|
|
 |
 |
| Sunday, 30 March 2003 |
 |
|
 |
Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Women in politics: Are quotas the answer? by Jayanthi Liyanage The day was women's. The women were readying their platoons for the customary march. "Go early and you might capture some powerful shots," I told a male colleague who is generally perceived as a truly pluralistic photo-journalist. Pat shot out his reply, "Ah! Gaanu parata bahalada? Apita bath ko?" (Oh! Have the women come out into the streets? What about our meals?) The insinuation needs no introduction. This subtly victimising argument still wrenches many a potential woman leader from taking a proactive role in the local political war fare, an overpowering wave of guilt forcing her reluctantly to shed her battle fatigues for kitchen clothing. Family responsibility certainly, is not the only barrier which disheartens women to settle for a back seat in politics. As the National Plan of Action for Women, formulated in 1996, identifies, local politics have generally been considered a male domain, and many females who successfully broke male bastions in this battlefield have had a double impetus in their endeavour, by the charisma and power exercised by their fathers, husbands, brothers and male relatives, already in politics. Criminalising politics, and the resulting corruption of politics, aided and abetted by its machinery of verbal and physical abuse, violence and character assassination, administered through male dominated party structures and hierarchies, are other crushing blockades for women the Plan of Action notes. Although empowering and grooming women for political participation has now become a national need, the existing avenues for formal training are just a few. "Even in the Nuwara Eliya district, though a large number of Sinhala and Tamil women participate in politics, they don't have enough knowledge to take things into their hand," says Namani Gunasekera, Director, Sri Lanka Women's Bureau, which conducts one-day workshops round the year, with the objective of increasing women's participation, not only in parliamentary politics but also in village leadership. The participants come mostly from the rural women's societies (kantha samiti) falling under the district and divisional secretariats. "Among the Samiti members coming to us, there are women who have contested and won at elections," says Hasitha Perera, Assistant Director of the Bureau. "Even to use your vote with the right decision, you need to have sound political knowledge. We try to make these women comprehend that they need to contribute something substantial to local politics and to pick the correct leaders to steer their samitis." "Poverty, or lack of resources, is the first reason why women hesitate to enter politics," Hasitha voices the experience she has gathered from the workshop participants. "Ours being a patriarchal society where the female gender is accorded the second place, many women in politics entered the field after their husbands died and not through their own volition. "Women shy away from the present local political culture of 'cigarettes, arrack and mud-slinging'," she points out. "A young woman won at Ratnapura Pradeshiya Sabha elections but did not accept her seat when her family objected on grounds that being a PS member would make it impossible to give her in marriage." "Many women are good at being vociferous on the political stage but do not understand the foundations of politics and concepts such as good governance, gender, quotas, women's charter, CEDAW and accountability," admits Chitrangane Perera, course Director of the non-fee levying, five-day residential workshop on "Empowering women for political leadership," conducted by Sri Lanka Foundation Institute in conjunction with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. Her participants are mainly drawn from provincial level political organizations, women NGOs, plantations and the hill country. "We find that information does not reach the outback wings and the bottom rungs of women's organizations and it is always the president and the secretary of the provincial parties who come to the workshop. "To prevent knowledge being trapped at the higher rungs, we insist that they also give a learning opportunity to their other members. The parties also have no funding mechanism to educate their women," Chitrangane points out. "Their money is spent on printing posters." "Some women are more interested in campaigning and having their picture in media, than gaining knowledge," is her other complaint. "They use the workshop residency to run about Colombo and carry out their provincial council work. To keep them riveted to the workshop, we tell them that if they don't attend the entire five day session, they will not get the certificate." "We are rewarded when many tell us that the workshop raised 80% of their knowledge levels and empowered them to overcome social and family barriers," she says. "This is not enough, they keep saying, and ask for more workshops of a longer duration." Lets hear it from the participants themselves. Asanthi Ariyaratne, Vice President, National Youth Front of UNP office, Rathmale, says, "Study programmes are good to draw out women who yearn to enter politics but are barred from doing so for lack of contacts and knowledge. We get out into street campaigning because we have no other forum to voice our concerns!" Chandrika Soysa, General Secretary, Women's Committee of SLFP, Maharagama, says, "Women has enough individual qualities to enter politics but our social system doesn't provide enough resources to let them do so. One needs about Rs. 10 lakhs to contest at provincial level and Rs. 20 lakhs at parliamentary level. Many don't have this much money." "Giving women a legal status in politics through a quota is the best way to draw the creme of rural women from their present retrogressed position in politics," feels Chandrika. D.M.C. Premalatha of Kalutara, the only JVP member in her workshop group, suggests that empowering women through a savings and credit scheme is a good way of enabling women participation in politics. Wimali Karunaratne of Sinhala Tamil Rural Women's Net Work, speaks of the turn-over pattern of party politics in which,"No matter how good you are independently as a politician, you have to come through the ticket of either UNP or PA, to win an election. A policy change is necessary to create the right social backdrop through providing knowledge and imposing a women's quota, which is very relevant considering that rural politicians are mainly those who own three or four liquor-bars!" Hasitha of the Women's Bureau too advocates the quota, "As it surely will take a long time to effect gender sensitization, change our social culture and eliminate poverty. The currently proposed quota is 25 per cent." This she feels would help to change the current perceptions of women that "political power is for men and not for us." |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
