UNDP urges Sri Lanka to integrate more women into formal sector

• UNDP Resident Representative called for unified efforts in promoting economic justice for women and encouraging climate smart agriculture initiatives in women-headed households

By Nuzla Rizkiya

Sri Lanka should actively focus on integrating more women into the formal sector, as their prevalence in the informal sector creates a host of socio-economic issues that hinder economic progress, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Sri Lanka. 

Addressing the 39th Annual General Meeting of the Women’s Chamber of Industry and Commerce last week, UNDP Resident Representative Azusa Kubota stated that women in Sri Lanka were burdened the most to carry the weight of recent crises by increasing their financial and emotional responsibilities. This in turn has left them struggling to manage household needs while facing significant socio-economic challenges. 

Drawing on the findings from the recently published Multi-dimensional Vulnerability Report for Sri Lanka, Kubota stated that women often resort to debt to manage their household responsibilities, which was later identified to be a leading contributor to the country’s high vulnerability rate. 

She noted that women particularly have carried the weight of the hardships by trying their level best to bring food to the table, keep children in school and protect the wellbeing of families and communities. This often results in incurring debts. 

“It was found that over half of Sri Lankans are multi-dimensionally vulnerable – meaning if any shock – be it economic or natural – hits these vulnerable families, they will fall right into the cycle of poverty, making it so difficult to come out of it. The leading contributor to their vulnerability was household debt.” Kubota said. 

She went on to highlight issues of gender disparity such as the limited access to financial resources and inadequate financial literacy education as key factors contributing to debt and vulnerability among women. 

Moreover, despite Sri Lanka having a high percentage of women in education, their participation in the labour force remains low at 32 percent, indicating that women are often left behind in the country’s economic recovery process. 

“Women’s potential (in Sri Lanka) to contribute to the economy is undervalued and untapped and remains nearly invisible. In 2021, only 9.5 percent of directors in Sri Lanka’s listed companies were women. The recently concluded Presidential Election had no male candidate. This shows how the decisions on issues of national importance are made,” Kubota stressed. 

She pointed out that that low levels of female participation in the country’s formal workforce are partly fueled by the fact that over 60 percent of working-age women are employed in the informal sector. 

As Sri Lanka has no dedicated strategy to engage them effectively in economic activities, the situation has led to various issues that have worsened the existing socio-economic challenges in the island while hindering its economic growth as a nation. 

“The prevalence of women in the informal sector creates a host of other issues such as limited social protection, vulnerability to sexual and gender-based violence, stigma attached to working in certain industries, lack of access to reliable financing and financial literacy and limited access to formal value chains to create sustainable streams of income,” Kubota said. 

To mitigate such challenges, the UNDP Resident Representative called for unified efforts to promote  economic justice for women and encouraging climate smart agriculture initiatives in women-headed households while improving their access to financing, in order to help them facilitate an equitable future for generations to come.