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| Sunday, 7 March 2004 |
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History in the making? Women only The National People's Party (NPP) will contest the April 2 election fielding 23 women candidates in the Colombo District. The party's leader, attorney-at-law Sharmila Daluwatte told the Sunday Observer the election was an opportunity to create a platform from which they could speak on women's political and civil rights.
The relatively unknown party was formed in 1999, and contested the 2000 elections on a more general platform with four women and 20 men candidates, winning 2,500 votes in Anuradhapura and Colombo. On the question of quotas for women in parliament, Daluwatte said that while achieving 33 per cent representation of women was their ultimate goal, they would first seek to get women into parliament by demanding that half of the 40 per cent allocation for "youth" under the Local Government Elections Act, should be reserved for women. "Why is "youth" not defined in the Act?" she asks, arguing that otherwise political parties won't allow women into politics. Before demanding quotas for women in parliament it was necessary to establish a Women's Political Secretariat, as in the Philippines, she said, pointing out that women in Sri Lanka need to be trained in this respect. A key demand of the NPP is the granting of voting rights to Sri Lanka's migrant women workers numbering 800,000. "This was a recommendation of the UN Human Rights Commission, but we still haven't passed the Act," Daluwtte said. If these women have voting rights they will be taken into account. The abolition of the Vagrants Ordinance is another issue. Though we produced the world's first woman Prime Minister, we couldn't enact woman-friendly legislation, she alleged. Though we speak of women's rights, we know that no woman is safe on the street after 8 p.m. in this country. Law enforcement authorities need to take stronger action, she said. The NPP will encourage women to participate in politics, regardless of the political party to which they belong. If women have difficulty coming into politics, well give them nominations, Daluwatte said. Asked if they would consider an alliance with a mainstream political party in order to enter parliament her response was firmly negative. "We will remain independent." She said their campaign was financed by their own resources. "We don't paste posters," she remarked, adding that they would work with anyone who shared their aims. The 23 candidates of the NPP include three other lawyers, five university students, three housewives, one quality controller and others from various walks of life, most of whom are working women. |
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