An appeal for women to be appointed on the National List
We, the undersigned welcome the new UNFGG Government elected to
Parliament on August 17, 2015 and its commitment to continue Sri Lanka's
democratic political transformation. We wish the government all success
in this endeavour.
We are however concerned that the representation of women in
Parliament has reduced from thirteen to eleven.
In the UNP, the number of elected women stands at six. This is the
best performance at this election. However, we believe that the
reduction of the number of women elected to Parliament has to be
attributed to the difficulties women face in running an election
campaign under the current Proportional Representation (PR) scheme and
the prevailing political culture that continues to prefer men over women
and do not recognise their substantial contribution to local and
national politics.
This is an appeal to redress this imbalance through your power to
appoint National List members.
In appointing women through the National List, we appeal that the new
government gives consideration to those who have a proven track record
of working for issues of social justice and national development.
We also appeal to the Government to give due consideration to women
who may have lost the election due to intense competition under the PR
system but have demonstrated political leadership including working for
women›s rights.
We wish you will consider women who have worked for the party
consistently while in opposition and women who have entered politics in
their own right.
In the weeks and months to come, we hope that the new government will
treat the issue of under representation of women in all elected
political institutions in Sri Lanka as a matter of critical importance
which must be addressed through affirmative action.
Women and Media Collective, other organisations and
individuals |