Women's Policy Action Network: Closing the Divide on Women's Access through Women's Access to Finance

The Women’s Policy Action Network hosted a conference on the 20th of March 2024, at Courtyard by Marriott on the topic Closing the Divide on Women's Access through Women's Access to Finance. The conference featured a panel discussion on the above topic with panelists who are experts in the relative conversations. The panel discussion covered topics such as the regulation of the microfinance sector in Sri Lanka, and the importance of financial consumer protection.

This discussion was supported by the Kingdom of the Netherlands and facilitated by the Advocata Institute.

Video to the full discussion can be accessed here

The policy brief on Closing The Divide Through Women’s Access To Finance can be accessed here

The presentation can be accessed here

WPAN Policy Brief : Closing The Divide through Women's Access to Finance

Financial inclusion is the access individuals and businesses have to useful and affordable financial products and services that meet their needs, such as for transactions, payments, savings, credit and insurance. They also must be delivered in a responsible and sustainable way promoting engagement in the formal financial sector.  Access to affordable finance aims to enhance living standards, increase income, stimulate business investment, reduce unemployment, and foster economic growth by expanding financial networks and reducing barriers to entry. 

Here is the link to the WPAN Policy Brief on Closing the Divide through Women’s Access to Finance

Media Coverage on Tax Free Periods: Call for the Removal of Taxes on Menstrual Products

Putting the period on ‘taxing’ the period

The imposition of taxes on menstrual hygiene products, needed by women and girls due to a biological process naturally occurring in their body, has been subjected to fair criticism from many parties. While there have been great demands for the Government to remove the taxes imposed on menstrual products and the raw materials needed to manufacture such, such items are currently subjected to a tax rate of 51.07%, and it continues to restrict the access of those menstruating to sanitary products.
Read the full article here

Half number of girls, women do not include sanitary napkins in household expenditures

Due to the affordability of sanitary napkins half the number of girls and women in Sri Lanka do not include sanitary napkins in their household expenditures, the Advocata Institute said. They said the affordability of sanitary napkins and its significant impact on the welfare of girls and women in Sri Lanka has become more pronounced in recent years. This is particularly evident due to the decline in their purchasing powers stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic crisis. .

Read the full article here

Advocata Policy Brief : Tax Free Periods: Call for the Removal of Taxes on Menstrual Products

The affordability of sanitary napkins and its significant impact on the welfare of girls and women in Sri Lanka has become more pronounced in recent years. This is particularly evident due to the decline in purchasing power stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis. Approximately 4 million Sri Lankans have descended into poverty since 2019, making the total number of Sri Lankans living in poverty approximately 7 million. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the ramifications of the lack of affordability of sanitary napkins which is worsened by the imposition of high taxes on sanitary napkins.

Here is the link to Advocata’s Policy Brief on Tax Free Periods: Call for the Removal of Taxes on Menstrual Products

Ep 3 | Moving The Needle On Gender Parity | WPAN | Nirmali Ameresekere | Dinali Peiris

Welcome back to another episode of the WPAN podcast discussion series!

The Women's Policy Action Network is hosting its latest podcast discussion series, facilitated by the Advocata Institute, supported by the Kingdom of Netherlands. This discussion series delve into crucial topics including empowering women in the labor force via policy adjustments and labor laws, enhancing digital infrastructure, and advocating for social reform in Sri Lanka.

This episode features Nirmali Ameresekere (Researcher, Advocata Institute) and Dinali Peiris (Director - Group Human Resources, MAS Holdings). They discussed about the Women Go Beyond program at MAS, and its significant contributions to empowering women locally and globally. The discussion addresses garment worker rights and the importance of parental leave which includes both parental and maternal leave, for working women.

Women's Policy Action Network : Gender Discriminatory Land Inheritance Policy Brief

The Womens Policy Action Network launched their policy brief on 'Gender Discriminatory Land Inheritance' at a roundtable discussion. The discussions resulted in the identification of laws that are discriminatory directly and in its applications. Further laws that had the potential to be discriminatory were also identified.

You can access the policy brief on Gender Discriminatory Land Inheritance here

Women's Policy Action Network: Empowering Women :A Future-Ready Workforce

The Women's Policy Action Network hosted a conference on August 29th at the Lavender Hall, BMICH on the topic Empowering Women : A Future-Ready Workforce. The conference facilitated two separate discussion sessions on improving Social infrastructure and digital infrastructure, with panelists who are experts in the relative conversations. This discussion was supported by the Kingdom of the Netherlands and facilitated by the Advocata Institute.

You can access the presentation to the sessions on:

Social Infrastructure for Gender Equality & Empowerment

Unlocking women’s potential in the digital economy

The full video of the Women’s Policy Action Network conference can be found here.

The ‘Social Infrastrastructure for Gender Equality & Empowerment' policy brief can be accessed here

The ‘Unlocking Women’s potential in the Digital Economy’ policy brief can be accessed here

Reset Now! Podcast - Ep 14 | Sri Lanka's labour market trends & Reform recommendations to address the barriers in it

Sri Lanka's labour market trends & Reform recommendations to address the barriers in it

In this episode of the Reset Now! podcast, Dr. Ramani Gunathilaka speaks with Thathsarani Siriwardena, Research Assistant at Advocata Institute on the trends seen in Sri Lanka's labour market and the reform recommendations that need to be implemented in order to address the barriers within the industry. Dr. Ramani Gunathilaka is an independent consultant, her research has been mainly focused around labour markets and issues related to female employment in Sri Lanka.

Check out our previous episode with Thanuja Jayawardene (Head of Women Go Beyond I MAS Holdings)

Launch of Women's Policy Action Network 'Reforms to Empower Women During an Economic Crisis'

The Advocata Institute launched the Women's Policy Action Network on Thursday, the 30th of March, 2023 at the Lavender Hall in BMICH at 6.30PM. The Women's Policy Action Network aims to bring about policy reform through advocacy for the economic empowerment of women. It will be a network run by individuals who are committed to women's empowerment. Harnessing advocacy, collating research, and identifying key problem areas that will impact the lives of women are a few of the targets to be achieved. The group will comprise representatives from Civil Society Organizations, policymakers, and women leaders to generate strong conversations advocating for women.

In light of the disproportionate impact of both the pandemic and the economic crisis on women , enhancing women’s participation in the workforce is even more critical. Therefore, the launch of WPAN was followed with a panel discussion on the thematic area of “Reforms to Empower Women During an Economic Crisis”. 

The keynote speaker was Ms.Shiromal Cooray, the Chairman and Managing Director of Jetwing Travels. Remarks were given by the Deputy Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Anouk Baron. The panel discussion was moderated by Dr. Roshan Perera, Senior Research Fellow, Advocata Institute.

The panel included, Shan Yahampath (Advisor to the Labour Ministry and the Foreign Employment), Sampath Thrimawithana (Director at Virtusa), Anarkali Moonesinghe (Former CEO, CIMB Investment Bank Sri Lanka) and Sumini Siyambalapitiya (Senior Research Analyst, Verite Research)

This WPAN launch was supported by the Kingdom of Netherlands and facilitated by the Advocata Institute

You can access the policy brief here

The full video of the launch of the Women’s Policy Action Network can be found here.

NEWS RELEASE: The Advocata Institute Discusses the case for Women’s Representation in Government

NEWS RELEASE

Originally appeared in the Economy Next, Lanka Business Online and Daily FT

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka— The Advocata Institute hosted a live online discussion on “Female under-representation and its socio-economic impact” via our YouTube channel on the 6th of September 2020. 

The panelists for the discussion were Dr. Sujata Gamage (Advisor to the Advocata Institute), Vraie Cally Balthazaar (Social Entrepreneur, Activist, Media Professional), Lihini Fernando (Member of Moratuwa Municipal Council, Attorney at Law, Women's Activist) and Sherien Perera (Marketer, Corporate Trainer). The session was moderated by Sathya Karunarathne (Research Executive (Policy) Advocata Institute). 

The World Gender Gap Report published by the World Economic Forum ranked Sri Lanka amongst the top 20 countries in 2006. However, as previously highlighted by the Advocata Institute Sri Lanka has drastically slipped in the rankings and has descended to be ranked 102 out of 153 countries in the year 2020 despite performing well on other indicators such as health and education. This is clearly reflected in our current majority-male parliament. Despite Sri Lanka’s women constituting 52% of the population, they are left unrepresented in parliament and deprived of positions of power and access to national decision making and policy implementation. The Advocata Institute through the panel discussion highlighted the importance of improving female representation in parliament.

Given the myriad of issues Sri Lankan women face; ranging from discriminatory laws, taxes that disproportionately affect women, and labour laws that impede their entry and retention in the labour force, it is all the more important that women are represented in parliament. 

The discussion identified key issues preventing female leaders from getting into key policymaking roles. Some of these issues include structural barriers faced by women when entering into politics, especially due to the existence of pedigree politics in Sri Lanka, illustrating the urgent need to extend the minimum female quota to provincial councils and the parliament. Other issues identified by the panelists include a lack of access to finances. We believe that there needs to be a level playing field as skyrocketing campaigning costs deprive competent and hardworking women from entering parliament. Another important issue being the lack of female role models in Sri Lankan politics, highlighting the immediate need to empower female role models both in politics and governance, and the need for a support system within political parties for women.  

Implementing policies that reduce these structural barriers preventing the political empowerment of women would be a starting point to address this issue. As agreed by our panelists, creating a transparent and fair framework to finance election campaigns through the Election Finance Act, encouraging women to obtain a varied education, empowering female leadership in our communities and introducing a mandatory quota for women in the National list for major political parties would be a progressive step towards increasing female representation in government.    

The event can be accessed on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN4qhGDa3k8. 

Advocata is an independent policy think tank based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. We conduct research, provide commentary and hold events to promote sound policy ideas compatible with a free society in Sri Lanka. Visit advocata.org for more information.

Advocata spokespersons are available for live and pre-recorded broadcast interviews via 077 621 6788

CONTACT:

Yasodara Kariyawasam,

Communications Manager, Advocata Institute

Email: yasodhara@advocata.org

Online discussion: Female Under-representation in Government & Its Socio-economic Impact දේශපාලනයේ කාන්තා අවම නියෝජනය සහ එහි සමාජ ආර්ථික බලපෑම්

The Advocata Institute hosted a live online discussion on “Female under-representation and its socio-economic impact” via our YouTube channel on the 6th of September 2020. 

The panelists for the discussion were, 

Dr. Sujata Gamage (Advisor to the Advocata Institute), Vraie Cally Balthazaar (Social Entrepreneur, Activist, Media Professional), Lihini Fernando (Member of Moratuwa Municipal Council, Attorney at Law, Women's Activist) and Sherien Perera (Marketer, Corporate Trainer). The session was moderated by Sathya Karunarathne (Research Executive (Policy) Advocata Institute). 

The discussion focused on gender discriminatory and insensitive laws and policies and its socio-economic impact.

Click here to access the opening presentation by Sathya Karunarathne

Watch this video on Youtube