It was around 8.00 pm; torrential rain welcomed me at
the pearl of the Indian Ocean, Sri
Lanka. I was prepared to travel to the east
from Colombo
that night. I was eagerly waiting for the person who would accompany me in this
trip. At last she joined me near the bus stoppage for a two days journey to
Batticaloa, the capital of the eastern province. After a brief social
introduction we were lost in our dreams, or she was not sleeping; I don't
remember. We arrived at the hotel in Kallady village at 4.40 am, where a room
was booked for us. I was too tired to ask about the plan, came to know that we
would not start before 10.00 am, and that was sufficient for that moment.
Eventually I came to know that the lady accompanying
me as an interpreter was a politician. She contested in the last parliamentary
election as an independent candidate from Batticaloa, her home town. I also
came to know that I would meet five-six women politicians or activists in this
trip. I decided to focus on unfolding the facts behind the involvement of women
in politics in such a beautiful island with a history of protracted conflict
among the ethnic groups in this brief field trip.
With a long history of colonial culture like other
South Asian countries, Ceylon
gained freedom in 1948. In 1972 Ceylon
became Sri Lanka; had also
been a center of the Buddhist religion and culture from ancient times and was
one of the few remaining territories of Buddhism in South
Asia. The Sinhalese community forms the majority of the
population. Tamils, who are concentrated in the north and east of the island,
form the largest ethnic minority. Other communities include Moors (Muslims), Burghers
(Eurasians), Kaffirs (former African slaves), Malays and the aboriginal Veda
people (aborigine).1
From 1983 to 2009, there was an on-and-off civil war
between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE), a
militant organization who fought to create an independent state named Tamil Elam
in the North and East of the island. On 19 May 2009, however, the President of
Sri Lanka officially claimed an end to the insurgency and the defeat of the
LTTE, following the death of Velupillai Prabhakaran and LTTE's other senior
leadership.2
According to the 2001 census, the total population
of Batticaloa was 486,447. Among them 6,345 were Sinhalese, 362,431 Ceylonese
Tamil, 727 Estate Tamil, 114,111 Moor, 2,696 Burgher and 21 Malay.3
In order to capture the majority perception, I
interviewed women leaders from both Tamil and Muslim community. In total we
interviewed six women in Batticaloa and one in Colombo. Among them one was a war victim, four
of them were women leaders and two were activist and intellectual. During the
in-depth interview, I focused on following queries.
1.
How did women come into politics?
2.
Why women's participation in the
politics is important?
3.
Was there any significant incidence of
conflict in Batticaloa?
Interview
1
A Muslim women leader would like to participate
independently in the next provincial election. She had 3 children. First two of
them were twins of 15 years old. The next one was a 12 year boy.
She married an Indian guy from Kannya Kuamary and referred him as "Made in India"; first
introduced to him over phone while she had been working in Soudi Arabia as a
house maker of a Saudi elite family. She worked there for 10 years. She came
back to Batticaloa in 1991.
She came to politics because she thought "a change
is needed and it's just the matter of time". She could finish her O'level only and
stopped there as it was costly. She wanted to ensure education, particularly higher
education, for women. She also addressed that the employment opportunity for
women was very low. If a good number of women could be Member of Parliament,
then they could speak for the women and their rights. If women were
economically solvent then they would be able to buy their stuffs according to
their need.
Even in her Saudi period, she had gone through
different levels of struggle. Once she was falsely convicted for stealing. Then
she was sent back to Sri Lanka.
She again managed to go there and got same job in another household. She spoke
in favor of women's education and gathered like-mined women to share their thoughts
in Saudi Arabia.
She also informed us that there were four female
candidates for the upcoming provincial election. Among them two were Tamil and
two were Muslim. She also shared that
once she met a Muslim minister (male) who discouraged women's participation in
politics. According to him women should concentrate solely on housework. She thought
if there was sufficient job opportunity for women locally, then they need not
go abroad and life might be easier. She also expressed her fear of regrouping
and reorganization of LTTE and the war.
From 1983 at several occasions she tried to build
peace during war. She thought that there existed a rigid relationship between
groups involved in politics and politicians were not willing to solve the
problem with sincerity.
She also professed that in politics there should not
be any place for a dynasty.
Interview
2
A Tamil woman leader had been in politics for 16
years. She had three children and all of them were boys. Her eldest son was 8
years old. She participated in the last parliamentary election as an independent
candidate. Though she failed, she thought women's participation is important. There
was no woman in local government body and she wanted to set an example.
She mentioned that there were 1,662 widows in three
divisions and their sufferings had no end, only because of less education. She
stated, "For the development of women, women's participation in the parliament is
the only way out". According to her, "development
is development of skill, both politically and economically." She had been working in an NGO for 16
years. As per her observations "women from
well-to-do families do not get permission to work outside".
She got involved in politics because of the war that
created a big number of widows and she observed their sufferings. Though she
was not elected, she saw more women were interested in politics. She has been searching
for eligible women in politics. So far she got 16 women and she has been training
them and sharing her experience to build them as politician. Recently she
joined a group called TMVP (Tamil Makhali Vududalie Paligal), a Tamil political
group. She said, "We used to live together, watched movie together; but now
Tamils want to be separated as they are not equally treated due to emergency
law".
She mentioned, "Grease devils are now the talk of
the town". These devils were anonymous, used to frighten and scratched on women's
body at night. She thought that the grease devils were putting some chemicals
during scratching the women so that the chemicals will modify their genetic
pattern and the next generation would be genetically muted. She uttered, "It is
some kind of conspiracy to destroy them". Physicians referred the victims as
psychiatric patient. Thus most of the cases remain unnoticed and untreated,
because avoiding themselves has become a part of psychic patient and ultimately
the wound is infected. When I wanted to visit a victim, she denied going there
because of CID/ military; they might track us or might cause further harm to
the victim.
According to her statement, grease devils were an
artificial crisis made by the government. She said, "Government thinks if they
lift the emergency law, they may not control the Tamils. They have withdrawn
the emergency due to foreign country and UN pressure but not by their own
choice".
Interview
3
A Muslim woman leader was only 28 years old. She
finished her A'level. She worked with election monitoring committee. She became
interested in politics because she was a victim of politicization of the entire
sector as not getting the job being non-partisan. She wanted to set an example
that only eligible and the right person with skill would get the priority and
the job.
She was involved in social service in the field of advocacy,
particularly for women. She said, "Men cannot address women's issues". She came
to politics due to her husband's inspiration. Her husband is a computer
instructor.
She mentioned a recent incident of two Muslim school
girls. They went to a cyber café for internet browsing after school hours. The
villagers raised false accusation against them of watching pornography and
eventually girls were house-arrested.
Interview
4
A Tamil woman was 53 years old. Twenty three years
back her husband was killed in the war. She is a war victim in terms of being a
widow. She had been facing enormous struggle with her only daughter. Her
daughter was then a kid. Now she got married and had a child of 8 years. She
used to live by growing vegetables in her own land of half acre. She narrated how
her husband had disappeared or killed. In 1987, some unknown people came to the
house and picked him in the name of some investigation and he never came back.
Unfortunately she lost her right hand in a terrible bus accident ten years
back. She got a plastic prosthetic, but could not maintain it as it was
uncomfortable.
She stated that a woman with a son might survive
with little struggle in comparison to her situation as she faced a great deal
of challenges. She sighed, "I could not support my daughter for higher
education. Moreover jobless women are socially discriminated. Even after tsunami
I was the last person to get aid".
Interview
5
A Muslim women leader had been involved in politics since
1987. She was a member of women council and elected in the last provincial
election. She contested from Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC).
She stated, "Separate Muslim leadership is required
because of cultural difference among different ethnic groups". She also mentioned that in SLMC there was
Tamil and Singhalese in other provinces, but not in the Eastern province. She
said, "Being a politician I faced a wide range of challenges while walking on
this thorny path. The members of the opponent party once burnt down my van. But
I was accepted by the people with their open hearts because of my twenty years
background in social works".
She came from a political family. Her brother was
elected in the parliamentary election from SLMC too. She said, "Now he has been
corrupted and he joined the parliamentary alliance to get a ministerial post".
In 1990, 130 Muslims were killed by LTTE inside a
mosque, which led her to step into to politics. She formed an NGO, North East
Coordination Development Organization (NECDO), based in Kallady. She said, "We
provide loan to needy Muslim women with nominal service charge instead of
interest. But for the first four months they do not have to pay any service
charge and the recovery rate is more than 95%".
Interview
6
She was a lecturer of Tamil literature in the Arts
faculty of the Eastern University of Sri Lanka. She had been associated with Suriya
Development group in Batticaloa as an adviser since 1994. This organization
focused on mobilization, counseling and empowerment of women through livelihood
enhancement and women's contribution in the economy.
She mentioned, "The main problem is land rights. Women
inherit land from their parents in both Tamil and Muslim societies. But the government
rule is that the lands are registered in the name of the head of the household.
In Srilanka 60% cases the household heads are men and thus the women become
landless overnight". She also said, "Women should come to the mainstream
politics to establish their rights".
Interview
7
She was a women rights activist. She was a member of
the Democratic People's Movement in Sri Lanka, which is a coalition of
people's movements, NGOs and trade unions initiating action and dialogue for
alternative development paradigms. She was President of the International
Movement against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR) and the Women's
Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka.
IMADR was always actively involved in anti-war and peace movement in Sri Lanka. She
contested for parliamentary election twice as a candidate from the left front,
in 2000 and 2001.
She observed that the understanding of politics was
different between NGO and political parties. With a distinct objective she
started women's political academy in Sri Lanka to achieve social
recognition by the means of politics. She said, "We have around 60,000 widows
in North East and around 55,000 widows in the South. Without addressing the
issue of livelihoods of women, development is not possible". According to her
perspective women's participation in politics should be in a democratic
fashion. She said, "It is not the question of power, it is a must".
Discussion
War and natural disasters created an extra burden for
widows in the society. In most cases, their sufferings played a triggering role
for them to join politics. However, the first women Prime Minister in the
world, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, came to politics after her husband's death. In
March 1995, at a press conference during the United Nations Social Development
Summit in Copenhagen, President Kumaratunga said, "Though we have a woman
President and a woman Prime Minister, and six other woman ministers in a
Cabinet of 24; women educate themselves as much as men and job opportunities
for women are not less than that of men, it had not solved the problems women
face in Sri Lanka. There's a new problem - violence against women".4
We heard about 'grease devils', a newer form of violence against women, in
order to push back the military into the land by the government. Dr. Deepika
Udagama, the director of the Centre for the Study of Human Rights at Colombo University
said, "Many in South Asia think that women in Sri
Lanka are better off than their counterparts in other
countries of South Asia. Education level,
women holding management positions, women in other professions and even in
normal social norms, Sri Lankan women enjoy better position than in Pakistan, Bangladesh
or India.
But in the recent past there has been a tremendous upsurge in acts of violence
against women".4
Conclusion
With nightmare of grease devils, vicious cycle of
false acquisition and losing properties in recent time made women vulnerable in
this beautiful Island. Violation of human
rights through war and violence against women are possibly the factors that played
major role in the involvement of women in politics even in rural Sri Lanka. The
problem is interlinked like string hopper. While the government has declared
peace in the island, people doubt in the motive of the government. Women's
participation and empowerment through their livelihood improvement may bring
peace in the island. Resolution of conflict between the ethnic communities
should be addressed simultaneously.
References
1.
Encyclopedia Britannica: Veda". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 21 August 2011.
2.
"Sri Lanka leader hails 'victory'. BBC News. 2009-05-19.
Retrieved 2010-06-02.
3.
Brief analysis of population and housing
Characteristics. http://www.statistics.gov.lk/PopHouSat/PDF/p7%20population%20and%20Housing%20Text-11-12-06.pdf.
4.
Kalong Seneviratne, "The plight of Sri
Lankan women", http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/plight-cn.htm
