The Women and Media Collective together with other women’s organisations have been campaigning to increase the representation of women at local, provincial and national level for over 15 years. The current electoral reform process, which is a measure to strengthen representative democracy, should provide an opportunity to increase women’s representation in the Parliament of Sri Lanka. However the draft of the 20th Amendment which was presented to the Cabinet of Ministers by President Maithripala Sirisena has no affirmative provisions for women.
In light of this a discussion was held with members of Campaign for Free and Fair Elections or CAFFE Sri Lanka who are currently engaged in the drafting process of the amendment along with representatives of small political parties to identify ways in which women can be better represented in parliament.