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| Sunday, 09 March 2003 |
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Editor, Sunday Observer. E-mail: [email protected] Snail mail : Sunday Observer, 35, D.R.Wijewardana Mawatha, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Telephone : 94 1 429239 / 331181 Fax : 94 1 429230 She She is Beauty, the object of Desire, and the symbol of caring and tenderness. It is her "face that launched a thousand ships" against ancient Troy and, in modern times, sells a thousand commodities, from cars to brandies, to refrigerators, to beach resorts. Her body, nubile, voluptuous, dusky and blonde, is worshipped as Goddess in temples, in cinemas, and on posters and advertising billboards. She bears the future of our species in her body; goes through the trauma of and joy of birthing. She is defined as The Mother and The Wife and burdened with childcare as well as housekeeping. She is, at the same time, the Modern Woman, doubly burdened with jobs, careers and the compulsions of professionalism. She is half of the human population on Earth, but not even a quarter, or one-tenth or one-fiftieth of the people who determine human affairs. Her life and her past, present and future, is often defined not by her but by the other half of humanity. Even so the whole of humanity, the Earth itself, could not survive without her, in her role in social reproduction, economic production and ecological sustenance. Her own self-definitions are powerful but subdued and suppressed or, artfully expressed in the interstices of the formalities, traditions, laws and practices defined by men. Attempts at self-expression are met with derision, intellectual dismissal or even vengeful violence. In this country, women are defined as 'Mothers' but exploited as Workers in the plantations, garment factories, agriculture and services sector and, as migrant labour in West Asia and elsewhere. Women are the principal earners of Sri Lanka's foreign exchange but are not the principal managers, policy makers or legislators. Our head of State is a woman and our Prime Minister may be a man who supports the right of gender equality, but Sri Lankan womanhood, like womanhood the world over, is yet excluded, marginalised, suppressed and violently ravished even as she is mobilised, deployed, and exploited in all the tasks imposed on her. Sri Lankan women's action groups have campaigned for decades for gender equality. What they have sought, and seek, is both the formal and political recognition of equality and the right of participation, as well as the transformation of relations between men and women in which men complement rather than exploit women. It is not enough that women have equality in incomes and jobs. They must also enjoy a partnership with men in all aspects of social life while being freed of the oppression of sexual domination and abuse. Today, after years of long, hard struggle, there is now a slow, yet growing, acknowledgement by society and by government that women do define their own destiny and that self-definition must be recognised if social life is to be truly harmonious and creative. When March 8, International Women's Day, was first celebrated by women's groups here, they were ignored if not vilified and derided. Today, the Government as well as the Presidency conscientiously observes International Women's Day and there are numerous activities in various parts of the country to mark the occasion. More importantly, legislative and policy measures are being taken slowly to fulfil the numerous needs and interests of women. But women still seek that fulfilment of living with equal recognition, an equally shared social life, freedom of self-expression and freedom from sexual domination and violence. Their struggle is more recognised today and that is all the more reason why it should continue and win the support of men. |
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