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The Changing Role of Women in Sri Lankan Society
... In Sri Lankan society, the idea of marriage for women is presented as an essential aspect of their lives. Consequently, they are socialised as 'good girls' to become 'good wives' and 'good mothers' (Lynch, 1999b;de Alwis, 2002;Hewamanne, 2003). Marriage, therefore, becomes a significant threshold in a woman's life. ...
... De Mel explains that women stand for the nation itself: 'in need of male protection, the reproducer and nurturer of future generations and transmitter of cultural values ' (de Mel, 2001, p. 3). As de Alwis also claims, women's bodies, beliefs, and behaviours were made to signify the 'culture' and 'tradition' of the nation (de Alwis, 2002). ...
... The ideal Sinhala-Buddhist woman was depicted as a " 'panca kalyani' (complete with fair skin, long black hair, attractive body, youthful appearance and beautiful teeth) respectable in their behaviour and educated to perform the roles of 'wife' and 'mother' " (Jayawardena and de Alwis, 1996, p. xi). A particular notion of 'respectability' was expected of women in the form of dress and conduct that controlled a woman's sexuality (Jayawardena and de Alwis, 1996; de Alwis, 1997Alwis, , 2002. The need to be respectable further subjugated women by pushing them into what Jayawardena and de Alwis refer to as 'sacred' domestic spaces in which women are expected to carry out the roles of wife and mother (Jayawardena and de Alwis, 1996, p. xi). ...
This thesis explores the lives of women after marriage. It focuses on their position in households and their roles as wives and mothers. The findings are supported by a 14-month ethnography in a rural village in the dry zone of Sri Lanka. The village itself has been subject to periodical changes that have impacted village life. Contrary to popular discourses, this has not resulted in a disintegration of village life. From my exploration of women’s lives this thesis shows the mechanisms that enable integration to be achieved amidst developmental changes. Moreover, women play a central role in keeping family life together. Within the parameters of women’s responsibilities as caregivers, they are able to build and maintain the household and preserve a public image of a ‘good house’. However, at times houses are engulfed with problems that rupture marriages and family lives. In such instances, I show how women work to restore their marriages and family lives by strategically enlisting the help of their children, affines, kin, close friends and the state. When these prove inadequate, I show how women turn to supernatural solutions such as sorcery. Women also use virtual resources in the form of televisions and mobile phones to find relief from the suffering that occurs in the home. In efforts to restore family life, women are working within structures of subjugation rather than challenging them. Women’s capacity to mend ruptures in marriage and family life causes them to see their lives as a series of ‘beautiful mistakes’. Family life is necessary, valued and important for the women in this thesis but it is also a source of pain and suffering.
... Successful implementation of the SLFBDG recommendations therefore depends on a clearer understanding of who is responsible for, who is able to perform, and who influences 'day-to-day practice'. In terms of food preparation, for example, it is well documented that Sri Lankan women, be they Sinhalese, Tamil or Moor, disproportionately shoulder the burden of domestic chores and that men do not share the responsibility for cooking in equal measure [12,13]. Less is known, however, about household responsibility for other food-related chores such as purchasing, payment, and preparation and how the food preferences of family members influence diet decisions. ...
... Once all transcripts were coded, the wider research team discussed and revised thematic groupings (themes and subthemes). We were interested in all patterns and differences reported but expected most differences in food labour roles and responsibilities to be gender-based [12,13]. We therefore deductively coded for gender differences in anticipation of confirming or challenging Sri Lankan gender norms. ...
... Among study participants, women do most of the food related work, and are almost exclusively responsible for cooking. This supports the literature that examines the role of women in Sri Lankan society and the labour force participation and success barriers they continue to face [12,13,21]. These studies, however, often aggregate domestic duties and childcare as a homogenous entity. ...
Background
Sri Lanka faces the double burden of over- and undernutrition. To tackle this dual challenge, double duty interventions that improve the quality of the Sri Lankan diet in line with national dietary guidelines have been suggested. The success of these interventions depends upon an understanding of the context-specific factors that impact their uptake within the population. The purpose of this study was threefold: explore household responsibility for food-related labour; understand food decision-making influences; and investigate consumption hierarchies that might impact the distribution of intervention benefits.
Methods
We conducted face-to-face semi-structured interviews with 93 Sri Lankan adults residing in urban Colombo (n = 56), and urban and rural sectors in Kalutara (n = 29) and Trincomalee (n = 8). Interview data were analysed thematically.
Results
Findings from this study suggest that women in Sri Lanka continue to shoulder the burden of food-related labour disproportionately to men but that this responsibility is not always a proxy for dietary decision-making power. While men are often absent from the kitchen, their role in food purchasing and payment is prominent in many households. Despite these observed gender differences in food labour and provisioning, “traditional” age- and gender-based consumption hierarchies with negative nutrition consequences for women and children are not common, indicating that Sri Lankan ‘table culture’ may be changing.
Conclusion
Dietary interventions with the aim of influencing day-to-day practice should be developed with an awareness of who is responsible for, who is able to perform, and who influences targeted behaviours.
... Changes to women's traditional roles as reproducers of children, nurturers and disseminators of traditions have taken place owing to the introduction of political and economic changes (De Alwis, 2002). Prior to 1977 women's engagement in economic activities was limited mainly to working in agricultural and undertaking household duties, with only few active in teaching, nursing, medicine and retail (De Alwis, 2002;Herath, 2015). ...
... Changes to women's traditional roles as reproducers of children, nurturers and disseminators of traditions have taken place owing to the introduction of political and economic changes (De Alwis, 2002). Prior to 1977 women's engagement in economic activities was limited mainly to working in agricultural and undertaking household duties, with only few active in teaching, nursing, medicine and retail (De Alwis, 2002;Herath, 2015). However, with the onset of economic liberalisation post-1977, there was a sudden influx of young single women to the cities seeking jobs. ...
... Most of these women became breadwinners for their families. The two decades of civil war left many women widowed and with the responsibility for ensuring the economic welfare of their families (De Alwis, 2002). ...
In response to the call for more studies on entrepreneurship to be undertaken within 'new frontiers and places,' this paper aims to discuss what motivated entrepreneurs to start up their own businesses in Sri Lanka, a country having experienced significant political, economic and social turbulence post colonialization. The paper is based on an exploratory study among 31 Sri Lankans using semi-structured interviews. Key findings indicate that many shared the following pull factors: self-achievement, family and/or business environment and having a sense of independence. Among the interviewees, the push factors mentioned included job dissatisfaction and being confronted with no alternative. The entrepreneurs talked about these push-pull factors referring to their own situational and cultural context, thereby providing rich insights into the social, cultural, political and economic context in which they experienced the motives to become entrepreneurs. The research also provides insights to policy makers that can help them to promote entrepreneurship in Sri Lanka.
... Women lost certain rights to inheritance and equal treatment through the imposition of foreign marriage laws (Jayawardena 1986) and were ushered to work, with working-class Sinhalese and Indian Tamil women widely employed in semifeudal labor arrangements that governed the plantation economy (Jayawardena and Kurian 2015). For De Alwis (1996), it was amidst the clash of Buddhist tradition and a foisted colonial "modernity" that women's bodies became politicized as a site of ideological contest. Within nascent strands of anti-colonial nationalism, working women embodied the corrupting influence of imperial occupation and were juxtaposed against an abstracted Buddhist ideal of womanhood: chaste, religious, motherly, and invariably confined to the domestic sphere (De Alwis 1996). ...
... For De Alwis (1996), it was amidst the clash of Buddhist tradition and a foisted colonial "modernity" that women's bodies became politicized as a site of ideological contest. Within nascent strands of anti-colonial nationalism, working women embodied the corrupting influence of imperial occupation and were juxtaposed against an abstracted Buddhist ideal of womanhood: chaste, religious, motherly, and invariably confined to the domestic sphere (De Alwis 1996). Following independence in 1948, within a political landscape otherwise hewn by rival nation-building projects seeking to chart the island's postcolonial identity, this ideal of womanhood informed a patriarchal consensus that female domesticity signified a restoration of traditional Sri Lankan values-not just for individual families but also for the nation as a whole (De Alwis 1996). ...
... Within nascent strands of anti-colonial nationalism, working women embodied the corrupting influence of imperial occupation and were juxtaposed against an abstracted Buddhist ideal of womanhood: chaste, religious, motherly, and invariably confined to the domestic sphere (De Alwis 1996). Following independence in 1948, within a political landscape otherwise hewn by rival nation-building projects seeking to chart the island's postcolonial identity, this ideal of womanhood informed a patriarchal consensus that female domesticity signified a restoration of traditional Sri Lankan values-not just for individual families but also for the nation as a whole (De Alwis 1996). ...
Domestic worker migration can profoundly reconfigure unpaid care arrangements
within migrant households, often exacerbating gendered inequalities in providing
and receiving care. While the International Labor Organization has led rights
advocacy around migrant domestic work, there remains a dearth of attention to
the relationship between feminized migration and unpaid care. In Sri Lanka, this
policy space has been occupied by the Family Background Report: a series of regulations
that reinforce maternal caregiving by restricting the migration of women
with young children. An alternative “decent care” approach, involving investment
in local care infrastructure, could yield multiple benefits while promoting a
gender-inclusive decent work agenda.
... Like many Asian countries, Sri Lanka is considered a male-dominated society (Cho et al., 2015). The notions of "tradition" and "culture" are laced deeply within the national identity of Sri Lankan "womanhood" (De Alwis, 2002). De Alwis (2002, p. 675) notes that women are the "reproducers, nurturers and disseminators" of these gendered identities. ...
... Men are breadwinners and providers of security to women and children (Cho et al., 2015). Women who challenge traditional concepts are branded "unrespectful", "loose" and "provocative" (De Alwis, 2002). It is possible that these dominant "traditional" and "gendered" national identities are still impacting women in male-dominated industries. ...
Purpose
How do females with multiple sources of identity deal with intersectional identity tensions and perceived lack of access to social power? The study focuses on how social relationships form and develop in masculinised settings between construction workers and a petite female researcher through perceived notions of equality and inequality. Through autoethnographic tales, the study examines how an academic home comer navigates between conflicting professional and cultural identities, in their native country.
Design/methodology/approach
Using collaborative autoethnography, the study examines how the intersections of being a young petite female and a “partial” insider in a male-dominated construction industry influences the researcher's identity work process and her quest for social power.
Findings
The findings suggest that to access referent social power, the researcher covers stigmatised intersectional attributes and reveals a more favourable identity. The fieldwork journey of the young petite female researcher highlights that identity work is a situational process that evolves with respondent relationships, respondent assigned roles, perceived notion of access to power and struggles of cultural versus professional identity. The reader is also taken through the collaborative autoethnographic journey of a female researcher and her doctoral studies supervisor.
Originality/value
This paper makes several contributions. First, it contributes to the academic literature on intersectionality of identity, especially concentrating on the intersectional attributes of petite physical stature, gender and perceived lack of access to social power. Second, this paper theorises identity work processes as an indirect strategy of social power in researcher-and-researched relationships. Last, through collaborative autoethnography of female researchers' fieldwork journey, this study contributes to the body of knowledge on academic home comers as “partial” insiders in their native country.
... de Alwis (2002) further explores the portrayal of women in the dominant discourses of Sri Lanka to posit that, they are expected to fulfil the traditional roles as reproducers, nurturers and disseminators of "tradition", "culture", "community" and "nation." (p. ...
... Sanwaraya is a quality woman are traditionally expected to embody in the hegemonic society as a disseminator of culture (de Alwis, 2002). This quality is not only measured by their behaviour but also by their dress. ...
In the contemporary society, Cyber Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) has become a common phenomenon on social media. This can be particularly seen on Facebook which is at present the most widely used social media platform in Sri Lanka. The research problem of this study is based on an exploration of the gendered nature of cyber violence on Facebook. It is based on the premise that, the ways and means of abuse women are subjected to on Facebook are diverse and varied. Thus, the objective of this research is to scrutinize the socio-cultural assumptions and dominant ideological beliefs and values which lead to the construct and usage of injurious content and hate speech against Sri Lankan women on this online platform. It is based on the methodology of a qualitative content analysis to survey text and visual media which provoke harassment on Facebook. These are explored by scrutinizing the gendered visual representations of offensive and misogynistic content and verbal terminologies such as sexist hate speech against women. These explorations are based on an analysis of memes, comments, images and posts which are predominantly based on two incidents which occurred in July 2015 and August 2014. Based on this qualitative content analysis, this study concludes that, the sexualisation and abuse women are subjected to on Facebook depict how the body and sexuality of women are disciplined and controlled. This is realized by deconstructing the meanings and attributes of Sinhala injurious content which vilify and denigrate women by subjecting them to abuse, ridicule, and harassment.
... As women entered the public sphere from the 1940s onwards, this gendered distinction, rather than disappearing, exacerbated the gendered experiences of being shamed. At present, not only are women exposed to more public scrutiny and greater surveillance than in earlier times, but also their perceived misdemeanours are often sexualised by their kin and the broader community (De Alwis 2002;de Silva 2005;Hewamanne 2008). In short, for women, laejja-baya is not so much ‚fear of ridicule‛ or ‚fear of public criticism‛, but rather ‚fear of a sullied reputation‛. ...
... Although shame (whether laejja, layja or lajja) is regarded as a positive quality for both men and women in South Asia, it is considered a feminine virtue, and its demeanours and practices are highly gendered (De Alwis 1997, 2002Menon & Shweder 1994). More than men, women are expected to maintain equanimity, and shame acts as a ‚brake for passion‛ (Lindquist 2004, p.488). ...
In South Asia, shame is valued as a virtue and a means of social control, particularly for women. For Sri Lankan women, shame (læjja-baya) denotes modesty, purity, innocence, and self-effacement. For unmarried girls, sexual improprieties—rumoured or real—threaten loss of respectability and jeopardise a girl’s marriageability and her family’s honour. We investigated the dynamics of shame and norms of propriety in adolescent girls’ lives by re-analysing a subset of interviews of daughters and mothers (N = 24 pairs) collected in a prior study of nonfatal suicidal acts. Many such acts took place after girls were accused of violating norms of propriety. Other such acts served to ‘blame and shame’ wrongdoers. Girls and their mothers reported further that public knowledge of a suicide-like act sullied a girl’s reputation because onlookers ascribed sexualised meanings to it. We point out the incommensurability between parents’ goals and aspirations for their daughters’ educational and occupation attainments and the rigid demands for respectable comportment to which they must conform.
... However, as women entered the public sphere from the 1940s onwards, this gendered distinction, rather than disappearing, exacerbated the gendered experiences of being shamed. At present, not only are women exposed to more public scrutiny and greater surveillance than in earlier times, but also their perceived misdemeanours are often sexualised by their kin and the broader community (De Alwis, 2002;de Silva, 2005;Hewamanne, 2008). In short, for women, laejja-baya is not so much ''fear of ridicule'' or ''fear of public criticism'', but rather ''fear of a sullied reputation''. ...
... Although shame (whether laejja, layja or lajja) is regarded as a positive quality for both men and women in South Asia, it is considered a feminine virtue, and its demeanours and practices are highly gendered (De Alwis, 1997, 2002Menon & Shweder, 1994). More than men, women are expected to maintain equanimity, and, for women, shame acts as a ''brake for passion'' (Lindquist, 2004, p. 488). ...
... On one hand, patriarchal societies such as Sri Lanka carry heavy gender role stereotyping beliefs and norms that have justified disparate societal roles and treatments based on gender. Gender role expectations ascribe and impose traits and behaviour such as subordination, passivity, and respectability on women (De Alwis 2002;Jayaweera et al. 2007), which spill over to the workplace, influencing women's experiences and treatment at the workplace. On the other hand, similar societal norms, beliefs, and stereotypes make divorce a socially unacceptable phenomenon, leading to various prejudices and stigmamost often directed at divorced women (Abeyasekera 2013)which too leak to the workplace. ...
... These stereotypes and prejudices are strongly connected to the broader social stereotypes and gendering of women in the Asian context. In these patriarchal societies, women are socialized to uphold gender role expectations of subordination, passivity, respectability, and chastity from their childhood (De Alwis 2002;Jayaweera et al. 2007). Sexuality and childbearing outside marriage lead to women being labelled 'bad women'. ...
The aim of this exploratory study is to identify the ways divorced women experience workplace harassment at the intersection of marital status and gender in an Asian context, using the theory of intersectionality. Employing qualitative research approach, in-depth interviews with 12 divorced women were carried out. Results indicated the ways in which the participants get caught between ideological norms and beliefs about marriage and women that trigger distinct forms of harassment such as sexual harassment (sexual propositions and unpleasant flirtation), mistreatment (rumour-mongering, unsolicited/derogatory remarks, and ostracization/social exclusion), and discriminatory treatment (denial of promotions and positions as well as dismissal of achievements). Mostly subtle and at times blatant, the interplay of power dynamics, female misogyny, and intra-gender competition arising out of societal structures and deeply entrenched beliefs about women and marriage are seen as the basis for the manifestation of these forms of harassment. These findings advance the understanding of harassment, divorced women, and intersectionality, while also highlighting important implications for Human Resource Development professionals in addressing this grave issue at work.
... An explanation for this can be that honour rests on women's sexual conduct therefore the burden of shame accompanies women, as any 'shameful' physical conduct would dishonour their families (Christianson et al., 2020;Pitt-Rivers, 1968). Thus, higher endorsement of feminine and family honour may be more apparent among women than men due to the pronounced norms surrounding shame in Sri Lanka (e.g., Abeyasekera & Marecek, 2019;De Alwis, 2002). Although we found no gender differences in moral integrity, past research has suggested that in some cultures, people believe that hurting others is not only justifiable, but also fundamentally virtuous (Rai & Fiske, 2012). ...
The current study examined the role of the type of honour endorsement (masculine, feminine, family, moral integrity) in the tolerance to intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) in Sri Lanka. Three hundred and sixty-two Sri Lankan participants completed an online questionnaire. Results revealed that feminine honour and masculine honour were positively associated with, and moral integrity was negatively associated with, tolerance to IPVAW. Results also showed that men were more likely to tolerate IPVAW than women, and women were more likely to endorse feminine honour and family honour than men. The results suggest that specific types of honour play a predictive role in tolerance to IPVAW along with gender differences that are in line with cultural and gendered norms.
... The last of the aforementioned dimensions, the normalization of violence is gendered and has been attributed to the patriarchal society that promotes male dominance where Sri Lankan women are often treated like subordinates (Ruwanpura 2011). A woman perceived as not conforming to the heteronormative roles of being an obedient daughter, chaste wife, and nurturing mother is frowned upon by society (Alwis 2002). This is further enforced by the Sri Lankan concept of 'Laejjabaya' (shame and fear of ridicule), where young women are expected to behave with modesty, respectability, and be chaste, if not, they are exposed to ridicule and shame (Ruwanpura 2011). ...
Ragging in Sri Lanka is a longstanding initiation ritual, similar to hazing and bullying. The severe harassment of new students by seniors has led to adverse consequences including depression, university dropouts and suicide. Although, a significant problem, research on ragging is scarce. This research aimed to explore how staff and work-affiliated individuals at Jaffna University resonate around the phenomenon of ragging. Seven focus group discussions and eleven semi-structured interviews were conducted. Foucauldian Discourse Analysis and Bandura's Moral Disengagement theory were used to interpret the data. Three main discourses reflected the context: ragging as normal and necessary, insecurity and fear of reprisal, and voices of resistance. Participants often felt unsupported and therefore adapted their moral compasses to survive in this insecure environment. These findings demonstrate a fragmented approach to ragging that not only diminished any efforts towards elimination but affected how staff were forced to adjust their behavior to work in this environment. To address ragging, there is a need to adhere to a consistent strategy focusing on increasing awareness and supporting staff by holding accountable those at all levels of the administrative hierarchy in promoting a safe working environment for all.
... In Sri Lanka, women are expected to fulfil the traditional roles of 'reproducers, nurturers and disseminators of "tradition", "culture", "community" and "nation"' (de Alwis, 2002). Women who go against such roles online become victims of harassment. ...
Online violence is increasing rapidly and is emerging as one of the biggest threats facing the online world today. Acts of online violence take multiple forms, including cyberstalking, cyberbullying, sexual harassment, sex trolling, doxing, hate speech, public shaming and intimidation. Broadly speaking, online violence against women and girls and the victimisation pattern in Commonwealth Asia member countries are consistent with the overall global trend. However, given unique formal and informal institutions in these countries, perpetration and victimisation related to OVAWG have many significant aspects that are different from most other countries in the world. As a result of underdeveloped regulations and regulatory infrastructure related to OVAWG, it is difficult to arrest, prosecute and convict the perpetrators in most of these countries. Meanwhile, societal norms tend to make victims of OVAWG feel devalued and excluded.
... In Sri Lankan professional kitchens, the proverbial glass ceiling obstructing women's professional advancement is not composed of glass at all. It is a "cement ceiling" that prevents female chefs from breaking through to executive positions in the culinary industry (Alwis, 2002). The ceiling is clearly visible in opposite to the pellucid glass, and people are aware of its composition (Bonawitz & Andel, 2009). ...
... To prove their leadership potential, women must work far harder than men . According to Alwis, M. (2002), a "cement ceiling" prevents female chefs in South Asian countries from breaking through to executive positions in the culinary industry. In Sri Lankan professional kitchens, the proverbial glass ceiling obstructing women's professional advancement is not composed of glass at all. ...
Gender inequality in the culinary industry
... These changes are linked with a 'modernity' that threatens the traditional expectations placed upon women (de Mel 2001; de Alwis 2002). ...
Marriage and family are central aspects of life for women in Sri Lanka. The failure to marry or the absence of a family is considered a ‘lack’ in a woman’s life. As a result, we have come to notice how women put up with domestic violence and protect the perpetrator as he is her ‘husband’. Although legal statutes to deal with domestic violence exist, in practice they have limited effect. In attempting to understand the life of women after marriage in rural Sri Lanka, I engaged in an ethnographic study. In the course of the study, I have explored the suffering women undergo and the avenues that they take to resolve the suffering caused by marital conflict. Sorcery is a key tool they use to alleviate their suffering. In this article, using a case study of a marital dispute that spanned a period of fourteen-months in a rural Sinhala village in Sri Lanka, I highlight how women build their capacity to cope with marital conflict and alleviate suffering.
... Discrimination against Tamils was used by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) to justify an armed separatist movement, which resulted in horrific violence for almost three decades on the island (Rogers et al. 1998;Uyangoda 2005). were involved in the two insurrections and were active in the LTTE as well (de Alwis 2002). Today, former LTTE women combatants face challenges in reintegration and war-affected women with disabilities face challenges in rebuilding their lives. ...
Courts can play an important role in addressing issues of inequality, discrimination and gender injustice for women. The feminisation of the judiciary – both in its thin meaning of women's entrance into the profession, as well as its thicker forms of realising gender justice – is a core part of the agenda for gender equality. This volume acknowledges both the diversity of meanings of the feminisation of the judiciary, as well as the complexity of the social and cultural realisation of gender equality. Containing original empirical studies, this book demonstrates the past and present challenges women face to entering the judiciary and progressing their career, as well as when and why they advocate for women's issues while on the bench. From stories of pioneering women to sector-wide institutional studies of the gender composition of the judiciary, this book reflects on the feminisation of the judiciary in the Asia-Pacific.
... For instance, Manauguru (1995) demonstrates how the roles of the Tamil women transitionedfrom the idea of the "brave mother" (p.163) tothe image of the "woman warrior" (p. 164) and de Alwis (2002) highlights the way this image was recreated as a "masculinized virgin warrior" (p.682). Thus, the war allowed them to join military organizations, take up arms and even become female suicide bombers, enabling them to play a significant role in the separatist war. ...
When scrutinizing human history, from prehistoric period up to present time, the role played by religion in the lives of the human beings is alluring. It is clear that from the very beginning, people have practiced religion in some form everywhere in the world. Polytheism or the belief in many gods is a notion we can identify in many ancient religions around the world. As this study examines the ancient religions of Egypt, Babylonia, Greece and Rome, the findings prove the fact that though the names differ from each culture, the way these nations have identified different gods and goddesses representing different aspects such as elements of nature, human emotions, desires etc. shows similarities.
[Published in ‘The Faculty Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences’ (FJHSS) Volume 08, Issue 01 (June 2019) University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka]
(URL: https://hss.ruh.ac.lk/JFHSS/Vol8Iss1.pdf#page=61)
... Ikatan antar keluarga di negara tersebut telah diatur oleh beberapa sistem hukum. Hukum Umum (kombinasi dari Hukum Romawi-Belanda dan Inggris) dominan, tetapi tiga sistem paralel hukum dapat berlaku, yakni Hukum Islam, Kandyan dan Hukum Thesavalamai, semua didasarkan pada praktek-praktek adat kuno dan agama (De Alwis, 2002). ...
In the last few decades, women in Sri Lanka still face social inequality. This paper highlights that patriarchy as a socio-cultural factor is very dominant in gender discrimination in the country. Among them is the role of religion which has created the root of male tendency to dominance. As a result, women become a marginalized group, including in politics and work. This disparity has in fact been rooted from the family level, where the role of women in various matters in this small scope is very limited.
... Such a child, born equal but raised in a confined environment, may be considered simple and 'backward,' not because she is retarded, or psychologically weak, or physically deformed, but because she has never been given the chance to develop her abilities. A girl brought up in a family holding traditional values will be taught to be polite, innocent, bashful and 'feminine' (Jayawardena, 1994;De Alwis, 2002;Miller & Carbone-Lopez, 2013). Of course some of these qualities may be virtuous for both sexes. ...
Despite far-reaching economic, social and political developments in Sri Lanka over the last century or so, Sri Lankan women continue to occupy a subordinate status. While women are not subjected to extreme forms of oppression, many adverse structures and forces, such as the patriarchal social structure, woman’s role in the family, traditional values, rituals and myths, the division of labour and unequal pay, and women’s lack of participation in politics contribute to the continuing subordination of Sri Lankan women. In this context, this article seeks to address the socio-economic, cultural and political processes that shape the status and the progress of women in Sri Lanka. It emphasizes the policy makers to ensure that Sri Lankan women are empowered to participate in development. For this to happen, the article, however, argues that an attitudinal change and a paradigm shift in the minds of policy makers and the society at large must be accomplished. KeywordsEmpowerment, Sri Lanka, Subordination, Women
... nurturer of future generations and transmitter of cultural values"(De Mel, 2001, p. 3).DeAlwis (2002) further explores the portrayal of women in the dominant discourses of Sri Lanka to posit that, they are expected to fulfil the traditional roles as reproducers, nurturers and disseminators of "tradition", "culture", "community" and "nation." (p. ...
In the contemporary society, Cyber Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) has become a common phenomenon on social media. This can be particularly seen on Facebook which is at present the most widely used social media platform in Sri Lanka. The research problem of this study is based on an exploration of the gendered nature of cyber violence on Facebook. It is based on the premise that, the ways and means of abuse women are subjected to on Facebook are diverse and varied. Thus, the objective of this research is to scrutinize the socio-cultural assumptions and dominant ideological beliefs and values which lead to the construct and usage of injurious content and hate speech against Sri Lankan women on this online platform. It is based on the methodology of a qualitative content analysis to survey text and visual media which provoke harassment on Facebook. These are explored by scrutinizing the gendered visual representations of offensive and misogynistic content and verbal terminologies such as sexist hate speech against women. These explorations are based on an analysis of memes, comments, images and posts which are predominantly based on two incidents which occurred in July 2015 and August 2014. Based on this qualitative content analysis, this study concludes that, the sexualisation and abuse women are subjected to on Facebook depict how the body and sexuality of women are disciplined and controlled. This is realized by deconstructing the meanings and attributes of Sinhala injurious content which vilify and denigrate women by subjecting them to abuse, ridicule, and harassment.
... The gendered politics of discipline and respectability which are prescribed on the woman's attire have been explored through previous research. These include examinations of 'the motif of woman-as-nation' (Silva, 2004, p.97) among war widows, Free Trade Zone (FTZ) women, migrant women and female representations in theatre and literature (de Alwis, 2002;Hewamanne, 2003;Hewamanne, 2006;De Mel, 2001). ...
In Sri Lanka, university subcultures within the higher education institution impose dress codes on both male and female undergraduates. However, the gendered nature of this imposition on women undergraduates is imperative as it works in subtle ways to discipline the female body and sexuality by subjecting her to sexual objectification and harassment. Thus, the objective of this research is to understand the gendered nature of these dress impositions on women undergraduates, the processes by which these women are coerced into upholding these practices and to explore the ideological and theoretical reasons for these behaviours. The methodology of this research was based on a qualitative study of ten in-depth interviews among male and female undergraduates from three universities. The results of this research particularly revealed the discriminatory treatment students are subjected to when instilling the ‘appropriate’ dress code during the ‘ragging’ period. During this period new entrants are subjected to verbal, physical and sometimes sexual harassment by senior students who claim that, it is the ‘subculture’ of the university and it is a way of ensuring that there is equality amongst all. At times, women undergraduates were ‘disciplined’, openly ‘ridiculed’ and ‘humiliated’ by the male security officials at the university gate by being denied entrance as they were not attired in clothing that was ‘respectable.’ Therefore, this research concluded that, the instilling of a dress code at university cater to the age-old patriarchal expectations on womanhood where the woman is expected to represent the values of respectability through her body and sexuality. She is vilified and treated in a derogatory manner by the dominant society when she transgresses the normative expectations of representing a cultural femininity when she does not subscribe to the expected dress code.
... Accounts of negative attitudes towards women's paid work point to contradictions in nationalist discourses which, on the one hand, posit women as the 'mothers of the nation and the locus of tradition and culture' (Lynch 2002: 88), and on the other emphasise the need for economic growth through women's labour-power. 29 In this context, women's formal employment has been construed as an affront to Ceylonese culture and traditions (De Alwis 2002). In this regard, there are parallels between women migrants and garment factory workers. ...
This thesis is an anthropological study of Sri Lankan 'guest' workers in the Middle East, focusing on the experiences of women who migrate to Jordan for employment in domestic service. More than 100,000 women depart Sri Lanka for such work each year, giving Sri Lanka one of the highest per capita rates of female migration in the world. A large body of literature exists concerning the growth of Asian migration to Arab countries, yet relatively little has been written about migrants' experiences in host countries. Based on dual-sited research conducted over the course of 24 months, the thesis provides an ethnographic contribution both at the point of origin and re-entry (i.e. Sri Lanka) and at the destination point (i.e. Jordan). It draws on research in a village in western Sri Lanka to examine the factors compelling women to migrate for these jobs and how they evaluate the consequences of doing so for themselves and their families. The second part of the thesis addresses migrants' experiences and working conditions during their sojourns. The analysis aims to move beyond typically one-sided accounts of domestic work by considering the perspectives of both workers and employers and probing the complex relations between them. In doing so, it considers the kafala (sponsorship) system by which guest workers are effectively bound to their employers for the terms of their service. According to its terms, migrants are dependent on local sponsors for their residence and work permits. Workers cannot change employers without the sponsor's written consent, and sponsors have the power to send workers back to their own countries at any time. The research focuses on the example of Sri Lankan domestic workers to illuminate workers' experiences of the kafala system and analyse the links between migration policies, guest worker programmes and unfree labour in the global economy.
... In the current context, these power barriers can oftentimes inhibit women. In Sri Lanka, it is important for women to be mothers and wives, and it is expected that they obey their husbands (de Alwis, 2002). In the last decades, women's participation in the paid labour market has increased; many of them work in the textile and garment sectors for the export. ...
Offering women access to microcredit and business training is a prominent approach to stimulate women's empowerment. Whereas men seem to profit from business training, women do not. We adjusted a goal‐setting training session on the basis of women's needs in collaboration with a women organization in Sri Lanka. We invited female microfinance borrowers and their husbands to the training as both parties should be involved to change existing gender roles with respect to their income‐generating activity. We investigated the impact of the training on goal‐setting skills, self‐esteem, and the couples' interaction in a subsequent task. In two field experiments, female borrowers and their husbands (nstudy1 = 68; nstudy2 = 76) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (a) goal‐setting training and setting goals as couple, (b) goal‐setting training and setting goals individually, or (c) no training (control condition). Participation in the training increased women's SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time bound) goal‐setting skills. We coded couples' interactions in a subsequent decision‐making task to assess signs of women's empowerment. Descriptively, we found some initial evidence of increased women's empowerment in the interaction (Study 2). We critically discuss results and how gendered power imbalances may need to be addressed to stimulate social change towards gender equity.
... The war has left several legacies with implications for gender relations. Women have participated in the armed struggle, suffered displacement, and sexual and gender-based violence, and have also been a force in peace-promotion efforts (de Alwis 2002;Hoole et al. 1990;Kottegoda 2010). 3 Already in the early 1980s, women groups spearheaded human rights action and protest and have been a progressive force in many subsequent peace initiatives (Samuel 2001(Samuel , 2017. ...
This paper foregrounds how women’s public testimony as part of a formal transitional justice initiative is shaped by the particular context in which a commission operate, including the political and security environment. While the literature has engaged with the gendered predicaments of truth commissions after peace agreements and during transitions away from non-democratic rule, the function of such initiatives in more authoritarian and in immediate post-war contexts is generally overlooked. I examine women’s testimonies from Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), and contend that pervasive militarization and insecurity, and the conduct of the Commission, influenced the stories that came forth. Women’s testimonies in the war-torn areas primarily represent pleas for information about missing family members and reflect important silences about the women’s own experiences of abuse, including ongoing post-war insecurities. The analysis raises questions about what may be expected from transitional justice efforts in difficult post-war contexts.
... Tamil women successfully mobilized their identities as mothers to promote 'traditional family values' in efforts to sympathetically engage Sinhalese audiences (de Alwis 2002;Mittra and Kumar 2004). Local communities and rights activists also mobilized the co-constitution of Tamil and Sinhalese women as "disseminators of 'tradition,' 'culture,' 'community' and the 'nation'" and the underlying belief in female purity and gendered victimhood (de Alwis 2002, 676). ...
Why do governments and militaries publicly condemn and prosecute particular forms of abuse? This article explores the Sri Lankan government's decision to promote limited legal accountability for state-perpetrated rape committed in a country otherwise renowned for widespread impunity. We argue that rather than representing a turn against impunity, the symbolic stance against conflict-related sexual violence in a small number of high-profile cases served an explicitly politico-military agenda. The state deployed legal accountability in specific cases to garner political legitimacy among key domestic audiences. The Sri Lankan government drew on the symbolism of female victimhood to mobilize support at a time when support for military counterinsurgency was waning. We show that governments can uniquely instrumentalize sexual violence cases to establish moral authority and territorial legitimacy. Through an examination of the domestic legal response to state-perpetrated human rights abuses, we illustrate the many ways in which women's bodies—and the law—can be mobilized in war to serve military ends.
... Such a child, born equal but raised in a confined environment, may be considered simple and 'backward,' not because she is retarded, or psychologically weak, or physically deformed, but because she has never been given the chance to develop her abilities. A girl brought up in a family holding traditional values will be taught to be polite, innocent, bashful and 'feminine' (Jayawardena, 1994;De Alwis, 2002;Miller & Carbone-Lopez, 2013). Of course some of these qualities may be virtuous for both sexes. ...
... The normalisation of independence in nuclear families is discussed as a trait of Western modernity (Renner, Ramalingam, and Pirta 2014) and is becoming prevalent in urban South Asia (De Alwis 2002). Expectation of autonomy in his new family is important to the continuity of Hiran's social relationships, which are important to his personal identity after marriage. ...
There is a bricolage of competing local and global ideologies, value systems, and practices vying for the attention of urban South Asian consumers. We term this as “postmodern complexity”. Drawing from a three-year ethnographic research expedition on Sinhalese Sri Lankan families, we illustrate the process by which these families mediate postmodern complexity during new family formation. Our findings support an emergent framework to understand the processes in which families negotiate the influence of competing discourses and illustrate that the process is a perpetual experimentation spanning across three overlapping stages. We argue that negotiating postmodern complexity in our families is a hybrid and creolised resolution that is tailored to each family’s unique identity needs. Families can draw from a multitude of meanings that are anchored in consumption in order to create a unique family identity that is most appropriate to their identity pursuits.
... At present, all formal women workers in the public sector (permanent, temporary, casual or trainee) are entitled to 84 working days of maternity leave on full pay, 84 days on half pay and 84 days of unpaid leave for any number of childbirth (Government of Sri Lanka, 2005). Though Sri Lanka has specific cultural conditions which encourage women's education attainment and labour market participation more than other countries in the region (De Alwis, 2002;Jayawardena, 1986;Kodagoda, 2013), working hours and family friendly policies are under-researched; nor are top-level managers and policy makers ready to listen or be concerned with these issues (Kodagoda, 2014). At present, paid work is necessary to maintain a successful family life and Sri Lankan society thus values highly the dual-earner couple model. ...
Worldwide studies of professional and managerial dual-earner couples in specific professions have indicated that with the double burdens of work and family, working long hours limit women’s career aspirations. Based on in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 40 respondents, this article examines how long working hours in the banking and health sectors impact professional and managerial mothers’ family life and health, and how the latter perceive motherhood roles. Though there was evidence of negative effects of long hours especially on childcare and children’s cognitive development, while rationalising their decision on combining motherhood and paid work, mothers interviewed valued their full-time employment.
... The participants had expanded their capabilities, well-being and agency using mobile phones to enhance their income-earning activities, family well-being, safety and securityaspects they strongly desired in their lives and were unachievable in the past. Yet, their use of mobile phones is limited by the symbolic violence practised against them, male domination and female subordination in the patriarchal social system, which in turn restrict their capabilities, well-being and agency (Bourdieu 2001;De Alwis 2002;Zheng & Stahl 2011, pp. 74-5). ...
This study examined the empowerment potential of mobile phones and their impact on existing gender power relations for female heads of households in the multi-ethnic Trincomalee District, Sri Lanka and found the device to be a cultural artefact symbolising multiple identities, that challenged as well as reinforced their social positions.<br /
Zusammenfassung
Ansätze einer globalen Religionsgeschichte haben entscheidend zum Verständnis von Allgemeinbegriffen wie Religion als historisch gewachsen und veränderlich beigetragen. Ebenso haben sie aufgezeigt, dass das Verständnis von Religion in Wechselwirkung mit anderen Allgemeinbegriffen wie Nation geprägt ist. Geschlecht findet in diesen Untersuchungen bislang kaum Berücksichtigung. Dabei bestehen Wechselwirkungen zwischen Geschlecht, Nation und Religion, die wir in diesem Aufsatz in dem Vergleichsmoment von Mutterschaft aufzeigen wollen. Anhand von Fallbeispielen aus Sri Lanka, Israel und Nigeria machen wir deutlich, wie der Vergleichsmoment Mutterschaft in unterschiedlichen Kontexten funktioniert, wie Identitäten daran konstruiert werden, welche Auswirkungen sich dadurch auf Religion, Nation und Geschlecht ergeben und wie Mutterschaft sowohl als Unterdrückungsmechanismus dient, als auch Handlungsmacht darin möglich ist.
The conclusion synthesises both theoretical and ethnographic insights to interpret women’s actions aimed at creating habitable lives. For women who haven’t capitalised on opportunities presented by neoliberal projects to explore beyond their villages and broaden their horizons, marriage remains central to their conception of an ideal life. They navigate between resistance, conformity, and rationalisation, perceiving their suffering as enduringly beautiful and irreversible. This response reflects a vulnerability rooted in socialized gender norms, fostering a passive endurance of suffering. However, upon closer examination, their responses reveal a latent capacity to transform suffering into opportunities for improving their life. This transformation process is conceptualised as vulnerability evolving into resilience. Women leverage their social networks, seek assistance from the state, engage with the supernatural, and find solace in virtual spaces offered by television and mobile phones to navigate marital challenges. This navigation is characterised by ‘careful resilience’, ensuring that their actions enhance rather than jeopardize their marriages and family lives, thereby contributing to the creation of more habitable circumstances. The conclusion emphasis the nuanced ways in which women exercise agency, adaptability, and resilience amidst adversities, ultimately shaping their experiences into a persistence of a good life within the confines of societal expectations.
This paper investigates the (de)construction of binaries vis-.-vis the verticality of women in domestic and epistemic domains in Nayomi Munaweera’s Island of a Thousand Mirrors. In doing so, the study employs Greeta Gaard’s concept of naturalization of women and feminization of nature which refer to the process of using binaries as a means to ensure that women remain on a horizontal position in the vertically moving structure of power. Being in a horizontal position, both women and nature are not powerful. Through this theoretical lens, this study explores the reasons of horizontality by investigating the patriarchal thoughts of society that categorize women as aquatic, domestic and wild animals through the use of animalistic language to show their restricted movement. The animalization reflects the subjugation of women in the hands of capitalist man. The study also focuses on feminization of nature which is feminized because of its caring and reproductive attributes. These shared attributes allow patriarchal ideologies to dominate women and nature through oppressive strategies. The discussion on animalization and naturalization underscores the constraints imposed on women and their mobility within sociocultural context. Furthermore, this paper takes into consideration the traumatic experiences, sufferings and exploitation of rape victims and highlights how female characters break the societal sanctions, and resurface in order to move vertically while deconstructing the binaries of male-female, Sinhala-Tamil, and human-nonhuman. The deconstruction of binaries creates an inclusive society without discrimination of the oppressed and the privileged. It also highlights that we need to treat all living creatures equally with compassion. I use Catherine Belsey’s method of textual analysis in order to analyze the selected text.
ශ්රී ලාංකික සන්දර්භය තුළ රාජ්ය අංශය මෙන්ම පෞද්ගලික අංශය මගින් ද අබාධ සහිත පුද්ගලයින් වෙනුවෙන් විවිධ පහසුකම් සපයා තිබෙන ආකාරයක් හඳුනාගත හැකි ය. නමුත්, පොදු ජන සමාජය තුළ ඇතැම් අවස්ථාවන්හිදී මෙම ආබාධ සහිත පුද්ගලයින් සමාජ, දේශපාලන මෙන්ම ආර්ථික අංශයන් තුළින් ආන්තීකරණයට ලක්වන ආකාරයක් දක්නට ලැබේ. ශ්රී ලංකාවේ විශ්වවිද්යාල පද්ධතිය තුළ අධ්යාපනය ලබන ආබාධ සහිත සිසුන් ස්ත්රී පුරුෂ සමාජභාවීය අගයන් හේතුවෙන් මුහුණපාන අපහසුතා හඳුනා ගැනීම මෙම අධ්යයනයේ මූලික අරමුණ විය. එහිදී ආබාධ සහිත ශිෂ්ය කණ්ඩායම් වල අධ්යාපන අවශ්යතා සපුරා ගැනීමේදී ඔවුන්ගේ ස්ත්රී පුරුෂ භාවය බලපෑම් කරන්නේ කෙසේද? යන පර්යේෂණ ගැටලුව මූලික කරගනිමින් දත්ත රැස් කිරීම සිදු කරන ලදි. පර්යේෂණ අරමුණු සාධනය කර ගැනීම සඳහා ශ්රී ලංකාවේ එක්තරා රාජ්ය විශ්වවිද්යාලයක ශාස්ත්ර පීඨය පර්යේෂණ ක්ෂේත්රය වශයෙන් තෝරා ගන්නා ලදි. එම ශාස්ත්ර පීඨය තුළ අධ්යාපනය ලබන සිව් වසරක සිසුන් අතරින් ආබාධ සහිත සිසුන් මූලික කර ගනිමින් මෙම අධ්යයනය සිදු කරන ලදි. එම සිසුන්ගේ ස්ත්රී පුරුෂ භාවය පිළිබඳව අවධානය යොමු කරමින් රමුණු සහගත ආකාරයට පර්යේෂණ නියැදිය පුද්ගලයින් 20 දෙනෙකුගෙන් සමන්විත වන ආකාරයට එනම්, අබාධ සහිත සිසුන් 13 දෙනෙකු සහ විශ්වවිද්යාලය තුළ ඔවුන්ව සමීපව ඇසුරු කරන, සාමාන්ය විද්යාර්ථයින් 7 දෙනෙකුද අන්තර්ගත වන පරිදි තෝරා ගන්නා ලදි. එහිදී පළමු වසර සිට තෙවන වසර දක්වා සෑම වසරකින්ම ආබාධ සහිත සිසුන් දෙදෙනෙක් සහ සිසුවියන් දෙදෙනෙක් බැගින් තෝරා ගත් අතර සිව්වන වසර විශේෂවේදී අධ්යාපනය ලැබීම සඳහා සුදුසුකම් ලද එකම ආබාධ සහිත සිසුවාද මෙම නියැදිය තුළට අන්තර්ගත කරගන්නා ලදි. රැස් කරගත් දත්ත තේමා විශ්ලේෂණ ක්රමවේදය ඔස්සේ විශ්ලේෂණය කළ අතරල සංගහනය තුළ සිටින සිසුන් අතරින් වැඩි පිරිසක් එනම් 90% ක පමණ ප්රතිශතයක් සාමාන්යවේදී උපාධිය හදාරන බව දත්ත විශ්ලේෂණයේදී පැහැදිළි විය. එනම් ආබාධ සහිත සිසුන් අතරින් වැඩි පිරිසක් වසර තුනකින් තම විශ්වවිද්යාල අධ්යාපනය අවසන් කරන බව හඳුනාගත හැකිවිය. අබාධ සහිත සිසුන් වැඩි ප්රමාණයක් වසර තුනකින් විශ්වවිද්යාල
අධ්යාපනය හමාර කිරීම සඳහා ස්ත්රී පුරුෂ සමාජභාවිය සාධකයන්ද බලපෑම් කර තිබෙන බව හඳුනාගත හැකිවිය. විශේෂවේදී උපාධිය හදාරන සිසුවා ඇසුරින් සිදු කළ සිද්ධි අධ්යයනය තුළින්ද මේ බව තවදුරටත් පැහැදිළි විය. එසේම අධ්යාපන අවශ්යතා සපුරා ගැනීමේදී ආබාධ සහිත ස්ත්රී විද්යාර්ථයින් තම සියලුම කටයුතු අනෙකුත් විද්යාර්ථයින්ගේ උපකාර හරහා සිදු කර ගැනීමට උත්සාහ දැරීම නිසා බොහෝ සිසුන් ඔවුන්ට උපකාර කිරීමට පසුබට වන ආකාරයක් හඳුනාගත හැකිවිය. නමුත් ආබාධ සහිත පිරිමි විද්යාර්ථයින් හට ඔවුන්ගේ කටයුතු සිදු කර ගැනීමට විවිධ ආකාරයට උපකාර රාශියක් ලැබෙන බව දක්නට ලැබුණි. විශ්වවිද්යාලය තුළ අධ්යාපනය ලබන ආබාධ සහිත සිසුන් තම අධ්යාපන අවශ්යතා සපුරා ගැනීමේදී ඔවුන්ගේ ස්ත්රී පුරුෂ භාවය මත හඳුනාගන්නා, විවිධ ස්ත්රී පුරුෂ සමාජභාවීය ආකල්පයන් තමන් තුළට අභ්යන්තරිකරණය කරගෙන තිබෙන ආකාරයක් හඳුනාගත හැකිවිය. මේ ආකාරයට ස්ත්රී පුරුෂ සමජභාවීය අගයන් ඔවුන් තුළට අභ්යන්තරිකරණය කර ගැනීම නිසා ඔවුන් ආබාධිත භාවය නිසා පීඩා විඳිනවාට වඩා ගැටලු රාශියකට මුහුණපාන බව අවසාන වශයෙන් නිගමනය කළ හැකිය.
Formal education has all too often been portrayed as a means of achieving social and economic mobility, there is a need to address the unequal footing for adolescents in the Global South attempting to achieve social mobility through education. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in Sri Lanka, this article considers the impact of upward mobility-driven discourses of the North on the type of aspirations formed by adolescents in the Global South, and the social implications that arise as a result. Through observation, interviews and focus groups carried out at a secondary school for girls and a private tuition centre in Sri Lanka, the paper considers the value given to private tuition compared to government-funded schooling. In doing so, it examines the implications of mobility-driven discourses on the schooling experiences of adolescents in the Global South, particularly the heightening of educational and social inequalities.
This chapter concerns post-colonial Sri Lanka and aims to demonstrate the emancipatory potential vested within the ontological concept of agential reflexivity, in understanding the marginalised voices of the subaltern. Existing understandings have been criticised for underplaying the voices (agency) of postcolonial (Sri Lankan) agents through the generalised view that they inhabit traditional social contexts characterised by routine action that dismisses conscious reflexive human nature. The value of the philosophical concept of reflexivity therefore lies in its ability to acknowledge the diversity associated with conscious human action that can recognise the voice of the subaltern. Reflexivity allows deeper insights into the concealed realities beyond the assumption that subaltern is a passive actor, a product of society. Reflexivity as a viable, novel methodological approach to the postcolonial meta-theoretical landscape, can demonstrate how individuals inhabiting postcolonial contexts are increasingly required to produce creative, innovative, conscious action beyond routine, habitual behaviour in negotiating with the world. Based on 101 work and life histories gathered from Sri Lanka, this chapter demonstrates the centrality of reflexivity in understanding how individuals living in this postcolonial context negotiate its complex social fabric.KeywordsCritical realismPostcolonial societiesReflexivitySocial mobility intentionsSri Lanka
Link to the chapter - https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-19-2988-5_6
The past two decades has seen a flourishing of research on the characteristics and behaviours of Chinese tourists. Much early research viewed this phenomenon through an essentialist cultural lens; presuming a relatively static and homogeneous market. Recent scholarship has criticised this approach, as risking creating or reinforcing stereotypes of tourists, and overlooking other valid explanations for behaviour. Thus, there is a call to focus on cultural complexity, recognising that culture evolves and responds to changing contexts and situations. Drawing insights from the Sri Lanka host
service providers in the retail shopping setting, this study explores the perspectives and responses of host service providers to the characteristics and behaviour of the Chinese tourist market with whom they interact. Applying a dynamic and context-specific perspective of culture, the study reveals an evolving and negotiated context in which
retail service providers respond to the Chinese market, and adapt their strategies, as the latter also alter their behaviour in a dynamic context of host-tourist interactions.
Post-conflict reconstruction has emerged as one the major issues of concern in Africa in the last three decades. Since the end of the Cold War following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, many African countries embraced multiparty systems that expanded democratic spaces. With this came the claim to justice and consciousness on the need to reconstruct a new vision of the nation, a vision that is based on social cohesion. This led to calls for democratisation in a number of African countries as well as in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and, in particular, former Soviet Union countries. In Africa, the approach taken by different countries varied from elaborate transitional justice processes that involved truth commissions to national dialogue processes that called for political compromise without putting into place any formal transitional justice process. The articles in this supplementary issue on transitional justice discourse in post-conflict societies in Africa draw attention to diverse contextual issues on post-conflict reconstruction in the continent. These articles bring together divergent discourses, experiences, theorisations, and interpretations of transitional processes while calling for a new way of assessing truth-telling processes within the purview of legal frameworks, gender and cultural sensitivities, peace sustainability, and conflict resolution strategies in Africa. The articles open up debate on the extent to which transitional justice processes contribute to peace and sustainability in Africa, and what could be done to improve this important post-conflict reconstruction initiative.
Background
In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), health system resilience and preparedness for shocks such as wars are an urgent concern if the region is to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which includes a reduction in maternal deaths by fewer than 70 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030. There has been very little research on how health systems should achieve SD 3 if they are impacted by war.
Aims
This thesis examines the interrelationships between war, health systems, female empowerment and the utilisation of maternal health services in war-affected SSA countries (1990–2015). This study includes examining the factors that enabled some war-affected SSA countries to achieve a significant maternal mortality reduction during this period based on their health systems’ resilience and preparedness for shocks such as wars.
Methods
This study used diverse research methods: (1) quantitative analyses of maternal mortality in 49 SSA countries divided into two groups (countries with and without war (major armed conflict) during 1990–2015 (article to be submitted); (2) literature review and policy analysis to identify standard best health system practices in five SSA countries with war (1990–2015) and achieved a maternal mortality reduction (≥50%) in the same period (article published in Global Health Action); (3) qualitative research in Eritrea, a war-affected SSA country during 1990–2015 (article published in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth); (4) quantitative analyses to assess the prevalence of female empowerment in 31 SSA countries using four female empowerment indicators in Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) collected during 2010–2015 (article to be submitted); (5) quantitative analyses of DHS data to assess associations between female empowerment and the utilisation of maternal health services––antenatal care visits (≥4 ANC) and delivery by skilled birth attendants (SBAs)––in 31 SSA countries using the four DHS female empowerment indicators (article published in BMJ Open), and (6) quantitative analyses to compare female empowerment in countries with and without war (1990–2015), and examining whether there are no differences between female empowerment and the utilisation of maternal health services in countries with and without war in the same period (article to be submitted).
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Results
For the qualitative analyses of 49 SSA countries divided into two groups according to their war history (1990–2015). Countries with war (n=13) had a higher median maternal mortality ratio (MMR) (693 [IQR (477-732)]) than those without war (n=36) (380 [(247-570)]) (p<0.01). Adjusted regression models among all 49 countries showed an association between low maternal mortality and high density of nurses-midwives (p = 0.05) as well as a low level of corruption (p = 0.03). For countries with war, there was evidence of an association between low maternal mortality and high density of nurses-midwives (p = 0.05) besides the high density of hospitals (p = 0.02). For countries without war, only a low level of corruption was significantly associated with low maternal mortality (p = 0.03).
The literature review and policy analysis study identified three general health system reforms across all five countries that could explain the observed maternal mortality reduction in these countries. These health system reforms were health systems decentralisation, innovation related to the health workforce (such as training of community healthcare workers), and government financing reforms.
Qualitative research in Eritrea revealed two perceived facilitators of the women’s utilisation of and access to maternal health services: health education and improvement in gender equality and female empowerment, driven by the role women played as combatants during the War of Independence (1961–1991). The one perceived barrier was the inadequate quality of care.
The importance of female empowerment in Eritrea led to a broader investigation of female empowerment in SSA using DHS data. The prevalence of female empowerment in 31 SSA countries ranged from 69% for opposing sexual violence to 42% for decisions on the spending of the household income. The prevalence of opposing sexual violence was highest in Southern Africa (85%), and lowest in Western Africa (64%); opposing domestic violence was highest in Southern Africa (64%) and lowest in Central Africa (36%); women’s involvement in decisions on the spending of the household income was highest in Southern Africa (72%) and lowest in Western Africa (27%); and women’s participation in decisions on the major household purchases was highest in Southern Africa (85%) and lowest in Western Africa (41%).
Pooled results for all 31 countries (194,883 women) combined showed weak statistically significant associations between all four female empowerment indicators and
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the utilisation of maternal healthcare services (aORs ranged from 1.07 to 1.15). The strongest associations were in the Southern African region. For example, the aOR for women who made decisions on the household income solely or jointly with husbands concerning the utilisation of SBAs in the Southern African region was 1.44 (95% CI 1.21 to 1.70). Paradoxically, there were three countries where women with higher autonomy on some measures were less likely to use maternal healthcare services. For example, the aOR in Senegal for women who made decisions on the major household purchases solely or jointly with husbands about the utilisation of SBAs was 0.74 (95% CI 0.59 to 0.94).
The pooled prevalence of female empowerment was 42% for rejection of domestic violence in SSA countries with war and 50% in those without war; 60% for decisions on the spending of the household income made by the women solely or jointly with husbands in countries with war and 37% in those without war; 63% for decisions on the major household purchases in countries with war and 49% in those without war, and 67% for opposing sexual violence in countries with war and 70% in those without war. There was no difference between countries with and without war regarding the relationship between female empowerment and the utilisation of maternal health services.
Conclusions
Health system resilience and preparedness for shocks is an urgent concern in war-affected SSA countries. The results of this study suggest that reforms related to healthcare workers, leadership and governance (to tackle corruption) could be the keys to strengthening the health system and therefore reduce maternal mortality. This research also shows that empowering SSA women (SDG 5 aims to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls by 2030) is essential if the region is to meet the SDG 3.1 target of fewer than 70 MMR per 100,000 live births by 2030. As only a small number of studies have been published about the utilisation of maternal health services in war-affected SSA countries, findings of this study provide a basis for further research in countries recovering from the effect of war. Some of the results presented here should be interpreted with caution. In particular, female empowerment is a complicated issue that cannot be fully understood using only quantitative research methods.
This chapter draws on an in-depth analysis of 526 articles gathered from mainstream English-language newspapers in Sri Lanka which mention female ex-combatants from The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. It analyses how female ex-combatants have been portrayed for their combatant role as a result of a patriarchal and traditional society. These media representations are important because gender inequality affects the lived experiences of ex-combatant women and constrains the meaning given to their social reintegration. Muliebrity, femininity and domesticity are privileged over the knowledge and skills gained through warfare. Media representations censure the experiences of female ex-combatants, constructing them as ‘abnormal’ or ‘failed’ women, whilst reinforcing traditional gender roles. Resettlement programmes focus on re-training women into low-skilled feminised occupations such as sewing, whilst at the same time giving social capital to marriage, motherhood and domesticity. This constitutes a weakness in the resettlement and reintegration programmes that are supposedly designed to help former female ex-combatants lead independent economic lives. This chapter raises several questions around gender equality, gender justice and the barriers that hinder embedding a progressive societal agenda to bring about change in Sri Lanka.
Does the manner in which a civil war is terminated affect women’s political rights developments? In this article, we develop an analytical framework showing how the context of war termination type affects both the opportunity and willingness of warring parties and their openness towards the influence of international actors, thereby affecting the possibility of translating social ruptures and pressure from women’s groups into post-war improvements in women’s political rights. Studying 205 civil war terminations in 69 countries since 1989, we find support for our claim that a conflict terminated through the negotiation and implementation of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement significantly improved women’s political rights in the post-war period when compared to other types of conflict termination. This finding holds after controlling for the women’s rights provisions negotiated in the agreement. Our results carry substantial policy relevance by underlining the significance of women’s inclusion in peace processes.
Introduction to the edited volume "Voices on South Asia
Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Women's Status, Challenges and Futures", Singapore: World Scientific, 2020
The majority of people with disability (PWD) live in the global South. Over the last four decades, community-based rehabilitation (CBR) programs have dominated the way development programs operate and intercede in the lives of PWD, especially in low- and middle-income countries. This research uses participant observation and in-depth interviews to gather women’s experiences of disablement and CBR in Sri Lanka. Major findings detail ways CBR programs fail to address larger social inequities, specifically centered around ableism and sexism, and how these barriers are embedded in societies. Thus, these programs continue to target rehabilitation efforts at the level of the individual, without changing shared social circumstances of discrimination. Failure to respond to social inequalities continuing to marginalize groups of individuals is a global issue, permeating nations regardless of their level of resources. CBR programs are intended to be more empowering than segregated forms of rehabilitation, yet few studies incorporate the perspectives of PWDs. Centering experiences of women with disability (WWD) in CBR programs, this dissertation reveals glaring deficits in the CBR framework and argues perspectives of WWD are valid and important sources of knowledge needed to inform research and practice. Three main themes connect inadequate childhood education and current employment experiences, a myriad of social factors shaping well-being, and an increase in mobility through social movements. Results illuminate the need to refocus international development and intervention efforts away from individual deficit-based models toward systematic societal-level interventions informed and guided by the experiences of people the programs aim to serve.
In post-war contexts, attention is given to women’s participation and barriers to their participation in formal processes (for example, peace talks, economic initiatives, and elections). Yet, women have engaged in various activities to exercise collective and individual agency to impact political participation. This article examines how Tamil women’s political participation in post-war Sri Lanka exists along a continuum, from formal participation within state structures and party politics to informal community participation. Scholarship about Tamil women’s political participation is framed within discourses of “militants,” “ex-combatants,” “political mothers,” or “victims.” Using narrative interviews, we argue that – based on their awareness of unequal gendered power relations, structures, and norms impacting their lives in post-war Sri Lanka – Tamil women in Mannar exercise agency to challenge these constraints and promote a broader transformative political arena. Some women attempt to expand the agency of others and to promote a collective voice through which women can be better represented in politics. Drawing on feminist international relations and gender and development knowledge, this study demonstrates how political agency is constituted within informal arenas, disrupting masculinist assumptions about who is considered a political actor and what counts as political agency by examining the spectrum of political participation in post-war contexts.
Sri Lanka, though still being a developing country, is vigorously pursuing a strategy of “electricity for all”, and has already attained an electrification level of 96% by 2013 (Central Bank of Sri Lanka, 2013), quite a credible achievement compared to 29% level of electrification by the turn of the century......
This article explores how Tamil women in Australia reconstruct memories of Sri Lanka’s war through postmemory and personal experiences. Tamil women’s understandings of war are important for unravelling multiple sites of marginalization across social and political landscapes that challenge dominant perspectives of being Tamil-Australian. The article draws on sixteen in-depth interviews with Tamil women resettled in Australia as children in the 1980s and 1990s, foregrounding their unique position as part of a war generation. It shows that Tamil women’s experiences of political engagement during the final stages of war were motivated by memories of individual and collective sufferings. However, loss, exclusion and forced migration characterize their ambivalent connections to homeland. Not always tied to dominant memories of war, victimhood and subordination, the article concludes that each Tamil woman represents ongoing resistances, survival and renegotiations of Tamil diasporic experiences of war that are produced by their memory and memory work.
This essay examines the place of home-grown soap operas, known as mega teledramas, in the lives of women in the South Asian island nation of Sri Lanka. While female audiences are often vilified for their consumption of mega teledramas in Sri Lanka, this study finds that these narratives have assumed a social role in women’s friendship networks, becoming a shared cultural source in their everyday lives. The representations in the mega teledramas were offering a range of diverse meanings to the women and their readings of women protagonists, central to the narratives, were intrinsically linked with nationally constructed notions of womanhood.
Postwar Sri Lanka is heavily dependent on the promising future of the Information Technology (IT) industry to contribute considerably to the economic and social development of the country. Given the reported skill shortage and gender imbalance in the IT sector, female participation and retention is greatly advocated and promoted. In this milieu, we aim to understand what happens to female employees in male-dominant IT project teams, and the challenges and issues they face, as well as the related causes, using Kanter's Theory of Group Proportions as the theoretical lens. Such understanding will provide a backdrop to develop ways and means of attracting and retaining females in the IT industry in Sri Lanka. Employing qualitative inquiry, we carried out in-depth interviews and focus-group discussions with 14 informants—10 female team members and four male team counterparts—from six IT companies. We identified four main challenges and issues females face in working alongside males where females strive to prove their technical and leadership capabilities, gain acceptance of the dominants in the team, overcome role entrapment and gain due recognition for their hard work. In facing these challenges females use various strategies and changes of behaviour which can ultimately lead to work pressure, strained relationships and anxiety for females. While these challenges are largely comparable to the main phenomena and experiences explained by Kanter, it appeared that gender-role stereotyping and sexist attitudes prevailing in the work setting, rather than the numerical minority status of females as mentioned by Kanter, gave rise to these situations.
