Feminism and Emancipation: Influence of Feminist Ideas on Women’s Socio-Economic and Political Liberation in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Study of women’s socio-economic and political liberation in the academic arena is significant theme with continuous feminists’ ideas in the modern world. Focusing the Asian patriarchal society like Sri Lanka, women’s liberation is decided by gender disparities which emerged through socialization process, internalizing social norms, cultural values and expectations. Hence, in the traditional society, women were discriminated from high positions in society, political leadership, decision making and economic top management. However, with the spreading out of feminist ideas and changes that took place in Sri Lanka after independence of the country, some educated women started to address women’s issues and developed a discourse regarding women’s liberation in the contemporary society. The major objective of this study is to examine what are the challenges that women face in getting their socio-economic and political liberation in Sri Lanka, and to investigate how feminists contribute to achieve equal rights for women in the country. The study was based on secondary data gathered from literature surveys which are directly related to the issues addressed in this study. The study revealed that the factors affect discrimination of women from socio-economic and political sectors in contrast to males in the society. In Sri Lanka, traditional women have much less social, economic and political and domestic power than men. However, after independence, successive governments have devoted greatly to education, health and welfare programs. Due to this situation, the status of women in Sri Lanka has changed dramatically. At the same time, feminist scholars are showing that, women play a significant role in the family as homemakers and working women’s contribution to the economic development of the country. Furthermore, they have emphasized the importance of equal rights of women in socio-economic and political sectors as well as women’s liberation against the patriarchal views in the society. However, women are still facing several problems due to unequal opportunities of political participation, labor force and decision making in the country. To overcome this situation, it is important to increase feminist activities and should change their direction to empower women in all sections through policymakers in the country.