A new era for paid maternity leave policy: women inSriLanka

Abstract

Sri Lanka is one of the two Asian countries that continue to be in the top 50 for global gender equality. Yet in practice, as this paper shows through 22 targeted interviews of professionals in the health and education sectors, women continue to be highly disadvantaged. This research has demonstrated how gender ideologies and external constraints such as state intervention limit the capacity to reconcile the competing demands of motherhood and employment. Apparently progressive state policy interventions have been unable to ameliorate gender inequality in the workplaces studied. The paper argues that it is time to think again about the drawbacks of the traditional maternity leave scheme in Sri Lanka, as it applies to women in the public sector, and to develop a work-life policy that is appropriate to the contemporary Sri Lankan context.

Examining Sri Lankan professional women’s perceptions of their opportunities to undertake international careers

“…However, this has not translated into ongoing high participation rates of women in politics and senior public administration. Whilst women may have more opportunities in family-owned businesses (Kodagoda and Samaratunge, 2015), generally in the private sector, women are unable to enter middle levels of management with ordinary level qualifications (high school), and it is said this leads to a greater degree of disadvantage for women (Thurairajah and Baldry, 2010). Educational opportunities for women are dependent upon family situation and, where there may be a number of children in a family, males will be given preference in education, particularly in rural areas.…”