Women and Media Collective held a press briefing on the 8th of September 2015 to demand for a 30% increase in women’s political representation at Local Government. Compared with the rest of South Asia, Sri Lanka is in an unfortunate position when considering women’s representation in politics.
Local Government is the first step in entering into representative politics however Sri Lanka’s representation of women in LG bodies have remained abysmally low at 2%. Subsequently this leads to poor decision making that affects our daily lives as it fails to include a woman’s perspective or address women’s concerns.
President Maithripala Sirisena has clearly stated that the government would ensure a 25% increase of women at Provincial and Local level in his election manifesto. Therefore in a statement by the Collective for Gender Reforms in Politics the following legislative changes have been proposed for the parliament’s approval so that Sri Lanka will undergo an adequate representation of women at Local Government.
Nominations to contest First Past the Post Seats
• Make legally binding provisions in the Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Act, No.22 of 2012 to ensure a mandatory 30% nominations are given to women so that they have the opportunity to contest for Local Authorities or
• Consider increasing the number of wards to ensure that women can be nominated to contest for 30% of available seats
Click on your preferred language below to read the complete statement by the Collective for Gender Reforms in Politics