Saturday, May 31, 2025
29 C
Colombo

Sri Lanka requires policies to increase women’s representation in Parliament: Commissioner General of Elections

To increase women’s political representation at the parliamentary level, 51 % of the country’s population, several measures should be taken including the introduction of new policies, said Saman Sri Ratnayake, the Commissioner General of Elections.  

He made these remarks at the ‘Digital Dictatorship, Online Hate, and Women’s Political Representation’ event hosted by the Centre for Investigative Reporting (CIR) on Wednesday (30) at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute (SLFI).  

“Women are essential in decision-making spaces,” he said.  

He also said that this problem — where women politicians played a minimal role in the decision-making of political parties — was a common one.  

“We recently mandated that parties should ensure that a woman is represented in their top structure – that is either as chairperson, treasurer, or secretary. However, some political parties have instead invented a position called ‘national organiser – women’ and have appointed a woman. What we aimed for isn’t being achieved. This status quo needs to change, starting from party members themselves, but in our country, there are no party members, just some voters during the election time. The decision makers who run some parties can fit into a three-wheeler,” said Ratnayake.  

Noting that there is less space in any field for women to come forward, he said the existing cultural barriers exacerbated the issue: “Even female election officers face these barriers due to odd, busy working hours.”  

However, this translates to losing their capacity and insights in policymaking and no country should miss out on the knowledge and expertise of their female population, said Ratnayake.  

The event saw the launch of two CIR publications which compiled 13 stories by CIR journalist fellows – nine on electoral integrity and four on digital dictatorship, online hate, and women’s political representation.  

The publications are a result of two fellowship programmes conducted by the CIR to train and mentor journalists to develop high quality, in-depth stories exploring aspects of electoral integrity.   

Saman Sri Ratnayake, Commissioner General of Elections, addressing the gathering
Vasana Wickremasena, CIR’s Co-Founder and Director, presenting the two publications to Saman Sri Ratnayake, Commissioner General of Elections

Hot this week

Storytellers Fellowship

Calling young storytellers! 🎥📸✍️ Are you a researcher, filmmaker,...

Fellowship for in-depth reporting on South Asia, South Asian diaspora [Worldwide]

Journalists interested in covering South Asia or the South...

Journalism award honors youth reporting [Worldwide]

News outlets around the world that collaborate with young...

Sir Harry Evans Global Fellowship in Investigative Journalism open [Worldwide]

Early-career journalists around the world are eligible for an...

From War to Weather: Tamil Women in Sri Lanka Confront a New Crisis

The island nation's north saw the last phase of...

Topics

Storytellers Fellowship

Calling young storytellers! 🎥📸✍️ Are you a researcher, filmmaker,...

Fellowship for in-depth reporting on South Asia, South Asian diaspora [Worldwide]

Journalists interested in covering South Asia or the South...

Journalism award honors youth reporting [Worldwide]

News outlets around the world that collaborate with young...

Sir Harry Evans Global Fellowship in Investigative Journalism open [Worldwide]

Early-career journalists around the world are eligible for an...

Warmer oceans, acidification endanger Sri Lanka’s maritime heritage

By Malaka Rodrigo   Sri Lanka’s waters are home to over...

Sweltering conditions put young lives and learning at risk

By Malaka Rodrigo   Although the annual school sports events concluded...

The disastrous floods of Kalutara

 BY Buddhika Samaraweera Climate change-related weather events prove to be...

Related Articles

Popular Categories