Violence against women cuts across class, age and ethnicity in SL

Violence against women cuts across class, age and ethnicity. According to a study of the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) Colombo, published in the Daily Mirror of 12^th March  2013, 83% of women in the estate sector are victims  male  violence. 57 % of garment workers face sexual violence at the work place. 11% of returnee migrants are sexually abused said Rohini Weerasinghe, Executive Director, Kantha Shakthi.  She exposed that this study reveals that 62%  of female industrial workers unwanted sexual advances at the work place at some point in their lives. Several studies and our experiences point out that domestic violence is also quite high in Sri Lanka. An island wide  survey conducted by the centers of the Legal Aid Commission  found that 43% of the female commuters in public transport  underwent sexual harassment, Ms. Weerasinghe noted.  

Raising voices in public for rights

She further added as follows. Women shine in a number of professions such as education, law, medicine, architecture, accountancy, management, administration, information technology and so on. In the area of aesthetics, women have outstanding achievements as dancers, musicians, creative writers, actresses and artists. Despite the successes mentioned above, the growing misogyny in Sri Lankan society during the last several years poses great threat to women’s security of life, bodily integrity, freedom and overall well being. Hatred of women is everywhere- in the hallowed halls of Parliament, public places, community and village, media and society at large. Violence against women is  not an individual issue, nor an issue of women only, but a economic, political and social problem which should be addressed in  all its varied  dimensions. Although Sri Lanka gained universal franchise in 1931, women’s representation in Parliament has not exceeded 5% . This is the lowest in South Asia. The corresponding representation in Nepal is 33% and Bangladesh 19.7%. Women’s representation in local government is abysmally low , being less than 1% in pradesheeya sabas. Compare this with Panchayaths in India where thousands of women representatives work hard to get   water, healthcare,sanitation and transport  to their communities.

Rohini Weerasinghe

Kantha Shakthi

Women make 52%  of Sri Lanka’s population. They shoulder the vital sectors of the economy with tea, garment and remittances as migrant workers in West Asia. Women’s contribution to food production, being not less than 50% , is  highly significant  as in so many other countries in the developing world  and they thus feed the nation along with male agricultural producers. Women are busy and actively engaged in numerous cottage and small industries, trades and micro enterprises in the informal sector. They perform socially necessary, but  unpaid and under- valued  labour  in the domestic sphere by up keeping the family. In educational attainment, women in Sri Lanka have the highest place in South Asia. Their  fertility rate is  the lowest in the region.

 A few months ago inside the Parliament, a senior male MP threw lewd, sexist remarks at a fellow woman Parliamentarian. The former Chief Justice, (CJ 43) the first woman to hold that position was also subjected to humiliation by a group of male politicians inside the same citadel of democracy. We witness a phenomenal increase in all forms of violence against women and girls over the last several years. According to data of Sri Lanka Police, 15 women are raped every day.  86% of the females raped are girls below the age of 16 years. Serial killings of 15women in Kahawatta from  July 2008 to October 2012   reached the climax of crime against women. But it was not all, according to media reports, isolated centres of rape had existed in  Noori  in Deraniyagala for a long time. A senior Minister, addressing a workshop on gender based violence organized by Health Ministry in collaboration with the World Health Organization, at Hotel Galadari, Colombo said “Women employees come under sexual harassment of their peers, fellow employees, colleagues, and senior officers. At some institutions , female employee cannot get her promotion, pay increase, transfer or even leave without paying sexual gratuity to a senior officer”- quoted in Daily Mirror, page 4 on 31.7.2013.

Staging protests against violence

Data  gathered by  VERITE’ Research points to the ‘glass ceiling’ obstructing   women from  climbing to the top rung in both public and private sector employment, despite their qualifications and ability. Research by World Bank and a number of other institutions also reveal that unemployment is twice as high for women as that for men, particularly for young women between 20-30 years. This is partly due to lack of right kind of vocational skills. Traditional gender norms have prevented young women from accessing employable vocational skills and apprenticeships. Even when women want to venture into enterprising vocations, the social and cultural milieu is not women friendly. Traditional gender norms continue to impose on women that household work is their priority. Lack of supportive services to households/ families is a major problem faced by women in Sri Lanka. Many women are compelled to leave employment to take care of children and the  elderly.  Women continue going through  ‘double day’ and psycho- social studies show that the stress due to overwork takes a heavy toll on their physical and mental health and well being. Well equipped and professionally managed child care services and community based centres for the elderly and supportive services for households are urgent priorities for women in this country.

Technology has opened   new ways of sexual exploitation of women. Wide availability of pornography, free and easy porno in the mobile phone have made women and girls and even female babies vulnerable to sexual violence. For capitalism everything is money and profit and the system’s trading in women’s body is nothing new; only the global expansion of this trading is new. Today women’s fashions are a profitable and fashionable industry. What do some fashions do to the ‘human person’ in  woman?  Fashion is thriving on the bodily privacy and integrity of woman- ‘the human being’, leading to the degradation of the entire female sex. There other problems faced by women as well and these have to be seen and addressed in the current socio- economic- political context. Women in the North and East continue to suffer the consequences of the war and the militarization of the region.The economic policies have resulted in rapid inflation thus making the mass of women unable to make ends meet.  Politicisation of state institutions such as the Police, breakdown of rule of law, interference with the independence of the judiciary and the prevailing impunity, militarization of society, has resulted in the violation of women’s human rights, and resulted in delay and denial of justice. National machinery on women had been ineffective throughout the last decade. Amendments to the penal code in 1995 have been inactive for the last 12 years. Domestic Violence Act of 2005 is not implemented.

The country has ratified 4 major International Covenants which have relevance to women’s rights and advancement. None of these have been implemented. Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) which is the most comprehensive women’s rights convention, if implemented, can make a vast improvements in the lives of women in Sri Lanka. In this regard let me remind the theme of the UN for International Women’s Day in 2013, ‘ A promise is a promise; time for action to end violence against women’.  And I would like to add ‘recognize women’s right to equal dignity and , freedom as human beings’.