UN Women marks decade of empowerment; highlights need to advance gender equality in Sri Lanka

UN Women Sri Lanka Head of Office Ramaaya Salgado 

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) has been operating in Sri Lanka since 1 September 2014, marking a decade of service dedicated to advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment. In an interview, UN Women Sri Lanka Head of Office Ramaaya Salgado highlights the continued need to advance gender equality in the country. Following are excerpts:

Q: How did the launch of UN Women come about? 

 UN Women was established globally in 2011, following a historic move when the United Nations General Assembly unanimously voted in July 2010 to create a new entity to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment. This was the result of years of advocacy by women’s movements and civil society. The Sri Lanka chapter started in 2014 as a one-woman team, where I was providing policy advisory on gender equality to the UN in Sri Lanka. Since then, UN Women has expanded its areas of work, and over time, has grown to a decent-sized team (12-13 staff members on average).  

Q: What are UN Women’s key areas of work? 

 UN Women works on four strategic priority areas. One is to ensure that women lead, participate in, and benefit equally from governance systems. Second is to ensure that women have income security, decent work, and economic autonomy. Third is to ensure that Sri Lankan women and girls can live a life free from all forms of violence. And lastly, to ensure that women and girls contribute to and have greater influence in peacebuilding efforts. The very essence of UN Women’s work is centred on gender equality and ensuring that women are in spaces where they are making decisions about issues that impact their lives. 

Q: Why is the gender equality mandate important to fulfil? 

The gender equality mandate is important to fulfil because it is about upholding human rights. It is about ensuring that everyone, whether it is a woman, a man, or a non-binary person, has the same rights, opportunities, and equal life chances. A critical aspect of achieving gender equality involves empowering women. This is because where inequalities exist, women and girls are the ones who are often excluded and disadvantaged. This forms the premise of our work at UN Women. Our goal is to help everyone, particularly women and girls achieve their full potential. 

Q: What has been the most rewarding part of your job and what are three key moments you are proud of? 

 The most rewarding part of my job is being able to serve communities that have been made vulnerable due to unequal access to opportunities and basic rights. To me, if you have changed one life – if one person left a violent home, if one person built a business up to the next level, if one person decided she was going to enter politics because of the training we exposed her to – that is a win because every woman counts. 

In terms of key moments, the first one would be our multi-party dialogues which saw us bring together first-time elected officials at the local government level from all 25 districts and across political parties to discuss issues that impact social cohesion within their communities. That was a humbling experience because we had people from diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, speaking different languages, come together for a common cause. This initiative was highly effective in its contribution to change dominant traditional attitudes about the role of women and their capacity to lead.  

Second would be our work on women’s economic empowerment and the work that we do with women entrepreneurs. This has had significant results and transformed their lives, incrementally, over the years. 

Third is our work on Sri Lanka’s first National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security. This was a four-year long process which saw us consult all 25 districts and receive invaluable data on the peace and security concerns of women and girls in the country. This policy framework marks significant progress in ensuring that response and recovery efforts are equitable and effective for everyone – during times of crisis and conflict. 

Q: While the core concept of gender equality remains the same, its definition is evolving. What crucial steps can be taken to ensure that everyone benefits from gender equality advancements? 

It is important to understand that people exist outside of the traditional binary of men and women. They are no less human and no less Sri Lankan than the rest of us. It is also important to understand how a person’s identity, such as race, ethnicity, religion, gender, class, and sexual orientation can create challenges that are unique to them. Understanding intersectionality and the complexity of gender helps us create fairer outcomes for everyone. This requires a whole of society approach. Education and awareness raising is crucial. Inclusive policies that recognise people of all genders, and normalising inclusivity at the community level could ensure that everyone, regardless of their gender has the same rights and opportunities. 

Q: 2025 marks the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995) – a global policy framework and blueprint for realising gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. What emerging challenges and opportunities might Sri Lanka face in advancing gender equality over the next decade? 

Given that Sri Lanka is still recovering from an economic crisis, the biggest challenge will be resourcing of the gender equality agenda. We know that when there is a funding deficit, the first thing to fall off the agenda are women’s rights and gender equality issues. Globally, there has also been a pushback on women’s rights. At the current rate of progress, reports show that it could take another 286 years to remove discriminatory laws and close the global gender gaps in legal protections for women and girls. Gender disparities are worsening, and recent reports have highlighted an alarming increase in crimes against women and girls in Sri Lanka. 

The road ahead is therefore quite challenging unless we take urgent action. To ensure that gender equality remains a priority at the national level, it’s crucial to continuously invest in bridging inequalities experienced by different groups within our society. One key way to achieve this is through gender-responsive planning and budgeting, which looks at how public policies and programs takes into consideration the unique and diverse needs of every person and then ensures that government resources are allocated more equitably. This requires a whole of government approach, robust institutional frameworks, and the political will consistently across decades, so that the generations to come will benefit from more inclusive governance systems that respond to the needs of all Sri Lankans.   

Additionally, it is important to consistently work with communities to change attitudes and social norms that harm women and girls. When women are not perceived as equals, they become more vulnerable to sexual and gender-based violence, fuelling an environment that normalises violence in all forms. While empowering women is a crucial step forward, it is equally important to engage the people around them and challenge harmful social norms that govern us as a society. 

In terms of opportunities, the policy frameworks that are in place currently in Sri Lanka are adequate to address some of the most salient challenges which prevent people of all genders from fully enjoying their rights. However, it is important to ensure that these policies do not contradict each other but rather complement one another in our efforts to advance gender equality. While some progress has been made, there is still much more work to be done to protect the rights of all individuals.

Q: What’s next for UN Women? 

What’s next for UN Women is a step back initially – to reflect on these last 10 years because we have treated this first decade as a teething process, by piloting a lot of our programs. So we want to reflect and take stock of what has worked for us, what has not worked for the people we work with and for, and to try and understand how we can improve or build on the programs that we have implemented thus far, and to always improve on how we serve the communities we serve so that their lives are more enriched and more equal.