Sri Lanka Vanithabhimana introduces corporate and professional category

Following a successful year where our female achievers were celebrated for their achievements, NDB bank together with Sirasa News 1st recently launched the second Sri Lanka Vanithabhimana Programme for 2021. The second launch however also focuses on a brand-new sector – the corporate and professional females of 
the country.

According to a report by the IFC titled ‘Realising Sustainability Through Diversity: The Case for Gender Diversity Among Sri Lanka’s Business Leadership’, “Sri Lanka’s female labour force participation rate stagnated at around 35 percent from 2009-2017, compared to the steady male participation rate of 75 percent during the same period. Similarly, the female unemployment rate on average remained more than double the male unemployment rate (7 percent for females and 3 percent for males) in 2009-2017. As a comparison, the female labour participation rate was 49 percent globally and 28 percent in South Asia based on the World Bank’s data.”

Understanding this data, NDB Bank and Sirasa News 1st commenced this new sector in order to reward the females who have managed to break through the glass ceiling and join the top management in their respective fields. Accordingly, females over the age of 30, from the 10 categories of human resources, financial management, marketing and advertising, legal division, government division, information technology, tourism, arts, sports and entrepreneurship, will be felicitated based on competition guidelines.

The immense contributions made by women to the economy of the country and to other domains go largely unrecognised. It is mainly to address this shortcoming as well as to encourage more and more women to come forward in economic and social activities that NDB Bank introduced this segment under its ‘Araliya’ Banking on Women Initiative. 

The bank together with Sirasa News 1st hopes to celebrate, reward and recognise the contribution made by outstanding women in their relevant areas of expertise. The applications are available through the NDB and Newsfirst websites. Potential candidates can also send an email on [email protected]/call the hotline (0777-600040) or WhatsApp to receive the application.
All completed applications should be emailed to [email protected].