Where are the women in Local Government? (English)

Despite an extremely favourable Human Development Index
(HDI) for women, women's representation in elected political
bodies in Sri Lanka is abysmally low. It is 5.8% in
parliament, 4.1% in provincial councils and only 1.8% in
local government. Nominations for women by the major political
parties have remained almost stagnant in the last 50 years and
even after Sri Lanka switched to elections based on proportional
representation (PR) in 1989. Although, there are many women leaders
at the community level they are marginalized and ignored when it
comes to nominations. Women's organizations have used
many strategies to increase representation in the last 10 -- 15
years including through independent women's lists and
advocacy for a legal quota for women. However in a culture
which is based on patronage politics, independent lists have
so far not succeeded. A legal quota has also not been
implemented. Therefore if women's representations in local
councils are to be increased, the major political parties must
be pressured to give more nominations to women, while at
the same time raising public awareness about the problem of
under representation of women at local level.


It also seeks to raise awareness about the issue of under-
representation of women at local level as well as the
importance of having women's representation in local
councils at the community level.