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.

WMC held a press briefing at Cinnamon Grand, Colombo on the 9th of February 2011 to present the female candidates who will contest for the upcoming Local Government elections in the country. These women are those who were presented by the Women and Media Collective with the aim of increasing nominations and votes for women … Continue reading National Level Press Briefing

Newspaper advertisements In September 2010 WMC published several newspaper advertisements for a period of one month in Sinhala, Tamil and English in the following newspapers. They focused on the proposed amendment to the Local Government Act. Sunday Island, Sunday Divaina, Virakesari, Silumina, Sunday Observer, Dinamina and Virakesari. In January 2011 more newspaper advertisements were published in Sinhala and Tamil promoting … Continue reading Media Campaign for increasing women’s representation at Local Government (2010/2011)

A workshop was held from 18 – 20 August 2010 inColombofor potential women candidates for the local government elections. It was attended by 40 participants from Kurunegala, Puttlum, Monaragala, Badulla andGalle. They were trained in various aspects such as facing the media, profiling yourself in print media, writing articles to newspapers, public speaking, etc.