The Hon. Dayasiri Jayasekara, Attorney-at-Law

¶ 01 Madam Presiding Member, thank you to the Leader of the House for correcting that omission.

¶ 02 I commend Hon. Bimal Rathnayake for recognizing all the women Members in this House. Women in politics face challenges far greater than men. We must honor and protect them, and bring even more women into the next Parliament. I urge Government to extend the 25 percent women’s quota—now in local authorities—to Provincial Councils and Parliament before the next elections, with the Women Parliamentarians’ Caucus taking the lead. Many women in local bodies may lose seats in upcoming elections; we must build pathways back.

¶ 03 Currently, only about 0.3 percent of total expenditure is allocated to the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs and related functions. Nevertheless, we appreciate steps on autism and neurodevelopmental disorders, rehabilitation, probation, and child protection, and allocations for preventing violence, empowering, and safeguarding women and children.

¶ 04 Data show around three in five experience some form of harassment at work; online harassment is also rising. Female labour force participation remains about 31.3 percent compared to men’s 68.6 percent, driven by traditional roles as housewives and caregivers. In the plantation sector, over 227,000 women work compared to about 98,000 men—women drive that economy and need support.

¶ 05 Education participation by women is high, but employment is constrained by household duties, retirement, and disability; around 57.2 percent of women engage in household-related work. The Women’s Empowerment Act No. 37 of 2024 gives the National Commission powers, including to report to the Supreme Court on women’s rights violations arising during proceedings, and assigns the Parliamentary Commissioner authority regarding complaints on violence based on sex. I ask whether the National Fund for Women has been operationalized and whether any budgeted sum has been allocated to it, as capital provisions alone (about Rs. 392 million) seem insufficient.

¶ 06 Please also clarify the implementation framework and indicators under UNSC Resolution 1325 (Women, Peace and Security) per Sri Lanka’s latest CEDAW review. We often repeat commitments in Geneva without execution. On personal laws, injustices persist under Thesavalamai and the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Law. When will reforms ensuring signatures/consent, women’s eligibility for Quazi roles and as judges, and minimum marriage age be brought? This has dragged on since Minister Thalatha Athukorala’s time.

¶ 07 There’s a lack of gender-disaggregated data—CEDAW repeatedly stresses this. Even basic candidate gender data are not systematically available from election authorities.

¶ 08 Order, please!