Sexual harassment, grievances and challenges
In September 2013, Watchdog travelled to the Vanni[1] and met with survivors of sexual violence, women’s rights activists and representatives of women’s groups. This report is based on information provided during interviews…
Will Logarani Be The Last Victim Of Violence Against Women?
Around 5pm on 17 October 2013, within the Jaffna municipality, one of our friends (a male youth resident of Jaffna) came to our home (a few friends were gathered there) looking very…
Women in post war reconstruction and recovery
Image courtesy IPS The aftermath of Sri Lanka’s decades of civil conflict have left, not only massive damage of physical property, both public and private, requiring extensive reconstruction but many households and…
Above the Law: Violations of Women’s Reproductive Rights in Northern Sri Lanka
Image courtesy The Social Architects This report, TSA’s fourth, outlines the findings of the organization’s September 2013 field mission on coercive contraception clinics in Kilinochchi District. In early September of this year,…
Sri Lankan men and rape: What the Sri Lankan media missed
I read with great interest this article in the Guardian about nearly quarter of men in Asia-Pacific admitting to committing rape according to a new UN study. As Sri Lanka was one…
Is this the beginning of women’s political representation in the Northern Provincial Council?
Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images The Northern Provincial Council Elections has concluded amidst various challenges. While WAN welcomes the conclusion of these elections the need for the full devolution of powers so as…
Coercive Population Control in Kilinochchi
Photo courtesy The Social Architects [Editors note: Please read by The Social Architects, which expands on this initial report and address the points made in the comments as well as in other…
Daddy: A Mad Incestuous Dance
Incest in this country has probably been always spoken about, albeit in hushed, almost reverent whispers. Curiosity has probably always led to incestuous acts among children, but then, is that something we…
‘Women’s Issues’: Shooting the messenger
Image courtesy ICRW Archives of Manushi, written by Sohaila (1983) Sri Lanka reminds one of one’s gender. To be female in a public bus is to be visually harassed (or more) and…
