Anura Kumara pledges support to resolve women’s issues

National People’s Power (NPP) presidential candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake said that he would create a social system where women got the respect and recognition they deserved.

He said women had become major victims of economic pressure and social crime and these two concerns had created many of the issues women were faced with. 

The NPP presidential candidate expressed these views at the NPP’s women conference organised by the Progressive Women’s Collective of the NPP, held under the theme ‘Building Women’s Power Towards Hope’ on Sunday at the Public Library in Colombo.

“A woman has become a major victim of economic pressure and social crime. The truth is that within the last 10-15 years, no ruler or administration has focused on the treatment of women or paid any regard to their standard of living or the social dignity that should be given to them.”

Noting the lack of female representation in governance, the presidential candidate said women had not been included in the decision-making process, despite over 51% of the country being female. He further noted that female representation was severely limited in several sectors of the country’s economy.

He said that the country was labelled a State that shipped its women abroad as housemaids, especially to Middle Eastern countries, and under a Government of his they would definitely stop sending unskilled Sri Lankan women to the Middle East for employment.

Parliamentarian Nalinda Jayathissa and representatives of many women’s organisations participated in the event. (Colombopage)