{"id":14792,"date":"2022-10-13T10:36:33","date_gmt":"2022-10-13T10:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/?p=14792"},"modified":"2022-10-13T10:36:33","modified_gmt":"2022-10-13T10:36:33","slug":"statement-by-womens-rights-organizations-calling-to-safeguard-and-protect-the-25-quota-for-women-in-local-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/ta\/statement-by-womens-rights-organizations-calling-to-safeguard-and-protect-the-25-quota-for-women-in-local-government\/","title":{"rendered":"Statement by Women\u2019s rights organizations calling to safeguard and protect the 25% quota for women in Local Government"},"content":{"rendered":"

Women\u2019s rights organizations call to safeguard and protect the 25% quota for women in Local Government despite having a reduction in Local Government bodies<\/strong><\/p>\n

10th October 2022<\/p>\n

Hon. President Ranil Wickremesinghe<\/p>\n

CC to:
\nHon. Prime Minister Dinesh Gunewardena<\/p>\n

Hon. State Minister of Local Government and Provincial Councils Janaka Wakkubura<\/p>\n

Safeguard and protect the 25% quota for women in Local Government<\/strong><\/p>\n

We are five women\u2019s organizations from various districts that have worked continuously to increase the representation of women in politics, in Sri Lanka, both quantitatively and qualitatively. We advocated for over 20 years to increase women\u2019s political representation and welcomed the mandatory 25% quota for women in Local Authorities enacted in 2017 and operationalized in 2018.
\nApproximately 2000 women entered political office through this quota, and many have engaged in exemplary work in local government validated by substantial achievements and research. (Research Study<\/a>, Video<\/a> , Film<\/a> )
\nWe refer here to a recent media report on the 9th of October 2022 indicating that President Ranil Wickremesinghe has called for a reduction of the number of council members for Local Authorities (Pradeshiya Sabhas, Municipal Councils, Urban Councils) from approximately 8000 to 4000. While the reduction of members has both positive and negative implications, we wish to highlight that this move will have direct consequences for the operationalizing of the women\u2019s quota.
\nAs we know the need for greater representation of women in politics has never been more pertinent than it is today. Sri Lanka still has one of the lowest representations of women in politics, a situation that was remedied for local government representation but not for Provincial government or for Parliament. In 2017 amendments to the Local Government Elections (Amendment) Act, no 16 were made introducing a women\u2019s quota of 25%, increasing the representation of women from approximately 100 in the year 2011 to about 2000 in the 2018 election.
\nWe strongly urge that this positive achievement be further strengthened through both affirming legislation and policy interventions. We also reiterate that any changes to the Local Government Elections (Amendment) Act and other related legislation are done in a manner that protects and extends the women\u2019s quota so that these hard-won gains will not be diminished or lost.
\nTherefore, we as women\u2019s organizations working closely with women in politics and working for an inclusive, democratic, and ethical political culture call on the President, Prime Minister, and the Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Government to safeguard, protect and extend the 25% women\u2019s quota in Local Government if the number of members is reduced as proposed.<\/p>\n

Thank you,<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

Kumudini Samuel, Director Programmes, Women and Media Collective, Colombo<\/p>\n

Sumika Perera, Director, Women\u2019s Resource Centre, Kurunegala<\/p>\n

Chandra Wedagedara, Chairperson, Women\u2019s Development Centre, Badulla<\/p>\n

H. Inthumathy, Head of Programmes, Viluthu<\/p>\n

P. Logeshwari, Programme Coordinator, Women\u2019s Solidarity Front, Kandy<\/p>\n

Sriyani Pathirage, Chairperson, Rural Women\u2019s Front, Galle<\/p>\n

Click here to download statement\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Women\u2019s rights organizations call to safeguard and protect the 25% quota for women in Local Government despite having a reduction in Local Government bodies 10th October 2022 Hon. President Ranil Wickremesinghe CC to: Hon. Prime Minister Dinesh Gunewardena Hon. State Minister of Local Government and Provincial Councils Janaka Wakkubura Safeguard and protect the 25% quota […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14793,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,24,16,31,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advocacy","category-featured","category-news","category-politics","category-womens-representation"],"yoast_head":"\nStatement by Women\u2019s rights organizations calling to safeguard and protect the 25% quota for women in Local Government - Women & Media Collective<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/womenandmedia.org\/statement-by-womens-rights-organizations-calling-to-safeguard-and-protect-the-25-quota-for-women-in-local-government\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Statement by Women\u2019s rights organizations calling to safeguard and protect the 25% quota for women in Local Government - Women & Media Collective\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Women\u2019s rights organizations call to safeguard and protect the 25% quota for women in Local Government despite having a reduction in Local Government bodies 10th October 2022 Hon. 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