Of the 21 women who have just been elected, 19 belong to the National People’s Power (NPP); among them there are also Tamil representatives of the plantations. It is a record of female representation in a country that already had the world’s first woman at the head of a government in 1960, Sirimavo Bandaranaike. And he has just reconfirmed Harini Amarasuriya as prime minister, after her personal success of preferences in the capital.
Colombo () – For the first time in the history of Sri Lanka, female representation in Parliament exceeds 10% of those elected. After last week’s general elections, 21 women won a seat, in addition to the candidates on the national list, elected in 14 districts. The data shows a clear increase compared to only 13 (including national list candidates) who were already in Parliament after the 2020 general election.
Until this time, only 60 women in total had served in the Legislative Assembly of Sri Lanka, including Sirimavo Bandaranaike (1916-2000), the world’s first female prime minister, elected on July 21, 1960. In the last elections , 160 deputies were elected for the first time. More than 100 new deputies belong to the National People’s Power (NPP), the ruling party of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, which was victorious, winning 159 of 225 seats.
Of the 21 women elected, 19 are from the PNP, while Rohini Kaviratne and Chamindranee Kiriella are from the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB). Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya – who has just been reconfirmed – has also gone down in history for having obtained the record number of votes in Colombo and the largest number of preferences ever given to a woman. Among the elected representatives are some experienced politicians such as Rohini Kaviratne and newcomers such as Kaushalya Ariyarathne. The group includes many community organizers who have been working on crucial issues for decades, such as Samanmalee Gunasinghe. The group also includes lawyers, businesswomen and party officials, as well as professional politicians.
It is also the first time that some women parliamentarians are from the plantation community. Krishnan Kaleychelvi of the NPP from Nuwara Eliya, Ambika Samuel from Badulla and Saroja Savitri Paulraj from Matara have made history as the first women representatives of Sri Lanka’s large estates. Samuel is also the first Tamil woman to win a seat in Badulla and is recognized and admired for her activism against tea plantation owners and for bringing to light the plight of plantation communities. Savitri Paulraj is the first Tamil woman to win a seat in Matara.
Political analysts Shirantha Igalawithana and Darshika Amarasekara reminded that “only six countries have 50% or more women in one of the two Houses of Parliament.” They are Rwanda (61%), Cuba (56%), Nicaragua (54%), Andorra (50%), Mexico (50%), New Zealand (50%) and the United Arab Emirates (50%), while only 22 countries reached or exceeded 40%, of which 13 in Europe, five in Africa, four in Latin America and the Caribbean and one in Asia-Pacific. Globally, there are 21 states where women make up less than 10 percent of parliamentarians.”
“In accordance with the internationally agreed objective in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, adopted by the United Nations on September 15, 1995 (unanimously by representatives of 189 countries, ed.), regarding equality between men and women, women, balanced political participation and the sharing of power between men and women are crucial in the decision-making process,” Shirantha and Subashini said.
According to political science scholars Nalinda Jayawardena and Manilal Sugathadasa, “women’s leadership in political decision-making processes has been shown to improve the well-being of rural communities, as shown by research on the panchayats (local governments) in India. Because women demonstrate their capacity for political leadership by working beyond party lines through parliamentary women’s caucuses: in more politically combative environments, advocating for gender equality issues, such as the elimination of gender violence, parental leave and child care, retirements, gender equality laws and electoral reform. That is why female representation in Parliament is essential to express their own position on these issues.”
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