Category: Gender & Politics

Film: Don’t think of me as a woman, an election story from the margins

This film documents the electoral struggle of Aynoon Beebi, a 39-year old Muslim woman from Kinniya, in Trincomalee, at the 2011 local government elections. While celebrating Aynoon’s political ambitions, the film explores the ways in which she challenges mechanisms of power and dominance that are naturalised within her community and political party structures. Women account … Continue reading Film: Don’t think of me as a woman, an election story from the margins

Prime Minister Wickramasinghe Pledges to Increase Women Participation in Politics

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

IWD 2015: Celebrating the life of our founder Sunila Abeysekara

On International Women’s Day as Women and Media Collective celebrates 30 years of activism we take a moment to celebrate the life of founder Sunila Abeysekara. Source: Isis International Why Sunila loved March 8th I visited Sunila around 8th March 2013 to spend some time with her after she’d been diagnosed with Stage IV cancer. … Continue reading IWD 2015: Celebrating the life of our founder Sunila Abeysekara

A New Sri Lanka for Women: establishing an Independent Women’s Commission

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

දේශපාලනයේ ස්ත්‍රි නියෝජනය වැඩි කිරීම සඳහා ස්ත්‍රින්ගේ ඉල්ලීම

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

WMC 30th Anniversary: Women’s Struggles, Women’s Pride

The history of women’s activisms in Sri Lanka is yet to be told. Men and male domination have silenced and eliminated women from the ‘official’ histories of the country and similarly around the world. But the memory of women’s activism remains in the stories told by great women like our grandmothers and elders that are … Continue reading WMC 30th Anniversary: Women’s Struggles, Women’s Pride