Since May 2011, the WMC initiated a discussion with NCW on the importance of conducting a meeting to discuss strategies to implement the CEDAW Concluding Observations at the national level. The NCW agreed to hold a meeting with various government officials and was willing to invite selected NGOs as well in order to make it … Continue reading Meeting with National Committee on Women (NCW) – Consultation with the CEDAW Concluding Observations

Despite an extremely favourable Human Development Index (HDI) for women, women’s representation in elected political bodies in Sri Lanka is abysmally low. It is 5.8% in parliament, 4.1% in provincial councils and only 1.8% in local government. Nominations for women by the major political parties have remained almost stagnant in the last 50 years and … Continue reading Where are the women in Local Government?

34 women photographers participated in the Women’s Photography Exhibition 2011. The exhibition was organised by the Women and Media Collective. The event was organised to celebrate the International Women’s Day. It was held at the Harold Peiris Gallery in Colombo and was held from 25 – 27 March 2011. The photography exhibition displayed the work of women … Continue reading Women’s Photography Exhibition 2011

WMC presented its 7th annual film festival which was held at Punchi Theatre, Colombo 08 from the 21st to the 23rd of March, 2011. The films screened were Iron Jawed Angels, Peepli Live and The Milk of Sorrow. Entrance was free of charge and the festival was well attended.

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 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