SRI LANKA
UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY 23RD SPECIAL SESSION
STATEMENT
MRS. MANEL ABEYSEKERA
CHAIRPERSON
NATIONAL COMMITTEE ON WOMEN
SRI LANKA
AT
THE GENERAL DEBATE
OF THE SPECIAL SESSION
OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
WOMEN 2000: GENDER EQUALITY, DEVELOPMENT AND
PEACE FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
5-9 June 2000, United Nations, New York
Mr. President, Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates,
Sri Lanka is happy to participate in this Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on Women, perhaps significantly the first in the new millennium, especially as we have done so in all such Conferences for a quarter of a century, since the first in 1975.
Mr. President, women in Sri Lanka, have had historically and culturally a role of significance and importance in society, beginning, of course, with the basic unit of society - the family. In fact, our history reveals that we have had a fair gender balance, with Sri Lankan women enjoying a high degree of equality, visibility and decision making in the home and in the society. It would appear that, during our colonial era from the 16 to the mid-20th century, we came under the influence of the conservatism and puritanism characteristic of European society of the time. However, since re-gaining our Independence we have endeavoured to redress the balance. In this context, I am happy to state that the present leadership of Sri Lanka is in the hands of a women leader,
President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga who led us into this new millennium with her re-election recently for a second consecutive term as President of the Republic; and that Prime Minister Sirimavo R. D. Bandaranaike, who is Prime Minister for the third time, in her illustrious political career, had the singular distinction of being the world's first woman Prime Minister and Head of Government. It was because of this distinction she conferred on women, and the inspiration she gave them, that she was invited by the United Nations to deliver the Keynote Address to the first UN World Conference on Women in Mexico City in 1975, which set in motion the UN Decade on Women and its successive World Conferences of which we are participants of the fifth here today.
Mr. President, I would like to highlight here some information on the Status of Women of Sri Lanka to indicate both its positive and negative aspects:
i. Women are more than half the population.
ii. We have a Woman President, a Woman Prime Minister and a Woman Minister of Women's Affairs.
Iii. Women provide the key financial inputs into the economy when we consider the agriculture sector, the plantation sector, the migrant workers' remittances and the garment sector.
iv. Women received the vote in 1931 together with the men.
for boys) and the outnumber boys in several University Faculties, the unemployment rate for women is 17.5% as compared with 6.4% for men.
vi. Although women are politically conscious, the proportion of women who participate in active politics is low. Women are poorly represented in Parliament and therefore there is concern that their issues are inadequately voiced.
a) In the 1994 parliamentary elections, out of a total of 1,410 candidates, 550 (i.e. 3.9%) were women. Of these, 11 women were elected to a total of 225 seats.
b) In 1980 only 2 out of 90 Ministers of all ranks (Cabinet, Deputy, District, State and those of non-Cabinet rank) were women and in 1994 the ratio was 7 of a total of 54 with only 2 out of 22 Cabinet Ministers and 5 out of 30 Deputy Ministers being women. Currently there are 2 Ministers and 3 Deputy Ministers.
c) At Provincial level, women contesting 7 Provincial Council elections in 1999 were 198 (5.3%) and out of the total elected, 11(3%) were women.
d) At Local Government level, the percentage of women elected declined from 2.9% in 1991 to 2.3% in 1997 (Municipal Councils), from 2.5% to 1 % (Urban Councils) and from 1.6% to 1 (Pradeshiya Sabhas).
vii. Women Senior Officials and Managers in all major occupational groups were 0.9% in 1997 and that of professional women 10.0%.
viii. In the higher echelons of the Public Service, at policy making levels, there is only 1 at Secretary level out of a total of 32 (3.1%), 21 at Additional Secretary level out of 59 (35.6%) and 8 at Heads of Department level out of 73 (10.9%).
ix. At Universities there is only 01 woman Chancellor out of 12, 01 Vice Chancellor out of 12, no women Registrars, 07 out of 51 Deans and 38 out of 202 Heads of Department.
x. While there are more women than men employed in the Health and Education Services, only 1/10th of the Engineering and Technical posts are occupied by women.
xi. While our infant mortality rate is quite low, at 17 per 1000, consequent on the State-sponsored free health care that has existed for several decades we are faced with the problem of underweight babies mainly caused by malnutrition during pregnancy.
xii. Despite far reaching amendments to our Penal Code since 1995, to include sexual harassment within its ambit and to enhance penalties for such crimes such as rape, violence against women continues in both the domestic and public spheres.
Mr. President, this picture of gender imbalance is not unique to Sri Lanka and we need to ask ourselves why this is so, if we are to advance the status of women. If one accepts the principle that all human beings are equal in terms of their rights, one wonders how the unequal bias against women came about. I venture to think that, in the early development of humankind, sheer physical strength was required for the very existence of human beings battling with the elements and with other live creatures. Here, man would certainly have scored over woman and became the procurer and the protector -venturing forth and taking initiatives and action to provide food, clothing and shelter as well as protection to his own. In such a scenario, the woman would perhaps have generally remained indoors fulfilling her biological role of child bearing and child rearing. However, in the course of time, when living conditions, amenities and facilities improved, it became clear that, though both men and women enjoyed them, they did not necessarily do so on equal terms. Patriarchy had entrenched itself in society and in the minds of men and even of women. History has become "His Story" and not hers as well. But when terrible times fell upon humankind such as World Wars, women were called upon to perform tasks and duties outside the home which were hitherto regarded as being within the male sphere and, at the end of the wars, women were expected to go back to the confines of the home. This gave rise to the protest movements which found an echo in many countries where women came forward to agitate on issues that concerned them -not merely on gender discrimination but also on national issues such as, in our part of the world, the elimination of colonialism.
Thus, it is not surprising that the cause of women's equality - they being half and more of the population of States - became a concern of the United Nations which we must thank for keeping it in focus over a quarter of a century.
What we need to ask ourselves is, how far has this focus resulted in eliminating discrimination against women and how far have we come as we meet together in this forum dedicated to the cause of women? We have to admit that the path we have trod has not been easy - it has been uphill and beset with many obstacles, but we have advanced; yet, perhaps not far enough.
The question then arises as to what more we should do to achieve gender equality and equity. There are many things we can and we should do. In the short time allocated to me, I would like to share with you a few thoughts in this regard.
1) If we want to achieve anything for society, we must have acceptance of what we are trying to achieve and a change of attitude to bring it about. In other words, change can come through the minds of human beings - thoughts and ideas giving rise to positive action. This must start with the individual man and woman, reach out into the community, then the nation and finally to the whole international community.
2) We must accept women's equality and equity as a human right - we cannot accept any group of persons - and certainly not half the population of the world -being marginalised in terms of their rights.
Sri Lanka prides itself on being a democracy and our Constitution enshrines the principle of equality and non-discrimination.
3) If women are to be equal, it implies a sharing role for both men. and women whether it be in the home or outside it, in being both decision makers of policies as well as beneficiaries of them in all spheres of activity from socioeconomic to political and to peace making, conflict resolution and peace keeping.
4) Gender equality and balance cannot be promoted piecemeal: it must be approached holistically through gender mainstreaming in every sphere of life.
5) All our States need our people to work towards a better life for us all. Can we do that without the involvement of half our populations, our women, and without harnessing their talents, capacity and capabilities? Can we have true development, which must be for humankind, without involving half of it? Perhaps the reason for our not having progressed in development as much as we should have, may well be that we have not, by and large, involved women in the process. Research has established that societies which have developed are those in which the status of women is advanced.
6) Women must be permitted to do what they wish to attempt in terms of activity outside the home. They must do so voluntarily - there should be no stereotype for women whether as wives and mothers - a vital and highly respected role - or as working women and career women combining both roles. What needs to be removed are barriers confining women to the home and those preventing them advancing to a position of equality with men both within and without the home. We need to have policies and mechanisms to achieve gender mainstreaming and gender balance but, no amount of contrivances are going to help the process if they lack the moving spirit of sincerity, with - as the documentation for this meeting stresses - men supporting women in the task. Even if all the mechanisms recommended are to be put in place, we would not, I feel, advance the cause of women if we are not sincere about it - especially the men - and the women too convinced of it. The advancement of women
starts with the recognition by the women themselves of their self-worth and their potential. Women must not be regarded as inferiors, to be battered and treated as sex objects or merchandise and women must not accept such treatment: they must think positive and act positive.
7) Violence in whatever form is unacceptable in civilized society. The victims of violence are often women and children. Violence - from domestic violence to terrorism and armed conflict - has been a major deterrent to the advancement and empowerment of women. This is the ugly situation - terrorism -that prevails in Sri Lanka today and the concern over which has prevented our women leaders from being present at this Conference. It is incumbent on us all -men, women and the international community to eradicate the scourge of all forms of violence from the face of the earth, not only for the sake of the advancement of women but also for the dignity and worth of all human beings.
8) Women must discuss all issues confronting them not only with women -the convinced and the converted - as often is the case, but also with men who must assist in the process of gender mainstreaming. The day we stop talking about women's issues will be the day of gender equality and equity.
Let us therefore, at this Special Session of the UN - Women 2000. Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the 21st Century, re-dedicate ourselves to sincerity of effort in a cause that simply cannot be ignored if humanity is to progress, and accept a new paradigm of shared male and female styles of leadership, responsibility and action for the good of all.
We, in Sri Lanka, will continue to work for the advancement of women while maintaining our cultural and religious heritage of valuing the family which is the microcosm and nucleus of society in which gender balance can go a long way to achieving gender equality and equity resulting in a healthy and happy nation.
We are committed in terms of the Beijing Platform for Action based on which we have a National Plan of Action for 2001-2005, when we hope that, as the Political Declaration submitted to this Conference envisages, there will be a review of national and international action, and we hope that the outcome document and others of this Conference would give us further material and ideas for achieving our common goal. I wish our deliberations at this Conference success and hope that all of us will be able to take away from it much inspiration and new initiatives on how we may further the cause of gender equality and equity. For, without it Mr. President, I do not think we can have true development and peace in the 21st century which is our tripartite goal as the theme itself of our Conference indicates.
Thank you, Mr. President.