No improvement in female participation in local workforce

Despite Sri Lanka being recognized for the conceptualization of policies to pull in more females to the workforce over the years, those efforts have borne limited results, the World Bank highlights.

Of the total labour force of 6.67 million in Sri Lanka, only 36 percent are women, and the level of participation has witnessed little or no change over the last two decades despite the government’s continued efforts.

Acknowledging that challenges continue to mount from different aspects when it comes to keeping females engaged in the economy, World Bank Senior Country Economist Fernando Im noted that Sri Lanka is moving towards a shrinking labour supply, which will slowdown the country’s economic growth.

“Therefore, it becomes essential to close the gender gap in labour force participation through policies that foster women’s entry and retention,” he said.

He further stressed that the polices should include improving the supply of child care and elder care services, safe transport, and flexible work arrangements for women, as currently such factors are cited to be keeping females away from work.

He added that closing the gender gap in terms of labour force participation would buffer the impact coming from the reduction in the number of workers.

Acknowledging the low female participation in the labour force, researcher Dr. Ramani Gunatilaka noted that the government has done “absolutely nothing” to help reduce the burden of women and help them remain at work. She pointed out that from the country’s poorly structured education system that has shifted much of the workload from school to the parents, to the absence of proper child care support, have resulted in women dropping out from the workforce.

Sharing similar sentiments, Colombo University economist Dr. Amala de Silva noted that adding to the issue is the stereotype of women, stemming from notions such as “having the perfect house and being the perfect mother”.

Fertility rates are linked by economist to the chances of females entering and remaining in the workforce.

In the case of Sri Lanka, between 1996 and 2016, the fertility rate fell from 2.3 to 2.0 births per women. However, these changes did not translate into higher number of women entering the labour market.

This contrasts sharply with the evolution of female labour force participation in other countries such as Colombia, Korea, Malaysia, and Uruguay where a significant drop in fertility rates did result in increased female participation.