Submission of Proposals for Constitutional Reform To the expert committee to draft a new constitution December 2020 English Sinhala Tamil

The move to reform electoral systems in the country has generated a broad discussion, particularly around the participation of women in the political process. The proposed Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) electoral systems is expected to use the First Past the Post (FPTP) and Proportional Representation (PR) voting systems enabling voters with greater privilege over the … Continue reading Consultation on Gender and Electoral Systems

RECOMMENDATIONS MADE BY WOMEN’S GROUPS TO THE 20TH AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION CURRENTLY UNDER DISCUSSION Women in Sri Lanka have had the right to vote from as early as 1931, but very little opportunity to become the people’s elected political representatives—in either Parliament or in Provincial or Local Government. This fact has been highlighted worldwide … Continue reading Political Representation of Women: Ensuring 25% Increase

Source: Search for Common Ground Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe spoke at an event to mark International Women’s Day organized by the Women Parliamentarian’s Caucus in partnership with us, UNFPA, UN Women and the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office. During his speech, he pledged to increase the political participation of women by 25% at the … Continue reading Prime Minister Wickramasinghe Pledges to Increase Women Participation in Politics

Petition The establishment of an Independent Women’s Commission was first proposed by women activists and advocates as far back as 1991. Since then a number of proposals have been made by successive governments to statutorily establish such a Commission. In 2003, the United National Front government, headed by the UNP, drafted a Women’s Rights Bill. … Continue reading A New Sri Lanka for Women: establishing an Independent Women’s Commission

මීළඟ පළාත් පාලන ආයතන ජන්දය මිශ්ර ක්රමයකට පැවැත්වීමට නියමිත බැවින් පළාත් පාලන ආයතන ජන්ද විමසීම් (සංශෝධන) පනතට, ස්තී්රන්ට 25%ක ආසන වෙන්කිරීමක් සිදුකරන ලෙසට සංශෝධන ගෙන එන ලෙස දේශපාලන පක්ෂවලින් ඉල්ලා සිටීම. පළාත් සභා මැතිවරණවලදී නාමයෝජනා ලබාදීමේ දී හා ප්රසාද ආසන ලබාදීමේ දී ස්තී්ර පුරුෂ සමාජභාවීය සමතුලිතාවයකින් යුතුව ආසන වෙන්කරන මෙන් දේශපාලන පක්ෂවලින් ඉල්ලා සිටීම. දේශපාලනයේ … Continue reading දේශපාලනයේ ස්ත්‍රි නියෝජනය වැඩි කිරීම සඳහා ස්ත්‍රින්ගේ ඉල්ලීම

We at Women and Media Collective (WMC) are deeply saddened at the loss of Sunila Abeysekera, a leading human rights activist in Sri Lanka who was one of the founding members of our organization and an Honorary Director. She passed away on the 9th of September 2013 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Rest in Peace Sunila. … Continue reading WMC Mourns the Demise of Sunila Abeysekera

Women and Media Collective is deeply saddened by the sudden demise of Pearl Stephen, Founder and Director of Women’s Development Centre (WDC), Kandy. She has been working tirelessly for the past three decades for the welfare of women and girls, especially to end violence against women. The first shelter in Kandy for women victims of … Continue reading WMC condoles demise of Pearl Stephen

Joining the Dots is a research that explores the economic empowerment of women in conflict affected areas combining UNSCR 1325, CEDAW and BPFA. The research was carried out in 6 countries in the Asia Pacific region, Fiji, Aceh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan by Asia Pacific Women’s Watch, JERA International, Australia and the Women … Continue reading Joining the Dots – Exploring the economic empowerment of women in conflict affected areas

This year, Sri Lankan Trade Unions are planning to highlight the Rights of Women Workers as part of the issues that will be raised in the workers’ rallies on May 1st. A number of Trade Union women members will be raising banners and placards focusing on women workers’ rights in Sri Lanka. Image from https://www.srilankaguardian.org