DIYAWANNA THARANAYA
By The Yeheliya Foundation
Even though women make up over 50% of the population, only 12 women are in governance today to represent us. The UN reports that should the status quo continue like this, gender equality will not be achieved for another 100 years and gender parity would not be possible until 2075” NAUSHALYA RAJAPAKSHA, FOUNDER - YEHELIYA FOUNDATION The Outcome Document highlighted key recommendations for increasing female participation in governance. One such recommendation is to remove the existing invisible barriers of the political system itself...
Yeheliya Foundation's signature project ‘Diyawanna Tharanaya' (translation: Crossing Diyawannawa) concluded on a successful note with the launch of the project's Outcome Document on the 13th of March 2021 at the BMICH in the presence of distinguished guests, members of the parliament, civil activists and representatives of interested organizations. The project Diyawanna Tharanaya was an open dialogue by the Yeheliya Foundation that operated on a three-stage discussion that actively engaged with youth civic rights activists, civil society organizations and women in governance on investigating and cataloguing the barriers and gaps that curtails sustainable participation of women in politics and governance.
The Outcome Document that launched at the event was an initiative by the Yeheliya Foundation to catalogue and concise onto one single document the findings and viable recommendations and solutions that can be used as a guiding tool to form an action plan to change the course of the political culture in Sri Lanka.
“Even though women make up over 50% of the population, only 12 women are in governance today to represent us. The UN reports that should the status quo continue like this, gender equality will not be achieved for another 100 years and gender parity would not be possible until 2075,” shared Naushalya Rajapaksha, Founder - Yeheliya Foundation, during her welcome speech at the launch. “Diyawanna Tharanya was launched not just to investigate into the issues surrounding the lack of female representation but also to offer feasible solutions to the problems at hand along with our vision for 2025.”
The Outcome Document highlighted key recommendations for increasing female participation in governance. One such recommendation is to remove the existing invisible barriers of the political system itself by lobbying with
These include better laws regarding election related harassment and passing the Election Campaign Finance Act for a level playing field for all election nominees in campaigning as well as the need for inclusive infrastructure, special training and encouraging the girl child to enter politics.
key political parties to increase female nominations ensuring that each political party presents a set number of female candidates, setting out a transparent criteria or point system for the acceptation and rejection of nominations, setting out a higher and more strict quota system for women in the Parliament including generating a conscious thought process among the public to dedicate 1/3rd of their vote for a woman in order to better facilitate more seats and nominations for women parliamentarians.
An equally pressing and much needed recommendation also called for active participation from the Government to take on the burden of facilitating gender balance in politics. These include better laws regarding election related harassment and passing the Election Campaign Finance Act for a level playing field for all election nominees in campaigning as well as the need for inclusive infrastructure accommodation, access to gender dis-aggregated data, special training and actively educating and encouraging the girl child and potential candidates to enter politics.
Furthermore, the Outcome Document highlighted the crucial need for media sensitivity and media ethics and guidelines in order for all politicians to be propagated in a non-discriminatory, unbiased and sophisticated aura where women candidates and politicians are given equal airtime and press as well as involving women politicians on debates concerning a wide variety of subjects such as economics, finance, tourism among others, that goes beyond what is considered as ‘women related issues.'
The launch of the Outcome Document saw participation from a number of youth activists and representatives from civil organizations as well as community leaders and members of the Parliament and other high ranking public and private officers involved in governance.
Speaking on the launch of the Outcome Document and the work done by the Yeheliya Foundation, here are some notable comments from key speakers at the launch.