'Gender bias still exists'

By Sureshini Pilapitiya

Gone are the days when women were supposed to get married, bear children, stay at home and end up being doormats or slaves. Today, women are more open and independent, especially in the West where women are given due recognition.

compared to those antiquated times However, in Asian culture, women do not seem to be getting equal rights, though they hold top positions in different fields. There is a certain amount of apprehension that women are not equally recognised as their male counterparts.

Though society has changed the concept remains the same, that the male is dominant, and priority is still given to the male. We can see how women get insulted, humiliated and ridiculed for what they are, and even become victims of mental and sexual harassment, domestically, in public, and even at the work place.

Are women's rights being properly carried out ? Is the modern woman insecure in this wiered society ?

The Sunday Observer spoke to Raveendra Sumathipala, attorney-at-law, who is a professional with a wide knowledge on this subject. This is an issue which has to be dealt with in-depth so that a new concept could be envisaged and women could be saved from harassment be it sexual or otherwise.

Excerpts of the interview:

How would you describe women's rights in a nutshell?

Women are the best of mother natures creation. They are equally entitled to all rights enjoyed by men. Women's rights are the rights claimed by women against all traditional and historical restrictions preventing women from enjoying equal human rights.

Though there are loads of women's rights being implemented, there's no ending to the harassment of women.

How would you describe the harassment of women ? Do you think the laws are being carried out in a proper manner?

Harassment against women can be physical, verbal or psychological. These can be things that happen in day-to- day activities, at domestic level by husband, brother or elderly males, at work place by male counterparts, colleagues or seniors, at the roadside while travelling, or while engaging in sports by male athletes or coaches and sometimes even male fans.

At extreme levels this harassment can be seen as violence against females and hate crimes. For example rape, domestic violence, sexual harassment and women trafficking.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948, enshrines the equal of men and woman, and addresses both the equally and equity issues.

In 1979, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against woman (CEDAW) for legal implementation of the Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination against women. This Convention defines discrimination against women in the following terms:

Any distinctions, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social cultural, civil or any other field.

This also establishes an agenda of action for putting an end to sex-based discrimination for which states ratifying the convention are required to enshrine gender equality into their domestic legislation, repeal all discriminatory provisions in their law and enact provisions to guard against discrimination against women.

We had the first woman prime minister and also the president of Sri Lanka , and women in other top ranking positions. But according to the Asian culture and tradition the priority seems to go to the man. The opposite gender gets all the benefits, while females get less. Do you think this concept should be changed?

Yes. The Sri Lankan women's role in politics is important. I believe that we at a point of time were ahead of all the other countries having women in active politics. At such times, even male counterparts respected their political views and encouraged them to be in the political arena.

Despite all this, it is sad to see that female representation in Sri Lankan politics is low. Apart from this the people who go as female representatives are subjected to humiliation in public by male counterparts.

In the political arena there is a lot to be desired regarding recent comments made on women politicians.

It is the same when it comes to certain publications and public statements are an insult to the nation, committed by Sri Lankan male politicians. This is what we should stand against.

They should be constrained so that subordinates will emulate them.

What is your opinion about women's s rights organisations? They only seem to exist when a major issue arises.

There are many organisations and groups national and international who are committed to safeguard women's rights and some of them we observe have been doing a tremendous job. But unfortunately in Sri Lanka most such groups are politically driven and thus have not contributed towards safeguarding the rights of women in Sri Lanka.

In Sri Lanka, when a woman tries to stand up to defend herself, she is treated as a joke. According to the law, even if you touch a woman it 's supposed to be an offence. Even if it's vocal abuse and ridiculing. How can these things happen if it is so?

This is of course is unfortunate and prevails in the South Asian region. Sri Lanka ranks at 74 in the UN Gender Inequality Index amongst 187 countries. In Sri Lanka the law against violence against women is comparatively stricter than in other countries in the region.

Chapter III of the 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka sets out Fundamental Rights , which ensure non discrimination on the ground of sex (and other specified grounds) , which can be used in responding to violence against women in keeping with provisions in Article 12(2). Though this has not been frequently used Article 11 on torture has been interpreted as covering rape and grave sexual abuse while in the custody of state social officials. According to Article 17, every person shall be entitled to apply to the Supreme Court as provided in Article 126 in respect of infringement or imminent infringement by executive or administrative action of a fundamental right to which such person is entitled under the provisions of Chapter III .

Apart from this on March 3 1993, the Sri Lanka Women's Charter was adopted and it is the main policy statement of the State regarding the rights of women , expressing the commitment of the State to remove all forms of discrimination against women and address crucial issues relevant to them.

The Charter aims at eradicating sex- based discrimination. The Charter also addresses violence against women. The Charter states that the State shall take measures to prevent the phenomenon of violence against women, children and young persons in society, in the workplace, in the family as well as while in custody, in particular such manifestation of it as rape , incest , sexual harassment and physical and mental abuse, torture, cruel and inhuman degrading treatment.

It is unfortunate that even after two decades of adopting the Charter we still hear about all types of unfortunate incidents of this nature against women in Sri Lanka.

One of the main reasons for this is the fact that even though the law has evolved, the attitudes of people has not.

Unfortunately, certain traditions and cultural barriers stand in the way as well. I believe that this can be prevented by teaching children from their tender ages to respect women, as mothers, sisters and equal members of society.

Schools and religious classes are the best places to teach discipline. Lack of education is the reason for misconceptions that prevail in society. In fact Prophet Muhammed has said, "Read even if it takes you to China". This statement made by Prophet Muhammed is without gender bias.

Most people think that women are only there to be toyed around and used. But once she's ''dumped'' the male gets away with it and the woman has to face the consequences.

She has to suffer and answer all the questions. She has to face the embarrassment. This seems to be a common problem when it comes to women. Isn't there any solution at all to prevent the woman from being humiliated?

Most of the time it is the culture and tradition that has created this situation. Male dominance and the show off of physical strength and masculinity has caused men to react this way. I believe this as a show off tendency of a man if they tend to use physical strength towards women.

At work place , this could be due to two reasons; one is that a dominant male would not like to see a competent female climbing up the ladder in the same profession. n the other hand sometimes females can be more competent at certain disciplines than males, so they are more successful.

Though many men don't like to admit, jealousy is also a reason why males would not assist females in getting into higher ranks in certain professions.

This is why we still see a lesser wage for women, lesser support in certain professions for women and lesser recognition for women labour.

In certain other fields, men deliberately make it difficult for women to succeed by not changing certain traditions , certain work hours that could prevent a woman from remaining in the same field of work after marriage or due to security reasons.

Rape was first recognised as a crime against humanity when the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia issued arrest warrants based on the Geneva Conventions and Violations of the Laws or Customs of War.

This is one of the most ancient forms of violence and crimes against women. More than half of the rape cases go unreported. This is because the victims do not want to shame their families by publicising the abuse they have gone through and they do not want to face embarrassing cross-questioning in Court.

Society makes the victims pay for someone else's mistakes. Unwed mothers are verbally and physically abused in public places.

What is your take on phone sex?

I have heard that some women are being harassed through phone sex too. As an example , sometime back the Australian cricketer Shane Warne was accused of having phone sex with a woman. Is it also regarded as a harassment?

This is a common situation in the present era. One reason that these things go unremedied is because the culprits are more powerful than the victim. It is harassment. The worst of this kind is the commercialised harassment towards females.

This includes all the audio and visual entertainment and advertisement which use women as sex toys.

Vocal and sexual abuse are common in workplaces. How would you differentiate?

This has an element of an inferiority complex that is prevalent in certain male counterparts in our societies and workplaces.

What do you think of the Government's contribution to women's rights?

After Independence all governments in Sri Lanka have worked towards safeguarding women's rights. The prevailing legal developments envisage this.

During the armed conflict in Sri Lanka the Government faced a tremendous challenge in safeguarding women's rights in the North and East while continuing to defeat terrorism. This is no easy task for a Government.

There was international pressure against the Government and accusations of war crimes. Amongst such accusations were the insecurity of the minority women in the North and East and the sexual violence against women in the war zone.

There had been many reports of rape, abduction of women and assault. There was an estimated 89,000 war widows in the conflict areas with around 40,000 women- headed households.

Apart from this there were female LTTE cadres who were young girls in need of rehabilitation to start life afresh. The Government took up this challenge which should be appreciated.

Finally, what are your suggestions to safeguard women's rights and harassment?

As I said earlier education has a lot to do in safeguarding women's rights and safeguarding women against all kinds of harassment and violence.

The most unfortunate situation is that most women in our society are not aware that some of the things that happens in there day- to- day life can amount to harassment and violence and punishable crimes.

If a person talks in unpardonable language and utters epithets to a woman it is verbal abuse which we tend to ignore.,

If a husband hits a wife it is ignored as a right that could be exercised by a man towards his woman where as it amounts to domestic violence.

No person has the right to assault a woman and the law is strict on violence against women.

Women should be educated as to what harassment means and what remedies are available to them.

Any further comments?

It is the responsibility of every citizen to educate the younger generation to respect women as equal human beings and to safeguard their rights.

I believe that women in our country have to be more vigilant in selecting who leads them in the political arena.