Sexual harassment of female workers at FTZs dominates seminar on voting rights

Arecent discussion on the right of voting and increasing female representation in Parliament for women employed in free trade zones at Katunayake, Biyagama and Wathupitiwala turned out to be a forum where the woes of the women and their problems were expressed.

Mahinda Deshapriya, Chairman - Elections Commission, was the keynote speaker at the forum held this week at the Ja-Ela Women's Centre but the discussion became more about the sexual harassment faced by workers in the workplace as well as outside.

Sexual violation of women has become a common feature in Sri Lanka with garment factory girls often becoming victims, said E.M.B. Menike, Directress, Lakbima Mawwarunge saha Diyaniyange (Mothers and Daughters) Organisation. She said that Sri Lanka's abortion law is archaic and obsolete, enacted in 1883 and should be changed to suit the present social conditions.

Female garment workers are discrimi- nated, harassed and sexual advances are made, even in their work places in instances such as obtaining leave, etc where they are demeaned calling them as 'garment kelle'.

While women make a massive contribution to the economy of the country through estates, garment manufacturing and in foreign employment, garment factory girls do not get proper food and suffer from malnutrition. They are subject to poor pay and often reduced to slavery, making them to work for 12 hours standing with no exception for pregnant women, she said.

Worker after worker poured out their woes of harassment and discrimination meted out to them at their work places.

K.G.H.H.R. Kiriella, Katana Divisional Secretary, said while those employed in the FTZ could fetch Rs. 35,000 per month some women prefer going abroad for employment, leaving their children in the country.

But, S. Selvin from Batticaloa weeping and between sobs spoke of her sad plight. She got a job in Biyagama a few years back and being a Tamil and not knowing Sinhala was confronted with communications problem. She was refused work on some days and went hungry many days without food.

She lost her parents during the Tsunami, suffered from severe trauma and was hospitalised for two years. She does not have an identity card, and this too has become a cause for harassment. She could not complete her narration due to being overcome with grief .

Mr. Deshapriya emphasising the importance of the vote, said that in a democracy the strongest instrument to safeguard the rights of the people is the 'vote' as the weapon to bring representatives into Parliament and that parliament enacts laws that are necessary to safeguard the rights of the people, thus people participate in law making too.

He said that he understood the difficulties of these factory workers who come from distant places of the country in going to their home towns to cast the vote. He said that by law the private sector employees are given only 4 to 6 hours to cast the vote. But, he said that they have negotiated with the employers and were able to obtain two days' leave for this purpose.

Responding to the difficulty to get permission to go to their home towns to vote and the suggestion of postal voting, he assured to explore the possibilities and said that they have made some proposals such as keeping ballot boxes in the FTZs which, and once the vote is cast, are sent to the respective polling stations for counting. They are also exploring the possibility of proxy voting.

He listened to the woes of these factory girls and suggested how to overcome them, which may not be achieved overnight but through various government agencies and the Gampaha Government Agent and the Katana Divisional Secretary who were present also could help solve these problems.

He conceded that the language issue of the Tamil women is vital and should be solved and it could be solved through the Official Languages Department.