Experts renew call for state intervention to boost female workforce participation

By Nuzla Rizkiya 

Sri Lanka’s alarmingly low female labour force participation has once again sparked expert calls for stronger state intervention to foster a supportive work environment for women.
The Women’s Policy Action Network (WPAN) of the Colombo-based free-market think tank Advocata Institute outlined several recommendations for legislative and societal changes that are crucial for enhancing women’s engagement in the labour force. 

“There are many agencies and individuals working in this space but we need to bring everybody onto one platform to achieve any meaningful change. Initially, we wanted to make changes in the laws but I think what is more important is to change the mindsets of people in this area,” stated Advocata Institute Senior Research Fellow Dr. Roshan Perera. 

The recommendations focused on six key areas: land laws, labour laws, digital economy, social infrastructure, informal economy and financial inclusivity. Women were found to face significant barriers in these areas, hindering their participation compared to men. 
Additionally, a looming obstacle, beyond child care, is the rapidly aging population, for which the caregiving burden is often fallen on women. 

“There is a huge lack of affordability and access to reliable child and elderly care here. So, there needs to be some kind of system in which these care centres can be set up while women work. Some recommendations we made included incentivising the corporate sector to actually provide private daycares,” Perera said. 
While agreeing with many recommendations made by the economist, Shyamali Ranaraja, an expert in Sri Lanka’s labour laws, said community-based childcare solutions are more practical.

“Asking female residents outside Colombo to bring a small child, perhaps by bus, for childcare purposes, is really nonproductive. We have to look at alternatives like childcare based around the village, which will also likely incorporate a model for elderly care because these are the two care responsibilities that are borne very heavily by women,” she stated. 

Ranaraja endorsed several other key WPAN recommendations, including incentivising flexible part-time work options in the corporate sector, improving social infrastructure, establishing a shared social security system to provide maternity benefits, formally recognising and legally protecting domestic workers and enhancing internet access and affordability, particularly in rural areas. 

“These are not burdens that you can expect the private sector to pick up. It is the state that must provide the general infrastructure. We have to create a conducive environment for women to enter the labour force. This is not rocket science. This is basic logical reasoning,” asserted Ranaraja. 

Meanwhile, Women’s Chamber of Industry and Commerce First Vice Chairperson Gayani De Alwis stressed that more should be done to allow the aspiring female entrepreneurship to have access to finance. Reason being, only 25 percent of the SMEs in the country are women-led. 
“This is another area that we need to work on because a lot of issues that women face there as well. Laws are good but how do we truly change the minds of people at a grassroots level is what we need to look at,” she said.