3-6 March, 1994
Colombo, Sri Lanka

Promoting gender-sensitive policies
THE FOURTH NATIONAL CONVENTION ON WOMEN'S STUDIES

By Darshini Rajapakse

The Fourth National Convention on Women's Studies, which was held
in Colombo, Sri Lanka, between 3-6 March, 1994, provided a unique
opportunity for feminists and researchers on women's issues to
come together as a team and exchange their research findings with
a view to influencing the government to implement policy which is
gender-sensitive.
The conference (which is scheduled to coincide with the
celebration of International Women's Day) is held on alternate
years, and is organized by the non-governmental organization, the
Centre for Women's Research (CENWOR). It has close liaisons with
the Institute for Policy Studies (Sri Lanka), which is funded by
Dutch aid, and some of its board members, who include professors
of law, education, political science, economics and sociology,
and a university chancellor also enjoy membership of the IPS
Working Group on Women in Development. Because most Board members
have held senior posts in the Ministry of Plan Implementation,
Ministry of Education and other governmental organizations, they
are now in a position to apply their expertise to lobby those
very mainstream organizations they had hitherto served.
Among the topics discussed at the convention were: the role of
non-governmental organizations vis-…-vis women, participatory
development, women's history, feminism in Sri Lanka, feminist
methodology, collation of gender-related statistics, women and
agriculture, gender transformation in irrigation-settlement
schemes, women and technology, women and ideology, relationship
between ethnicity, class and gender, role of women within the
Tamil separatist groups (viz the Tamil 'Tigers'), female
refugees, women and nationhood, women and agriculture, women and
environment, education and women, and women and employment. In
addition, hitherto undiscussed issues such as Muslim women in
purdah, domestic violence, emotional disorders, suicide and drug
abuse were touched on.
Perhaps because the convention provided an opportunity for women
from all walks of life to exchange their views, and because many
of the participants are activists themselves, at times the
ensuing debates were quite lively. There was also a balance
between women from different age groups, and most importantly,
many men were present. Moreover, (if I recall correctly) about
eight presentations were made either solely or jointly by men.
All the same, the concept "gender" was applied somewhat loosely,
so that rather than focus on relationships between women and men,
there was a tendency to focus exclusively on women as a group. As
a result, there was an added tendency to down-play areas of
conflict between women, and to deny the legitimacy of social
movements which, while not denying women's specific concerns,
pivot around the class struggle and national liberation instead.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Dr Swarna Jayaweera
Centre for Women's Research
12 1/1 Ascot Avenue
Colombo 5
Sri Lanka