In celebration of the month of International Women’s Day, Brunch together with Brunch.lk is celebrating women in Sri Lankan politics. For Episode 2 of the series, we had a conversation with former Western Provincial Councillor Malsha Kumaranatunge, the daughter of former Minister and veteran Sri Lankan actor Jeewan Kumaranatunge, and the founder of the ‘Free to Flow’ initiative, which is aimed at eradicating period poverty by providing free, reusable sanitary napkins to women from economically-disadvantaged communities in the island.
Following are excerpts of the interview:
Have you always been interested in politics? When did you first realise it was something that interested you?
Seeing it from a young age, it was natural to gravitate toward that, but I think what really got me interested was when there was a conversation to legalise abortion. I saw the discussion being had at the time, which was with then President Mahinda Rajapaksa, and there were a few heads of the temple and a few other males who were making decisions on behalf of women. There were no women seated at the table, and I thought; ‘why are decisions about my body being made by a bunch of men? Where are the women?’ I think that’s really what kicked and I felt like more women with a voice should do something about it.
Considering your family background, a family that has produced great women, including the world’s first prime minister and then the first female executive president, do you feel that their achievements may cast a shadow over yours in any way? How has the journey been like carving your own path?
I think as women, we should never feel overshadowed by other women. Every step another woman takes, they’re taking it on your behalf. It is sad that only women from a political background can come forward; I think women from all walks of life should be given this opportunity. But, politics is a boys’ club and we have a bunch of men seated at the head of the table and they decide who is allowed to step in and who is given nominations. So it is sad that not every woman is given the same opportunity and I think we as women should step forward to change that.
The Free to Flow movement is your brainchild – how did this movement come about?
We have had politicians who have come forward and have spoken about periods and I have seen lots of women themselves ridiculing it, stating that ‘it’s okay, we are women, we will sort it out – men don’t need to talk about periods’.
But men do need to talk about it. The entire Parliament is unfortunately full of men so they do need to talk about it; if they are not going to talk about it, then who will? And men should talk about it because they have mothers, they have daughters, and first and foremost they are human. They don’t need to have a woman in their lives. These are things that concern us and need to be talked about.
Do you believe that more women in Parliament would perhaps change some of these concerns, especially these issues regarding period poverty and other pressing matters?
I think the few women who are in Parliament should speak up; I don’t think they are speaking up. Our Finance Minister has unfortunately always been a man.
We have spoken before the Budget to have this tax removed and I have been told that it is a small amount and therefore not very important and doesn’t make a difference. However, this then raises the question, if it is such a small amount then why not simply remove it? But the talks, after so much correspondence, came to a halt.
If you could make any changes in the system to allow for a larger representation of women entering politics what would you recommend?
Back when we had the system in place in the Local Government, we had to fill a quota of 23% and that made sense, because that allowed a lot of women the chance to get in when otherwise they never would have had that opportunity. I saw many from my own electorate have this chance.
Do you feel that the men in politics feel threatened by the presence of women in the political space?
We saw this when there was a female DIG who was appointed and a bunch of male Policemen claimed that their human rights were being affected. I don’t know what the reasoning is for that, but this is how men think. If a woman steps in, they see it as their chances for advancement being taken away.
As a woman in politics, do you feel that women are made to feel obligated to tackle exclusively women’s issues?
I think Pavithra Wanniarachchi was the only female minister who has been given other ministries like Health or Petroleum and Energy. If there was a woman they were always given Women’s Affairs but now they’ve removed the ministry. When a man was given Women’s Affairs, they would be very insulted about it and say ‘just give it to a woman’.
But I don’t think that is the case, women don’t have to only worry about women’s affairs. They are educated and have an opinion and are very capable of doing anything that a man is capable of doing.
Women are constantly facing challenges in the workplace due to their gender. Have you felt personally victimised in the workplace?
In the Provincial Council, I have faced sexual harassment. I had a gentleman who was seated a few seats away from me who would always switch seats and somehow end up near me. And he would often say that I was kissable. I had to complain to the Chief Minister. I had to say that he was making me very uncomfortable and that it was starting to become an everyday thing. They found it very funny, the things that were being said to me. I asked for an apology and I never got it, but he was taken very far away from me to the other end of the chambers.
We see here that sexism really isn’t just in the workplace; a lot of women face it at home, from their partners, brothers, and fathers.
We are raising our sons to be misogynists. The question is always about the woman, women are always asking for it, so I think we need to change the way we raise our sons.
For young women looking to enter into politics, what can be said when it comes to the challenges they may have to endure?
For a woman to come forward and to be in politics, you have to be thick-skinned. I think it instils a lot of fear in women to get bullied and scrutinised so publicly and to be judged on different standards from men.
Recently, I had a leading newspaper call me for an interview, stating that it was for a series on women politicians and I said okay. But the questions they asked me were ‘how often do you go to the salon, how much do you spend on facial products?’ I had to ask, ‘do you ask male politicians the same thing?’ It is unfortunate but this is the way that women are viewed in this country.
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