The Shame of Political Exclusion of Women

Since independence, women in Sri Lanka have made considerable progress in the social and economic spheres. 90% of them are now literate and their health indicators are impressive for a country at Sri Lanka’s current level of development. Sri Lanka has performed extremely well on the Millennium Development Goal on maternal mortality, which has seen extremely disappointing progress across the world. Women are also more visible than ever in the public domain. They are well represented in the public service; the medical; legal and teaching professions; the arts and a number of other areas. They have also made progress in the private sector, though they are under-represented at senior management levels. Progress has also been achieved in reforming gender discriminatory laws and there has been increased awareness of gender and women’s rights.