Pri's blog

(text of a talk given at the Soroptimist International 40th Anniversary celebration s) The idea of ‘post-war’  immediately conjures up  the situation in the North and the East where the overt  fighting was most severe, and where the war devastated the infrastructure, displaced communities and destroyed a way of life and living. But at the same time, I don’t think we should be  confining our label of ‘post-war’ to the north and east.  It’s my contention that ALL  of Sri Lanka is in a post-war situation;  the war has affected all of us – in the north and in the south – Tamils and Sinhalese, and all of our institutions and our governance systems, and even our own individual ways of thinking and behaving.  It has polarized communities.  The growing militarization and centralization of government, the encroachment of the military into commerce and other spheres, the disregard for lives and livelihoods of people with no voice – we can see...

Gender Dimensions of the Millennium Developmebt Goals in Sri Lanka I was one of three speakers at the launch of the UNDP’s “Gender Dimensions of the Millennium Development Goals in Sri Lanka” volume. The publication was researched and written by a team from CENWOR (Centre for Women’s Research http://www.cenwor.lk/ ). The other two speakers were Dr Anila Dias Bandaranaike, former Director of Statistics and Assistant Governor at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, and Dr Pat Alailima, a former Director General of Planning. Distinguished company. My remit was to talk about Goals 3 and 7 in all of 10 minutes – so here, not quite verbatim, is what I said. I began by congratulating the writers, researchers and compilers of the report. [Though I didn’t say it, I did think while I was reading it “trust the women to be realistic rather than euphoric about Sri Lanka’s much lauded social indicators and gender equality achievements”!] I also congratulated the UNDP for putting out an eye-catching and at...