The Quota for Women in Local Government: A pledge for parity and a parody in parliament?
Photo courtesy Women and Media Collective
- - on 03/07/2016
The theme for International Women’s Day this year is “Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step it up for Gender Equality”. A good day to reflect on the 25% mandatory quota for women in local government passed by parliament almost exactly one month ago amidst an uproar created by members of the joint opposition who walked in to the well of the house demanding that they be recognised as an independent group. The second and third reading of the bill amending the Local Authorities Elections Act to grant a quota for women was therefore punctuated by interruptions, slogans, shouting and even singing. Scant attention appears to have been paid by over 40 members of parliament to the substance of the bill under discussion. Together with the Prime Minister who presented the bill only five other Members of Parliament – Chandrani Bandara, Marvai Senathiraja Faizer Mustapha, Anoma Gamage and Ranga Bandara – got an opportunity to speak. The Prime Minister in his speech attempted to pacify members of the joint opposition by promising them additional time to participate in the debate. Yet the disruptions and shouting continued prompting him to ask “whether they are against increasing women’s representation? Faizer Mustapha seemed to want to believe that despite the screaming and shouting, none of the members of the joint opposition including Pavithra Wanniarachchi in fact opposed this bill. From newspaper reports it seems clear that only government members finally voted for the bill amidst the chaos and Parliament was adjourned three hours earlier than scheduled.
The theatrics in parliament that day can be seen as a parody of the inattention given to the issue of women’s representation in political institutions by politicians over the years. Indeed even if those members of the joint opposition were not against increasing women’s representation, their behaviour effectively trivialized and reduced it to a non issue. Those who supported the quota, could speak for no more than four minutes. The whole debate lasted no more than 35 minutes. Ultimately the (non)debate failed to adequately foreground the historical significance of the law that was passed as well as its limitations in furthering democracy and women’s political empowerment. The media coverage of the amendment the next day also failed in this task. Most newspapers tended to be preoccupied with the visit to Sri Lanka of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights or the antics of the joint opposition. Some newspapers had inside stories on the amendment but they simply quoted parliamentarians’ speeches or views without any attempt to contexualise or historicise the amendment. There was no reference to the long struggle waged by women’s activists and organisations or the National Committee on Women (NCW) going back almost 20 years, to secure this reservation. Nor was there any reference to the deeply patriarchal and male dominated political culture in Sri Lanka, which has systematically marginalized women from political power.
