Which way forward in post-conflict Sri Lanka? Lessons from the so-called ‘powerless’ women of the North
Introduction
Before the war, we were all together. Now, we are widows with no security, and no one sees what we have to live through. But we go on, try to find some money to get us through the day…we have to eat, no? The cooking and cleaning needs to be done, the children have to go to school…that’s how life goes.[1]
Before the war, we were all together. Now, we are widows with no security, and no one sees what we have to live through. But we go on, try to find some money to get us through the day…we have to eat, no? The cooking and cleaning needs to be done, the children have to go to school…that’s how life goes.[1]
What must have seemed to 36-year old Rina[2] like nothing more than a statement of unavoidable realities is laden with meaning for social scientists studying representations in postwar contexts of‘vulnerability’ and ‘marginalisation’ – and perhaps even more interestingly, the meanings of‘survival’and‘endurance’ in such settings. Tragically, although an intriguing subject for study, Rina’s circumstances are relatively ‘ordinary’ in the north of Sri Lanka: she is one of the estimated 40,000 female heads of households (“FHHs”) in that region[3], most of them born from the three decades of civil war.
Given the oppressive environment of military surveillance and control over information which still persists in the north, as well as the historically polarized nature of Tamil-Sinhalese politics, impartial academic research into the needs and response strategies of groups thought to be vulnerable in this area is desperately needed in order to understand their ways of coping, and better meet their ‘real’ needs. Within this context, this article presents the findings of interviews conducted with 65 FHHs[4] in ten villages and towns in northern Sri Lanka in early 2012[5].
The main goal was to uncover the various ways in which FHHs have reacted to the most pervasive economic, physical and psycho-social vulnerabilities facing them in the postwar context. In doing so, it also aimed to test the validity of the two stereotypes of Tamil women which have emerged during the Sri Lankan conflict: one of the masculinized ‘woman warrior’, and the other of the ‘helpless victim’ of war and displacement.
Through this research, these images are both ultimately revealed to be overly simplistic portrayals: As Giles states, “women are seldom victimized or empowered by war: their experiences are more complicated”[6]. Likewise, rather than placing the entire burden of blame on the Sri Lankan state, patriarchal Tamil culture is also found to be culpable in explaining the current plight of FHHs in the north.
