Is she Legally Protected?

As we can see now Sri Lankan family is generally not a family in which the husband is the sole breadwinner and the wife essentially a home maker. What appears to be the truth is that in the Sri Lankan family the wife is compelled to be economically active except in the upper income group and the social backward groups. Recently, there is a considerable development in women’s participation in economy both in the formal and the informal sectors of the economy. Now the child rearing is not viewed as being confined to mother. Women in the country have equal opportunities of education and they forms an integral part of the labor force.

Though it is manifest that she has acquired a predominant place in the society still there is a question remaining as to whether she has equal rights in law. Has the law in Sri Lanka kept pace with the transformation of the women’s role in the family? It certainly has not.

When it comes to the post war situation, we know that the prolonged internal conflict in the country has given rise to many single parent families. Now the indications are that among the displaced, single parent families are overwhelmingly headed by women. But the present legal system does not provide the required framework for them to easily step into the role of the guardian and it does not facilitates the traditional customary practices relating to assumption of family responsibility to come into effect[1]. Therefore at the end of the day women are facing great difficulties with these complicated administrative procedures that have been introduced by the government[2]. 

Today women’s decision making capacity with regarding to property matters has been curtailed in two of the customary personal laws, viz. the Tesawalamai applicable to Tamils in the North and the Kandyan Law applicable to the Kandyan Sinhalese. According to these laws the wife acquires no shares in the ancestral property of the husband[3]. As the legislations regulating Tesawalamai has introduced a concept of separate property during the marriage and a division of the acquired property on the termination of the marriage, complete powers of administration is not conferred on her. Thus a women governed under Tesawalamai requires the husband’s consent to dispose or deal with her immovable property[4]. Moreover with regarding to dowry property husband has been considered as the trustee of such property and in that regard too wife’s capacity to deal with such property has been greatly curtailed[5]. In General Law or in Kandyan Law there are no such restrictions. 

Under the General Law of our country the father has a considerable decision making power in relation to the children of the marriage. In the sphere of custody care and control Roman Dutch Law recognized a preferential right in the husband. Although initially the courts were reluctant to interfere with this right with the entrenchments of the best interest of the child standards, the current trend in Sri Lanka is to make his right subordinate to the interest of the child. What is significant however is that the law is based on the premise that it is the father who must take all decisions in relation to the care, custody, and control of the child during the marriage. 

In Muslim Law according to the concept of marriage guardianship, in relation to a female of the Safi sect the consent of the marriage guardian to the marriage is vital. In that regard the father is the person who is legally empowered to act as marriage guardian. The mother appears to rank a very low stage in the order of persons who may succeed the father as a marriage guardian[6]. Thus it is manifest that both the general law as well as the personal laws does not afford the married woman any decision making role in regard to her children. Is this because of the premise that woman are unfit or unqualified to take part in decisions relating to their children? Or is it only her role to physically nurturing their children?

This clearly shows that the changes that have been taken place so far in our legal system have not reflected these issues yet. So it is high time to address these issues while paying a comprehensive review of the existing family law in the country, in order to give a better place to the woman in the society.

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[1] Goonesekara, S, (1998), Children, Law and Justice, A South Asian Perspective, Pp. 101-102.

[2] Soysa, S, Transformation of the Sri Lankan Family and the Challenges of Law Reforms.

[3] Exceptionally when there are no heirs she may be entitled to his ancestral property.

[4] Matrimonial Rights and Inheritance Ordinance (Jaffna) No 1 0f 1911, section 06.

[5] Tambiah, H, W, Laws and Customs of the Tamils of Jaffna, Pp. 173- 174.

[6] Goonesekara, S, Sri Lanka Law on Parent and Child,P.314.

Day after March 08…. Men’s Day????

March 08….

Without being another ordinary day in the calendar, every year, this date is given special attention.

Women’s Day!!! A day to voice for Women’s Rights!!

Every year we hear people yell;

            Freedom for Women!

            Stop Discrimination Against Women!!!

            Women Need Equal Rights!!!

Since 1911 we run behind common themes set out by a particular group of people and scream out requesting “freedom” and “equality”. But as the sun rises the following day on March 9, we completely forget what were we talking the previous day and live the traditional life until March 08 of the following year.

Is there a special requirement to speak of freedom of women, equality for women or discrimination against women in our society???

Ancient Sri Lankan culture has never been discriminative against women, they were given freedom and they were treated equally in the society. Mother is given the prominent place in the family. Even during royal monarchy period women such as Queen Anula and Queen Viharamahadevi have participated in governing the country. The post modern woman has equal access to education, health and employement. She even represents the Parliament and participates in governance. Then why do we need a Women’s Day for Sri Lanka???

Situation of the Sri Lankan woman is different from that of the world. Country’s economy is depending on her strength as the work force in garment industry, plantation sector and migrant work is women. Yet, we have never allocated a day to speak of the problems of garment workers, plantation labourers or migrant workers.

Further it is reported that woman is often a victim of domestic violence. We deliberately avoid speaking of it.

Selective organizations and women groups speak of the above issues on Women’s Day in order to market themselves. Yet, following 09^th of March, they deliberately forget the topic and lead the traditional life.

Even though they witness harassments for women at home, they do not speak of it. Seeing problems of garment workers, migrant workers and plantation workers they remain silent.

If we do not speak of such issues of society at least on Women’s Day, then what is the point of having a day to voice for women? If we simply forget what were preached on March 08 and live as normal as ever during following “Men’s Days” what is the need of spending so much of energy and time to scream for women?

If we know to react at the proper time to persisting problems of women then we will not need a Women’s Day and the rest of 364 days will not be Men’s Days too….

International Women’s Day – 2011

Today is International Women’s Day; a day to celebrate freedom for women. Each year on 08^th March it is celebrated by most of the countries and talks about deprivation of women in access to education, carrier, technology and many more. 

The history of the celebration goes back to hundreds of years; it was first emerged in the honour movement for Women’s Rights in 1910. This year, United Nations has declared a theme of “Equal Access to Education, and Science and Technology: Pathway to Decent Work for Women”. Sri Lanka has adopted the concept as “Women’s Knowledge and Strength to Uplift the Country”.