The Hon. Bimal Rathnayake - Minister of Transport, Highways and Urban Development and the Leader of the House of Parliament
The Minister argued that support for women in politics is needed because social structures create vulnerabilities, particularly through online and media harassment targeting women MPs. He cited Asia-Pacific data that 85 percent of women MPs face such harassment and said Parliament should lead efforts to protect and strengthen women who enter public life. He noted that the number of women MPs has doubled and said his office had requested a report on the level of harassment faced by women MPs within Parliament.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 I began thinking I had 13 minutes; time is short, so I will conclude quickly.
¶ 02 We help not because women are inherently weak, but because the way global and local societies are structured makes them vulnerable. The key is: after reforms and assistance, how do we protect those who come forward? How do we strengthen and embolden them? In the Asia-Pacific, 85 percent of women MPs face online or media harassment, especially targeting gender, appearance and womanhood. Parliament must be the leading front against this. This time, our number of women MPs has doubled, and they have not come merely on family privilege—from the Hon. Prime Minister down, they have fought their way through politics. Society recognizes this internationally, but I fear the least appreciation is found here. I requested the Government Chief Organizer’s office to compile a report on the level of harassment women MPs face in this House.
¶ 03 Most of us now sit in Opposition.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Thursday, 5 March 2026 ·No. 23375 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Bimal Rathnayake - Minister of Transport, Highways and Urban Development and the Leader of the House of Parliament. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 5 March 2026. No. 23375. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/7107