Hon. (Dr.) Harini Amarasuriya - Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, I thank you for giving me this time.

¶ 02 I make this Statement today on International Women’s Day, a day marking the struggles of women around the world. In Sri Lanka too, for decades women have struggled in different ways, places and contexts. I pay my respects and gratitude to all our sisters. Today, 22 of us serve as women Members of Parliament as a result of those struggles. It was not an easy path. We stand here because those sisters fought for us.

¶ 03 On behalf of the 22 women MPs of the National People’s Power, I thank the thousands of known and unknown sisters who stood on and behind platforms for us.

¶ 04 Today, in a changing political climate, women’s politics has a stronger voice and greater attention than before. We see women leaders emerging across parties and colours. Women’s politics is not only party or representative politics. In feminist thought we take “the personal is political” as a rallying call. For women, there has long been no divide between private and public; every struggle we wage is political: our fight for safety at home; our struggle with the cost of living to keep households going; the care work of our mothers and grandmothers; the battles of women with disabilities at home, in communities and workplaces; the fight to be respected and to carry out our professions with dignity; even our daily efforts to use public transport without harassment.

¶ 05 We have always struggled, often without a name, organization or common cause—each of us, alone, thinking “this is just life.” That is changing. Women across the country now understand these as political struggles and are organizing collective voices. On this day we must recall and celebrate this collective transformation. We move forward despite obstacles and challenges—no struggle is without them—and much remains to be won.

¶ 06 According to the Global Gender Gap Report, Sri Lanka ranks 110th of 146 countries. That is unacceptable. Despite gains, women’s representation in Parliament is still only about 9.88 per cent—almost 10 per cent, but by no means sufficient.

¶ 07 A crucial issue is women’s low participation in the labour force despite high educational achievement. Male labour force participation is about 74 per cent while women’s is about 32 per cent. This is not simply an economic issue; it is shaped by how society is organized. As long as the bulk of unpaid care work falls on women, and as long as care is treated as a private responsibility rather than a social one, women’s participation will remain constrained.

¶ 08 We must understand unpaid care work as a social function deserving social response and support. Until social protection and services—day-care centres, elder-care centres, public transport, health, and education—are strengthened, and until a social ethos recognizes care as a collective responsibility rather than only the mother’s, we cannot find sustainable, just solutions.

¶ 09 We raise this as a national policy priority, not a one-day observance. The inequalities arising from gendered social roles must be identified correctly as socio-political and economic issues, and addressed at national level. I thank our colleagues, from the President to the Cabinet and Members of Parliament, for listening and collaborating on policies and interventions, and I thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for the time.