The Balancing Act

Let’s take the challenges of an average Sri Lankan working woman's day.

Her day starts early, having to cook breakfast and lunch for the children and her husband. Then she gets ready for work and takes the public transport where she has been groped on many an occasion.  When she finally gets to office, there is a message waiting from her boss. Her request for leave to attend her daughter’s concert has been denied, the boss says. Companies thrive showing profit and Return on Investment to stakeholders and leave cannot be granted for such trivialities. Torn between needing to keep her job and being a good mother, she sets about her daily office activities.

During lunch, she meets a former colleague of hers, who was promoted while she was away on maternity leave. After lunch, she attends a departmental meeting where she speaks up with regards to employee rights. Once the meeting is over, other women question her motive for speaking up and tell her it’s better to remain silent – “we are women, what can we do”, they say.

She leaves right after lunch, to pick up the kids and drop them off in day care. Back at office, one of her male co-workers mentions that she looks sexy today. Uncomfortable with that remark she asks him not to make personal comments. He responds saying she is too emotional and behaving like a girl. This is an office environment he says, it’s only natural for co-workers to banter. For which she responds that, had he told her she looked good instead of sexy, she wouldn't have found it offensive.

As her day in office ends, she picks up the children and walks in to get her groceries. Now she faces challenge of balancing her household budget.

Credits : - https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnmA6XadtmFINfZ2kpp-W1bG01rusMHdADRVX1YUBi2xydI1nYnR1XbcyL37KzFkMf2net119Rx6dSsJom_JTSqp9T-2YzSqYvVhawn9HL-poUIie_U6owX3h_x3LRhXUEw4gbKJg8xGc/s1600/Balancing-Act.gif

In the next blog post, I would like to address the 100 day and the New Minority.

Women - The New Minority

When the word minority is mentioned, it is associated mainly with ethnic and religious identities. Even more disturbingly, the word minority is almost synonymous with terrorism.

I would like to focus on a “New Minority” – Gender and more specifically women. How can women, who make up roughly half the world’s population and 52% of the Sri Lankan population be considered as a minority? While most Sri Lankans cannot accept ideological differences, I believe the key to ending all social injustice lies in recognizing this new minority.

Women aged between 15 - 65 amount to 7.4 million of our population and should be in a dominant position as they are major contributors to the economy.

Source : http://www.indexmundi.com/sri_lanka/demographics_profile.html

In Sri Lanka, the top two forex earners can be attributed to women – housemaids and garments. Yet, our influence on policies, economic development and education remains nil. Women holding portfolios in parliament is 6.8% whereas the representation is over 35% in some countries. This minority is a key segment and a dominant contributor in every way to socio-economic development of this country. As such, policies should acknowledge the ramification of social injustice.

To quote the famous words of Martin Luther King Jr. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. Law enforcers should be held responsible for enacting the laws effectively and law makers need to be held accountable. 

A gender based injustice is far more fundamental than any other form of prejudice. Two genders is the very foundation upon which nature is built on. Gender is the ultimate reality of biology and we must respect this fact. When there is discrimination against nature, how can we except society to render fair treatment against one another? When a nation doesn't respect and love its women – how can it be expected to respect and love other differences?

This blog has been started with the sole purpose of educating society on one simple fact – Women are the new MINORITY.  In accordance with the President's manifesto, which states that maximum action will be taken to prevent abuse. Let us all work together to stop the perpetrators and hold them culpable for their actions. Because --“we cannot succeed when half of us are held back." ―Malala Yousafzai.

Let us unite in this National Call for Change and reconstruct the foundations of Sri Lankan society!