The Hon. Sajith Premadasa - Leader of the Opposition

¶ 01 Mr. Chairman, alongside International Women’s Day, we too support the proposal for a National Care Policy to operationalize the care economy for women. It is a sound idea and we endorse it at the policy level.

¶ 02 However, the issue is implementation. The Government appointed Dr. Ramani Jayasundara as Chair to the National Women’s Commission, yet today there is a severe crisis in establishing and operationalizing it. A Women’s Commission must be independent—not a puppet under the Women and Children’s Affairs Ministry—if it is to resolve women’s issues effectively.

¶ 03 Consider rising prices of essentials, fuel, and gas—queuing for hours. Do these conditions enhance women’s safety and dignity? We speak of protecting women while electricity bills are raised—how does that protect them?

¶ 04 Women’s labour force participation is about 32%, while men’s is near 70%. Unemployment among A/L-qualified women is 8.2% versus 4.2% for men; youth female unemployment is 27.3%. Beyond speeches on the care economy, we need practical, impactful action plans that tangibly improve women’s lives.

¶ 05 Previously, village-level grassroots organizations—voluntary savings groups, tens and twenties groups—facilitated microcredit to combat poverty. Today, the regulatory focus targets these women-led grassroots bodies, while large institutions that turned microcredit into big business are left out. Women are also victims of predatory financial exploitation by online loan mafias.

¶ 06 Maternal malnutrition is a serious issue. Using Body Mass Index, many mothers fall below healthy thresholds; we need a national program to protect maternal nutrition. Children, too, are highly vulnerable. Over recent years—Easter attacks, COVID-19, the sovereign default, and Cyclone “Ditsi”—poverty has deepened, driving malnutrition: anaemia, low birth weight, stunting, and wasting are worsening.

¶ 07 The Department of Census and Statistics claims an individual needs Rs. 16,730 per month for food and non-food to live. Can a person truly survive 30 days on that? Policies made on faulty data fail. Women-headed households are many, yet there is no clear program to strengthen and empower them.

¶ 08 We aspire to be a smart country with smart education, but digital and online systems also expose women and children to risks; we must take protective measures accordingly.