A United Nations (UN) report said that the Sri Lanka's gap in labour force participation between men and women is ranked 20th in the world.
The recent progress report on the Millenium Development Goals in Sri Lanka also highlighted a range of inequities between men and women. However, the UN claims the country has achieved significant progress towards equality.
But, the participation of women in parliament continues to be low with only 5.7 percent parliamentarians being women.
In his International Women's day message, UN Secretary General Ban-Ki-Moon emphasised the use of internet and mobile phones backed with education and training to break the cycle of poverty, combat injustice and exercise female rights.