Page 92 - Siduliya

92 SEVA VANITHA

COVID 19 AND WOMEN

IN SRI LANKA

Ms.Seroshi D.Nandasiri
Founder & Chair, Women’s International
Foundation(WIF)
www.wifoundation.org

COVID 19 outbreak has brought our
world to a standstill where many countries are in
a locked-down state with very limited movements
and activities. This is an unprecedented situation of
which impact will be felt by all most all the sectors
and spheres' The immediately felt are the sectors
of health and economy' The most overlooked is
the impact on “women”. An important resource
which comprises of 51.97% (World Bank,2018) of
the Sri Lankan population.

Women at the Frontline

At the forefront of the Country’s health
battle against COVID 19 are women. Nursing
fraternity dominated by women and a staggering
62% of health and social work jobs are also being in the local economy. Keeping women away from
held by women (Ministry of National Policies and the world of work is such a waste!! This is a good
Economic Affairs" 2016). As indicated by Ministry indication of the economic inefficiency. More we keep
of National Policies and Economic Affairs, in 2016 women away from work, more inefficient the economy
more than half of the medical students in Sri Lanka will be.
since 2000 have been women and around 70% of
students enrolled in paramedics are also women. Therefore it is the responsibility of both the
This is an indication of the level of representation organisational and national leadership to attend
and contribution women make in the battle against to this situation and to unleash the potential of an
the pandemic. Also an indication as to how this untapped, underutilized resource in achieving great
important human capital generates return on economic value. This will also have a ripple effect in
investment (ROI). other spheres such as social, cultural, political and will
yield a positive contribution towards the sustainable
Women’s Economic Participation development goals (SDGS&).

Despite these contributions by our women Why are “Women” held back ?
their participation in the world of work is limited
to only 1 in 3 as estimated by the World Bank. A recently conducted research published in
This situation is even more critical as the Female Harvard Business Review by Robin J. Ely and Irene
Labour Force Participation has declined from 41% Padavic identifies the culprit as the unfavorable work
in 2010 to 36% in 2016 despite the expansions practices adopted by the organizations. Specially the