In Sri Lanka, women at the heart of democratic renewal
The country is demonstrating its desire for change, following the 2022 popular uprising that ousted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, and an unprecedented economic crisis. The left-wing coalition that came to power in 2024, led by the Prime Minister, is seeking to encourage women's involvement in building a more egalitarian society.
[This article can be found in our special issue Women, the fight continues, on sale since May 28 at your newsagent and on our website .]
It was just a simple observation made during a routine parliamentary session, but for Sri Lankan Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, the remarks were a turning point. She realized that her country, once ruined by strongmen and populist policies, was finally ready for a shift in the status of women.
The author of this remark (a colleague “not particularly feminist,” according to her) had pointed out that the island nation would not be able to integrate women more fully into the labor market until it officially recognized the “care economy ,” which refers to the work of care and support [mainly carried out by women]. Harini Amarasuriya confides the “great joy” she felt when she heard from a member of the government this term, long confined to feminist activist and association circles. “I thought: 'Finally! All these years of struggle have paid off,' ” she recalls with a laugh, during an interview in her office in Colombo [the economic capital and main political center of the country], in December.
[More than] two years after the popular uprising of 2022, which ousted the political dynasty [of the Rajapaksa,] whose calamitous management had ruined the country, Sri Lanka is in the process of reinventing itself.
Anger has given way to a calmer but no less determined desire for change. Last year's two elections, the presidential [in September] and the parliamentary [in November] , swept aside the old ruling class, which had been in power for decades. A left-wing political alliance [the National People's Power (NPP)] was elected on the promise of a more egalitarian society. And this democratic renewal offers new prospects for Sri Lankan women.
Women were a driving force behind the social movement that forced President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country in July 2022. Taking on domestic work, they were the first to be affected when the country ran out of money and fuel . Their anger brought them out into the streets in large numbers.
Today, women play a central role in establishing safeguards to protect the country from the whims of authoritarian men. They are also carrying out fundamental work to slowly but surely build a political culture that offers them the same place as men. Especially since to date, they represent 56% of the electorate and were largely responsible for the victory of the NPP [which previously held only three seats in Parliament].
Anura Kumara Dissanaya
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