A two-day workshop on Advocacy Strategies was held on the 9th and 10th of June 2010 in Colombo for women who are expecting to contest the local government elections. It was part of a series of workshops, the aim of which is to increase women’s political representation by 20% at the local government level. 30 … Continue reading Workshop on Advocacy Strategies

WMC felicitated the 13 female Members of Parliament elected to the 7th Parliament of Sri Lanka from the 2010 Parliamentary Election. Minister of Child Development & Women’s Affairs Tissa Karaliyadde was Chief Guest at the event. Those felicitated included Sumedha Jayasena, Nirupama Rajapakse, Sudarshani Fernandopulle, Rosy Senanayake, Malani Fonseka, Kamala Ranatunga, Thalatha Atukorale, Sriyani Wijewickrama, … Continue reading Felicitation ceremony for the women MPs of the 7th Parliament

Recently, the Women and Media Collective facilitated a consultation meeting on the CEDAW Shadow Report at CENWOR, on the 03rd of August 2009. The meeting was attended by over 50 participants from WMC’s network organizations based inColomboand the Suburbs. At the meeting, the chapters compiled under the 2002-2009 Shadow Report were presented and discussed. An … Continue reading Consultation meeting (2010) on the CEDAW Shadow Report

WMC organized an extensive media campaign in order to raise awareness about the limited representation of women in the Sri Lankan political arena and to increase women’s participation at the 2010 Parliamentary Election. Newspaper advertisementswere published in leading Sinhala, Tamil and English language newspapers highlighting the fact that although 52% of the country’s population consists of … Continue reading Media Campaign for increasing women’s participation at the 2010 Parliamentary Election

WMC held its 6th annual film festival from 24th to 27th of March, 2010 as part of International Women’s Day celebrations. It was held at the Namel Malini Punchi theater, with screenings at 3pm and 6pm. The following films were screened: Dor (Hindi) by Nagesh Kukunoor, Frida (English) by Julie Taymor, The Lost City (English) … Continue reading WMC Film Festival 2010

A media briefing was held on the 17th of February 2010 where all party representatives addressed the media on issues related to women’s representation at elections and in particular about increasing the number of women nominations for the upcoming parliamentary election. Some of the speakers at the event included Western Provincial Council MPs Ashoka Lankathilake … Continue reading Media Briefing on Increasing Women’s Participation at the 2010 Parliamentary Election

In Sri Lanka women constitute less than 6% of Parliament, 5% of Provincial Councils and 2% in Local Councils. These statistics are the lowest in South Asia and Sri Lanka is the only country in the region without a quota for women in Local Councils. One of the main reasons for such low representation has … Continue reading Nominations and Votes for Women

WMC and 30 other women’s organizations from around the country participated at the Women’s Convention on the 7th and 8th of January 2010, The Convention which was held in Colombo was used as a platform to discuss women’s concerns within the current political context of the country.