Uva shows why we need a quota for local government
Uva PC elections are to be held on august 8th. Ruling UPFA party candidate list for UVA PC election of 2009 shows only one woman candidate, Hema Rathnanyake . She too is an old face from the Badulla district. Why could not the UPFA find a single woman from Moneragala even with our minister for Women’s Empowerment, Mrs. Sumedha Jayasena was a key decision maker in the selection committee there?
Lanka Polity thinks the minister was more interested in getting relatives into the list. We think it is more constructive to to see whether we have ‘winning mares’ so to speak in the pipeline in the district.
According to our records there are five women for all of 24 local government authorities in the Badulla district for a possible 240 or so seats. Therein probably lies the problem. It is no secret that women are men’s equal in running community organizations, but they are not part of their own local government. Party secretaries will say we try but women are not coming forth. That is not a good enough reason. What happens to these bright young women who are the head prefects, or lead the band, captain the netball team? It is not easy to enter a men’s world. Party secretaries have a responsibility to draw in more women. Otherwise our governments are simply not representative. If there is a quota for women in local government elections, the party secretaries will have a good reason to resist pressure from male contenders and look for qualifying women candidates. Local government is the place to build a pipeline of women politicians.
