COLOMBO – Women make up more than half of the voters in Sri Lanka, but not a single one will be on the ballot in Saturday’s presidential election.
The island nation of more than 22 million people is voting for a president to take its economy forward after it went through an unprecedented financial crisis two years ago that led to the ouster of its head of government. The election will allow more than 17 million eligible voters to choose from a record 38 candidates. But women — who account for nearly 9 million voters — will have no gender representation.
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“I feel a little disappointed,” said first-time voter Sandami Nimesha.
Nimesha, a 20-year-old information technology student, said even though presidents have an obligation to offer solutions to the problems faced by the public regardless of their gender, a woman president “would give more attention to serve the female voters” and focus on issues that affect them.
“I think it’s better if there is a female candidate,” she said.
Saturday's election is seen as a three-way contest between current President Ranil Wickremesinghe, opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, and parliamentarian Anura Dissanayake, who is leader of a Marxist-led coalition that has gained popularity. Results of the election are expected Sunday.
Sri Lanka’s politics have mostly been dominated by men since the island nation introduced universal suffrage in 1931. It's a trend seen in most countries globally — in 2023, a Pew Research Center analysis found only 13 of the 193 member states of the United Nations had women as the head of government.
To be sure, women have held some important positions in the Sri Lankan government in the past.
Sirimavo Bandaranaike served her first term as prime minister of Sri Lanka for nearly five years starting in 1960. Even though it was her prime minister husband's assassination that forced her political entry, she held the distinction of being the world’s first woman to be elected prime minister and would go one to hold that office twice more. Her younger daughter, Chandrika Kumaratunga, later became the country’s first and only female president, holding office from 1994 to 2005.
Both these women came from families with a political legacy. But even Sri Lankan women with political backgrounds tend to enter into politics only after the death or assassination of their male relatives, in most cases their husbands — particularly during the brutal civil war that began in 1983 and ended in 2009.
For a country that passed a law in 2016 mandating local councils must be at least 25% women, a move widely seen as progressive in promoting gender equality, many feel there should be more parity in politics by now.
Women's rights activist Sepali Kottegoda said the lack of female candidates for president is emblematic of a patriarchal structure deeply embedded in Sri Lanka’s politics.
“The main political parties are so male-oriented, and so many men on the top hold power, that they don’t find it convenient to step aside and allow women party members to come up and contest,” she said.
Kottegoda, who founded the Colombo-based Women and Media Collective, was among those who advocated and worked to get the 25% quota for women in local councils.
“We felt that opening doors for women to get into local councils was one way through which they can work their way up,” Kottegoda said.
Now, her organization is seeking a similar quota for women in the 255-member Parliament, where their representation stands at a mere 5.3%.
In 2019, academic and scientist Ajantha Perera was the first woman to run for president in 20 years. She lost to Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was ousted in 2022 after angry protesters blamed his administration for the unprecedented economic crisis.
Even though Perera rues the absence of women in Saturday's election, she hopes a strong female candidate runs for the president’s office in future.
“I firmly believe that might make a difference,” she said.