Someone's Daughter Magazine

Message from the President Violence against women: the pandemic which has been there for years without a proper cure. It is a moral offense against all the women, a mark of shame on the society and a barrier to sustainable development. Specially in Sri Lanka, this has been a taboo topic forever. It is a topic that the majority of a community does not want to speak about or aware of, which has been the biggest challenge in addressing the issue.

On this note, we at the Rotaract Club of University of Sri Jayewardenepura at the beginning of the Rotaract year 2019-20 decided to take a stand opposing violence against women. It is our responsibility as sons and daughters who came into this world experiencing the love of our mothers to respect all the women in this world. I’m sure nobody in this world would want to see our mother, sister, daughter or friend being harassed in public. Hence, a simple change in the way of seeing things can make a big difference because the very woman or the girl someone will harass can be someone’s mother, daughter, sister or a friend. So why can’t we treat every woman or girl as one of our loved ones and show them the respect that they deserve as a human being?

We, as one of the biggest youth run movements in the world are doing our part in addressing this issue and we will continue in doing so with even better initiatives in years to come. Finally, I make this an opportunity to thank every individual and all the organizations who joined hands with Someone’s Daughter which enabled us to make this initiative a success.

Rtr. Vidushith Jayasundara President 2019/20 Rotaract Club of University of Sri Jayewardenepura

Message from the Co - Public Relations Directors Violence against women, a topic we have been talking since we can remember. We have been taking many kinds of steps against it to prevent this from happening, to help women who actually have faced this. But still after so many years, after so many hard work have been done, were we able to stop this or minimise this by a considerable amount?

The answer might be “No�. So that's why we, as the Public Relations Committee of RACUSJ wanted to do something to overcome this issue, violence against women. "Someone's Daughter" is the proud outcome of the hard work we have done for the past 8 months.

While carrying out the project, we have met many kinds of people, who maintain various point of views.

We have met Artists, Lawyers, Doctors and many other respected people and position holders in the country. We wanted to bring their ideas in to one place. A place where most of the people can get to know about the "issue" easily.

Also the DRR, ADRR and all the members of Rotaract District 3220. Not forgetting the President, the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors of RACUSJ, thank you for the immense support you gave us for the last 8 months. Last but not least.

"The Someone's Daughter Team". The chairperson, co-secretaries and the members of team SD, you guys made this project this much better. Thank you for being with us from the beginning.

We have done something. We do not know whether this is enough to overcome the issue. Most probably No. But we tried to bring a voice, to the voiceless people who are suffering because of this violence against women. We or a group of people out there will not stand strong or for a longer time, protecting this cause alone. Only together we can suppress this issue. Together we can build a safer tomorrow. This message is for everyone out there, let us create a brighter future for her, together.

Let us protect, someone's daughter.

So we carried out the project basically throughout social media where most of the people spend their time on nowadays. We conveyed ideas of other people on this, to them. And we conveyed their ideas to the outer world.

We would like to take this message to convey our gratitude to all the distinguished personalities who helped us on this cause by sharing their views, sacrificing their valuable time.

Rtr. Ushan Deemanka & Rtr. Chan Surendra Co-Directors - Public Relations Committee

Message from the Project Chairperson Harassment (n) - behavior that annoys or upsets anyone.

In this world, harassment against women has affected the peace among the humans since early ages. Now in the 21st century, it has disguised into several new forms and it is even more dangerous. Harassment against women is not only physical. Through the development of technology, dark ugly shadows of cyber harassments, cyber bullying has increased exponentially. Domestic violence is endless.

The humans have lost their humanity. Where's the happiness that everyone talks about?

We, the Rotaractors of University of Sri Jayewardenepura stood up against this massive but unspoken issue in this world. The steps we have taken may be small, but it's growing day by day. The silence is ending gradually.

If everyone of us holds our hands together, we can make a voice that can be heard to the entire world.

As the Chairperson of Someone's Daughter, I'm humbly proud that we embarked on this initiative and hope we can make a better future for our mothers, sisters and every lady out there.

Rtr. Chathura Madhumadhawa Chairperson - Someone’s Daughter

Message from the Project Secretaries

The issue of violence against women is a prevailing menace in our community which everyone, irrespective of the gender, are aware of. Currently, it has become a rising problem which almost every woman in our society encounter. Unfortunately, a clear path which we can follow as a community has never been found in order to eradicate this issue.

Therefore, the team “Someone’s Daughter” initiated a series of influential actions in order to address the issue in a different way. The typical way in which our community looks into the issue has not proven any progress. The utterly conventional way of addressing the issue of violence against women has led to an endless acceleration of the issue.

As a community, what we lack is a proper education about the issue. Society is in dire need of enlightenment. Consequently, as a team, we embarked on addressing this loophole. A society which is not protective of women cannot be identified as a developed society. Without being a developed society, it would be impossible for a community to reach to become a developed country. In brief, a society which is not capable of providing women with a peaceful and protective environment to live will never move forward.

As we all are aware that the mechanism of the government toward the issue is controversial since different individuals have different perspectives towards this issue. Anyhow, we all are compelled to agree with the fact that people bear a huge responsibility since the solution for this issue lies within us.

Through this journey of educating and empowering women, we invite all, irrespective of the gender and age, to come out of ignorance and to prove your capability as a community of eradicating this issue of violence against women from its grassroots.

Rtr. Shanali Abeysinghe & Rtr. Kaumadee Perera Co-Secretaries - Someone’s Daughter

We are the creators of both the victim and the victimizer; a deep examination on the issue

“Violence Against Women” You may wonder how we became the creators of the same issue that we are talking about and how we became the cause of the most controversial issue of the society. Actually, I would like to refer “We” to the very same society where we live. In short, we are society. Me, you, our family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, teachers; all falls under the common category; “society”. While we are living in this society, we come across different kinds of

The sudden sensitive reaction of the ordinary public (you and me) towards an incident of violence or sexual harassment against a woman is, spreading hatred against that particular victimizer. For example; the majority of ordinary people without any consideration of gender insist on the fact that the criminals who are proved to be guilty of sexual harassment against women should be hanged till death.

personalities. We hear a variety of stories of

The time has come for us to think past this. Did our

injustice. Among those stories of injustice, violence

sensitive and emotional reactions towards the issue

or abuse which is practiced against women is a

make any changes or lead all of us towards the

situation that every woman has gone through an

betterment of the situation? This is a question that

uncountable amount of incidents in her lifetime. In a

we all should ask ourselves. The answer would be

general point of view, the position a woman holds in

‘No”. The world changes every day, every minute

this society today is far better than the degradation

that we live. With that modernization, the position of

that she went through in our ancient times.

the role has changed a lot in comparison to the

First, I would like to make my audience think of how we currently look at this serious issue. In an

position of women in eras back. Generally, the situation is better, but still problematic.

ordinary point of view, the victim, in other words,

As the society, we are in a dire need of finding

the woman who faces sexual harassment or abuse

solutions for this issue in order to create a better and

physically or even mentally is sympathized while

safer tomorrow for our daughters, mothers and

the victimizer is hated by the public. The society

sisters. From where should we start? As well as

collectively labels the victimizer as a “rapist” and a

thinking about the prevailing legal conditions of the

“criminal” who should be cornered or excluded from

issue and criticizing the loopholes within the legal

the society.

proceedings that are practiced against the culprit, it is important to look

at the victimizer in a different angle. It’s time to

The bad examples, messages and incidents that a

think of this issue in a practical perspective. If a man

child goes through his/her childhood directly affect

acts in an abnormal and unacceptable way by

the mental growth of a child. They produce culprits

causing a woman to be sexually embarrassed and

to the society.

uncomfortable, actually we have to think on what kind of mentality this man goes through. This accused party is also a member of our very own society. He is a creation of this society since he has grown up in this society. It is obvious that a man with a good personality and healthy, normal mentality will never practice sexual harassment against women. Therefore, observing the factors which cause a person to behave in such an abnormal way would be a very effective way of starting to find

Another fundamental cause of this conflict between genders is the separation of the two genders. Since our childhood, our society creates a huge gap between the two genders. When a girl reaches puberty, the social norms and conventions regarding the womanhood are drilled into her mind. In Asian context, girls are advised to protect themselves from men which is humorous. It is drilled into the mind of boys that they are able to make someone who is of opposite sex helpless by exploiting her sexually. In

solutions to this issue.

Sri Lankan context, since childhood, both males and How the victimizer is created within the society?

females grow up with a huge and unnecessary gap

Let’s

by

between two genders. Consequently, curiosity is

considering the following instance. The experiences

created in minds about the opposite sex. It is urgent

you have in the childhood, love, caring of the

to eradicate this gap and provide the adolescents

parents, influence of the background of where one

with sex education and train their eyes to look at a

lives, influence of the teachers, friends play the

woman as an ordinary human that can be a mother,

major role of creating what you are today. Through

sister, wife and a daughter. The male adolescents

research, it is found that the children who go

should be educated enough not to objectify the

through a disturbed childhood due to physical and

opposite sex.

start

elaborating

on

this

question

sexual abuse, ill treatment of parents and teachers have a greater chance of suffering from mental trauma and distress. Consequently, after being adults, sexuality is one way in which they tend to release their pressure. If we look back at a culprit’s childhood and the background in which he grew up, it will be crystal clear why he has become a person with such an unacceptable behavior.

From my point of view, current system of education is a major aspect that should be changed immediately. It can be interpreted as a rat race that makes lives of the students miserable and depressed.

Throughout the academic life, students suffer due to their heavy work load in the primary level, secondary level and tertiary level.

Prevailing education system does not teach students life and values. They are brought up in a society where the only objective of the education is to be stable financially. In a civilized society, education should be the path that produce human beings who are rich with values, respect for others, healthy attitudes, patience, tolerance and selflessness. But, in a society in which the main objective is to be financially stable, it is impossible to expect that that particular society will offer the respect a woman deserves.

In conclusion, time has come to look in to the matter in a different perspective without labeling the victimizer as a criminal. It is a must and is urgent to eradicate the roots that cause this serious social issue. Each one of us, as members of the Sri Lankan society, has an individual role to play. We cannot expect a society which is free of abuse and violence against women by ignoring our social responsibility.

- Kaumadee Perera

A girl’s manual on how to ‘exist’ 101 -Public transportation version‘Violence against women’ is a topic that has been discussed far and wide. In every generation, this topic is probably the ‘most’ talked about subject.

But why hasn’t it stopped or at least decreased in numbers? Is it because we merely talk about it and come to a still and not go beyond it? Awareness is created, but are measurements being executed?

Violence against women has many levels and has a scope which is massive. One of the most common forms of violence that I am positive that at least 95% of the girls have experienced, is sexual harassment/sexual abuse.

How exactly is sexual harassment defined? What do we get if we Google? To put it briefly sexual harassment means: “behaviour characterized by the making of unwelcome and inappropriate sexual remarks or physical advances”. Whilst this type of uninvited actions happen in most locations, one such ‘spot’ which this takes place on an unfathomably large scale is public transportation.

‘Carry a sharp edged object with you, stomp on their foot with your heel, dress decently, use your bag to create a “barrier” so your physical personal space will not be invaded, sit next to a female, do not make eye contact, don’t travel at night’ will be a few of the million and one instructions on a survival kit of a woman, mostly in the context of the ‘Sri Lankan Society’. As an apt and suitable reply for all the above instructions: HOW ABOUT ‘NO’.

(Operational details of a washing machine came with less instructions). On a constant basis us females who have no option but to use the ‘salmon tin packed’ buses and trains, experience a man groping you or rubbing themselves against you or even attempting to lean/ fall asleep on you (some may genuinely be falling asleep,

no hard feelings, this is about the ones who fake it until they make it). Before I go on, I would like to clarify that this is not about all gentlemen, but about the men who are not so gentle but are rather perverse and desperate. The ones who get on to the bus just so they can caress your thigh and get off, the ones who try to squeeze into you (literally), whilst there is so much space left. This type of harassment has the potential to go on and go strong, forever, because it doesn’t create the same noise that ‘large scale’ harassments do. They are labelled as ‘small scale harassments’, because enough weight has not been pinned on them. The number of times that I have heard that the preys/victims of ‘Sexual Harassment on public transportation’ say that it is a frequent occurrence, should leave all of us as a society, terrified because the manner in which it is being casually brushed off is an indication about how much it has being normalized. A popular question that most females ask is, how do we react?

It happens so fast. My concern being how is there a gazillion of instructions on how to conduct ourselves in the public, so that we avoid such ‘hassle’ (because apparently most of us ladies invite trouble? Or something along the line) but zero on how to take a man who does sexually harass you, down. Isn’t it intriguing that a woman who is also the victim in this situation has so many things to think about before putting yourself into action, whereas the man doing the deed of misconduct does not think twice.

To put in language we all can comprehend, where does he gets the ‘nerve’ to do something as such.

Where is the courage coming from? Is it the fact that he knows that he will get to walk away with it or is it because most of us consider these kind of harassments minor and ‘small scale’.

The inference that can be drawn from this is that as a society, as a whole, we have encouraged the wrong ‘nerve’.

It is of dire importance that we realise that there is nothing about this issue which is miniscule or not grave.

All types of sexual harassments do lead to a violation of the most basic right of women to exist, be it mental or physical, their peace is disrupted. Therefore, it is high time that anyone and everyone including the victim and even the ones who witness such incidents react on instinct. Walking on streets at night, using public transportation as a mode of traveling are things that are considered normal, a girl should not fear her life or be in constant worry when engaging in a quite ‘mundane’ activity as such, which is also done by a hundred other people without the same fear. So, the next time anybody tries to categorize sexual harassments of any degree into different scales, ask them this; how exactly do you measure the damage it does to the female individual and where exactly do you draw the line.

- Sandunlekha Ekanayake

Victim and the victimizer, Prey and the predator:

Where can we draw the line?

The TV is on. 'Animal Planet' is playing. Gaping, you watch how a cheetah, hiding behind tall grass blades of the Savannahs, aims, pounces and satisfies his hunger on an innocent gazelle. You feel angry.

You feel sad. You think 'if only I was there to stop it from happening.'

However, despite all of these thoughts that run through your head, you accept it as natural. It is nature's cause. It is nature's plan. He is satisfying his desire. It's the cycle of life. Hakuna matata.

But would you even slightly consider justifying, more or less the same behavior and actions, practiced on women? I wouldn't. Now why would I be against it, if the abuser too was satisfying his hunger by beating her day and night? If the rapist was acting so because of his biological needs? If it was the murderer's desire to kill her? There's only one reason; It is because I am a human being. Yes an animal, yet one blessed with 'something,' of which we are proud that others do not possess: The power to think, question and reason. And that is the same reason why the abuser, the rapist or the murderer cannot be excused. He is human.

He may have biological needs and sexual desires.

But he is armed with a brain that helps him 'self control'. What else makes us unique from other animals? Language and culture. He is brought up in a culture where the large, civilized majority believes in the concept of 'consent.' He is taught when living in such a society about 'values and morals.' Then why, or more importantly, how, can a human abuse another human, let alone a woman?

A chemical imbalance in the brain, momentary or

long term, making him behave out of the accepted order. That's one explanation that I can decipher.

This can happen at birth due to some defect (where of course, we cannot point a full finger at him) or because of toxic experiences and situations he was exposed to, which made him who he is today. This later, is where you question the 'societal' teaching he may have received. Perhaps he received none, or he was taught wrong. Your victimizer could be a victim of something larger: the society.

Let me take you to a chain of scenarios. A young child sees his mother being beaten on a daily basis by his father. Let's say he comes home drunk and takes it out on his wife. The usual story. Though it is clear that the father is at fault, the child is taught, by the male-centered society he lives in, that the father is not to be blamed. He is taught that his actions are manly, he is taught that women should be put in their place. If this brainwashing succeeds, the child would very well grow up to travel down the same footsteps of his father. Who is to be blamed? The dad and the society he belongs to.

Now imagine this same child growing up to be an adolescent. The age where sexual desires are at a height. A time where guidance and advice are crucial. His friends believe that the manly thing to do is, 'forcing a girl into giving in. It is a win. One who looks for consent is a loser.' If this gets instilled in his mind, overtime, he might as well rape and impregnate a girl. 99% of the time, based on similar situations that we have seen and read, the girl would be blamed and shamed, whereas the man would get away with 'Oh he's a boy, playing his boyish ways and manly charms. -

-The girl should have known better.' Who is to blame? The society.

In both these scenes, though he is the directly accused, he is also the indirectly abused, psychologically more so than physically, for a prolonged period of time, to a point where the unacceptable eventually becomes the norm for him.

The rapist, the murderer, the drunkard who beats his wife or mentally abuses her, is created by the society, instilling more damage to the society itself. No matter how much we dislike to accept it, there maybe reasons to pity him. There maybe a chance that he is not black, but grey.

They say prevention is better than cure. I stand with it in this situation as well. Abuse can be prevented if the root of the problem is eliminated. Finding a cure, in this case, a 'solution' once the damage is done, is of little use. For this, it is the society that has to change. It is the society that has to treat each other with love and respect, keeping in mind that always, there is a younger generation looking at you. Looking forward to imitate you. Expecting advice and guidance from you. This does not have to come through religious teachings nor traditions and customs. It is common sense, again, something unique to man, that must be practiced in sensitive, complex situations as these. We must be sensible enough to take forward the good given to us by our cultures and cut off the outdated.

Like God created the prey and the predator, we are responsible for the creation of both the victim and the victimizer.

So we must put our brain to use. We must decide if we continue creating monsters and blaming them for doing what we teach them, or do what we can do to eliminate it from the roots.

-Chathushkie Jayasinghe

Violence against women: An insight We live in a world full of gruesome and traumatic experiences. Most often these unwholesome occurrences spring from the violent actions of humans themselves. Such acts reflect how inferior and despicable human nature can be in the context of interaction between fellow human beings. To be precise, the disparity between male and female gender orientation has caused the world to witness a gross violation of human rights based on broad themes of socio-cultural and socio-political concerns. This observation is a prelude to what we are going to briefly examine in the scope of violence against women or gender discrimination in the forthcoming passages.

Violence against women has always been a heated topic of discussion since the time immemorial. The mistreatments are often attributed to how Men are used to exploit the physical vulnerability of women to suppress and subdue them in an effort to gain control. It doesn’t merely limit itself to the natural power imbalance between the genders and the resultant conflicts but also from the perpetrator’s sense of superiority, entitlement and misogynistic attitudes. This is frequently viewed as gender battle in which the physically weak is always dominated by the physically powerful. Through the process of controlling and manipulating, men are seen to dictate terms which are against the basic human rights of women. Furthermore, the extreme ends of such violence often conclude in tragedy.

These undesirable targeted gender discriminations affect women in manifold aspects of physical and psychological spheres of their lives. The society in general seems to acknowledge men as active victimizers and women as passive victims of abuse and mistreatment. This notion is not entirely formed

upon a justification of a biased observation of stereotyping but rather from a factual and statistical viewpoint with solid evidences which support women as victims of rape, domestic violence, sexual harassment, acid throwing, reproductive coercion, female infanticide, prenatal sex selection, obstetric violence and harmful customary or traditional practices such as honor killings, dowry violence, genital mutilation, marriage by abduction.

There are forms of violence which may be perpetrated or condoned by the government such as war rape, sexual violence and sexual slavery during conflict; forced sterilization, forced abortion; violence by the police and authoritative personnel; stoning and flogging and other VAW such as trafficking in women and forced prostitution. All these acts of violence are contemptuous and degenerative both morally and legally, reflecting a sense of decadence in human spirit. The mental traumas inflicted on women by such violations do not fade away even though the physical ones may subside with the passage of time. This is because the agony of the experience remains etched in victim’s consciousness so deep that disowning the pain becomes an impossibility. Victims who survive atrocities without deadly implications have to cope with mental traumas and undergo therapy.

There are certain instances where victims turn aggressive and vengeful towards men in general and their mentalities begin to follow violent attitudes focusing on seeking revenge. These are some of the harmful effects of violence against women.

Eliminating the atrocities against women in a comprehensive manner is not a practical possibility.

Since the crimes of such nature essentially belongs to a much larger and wider scope of criminality

encompassing all other forms of immoral and illegal conducts and behaviors of humans in general. They can neither be eradicated nor wiped out but it is possible that they be controlled through law and discipline. For the process of keeping the perpetrators and perpetrations against women in check, there is a pressing necessity to create an attitudinal shift. In fact a greater responsibility goes to school education in creating a positive environment to address these issues openly and directly. Young male children are the men of future and they need to be educated in respecting the rights of women as well as the rights of humans in general.

It is through education that they develop wholesome attitudes and understand what their limits are when they interact with the opposite sex. Secondly, the female children need to be educated on what kind of unwholesome experience they may go through in future. They need to grasp the value of voicing their discomforts and traumas in the event of an injustice and never be silent on them. Education which integrates knowledge and awareness can successfully control these situations. These female children should also be instructed on self-defense which means that they use combat as a last resort against the victimizer.

movement. These movements are controlled by politicians whose sole intentions are to attract crowds for their political concerns. The activism in these programs is blatantly shallow and superficial; its participants engage in mere rhetoric without an insight on how to cure the problems women face in the 21 century. They pay less attention to the conflicts and dilemmas women come across in the modern days and more on the fashionable and authoritative aspect of being a feminist. These thought processes need to be changed if we are to expect any development in the cause.

They do not need to go through extremes of physical training but only some forms of defense may be sufficient in dealing with a perpetrator. However in the event of a gang assault such measure may not be effective. Then they need assistance from the outside.

The contrast is something that we can’t exterminate from the thick fabric of social consciousness since gender difference is something perceptible both in all its biological and non-biological manifestations.

However, we can accept the gender difference as it is and treat it in such a way that women are not considered as fragile or exploitable in a sense of classical standards or as per parameters that we are often bound to evaluate feminine qualities. In conclusion, I believe violence against women can only be reduced if and only if a structural revolution and reformation occur in a manner that address all the varying divergences of the two genders. To reject the superiority claims of a higher sex and the supposed inferiority of being a woman is where the entry point for this cause. However, creating a fundamental shift and social revolution

The government bodies and law enforcement authorities coupled with the responsible personnel need to strengthen legal framework surrounding atrocities against women. Although there are causes to support women such as feminist movements and women empowerment programs, most of them are ridden in corruption overwhelmed by politics and money. Most modern feminist programs target fame and attract young people to generate trends that often deviate from the cause; the purpose and goals of the

The difference of physical strength has always been a decisive factor in the formation of gender associated attitudes which seem to treat women as the weaker sex and hence vulnerable. Women’s emotional responses and behaviors are also observed as signs of weakness according to diverse social norms and therefore they are at a distinct disadvantage. The view that the average woman as weak and helpless compared to the average man is an ideology rooted deep in the consciousness of society. This train of thoughts hinder women from being placed in a similar position or hierarchy as men.

may be immensely difficult in this regard. Education is the key to this ideological transformations and it can be the major constituent of attitudinal change. Along with this the legal framework of the society need to be strengthened with more strict laws on violence against women.

Furthermore, the women empowerment programs need to refocus on their purpose and they should not betray their cause for petty political or financial gains, these organizations need to work with long-term accomplishments in mind rather than being shortsighted in their initiations. Through all these, we may be able to control and reduce various atrocities against women.

Dev Rathnasekara

කාන්තාව සියලුම අංශ වලින් පිරිමියාට වඩා ෙවනස්. එය විද්‍යාව, තාක්ෂණය අපට උගන්වා තිෙබනවා. කාන්තාව සහ පිරිමියා යනු එකිෙනකට ෙවනස් සංකල්ප ෙදකක් බව. පිරිමියා හා සැසඳීෙම්දී කාන්තාව ආකර්ෂණීයයි. එය යම් ෙහේතුවක් විය හැකියි. ඔවුන් වැඩි වශෙයන් අතවරයට පත් වීමට. මානසික මටටමින් ගනු ලැබුවත් පිරිමියාට වඩා ඔවුන්ෙගේ සංෙවේදී බවක් දැකිය හැකියි. එම ෙහේතුව නිසා, ඔවුන් ෙනාදැනුවත්ව පවා ඔවුන් අතවරයට ලක් වීමට අවස්ථාව තිෙබනවා. එතුමා පැවසුෙවේ නීතියට වඩා සමාජයීය වශෙයන් ෙමය ෙදස බැලීම අවශ්‍ය බවයි . අද වන විට සමාජය ස්ති්‍රය පිළිබඳ අධ්‍යනය පප්‍රිමාණවත් ෙනාවන බව ඔහුෙගේ මතයයි.

“කාන්තා හිංසනය අද වන විට ඉතා පුළුල් වශෙයන් කතා බහට ලක් වන ෙදයක් බවට පත්ව තිෙබනවා.” ශ්‍රී ජයවර්ධනපුර විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයීය ෙරාටරැක්ට් සමාජය ෙමම මාතෘකාව පිළිබඳ විමසීමක් සිදු කරනු ලැබුවා. එහි එක් දිගහැරැමක් ෙලස, ශ්‍රී ලංකාෙවේ ජනපිප්‍රිය රංගන ශිල්පිෙයකු, කතුවරෙයකු, ගී පද රචකයකු ෙමන්ම රෑපවාහිනී නිෙවේදකයකු වන වසන්ත දුක්ගන්නාරාල මහතා Someone's Daughter ව්‍යාපෘතිය සමග එක්ෙවමින් ෙමෙලස අදහස් දක්වා සිටියා.

කාන්තා හිංසනය ෙබාෙහෝ විට සිදු වන්ෙන් ලිංගික වශෙයන්. අතීතෙයේ ෙමෙලස නීති රීති ෙනාතිබුනත්, ෙමෙලස ජනාකීර්ණ ෙනාවුනත්, පාළු ස්ථාන ඕනෑ තරම් තිබුනත් ෙමෙලස අතවර සිදු වූෙයේ නැහැ. අද වන විට, සෑම පප්‍රිෙද්ශයක්ම පාෙහේ ජනාකීර්ණයි, ඉතා ආසන්නෙයන් නිවාස පිහිටන නමුත් අතවර සිදු වනවා.එම නිසා ෙමය නීති රාමුව සෑදීමට ෙපර සංස්කෘතික වශෙයන් ෙවනස් විය යුතුයි. එය අධ්‍යාපනය මගින් සිදු කල හැකි ෙදයක්. අධ්‍යාපනය මගින් ඉගැන්විය යුතුයි, විරැද්ධ ලිංගිකයා අමුතු සත්වෙයක් ෙනාවන බව. එෙස් මිනිසාෙගේ මනස සෑදීෙමන් ෙමම කාන්තා හිංසනය අවසන් කල හැකි බව ඔහුෙගේ මතයයි. ඔහු ෙමම සාකච්ඡාෙවේදී පැවසු තවත් කරැණක් වනුෙයේ, අප සැම දන්නා කරැණක් වන ෙමෙහණි ශාසනය ඉන්දියාෙවේ ආරම්භ කිරීෙම්දී බුදුරජාණන් වහන්ෙස් ඒ සදහා අවසර ලබා දීමට ෙබාෙහෝ කල් ලබාගත් බව. ඒ අනුව අතීතෙයේ සිට කන්තාවට නායකත්වය ලබාදීෙම් අඩුවක් දැකිය හැකි බව එතුමා පැවසීය.

එෙමන්ම ශ්‍රී ලංකාෙවේ ෙමම මාතෘකාව සම්බන්ධෙයන් තිෙබන නීති රාමුව පිළිබඳ අදහස් දැක්වීෙම්දී ඔහු අවධාරණය කළ කරැණක් වන්ෙන්, ශ්‍රී ලංකාෙවේ කි්‍රයාත්මක වන නීති රාමුව පප්‍රිමාණවත් ෙනාවන අතර ෙවනත් රටවල මරණ දණ්ඩනය පවා කි්‍රයාත්මක වන වකවානුවක ශ්‍රී ලංකාෙවේ නීති රාමුව පිළිබඳ සෑහීමකට පත් විය ෙනාහැකි බවයි. එම නිසා ශ්‍රී ලංකාෙවේ නීති රාමුව ෙමන්ම අධ්‍යාපනයද ෙමම මාතෘකාව සම්බන්ධෙයන් තිෙබන සැලකිලිමත් බව වර්ධනය කළ යුතු බව ඔහුෙගේ මතයයි. ඒ අනුව කුඩා දරැවාෙගේ පටන් අධ්‍යාපනය ලබාදීෙම්දී, සියලු ෙදනාට ගරැකරන, විරැද්ධ ලිංගිකයා අමුතු සත්වෙයක් ෙනාවන බව අවධාරණය කළ යුතු බව ෙහෙතම පැවසීය.

එෙමන්ම කාන්තාවද වගකීම් සහගත ෙලස කටයුතු කළ යුතු බව ඔහු වැඩිදුරටත් පැවසීය. ඇය භාවිතා කරන ඇදුම්පැළදුම්, ගමන්ගන්නා, රැදී සිටින ස්ථාන පිළිබඳ ඇය අවධානය ෙයාමු කළයුතු බව හා එමගින්ද ෙමම ගැටලුව අවම කර ගත හැකි බව ඔහු අවසාන වශෙයන් පැවසීය.

Former Miss. Sri Lanka, Ambassador of Youth for Human Rights International, Sri Lanka. Representative for the Commission on the status of Women (CSW64) UN Women, Ms. Eshani Diana Jayapala says that one in every three women may suffer from abuse and violence in their lifetime. This is a serious human rights violation. In addition, she says that this issue of violence against women remains one of the invisible and under recognized pandemics nowadays.

It is no secret that the sexual education at school level could be better than it is. He says that children should be taught gender equality, so that a man would know how to treat a woman with respect. Obviously, he finds the respect towards women in the present-day society below par, which is the reason why we find ourselves initiating projects such as this.

The singer demands respect from one human being to another human being, purely for the sake of humanity. This is a major point to be stressed when spreading the message of gender equality as one human is no different from the other - not because of race, not because of cast and definitely not because of gender. Gender discrimination exists because of inequality among humans arising due to lack of respect towards each other.

Violence against women is one of the most common topics of discussion which needs to be brought to attention even more so. As is the case, the talented and budding young singer, Mr. Ridma Weerawardena joined us in an interview to raise awareness in the society to take a stand against violence against women.

The singer told us that he was no stranger to the stories about violence against women in the society that we live in. He said the range varies from the harassment that women face while travelling in a bus to domestic violence.

Although he was not much aware of the legal procedures and the sentences that sexual offenders and such violent people have to face, it was obvious that he found out that this area sorely lack awareness.

According to this singer, major changes should be brought to the education system in the country.

Mr. Weerawardena also believes that the environment in which a child grows up plays a major role in how he/she behaves in the society. He says that almost all the time, a child who grew up seeing roughness and violence among the elders of his/her environment, turns out to be rough and violent themselves. So, according to him, nurture shifts the balance in its favor, against nature.

This singer also insists on the need to influence people more to think seriously about the matter of violence against women and not to just consider this as another topic with a load of content without any retribution to the offensive parties.

This interview shed light on the matter that the Sri Lankan education system should be amended so as to raise children who are more aware of their sexuality.

In return, they will learn the lesson of equality from a very young age. The children would learn to respect each other as human beings and gender discrimination (which more often than not puts women at a disadvantage over men) would be eradicated constructively.

Also, the singer made it a point that the environment that a child grows up in, actually matters. Most of the time, a man prone to domestic violence towards women knew nothing better as a child.

Raising awareness about this issue and changing people’s attitude to seriously consider the matter of violence against women should be brought to the important tables of discussion, sooner rather than later.

According to her, there are three main areas we should focus on when we delve into this matter of eradicating violence against women.

She says that the awareness about gender must start in the school level education; at around the same time that children start to become aware of their sexual feelings and needs. The fact that Sri Lankan education system does not encourage sexual education at the early teen years leads to a lot of shortcomings when it comes to respecting a woman in the society. Ms. Damitha is in the opinion that, due to the lack of education about the different genders and gender roles of the society, the females are usually looked down upon by the males.. Due to this lack of awareness about the roles that they have to play in the society according to gender, the male majority seems to regard women as a wonder, simply because they are ignorant of the value of a woman in society.

Violence against women is one of the most popular topics of discussion in the present society, both locally and internationally. This is how the renowned actress Ms. Damitha Abeyratne views this infamous, but mostly-overruled topic.

In her point of view, Sri Lanka is in a much better place than other countries of the world when it comes to protecting women’s rights. She cites late Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike being the first ever woman Prime Minister in the world as a very good example for her observation. Also, Mrs. Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, daughter of Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s as another example. She observes that, it is the present degenerated culture that brings upon its own disgrace on women.

The lack of appropriate punishment for sexual offenders is another important fact that lets women down in the society and which causes her to lose her rightful position in it. She sites that loopholes in law and light punishments for sexual crimes have led men to believe that they can get away after harassing and violating the rights of women. That is why we hear young girls and even children being abused by their nearest relatives, even by their own fathers, uncles, teachers etc. Her belief is that everybody who participates or even does not actively take part in to prevent a gang rape should be punished. But, all the same she questions the justice system with regard to the punishments handed down to sexual offenders and finds it painfully lacking in that respect. She makes it a point that women in rural areas are the most threatened by violence against women as they are not aware of how to speak up for themselves.

Another important aspect revealed in this discussion with the beloved actress is the deterioration of her own field of professional acting. She thinks that the actresses themselves offend the whole female community by misusing social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram to display their physique inappropriately. She says that sometimes it is borderline prostitution through social media by the actresses themselves which do not help in preserving the dignity of all women. She presses on the point that people should be more responsible in these aspects either in posting or re-sharing such content.

The graced actress also takes into account the programs that the televisions broadcast, nowadays. She says that even though the quantity of the TV channels at present has improved, the quality of the content that is being put out to the society has greatly deteriorated. Even foreign teledramas mostly show violence against women and discord in family units. Homicide, plans to murder and infidelity, all adverse to the dignity of a woman in society are being broadcast throughout.

Ms. Damitha Abeyratne says that although they have made these points to various governments that have come and gone throughout the years, nobody has taken any real action towards changing the society’s attitude towards women, which is to view a woman as a glorified object, because of this patriarchal and narcissist attitude, even actresses and models are looked down upon by the Sri Lankan culture.

Finally, it is her belief that this change of attitude should start from the home-unit itself.

“The shame and the fear of being judged, rejected and being called a liar stop most women from coming forward when a sexual harassment takes place.” says Professor Adikaram. As researchers have pointed out, fifty percent of the women are harassed sexually in their workplaces, but only ten to fifteen percent of them would come forward complaining. Apart from the reasons that are mentioned above, the normalization of sexual harassment in their workplace also affect women from talking openly about sexual harassment. ‘‘Instead of judging the victim who has faced the sexual harassment, fellow colleagues, specially women need to support them. But most of the time women use this as a opportunity to talk down on the victim while highlighting the good qualities of themselves’’, says Professor Adikaram. To have a network of good friends and family who support the victim through the process is important. The professional counseling can also bring closure that the victim need in order to cope with her experience.

“Sexual

harassment that happens in workplaces”

Sexual harassment is any unwelcome sexual advance or conduct on the job that creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment. Any conduct of a sexual nature that makes an employee uncomfortable has the potential to be a sexual harassment. Most of the working women face this problem on their daily basis. Professor Arosha S. Adikaram puts her insight into this matter deeply, discussing the nature of sexual harassments in work places and the actions we should take against them.

Most victims who have faced these kinds of experiences don’t talk openly about the harassments they had to endure in their workplace because of the cultural upbringing and the fear of being judged by the society.

“Sexual harassment in a workplace can happen in many forms” explained professor Adikaram.

What can be counted as a sexual harassment?

Whether it is a comment about someone’s appearance , conversations, questions and stories about sex or staring and looking up and down and following someone around or rumors about someone’s sex life or use of sex to get ahead or sex suggestive emails, text messages or other communications, or sexist comments that are not necessarily sexual or unwanted touching or physical contact or requests for sexual favours and pressure for sex or threats based on rejection of sexual advances, specially about the worker’s position in a company is a sexual harassment.

This can happen when a woman joins a company as a new employee.

A person who is in a higher position; a manager or a supervisor can pressure a new employee to give them a sexual favour in order to secure her position in the company.

Researchers have shown that these kinds of harassments can be observed frequently in a workplace. As Professor Arosha S. Adikaram pointed out, 18 years olds doing their first ever job as an intern or otherwise, since this might be their first job in a foreign environment and most of the time they are insecure about their position in the workplace.

This vulnerability acts as a magnet to the harassers in the company, specially the employees who have more power than her. “These kinds of harassments from the upper level employees of the company give the lower level employees of the workplace a bad example” explains Professor Adikaram. Due to that reason, the whole environment of the workplace becomes unsuitable for a female worker to engage in their job.

If a person thinks that she’s being harassed sexually, she can take various actions against it. Most importantly, it is a personal decision and in order to figure out the right path for her , she might have to seek out legal advice tailored to her situation. “if someone feels like they are being sexually harassed, the most important thing to do is document it”, says Professor Adikaram. While the victim decides what else she wants to do, if anything she can keep a record. “General kinds of complaints give the company unfortunately a little too much leeway” she explains. If the victim decides to report the sexual harassment, documenting it will help the victim when pointing out specific dates and very specific comments or behavior. Journalizing the experience the victim had to endure with clear data in a bound book and keeping it at home or elsewhere outside the workplace would help the victim immensely. Apart from that, the victim could try recording these scenes using modern technology to gain more solid evidence.

“Other than that you can inform your colleagues or friends to keep an eye out for the harasser whenever he is around you. It will give more evidence.” Says Professor Adikaram while discussing these methods to gain more evidence, if the victim is trying to take action against the sexual harassment.

Since the key element of sexual harassment is the fact that the conduct is unwelcome, the person who face the harassment has to make it clear that it is unwelcome, if she feels safe doing so.

Professor Adikaram recommends trying this approach first particularly when dealing with behavior that is obnoxious and offensive but not necessarily predatory. For example she says, the victim could try saying this to the predator, “this kind of conversation is inappropriate in the workplace, it makes me and all other women uncomfortable and please stop this kind of behavior.” Or the victim can directly say that is offensive to her and she can ask this behavior to be stopped.

Even after this, if these harassments are continuing the victim can take legal actions against the harasser. A victim has several different options if she decides she wants to report the sexual harassment. As always the best decision depends on the many factors, and it’s wise seek advice specific to the victim’s situation as she figures out how to proceed. “The best thing a victim can do is to report it according to their company’s policy”, says Professor Adikaram.

Companies will always have policies and instructions laid out how to report sexual harassments. These policies might direct the victim to her own supervisor, the harassers supervisor, anyone in the HR department or some other representative. After that, the actions against the harasser can be taken using the evidence that the victim has gathered. As the Professor Adikaram mentioned before, documents come in handy at these times.

If the victim feels like there’s nothing can be done through the company’s protocol, she can file a complaint in the local police station against her harasser. But most women hesitate to engage with the local police because of the society’s reaction against them.

“In our culture it is decided that if a woman goes to complain about a sexual harassment the said woman is to be the blamed.” says Professor Adikaram. She further explains that after the amendments done in 1995, the offender can be fined or imprisoned if he is proven guilty even though most women hesitate to file lawsuits.

In a perfect world, there would be no such thing as sexual harassment. In a slightly less than perfect world reports of sexual harassment would be met with quick actions and without any negative comments whatsoever. Unfortunately, our world is not perfect, or even slightly less than perfect. “But these days, movements like #MeToo has certainly evolved the conversation about sexual harassment.”

Says Professor Adikaram explaining the importance of awareness programs about sexual harassment in workplaces. The most effective weapon against sexual harassment is prevention. As we all aware, harassment cannot be stopped on its own. If it is not addressed or the actions are not taken against it, the sexual harassment will be worsen and become more difficult to find a remedy. The employers should be responsible for providing their employees with a work environment that does not discriminate them based on gender and free of harassment. For that, strict anti-sexual harassment policies and procedures should be put in their workplace.

Anti-sexual harassment policies explain what harassment is, tell all employees that harassment won’t be tolerated and set out how employers and employees should respond to the incidents of sexual harassment.

Anti harassment policies should also set forth a detailed mechanism by which employees can make complaints when a sexual harassment occurs. “Having an anti-harassment policy does not mean that there will be no harassment complaints. Therefore, awareness programs should be conducted explaining the consequences they face.” says Professor Adikaram.

Furthermore, a friendly environment where a victim can come out and file a complaint freely without the fear of being judged, should be created in the workplace by ensuring all the employees respect each other without being biased or based on gender or the other stereotypical boundaries which were put upon by the society or the culture.

As we all are aware, sexual harassment is not just a women’s problem, though the only one carries the burden of the suffering is the victim. Not only the workplace but also the whole society has to remember that.

නමුත් ෙමම කාන්තාවට අද සමාජය තුළ හිමි වී තිෙබන තත්වය කුමක්ද?’’ ඔහු ෙපන්වාෙදන පරිදි අද සමාජය තුළ කාන්තාවන්ට හිමි තත්වය ෙගන හැර දක්වන්ෙන් ෙමෙස්ය. ෙම් සමාජය දියුණු සමාජයක් බවට පත්ෙවමින් තිෙබනවා. අප ෙම් සිටින්ෙන් දැනට දශක ගණනාවකට එහා තිබුණාට වඩා දියුණු සමාජයක් තුළ. ඒ සමාජ පරිසරය තුළ කාන්තාවට ඉතා ෙහාද විශාල සමාජ තත්වයක් තිබුණ ද එය කාරණා තුනක් මත ෙවන්ෙවන බව ඔහු ෙපන්වා දී තිෙබනවා. පළමුවැන්න නම්, සමස්ත සමාජෙයේම අධ්‍යාපන තත්වය මත කාන්තාවෙගේ සමාජ තත්ත්වය හා වටිනාකම ෙවනස් ෙවේ.

සමාජය

තුළ මුල් බැස තිෙබන විශාල

මාතෘකාවක් වන කාන්තා හිංසනය පිළිබඳව නූතන සමාජය පිළිගත් අසහාය රංගන ශිල්පිෙයකු ෙමන්ම විශ්වවිද්‍යාල කථිකාචාර්ය වරෙයකු වන තුමිඳු ෙදාඩැන්තැන්න නම් රංග ෙවේදියා දකින්ෙන් ෙම් ආකාරෙයනි. වෘත්තීය මට්ටෙමන් ඔබේබට ෙගාස් සාමාන්‍ය මිනිෙසකු ෙලස ජීවිතය ගත කරන ඔහු කාන්තාව නම් රෑපකාය දකින්ෙන් ෙම් ජීව විද්‍යාත්මක ෙලෝකය තුළ ජීවත් වන ෙල් කිරට හරවන විශ්මයජනක ෙකෙනකු වශෙයනි. “ඇත්තටම සංකීර්ණව සිතුෙවාත් කාන්තාව විෙශ්ෂ චරිතයකි. කාන්තාවක් තුළ ඇෙගේ ශරීරය තුළ සිදුවන ෙවනස ඇයට ඇති ශක්තිය ඇත්ෙතන්ම විශ්මය ජනකයි. ෙම් සමාජෙයේ ජීවත් වන සියලුම මවේවරැ, බිරින්ඳෑවරැ, නැෙගණියන් සියලු ෙදනා කාන්තාවක් ෙලස අපි දකිමු.

ඒ අනුව, අධ්‍යාපන ක්‍රමය උසස් වුවත් අධ්‍යාපන මට්ට්ම පහළ නම් නම් එය සමාජයට විශාල බලපෑමක් කරන බව ෙනාඅනුමානය. ආර්ථිකය ගත්විට, ආර්ථික සමජෙයේ දියුණු බව මත කාන්තාවට තිෙබන ස්ථානය ෙවනස් ෙවේ. ෙහාඳ ආර්ථික තත්වයක් තිෙබන සමාජ තත්වයක කාන්තාවට ලැෙබන ෙගෟරවය වටිනාකමට වඩා අඩු වටිනාකමක් අඩු ආර්ථික සමාජ තත්ව වල ජීවත්වන කාන්තාවන්ට තිෙබන බව අප ෙහාඳාකාරවම දන්ෙනමු. එෙස්නම් ආර්ථිකයද කාන්තාව හිංසාවට පත් කරන තවත් ෙමවලමකි. සංස්කෘතිය, ෙමම වචනය පරිසමාපේත අර්ථෙයන්ම සමාජය ෙවනස් කර තිෙබන හා ෙවනස් කරවන ආයුධයක්. මිනිසා කාන්තාව දකින ආකාරය සංස්කෘතිය අනුව ෙවනස් ෙවනවා. ෙමතුමාෙගේ මතය නම් සංස්කෘතික නම් සාධකය ඇතුළත-

-මිනිසුන් කාන්තාව දකින්ෙන් ෙකෙස්ද යන වග බලපානවා. ඔහු සිතන ආකාරයට අප ජීවත්වන්ෙන් සංස්කෘතික ගත වූ සමාජයක.

එෙස්නම් අප පළමුෙවන්ම කළ යුත්ෙත් අෙපේ ඇස ෙමන්ම සිතද ෙවනස් කර ගැනීම ෙනාෙවේද?

එය තුළ කාන්තාවට ලැෙබන අවධානය කිහිප ආකාරයකින් ෙවනස් වීමට පුලුවන්. සංස්කෘතික වටිනාකම වැඩි වන තරමට සමාජයක කාන්තාවට හිමිවන පිළිගැනීමද වැඩිෙවනවා. ඒ අනුව මිනිසුන් දියුණු ෙලස සිතන සමාජයක කාන්තාවට හිමි වටිනාකම වැඩිෙවයි.

තවද සමාජය තුළ ඇති පප්‍රිශ්න දුටුවද, එම පප්‍රිශ්නයන්ට ෙහේතුවන අෙනකුත් කාරණා සමාජය විසින් දකින්ෙන් නැත. කාන්තා හිංසනය සම්බන්ධෙයන් ගත්විට අපිට ෙපේන්ෙන් උඩින් දකින අපිට ෙපෙනන ෙද් පමණයි. ෙමය රැෙගන යන වාහකයා එෙස්ත් ෙනාමැතිනම් එයට ෙහේතුවන සමාජය හා කාරණා අපි දකින්ෙනවත්, ෙසායන්ෙනවත් නෑ. එෙස්නම් අප කල යුත්ෙත් හා අප ෙසවිය යුතුවන්ෙන් කාන්තාවක් ඇයි පීඩවට පත්වන්ෙන් යන වගයි. එෙස් කළ යුතු වන්ෙන් ෙම් සමාජය සංස්කෘතික වශෙයන් දියුණු සමාජයක් ෙනාවන නිසා.

එනම් ෙම් පවසන ආකාරයට අධ්‍යාපනය, ආර්ථික, සංස්කෘතිය යන කාරණා ති්‍රත්වය ඇතුළත ෙමය අපට විග්‍රහ කීරිමට හැකියාව තිෙබේ. ෙමම කාරණා තුන ෙහාඳින් තිෙබන සමාජයක, ඇත්ෙතන්ම කාන්තාවට උසස් තැනක් ලැබීමට හැකියාව තිෙබන බව අපද දන්ෙනමු. ඒත් ෙම් දියුණු සමාජෙයේ ඇයි කාන්තා හිංසනය සිදුවන්ෙන්? එයට ෙහේතුව නම් සංස්කෘතික ගත ෙනාවූ අධ්‍යාපන ක්‍රමයක් තිබීමයි. කාන්තාවන්ට සිදුවන පීඩනය වාචික, කායික ෙහෝ රෑපමය ආකාරයට සිදුවිය හැක. නමුත් එයට බලපාන්ෙන් සංස්කෘතික සාධකයයි. කාන්තා රෑපකාය ලිංගික උත්ෙත්ජක කාරණාවක්! බහුතරයක් සමාජය තුළ කාන්තාවන්ෙගේ රෑපය විවිධ ෙද් සදහා ෙයාදාගන්නවා. එහිදී ඔවුන් පීඩවට ලක්වන ෙවේගය වැඩිය. අපිට ෙම් තත්ත්වය ෙවනස් කරගන්න නම් අෙපේ ඇස ෙවනස් කරගත යුතු ෙවනවා. අෙපේ ඇස දකින ෙද්, ෙහාඳ ආකරයකින් දැකීමට ඇස හුරැ කරගත යුතු ෙවේ. කාන්තාවක් ෙගෟරවාන්විතව දැකීමට ගැහැණු පිරිමි ෙදපාර්ශවයම පුරැදු විය යුතුය. අද සමාජය තුළ පිරිමින්ට වඩා ගැහැණුන් තවත් ගැහැණියක් දිහා වපර ඇෙසන් බැලීමට පුරැදු වී සිටිනවා. ගැහැණියක් ගැහැණියකට ගරහන සමාජයක් තුළ අප ජීවත් ෙවන්ෙන්.

එෙස්නම් අප කලයුතු වන්ෙන් ෙම් සමාජය සංස්කෘතික වශෙයන් දියුණු සමාජයක් බවට පත් කිරීමයි. එෙස් කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය බලවත්ම ආයුධය වන්ෙන් අධ්‍යාපන තත්වයයි. එෙස්නම් අප ෙම් පවතින අධ්‍යාපන තත්ත්වය වඩා බලවත් අධ්‍යාපන තත්ත්වයක් දක්වා ඔසවා තැබිය යුතු ෙනාෙවේද? එය එෙස් කිරීමට හැකිවුවෙහාත් කාන්තාවට තිෙබන ගරැ කීරිම, සමාජ තත්ත්වය, සංස්කෘතික වශෙයන් තිෙබන වටිනාකම හැදිනෙගන මිනිසුන් වැඩ කිරීමට පටන් ගනී. නමුදු නූගත්, උගත් භාවයක් ෙනාමැති, අධ්‍යාපනය යන්න සහතික වලට පමණක් මුල් කරගත්, අධ්‍යාපනය යනු හුෙදක් අවශ්‍යතාවයක් පමණක් කියා සිටින සමාජයක් කිසිෙස්ත් ම සංස්කෘතික සමාජයක් ෙනාෙවේ. අධ්‍යාපනය වෘත්තීයක් පමණක් සිතන සමාජයක සිටින මිනිසුන්ට කාන්තාව යනු "බඩුවකි".

එෙස් කාන්තාවක් හදුන්වන්ෙන් භාණ්ඩයක් තමන්ට රිසි ෙස්, අවශ්‍යය ආකාරෙයන් පාවච්චි කර අයින් කර දමනවා ෙලසින් කාන්තාවද එෙස් පාවච්චි කර අතහැර දැමිය හැකි යැයි අයුරින් ඔවුන් දකින නිසාය. උගත් බුද්ධිමත් සමාජයක් පිරිමියාට බඩුවක් කියා ෙනාඅමතයි. නමුත් උගත් බුද්ධිමත් සමාජයක් ගැහැණියට බඩුවක් යැයි පවසයි. එයට පැහැදිලිම ෙහේතුව වන්ෙන් අෙපේ අධ්‍යාපනය තුළ ඇති නූගත් බවයි. අප ෙවනස් කල යුත්ෙත් අධ්‍යාපනය හා දැනුමයි. මිනිසුන් සිතන ආකාරය ෙවනස් කර කාන්තාවට ෙගෟරවාන්විත තැනක් ලබා දීමට පුරැදු වන සංස්කෘතික සමාජයක් ෙගාඩනැංවිය යුතුයි. එෙස්නම් අප කල යුත්ෙත් පප්‍රිශ්නය පිළිබඳ ෙනාබලා පප්‍රිශ්නය වටා ඇති සාධක පිළිබඳ විමසීම ෙවේ. ලක්ෂාන්ත අතුෙකෝරාල නම් කවිෙකුෙගේ කවියක අපට කාන්තාව ෙමෙස් දකින්නට හැකි බව තුමිඳු ෙදාඩැන්තැන්න මහතා ෙමෙස් ෙපන්වා ෙදනවා. “වැඩ ඇරී වැඩට යති" පිරිමි රැකියාව ඉවර ෙවලා ෙගදර යනවා නමුත් ගැහැණිය රැකියාව ඉවර ෙවලා ෙගදර රස්සාවට යනවා. ඇය කාන්තාවක් වශෙයන් මුළු ෙගදරම බර කරට ගත යුතුෙවේ. දවස තිස්ෙස් රස්සාව කලද ඇය ෙගදර ෙගාස් ළමයි පිළිබඳවත් ෙසවිය යුතුය, ෙගදර මිනිසුන්ෙගේ බඩකට පිරවිය යුතුය, අවුල් වී තිෙබන නිවස පිරිසිදු කර පිළිෙවළක් කල යුතුය. නමුත් දියුණු ආර්ථික තත්වයක් යටෙත් තිෙබන සමාජයක අපිට පුලුවන් කාන්තාවට වටිනාකමක් ලබා ෙදන්න. එෙස්නම් අප කළ යුතුවන්ෙන් ඇය ෙගදර කරන වැඩ වලට මිලක් වටිනාකමක් දීමය. නමුත් ආර්ථික වශෙයන් ෙනාදියුණු සමාජයකට එෙස් කිරීමට ෙනාහැකිය ඒ නිසාෙවන් තමයි අධ්‍යාපනය,

ආර්ථිකය හා සංස්කෘතිය වඩා ඉහළ තැනකට අප ෙගන ආ යුතු වන්ෙන්. අපිට එය වඩා ඉහළ තලයකට ෙගන ෙනායන ෙතක් අපට ෙම් කාන්තා හිංසනය නම් පප්‍රිශ්නයට මුහුණ දීමට සිදුෙවේ. එෙස්නම් ෙමම රට තුල කාන්තා හිංසනය යන ගැටලුව ආමන්ත්‍රණය කිරීමට ෙපර එයට ෙහේතුවන වට පිටාව පිලිබඳව අවදානය ෙයාමු කල යුතුය. ෙම් සමාජ සංස්කෘතික අධ්‍යාපන මට්ටම ෙවනසකට ලක්කිරීමට ෙපළෙඹමු.

උතුම් මවු පදවිය ලැබීම තුළින් උත්තරීතර පදවියකට උරැමකම් කියන ඇය, නව පරම්පරාවක් බිහිකරමින් ෙලෝකෙයේ පැවැත්මට දායකවන සූර්‍යයාට සම වන්ෙන් ෙම් ෙහේතුෙවනි. ෙමෙලස සමාජය තුල ඉතා වැදගත් කාර්යයක් ඉටු කරන කාන්තාව ෙවනුෙවන් වර්තමානය ඇයට නිසි තැන ෙවනුවට රිසි තැනක් ලැෙබන බව ආශ්චර්‍යා පීරිස් මහත්මියෙගේ අදහසයි. ෙවේගෙයන් ඉදිරියට ගමන් කරන ආර්ථික සමාජ රටාවක් තුල කාන්තාවෙගේ චරිතය සංකිර්ණ හා පුළුල් වී ඇති අතර ඒ හා අනුගත ෙවමින් පවුල් සංස්ථාව ආරක්ෂා කරගැනීමට ඇයට සිදුවී තිෙබේ. ෙමවන් වටපිටාවක් තුල ඇතැම්විට කාන්තාවට සිය භුමිකාව හා නිසි තැන හදුනා ගැනීමට ෙනාහැකි වූ අවස්තාද නැතුවාම ෙනාෙවේ. නමුත් ඇය පවසන ආකාරයට කාන්තාවක් තුළ පවතින අපමණ ශක්තීන් හා හැකියාවන් සමුදාෙයේ ආධාරෙයන් කාන්තාව ඇයට නිසිතැන ලබාගත යුතු ය.

වර්තමානෙයේ ශ්‍රී ලාංකික ව්‍යාපාරික ක්ෙෂේත්‍රෙයේ සුවීෙශ්ෂී මං සළකුණක් වන ආශ්චර්‍යා පීරිස් මහත්මිය කාන්තා හිංසනය පිළිබඳ ඉදිරිපත්කල ඇයෙගේ අදහස් ෙමෙස් ඉදිරිපත් කරන්ෙනමු. ඇය ස්වකීය භූමිකාව ලංකාෙවේ ෙබාෙහාම අභිමානවත් ෙලස ජීවත්වීමට ඇලුම් කරන කාන්තාවක්, මවක්, බිරිඳක්, ව්‍යාපාරික කාන්තාවක්, ෙසාෙහායුරියක් සහ අසල්වාසිෙයක් යනාදී ෙලස අර්ථ ගන්වා ගන්නීය. එය හුෙදක් ඇයෙගේ චරිතයම පමණක් ෙනාව මුලු මහත් කාන්තා සමාජයම සංක්ෂිපේත කිරීමක් ෙලස හැදින්විය හැක. මන්දයත් කාන්තාව තම ජීවිත කාලය තුලදී උක්ත භූමිකාවන්හි නියැෙලමින් ෙමම සමාජය ෙනාෙයකුත් ආකාරෙයන් ෙපෝෂණය කරවන්නියක් වන බැවිනි. අෙත් වචනවලින් කාන්තාව අර්ථ දක්වන්ෙන් නම්, කාන්තාවක් යනු සුන්දරත්වය, බලය, ශක්තිය, දරාගැනීම වැනි ලක්ෂණයන් සමුහයක් කැටිෙකාට ගත් ෙදවියන් වහන්ෙස්ෙගේ අපූර්ව නිර්මාණයකි.

වර්තමාන සමාජය තුළ කාන්තාවට මුහුණ පෑමට සිදුවන හිංසනයන් ලඝුෙකාට සැලකිය ෙනාහැක. ෙවේගෙයන් දියුණුවන සමාජයක් තුල මනුෂ්‍යත්වය අභිෙයෝගයට ලක් කරමින් ඇතැම් සමාජ මාධ්‍ය සිදුකරන සමාජ ගතකිරීම් ෙහේතුෙවන් කාන්තාව යනු ගරැ කටයුතු පුද්ගලෙයක් බව ඇතමුන් විසින් අමතක කිරීම තුලින් ෙමවන් අවාසනාවන්ත තත්වයන් ඇතිවන බව ඇයෙගේ අදහසයි. තවද කතා කරන භාෂාව, ඇසුරැ කරන පුද්ගලයන්, සමාජමාධ්‍යවල හැසිෙරන ආකාරය ෙතෝරා ෙබේරා ගැනීමකින් යුතුව කිරීම කාන්තාව සතු වගකීමකි. ඇය පවසන ආකාරය ඇය දෑස් ෙනාෙපෙනන කාන්තාවක් වුවත් ෙපරකී හිංසනයන්ට ඇය ෙගාදුරැ වන්ෙන් ඉතාම අවම වශෙයන් බවත්, එයට ෙහේතුව ඇය සතුව ඇති උගත්කමට වඩා නිරායාසෙයන් කාන්තාව සතුව ඇති බුද්ධිමත් බව ෙමයට ෙහේතු වූ බවත්,

ෙපර කී පරිදි ෙතෝරා ෙබේරා ගැනීම් සහිතව සිය හැසිරීම හා කි්‍රයාකලාපයන් පාලනය කිරීම ෙහේතුවක් බවයි. එෙස්ම විවාහගත කාන්තාවන් සිය නිවස තුලදී ලක්වන ෙනාෙයකුත් පීඩාවන් සදහා විසදුම ෙලස ඇය දක්වන්ෙන හැකිතාක් ඉවසීමයි. මන්දයත් වඩාත් වැදගත් වන්ෙන් කාන්තාවක් ෙලස සිය පවුල රැකෙගන ෙගෟරවාන්විත ෙලස ජීවත්වීම ෙහේතුෙවන් තමාට හැකි උපරිමයක් දක්වා ඉවසීමත් එෙස් ෙනාහැකි අවස්තාවන්වලදී තම සමීපතමෙයක්ට සිය ගැටලුව පවසා සිත නිදහස් කරගැනීම ෙහෝ එෙස්ත් ෙනාමැතිනම් නීති උපෙදස් ලාබාෙදන රාජ්‍ය ෙහෝ රාජ්‍ය ෙනාවන ආයතනවල සහය පැතීමත් ය. එම නිසා කාන්තාවක් ෙලස තාමාට යම් පීඩනයක් හිංසාවක් ෙමානයම් ෙහෝ අෙයකුෙගන් එල්ල වන්ෙන් නම් වඩාත් වැදගත් වන්ෙන් සිය ෙගෟරවය හා පවුල ආරක්ෂා කරගනිමින් ගැටලුව නිරාකරණය කර ගැනීමට තරම් දැනුවත් භාවයක් හා අවෙබෝධයක් කාන්තාව සතු වීමයි.

Someone's Daughter ෙවනුෙවන් අදහස් ඉදිරිපත් කළ පප්‍රිවීණ රංගන ශිල්පී ෙරාඩ්නි වර්ණකුල මහතා සමග අප සිදුකළ කතාබහ ඔබ හමුවට ෙගන ඒමටයි ෙම් වෑයම... වර්තමානෙයේ කාන්තා හිංසනය මුලු ෙලෝකය තුළම අන්තර්ජාතික වශෙයන් කතාබහට ලක් වන, ඕනෑම සමාජයක අඩු වැඩි වශෙයන් දක්නට ලැෙබන කාරණාවක් බව එතුමාෙගේ අදහසයි. ඔහු පවසන ආකාරයට කාන්තා හිංසනය යනු හුෙදක් ශාරීරික වශෙයන් කාන්තාවන්ට ඇතිවන පීඩාවන් පමණක් ෙනාව, සාමාජයීය, ආර්ථික, අධ්‍යාපනික, ෙද්ශපාලනික යනාදී ෙනාෙයකුත් ෙකෝණයන් හරහාද කාන්තාව පීඩනයට ලක් වන බවයි. විෙශ්ෂෙයන්ම ශ්‍රී ලංකාෙවේ ගම්මානවල සිය සැමියාෙගේ බීමත්කම හා මත්ද්‍රව්‍යවලට -

- ඇබේබැහි වීම නිසා හිංසාවට හා පීඩාවට පත්වන කාන්තාවන් හා බිරින්ඳෑවරැන් ෙමන් ම එම පවුල්වල කුඩා දරැවන් පිළිබඳව ද එතුමා ෙමහිලා සඳහන් කෙළේ ය. එෙස් හුෙදක් සිය සංතුෂේටිය සඳහා මත්ද්‍රව්‍යවලට හා මත්පැන්වලට ඇබේබැහි වූ පිරිමින් ෙහේතුෙවන් පීඩාවට ලක් වන කාන්තාවන්ෙගේ ගැටලුව ඉතා සංකීර්ණ පප්‍රිශ්නයක් බවත් එය තමා අවඥාෙවන් බැහැර කරන බවත් තවදුරටත් ඔහු පප්‍රිකාශ කෙළේ ය. සැබැවින්ම ෙමය ශ්‍රී ලංකාෙවේ දුෂේකර ග්‍රාමීය පළාත්වල කාන්තාවන් අත්විඳින කටුක ගැටලුවක් වන අතර එයට ෙහේතුව එම පප්‍රිෙද්ශවල ජීවත්වන පුද්ගලයන්ෙගේ ජීවන තත්ත්වය හා අධ්‍යාපන මට්ටම පිළිබඳ ගැටලු බව ෙමහිලා සඳහන් කළ යුතු ය. නමුත් වර්තමානෙයේ සමාජය තුළ ෙමම මාතෘකාව සාකච්ඡාවට බඳුන් ෙනාවන අතර එය කාන්තාවන් ලක්වන ලිංගික හිංසනය හා ශාරීරික වශෙයන් සිදුවන ෙවනත් හිංසනයන් යනාදී ෙද් නිසා යටපත් වී ඇති නමුත් ශාරීරිකව, ආත්මීය වශෙයන්, මානසිකව යනාදී විවිධාකාරෙයන් අප රෙට් ගම්දනවේවල ෙවෙසන කාන්තාවන් හිංසනයට පීඩනයට ලක්වන බව ඔහු ඉස්මතු කර ෙපන්වී ය. ෙමවන් අසාධාරණයන්ට කාන්තාව ලක්වන්ෙන් ඔහු ද ඇතුළු ව සියලු පිරිමින් ඇතුළත් වන ෙපාදු කුලකෙයේ ම යම් ෙකාටසක් නිසා බවත් පුරැෂයන් ෙලස ඔවුන් ලැජේජාවට පත්විය යුතු බවත් පැවසුෙවේ ය. එෙස්ම පුරැෂයන් තමන්ෙගේ ආෙවේගයන් ෙහේතු කරෙගන යම් අයුරකින් කාන්තාවකට අත ඔසවන්ෙන් නම් එය ඉතා නිර්ලැජේජිත කි්‍රයාවක් බවත් සඳහන් කෙළේය. විවිධ මාධ්‍ය ඔස්ෙස් ෙම් පිළිබඳ වරින් වර සාකච්ඡාවට බඳුන් කරන මාතෘකාවක් වුව ද එවැනි සිදුවීම්වල අඩුවක් ෙනාමැති බව ෙහෙතම තවදුරටත් සඳහන් කෙළේ ය.

කාන්තා හිංසනයට මූලික වන ෙහේතු සඳහන් කිරීෙම්දී ඔවුන්ෙගේ ඇඳුම් පැළඳුම් යුෙරෝපීයකරණයට ලක්වීම ශ්‍රී ලංකාව වැනි රටකට අනුචිත බවත් ෙමහි පවතින ෙද්ශගුණික තත්ත්වයන් යනාදිය සැළකීෙම්දී එෙස් කිරීෙම් අවශ්‍යතාවයක් ෙනාමැති බවත් අවධාරණය කෙළේ ය. මන්ද යත් ෙමහි පවතින සංස්කෘතියට පටහැනි ෙලස ඇදුම් ආයිත්තම් භාවිතය යම් යම් පාර්ශවයන්ෙගේ ආෙවේගයන් පුබුදුවාලීම තුළින් ෙනාෙයක් කටුක අත්දැකීම්වලට අවස්ථාවන් නිර්මාණය කරන ෙහයිනි. කාන්තා හිංසනය පිටු දැකීමට නීති ෙකතරම් නිර්මාණය කළ ද එය සිදු විය යුත්ෙත් කාන්තාවන් ඔවුන් විසින් ම ස්වයංපාලනයකට ලක්වීම වැදගත් බවත් එයට වඩාත් වැදගත් ෙලසම අෙනක් පාර්ශවවලින් ෙගෟරවය කාන්තාවන් ෙවත හිමිවිය යුතු බවත් ඔහු පැවසුෙවේ ය. නීතිය ට වඩා හුෙදක් තමන්ෙගේ හදවත තුළින් පැන නගින හැඟීමක් ෙලස කාන්තා ආරක්ෂණය සැපයීම සිදුවිය යුතු බව ඔහුෙගේ අදහස විය. මව, බිරිඳ, මිණිබිරිය, සෙහෝදරිය, දියණිය යනාදී ෙම් චරිත සියල්ලක්ම කාන්තාවන් බවත් ඒ සියලු ෙදනාම යම් දිෙනක 'ෙලාවක් නළවන මවක්', 'ෙතාටිල්ල පදවන අතක්' බවට පරිවර්තනය වන බවත්, එම චරිතෙයේ ඇති උත්තරීතර බවත් බුදුරජාණන් වහන්ෙස්ෙගේ මවත් උත්තරීතර මවක්, ෙජේසුස් වහන්ෙස්ෙගේ මරියා තුමියත් උත්තරීතර මවක් බවත් එෙස්ම මවේවරැන් සිය දරැවන් විශ්වීය චරිත බවට පත් කිරීමට ෙවර දරණ අතර එවන් උතුම් චරිතයක් වන කාන්තාවට ෙගෟරව කිරීම හුෙදක් නීති රීති පනවා කිරිමට වඩා හැඟීෙමන් කළ යුතු ෙදයක් බව අවධාරණය කෙළේය. එෙහයින් වඩාත් වැදගත් වන්ෙන් සෑම කාන්තාවකටම තම මව හා සමාන කරමින් ඔවුන්ට ගරැත්වයක් සහිත ව කටයුතු කිරීමට සිතුවිල්ලක් සියලු ෙදනාෙගේම සිත් තුළ ජනිත කිරීමයි.

දියුණු බටහිර පප්‍රිජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී රටවල කාන්තාවට සාෙපේක්ෂව යම්තාක් දුරට නිදහසක් තිබුනද ලංකාව වැනි පසුගාමී/ ෙනාදියුණු රටවල කාන්තා හිංසන බහුල ය. සමහර අවස්ථාවල කාන්තාවන් කැමැත්ෙතන් හිංසනය වීමට ලක්ෙවේ. වර්තමාන සමාජය තුළ ෙපාදුෙවේ කාන්තාව හිංසනයට ලක්වීම ගෘහස්ථව ෙමන්ම බස් රථ තුළ, සිනමා ශාලා තුළ වැනි ෙපාදු ස්ථානවලද ෙමය සිදුවීම කණගාටුවට කරැණකි. විවිධාකාර මානසික පප්‍රිශ්නවලින් ෙපෙලන පිරිමින් ෙහේතුෙවන් ෙනාෙයක් ආකාරෙයන් කාන්තාව හිංසනයට ලක්විය හැක. ෙමයට පප්‍රිධානව වගකිව යුත්ෙත් සමාජය යන්න ඔහුෙගේ අදහසයි. සමාජෙයේ වැදගත් ස්ථානයක් කාන්තාවට අත්විය යුතුය. ආගමික ශාස්ත්‍රවරැන් පවා ෙපන්වා දුන් පරිදි සමාජෙයේ ශිෂේඨ සම්පන්න බව මනිනුෙයේ කාන්තාවට සමාජෙයන් ලැෙබන සැලකීම මත ය.

ශ්‍රී ලාංකික රංගන ක්ෙෂේත්‍රෙයේ පප්‍රිවීණෙයකු වන ඩබේලිවේ. ජයසිරි මහතා කාන්තා හිංසනය පිළිබඳ ඉදිරිපත්කල ඔහුෙගේ අදහස් ෙමෙස් ඉදිරිපත් කරමු.

මිනිස් පරිණාමෙයේ මුල් යුගෙයේ සිට අද වනතුරැ ගැහැණිය අයත් වන්ෙන් ෙදවන ලිංගිකයා හැටියට යි. ෙගෝති්‍රක සමාජය තුළ හැර හැම සමාජයකම පාෙහේ කාන්තාව දැඩිව හිංසනයට ලක්ෙවයි. තවද පුරැෂ මූලික සමාජයක කාන්තා හිංසනය සිදුවීම නිරතුරැවම දක්නට හා අසන්නට ලැෙබන කාරණාවකි. ෙමය නවතන්ෙන් ෙකෙස්දයත් විශාල ගැටලුවකි.

මූලිකව වර්තමාන සාමාජෙයේ වැඩිම හිංසනය පැමිෙණනුෙයේ ගෘහස්ථවයි. ගෘහස්ථ හිංසනය පහරදීම් ෙමන්ම ලිංගිකවද පැමිණිය හැක. ෙමය සමාජ මානසික ගැටලුවකි. ෙමයට පප්‍රිධාන ෙහේතුව වන්ෙන් ලිංගික අධ්‍යාපනය ෙනාලැබීම නිසා රහෙස් ෙමය පවත්වාෙගන යාෙමන් ලිංගිකව කාන්තාව හිංසනයට ලක්වීම ඉතාමත් භයානක ආකරයට සිදුෙවේ. ඒ සඳහා කල යුත්ෙත් ළමා පරපුර ඒ පිළිබඳව දැනුවත්කර ඒ තුළින් කාන්තා හිංසනය එක්තරා පප්‍රිමාණයකින් ෙහෝ අඩුකිරීමට පදනමක් සැකසිම බව ඔහුෙගේ අදහසයි.

අතීත කාන්තාවෙගේ අධ්‍යාපනෙයේ අයිතිය සමාජය විසින් අහුරා දැමූ පසුබිමක නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපනය ෙහේතුෙවන් කාන්තාවට ඉතා විශාල අවස්ථා පප්‍රිමාණයක් හිමිවිය. එය කාන්තාව ලැබූ විශාල ජයග්‍රහණයකි. කාන්තාවට රැකියාවක් හිමි වීම නිසා හා එය සධාරණීකරණය වීම නිසා ඇය සමාජෙයේ යම් වටිනාකමක් ලබාෙගන ඇතිබව ඇයෙගේ අදහසයි. නමුත්ම ඇයෙගේ භූමිකාව විස්තාරණය වී තිෙබේ. බිරිදක්, මවක් හා වෘත්තීයක් ෙලසත්ම ඇයෙගේ භූමිකාව ෙවනස් වී තිෙබනවා. පවුෙල් ආරක්ෂාව, රැකවරණය උෙදසා ෙම් සියලු භූමිකාවන් සමබර කිරීම ඉතා වැදගත්ය

සමාජෙයේ කාලීන මතෘකාවක් වන කාන්තා හිංසනය පිළිබඳව කාන්තා හා ළමා කටයුතු අමාත්‍යoශෙයේ ජාතික කාන්තා කමිටුෙවේ හිටපු සභාපතිනිය වන ස්වර්ණා සුමනෙස්කර මහත්මියෙගේ අදහස ෙමෙස් සටහන් කරන්ෙනමු. ඇය කාන්තාව දකින්ෙන් ස්වභාවධර්මය විසින් නිර්මාණය කළ ෙදයක් ෙලසටය. ෙලෝකෙයේ ආරම්භෙයේදී සිටම මානවයාෙයේ පැවැත්ම උෙදසා ගැහැණිය හා පිරිමියා වශෙයන් ජීවින් ෙදෙදෙනක් ෙලෝකය තුළ ස්ථාපිත වු බව ඇෙගේ මතයයි. එදා පටන් කාන්තාව විවිධ ෙලස පරිණාමයන්ට භාජනය ෙවමින් අද දක්වා පැමිණ ඇත. අතීත කාන්තාවට සාෙපේක්ෂව නූතන කාන්තාව ෙබාෙහෝ ෙස් ෙවනස්වලට භාජනය වී තිෙබනවා. එයට පප්‍රිධානම ෙහේතුව වන්ෙන් නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපනය ෙස් ඇය විශ්වාස කරයි.

සමාජය ෙකතරම් නූතන වුවත් බහුතරයකට සමාජෙයේ සමානාත්මතාවය අහිමි වී තිෙබනවා. එය සමස්ත කාන්තා පාර්ශ්වෙයන් ඉතා සුලුතරයකට අහිමි වී තිෙබනවා. නමුත් අපි සමාජයක් ෙලස අසමත් වී තියබනවා, එම ස්ථානය කාන්තාවට ලබා දීමට. අෙනක් කාරණය වන්ෙන් සමාජය විසින් ඉතා දරැණු ෙලස කාන්තාව මැන බැලීමට කි්‍රයා කිරීමයි. ඇයෙගේ ඇඳුම්, හැසිරීම් ෙකාටු කිරීමට සමාජය උත්සාහ කරන බව ඇෙගේ මතයයි. ෙවනදාට වඩා අද කාන්තා හිංසනය පිළිබඳ නිතී හා එහි පප්‍රිබලතාවය වැඩි වී තිෙබනවා. එය සුභවාදී ෙදයක් ෙලස ඇය විශ්වාස කරන්නීය. නමුත් එම නිතී කි්‍රයාත්මක වීෙම් පප්‍රිමාදයක් පවතින බව ඇයෙගේ මතයයි. පසුගිය වසර දහය තුළ පැමිණිලි 600 ක් පමණ ලැබී තිබුණත්ම එවායින් නීතිය කි්‍රයාත්මක වුෙයේ ඉතා ස්වල්පයකට පමණි. විශ්වවිද්‍යාලය තුළ නවක වදය නමින් ඉතා සහාසික කාන්තා හිංසන සිදුවන බව ඇය තවදුරටත් ෙපන්වා ෙදයි. විශ්වවිද්‍යාල ශිෂ්‍යයන් ෙලස අප එම කි්‍රයාවන්ට විරැද්ධ විය යුතු යැයි ඇය අෙපේක්ෂා කරයි. කාන්තාව තමන්ට එෙස් වන හිංසනයන්ට නීතිය හමුවට යාමට මැලිකමක් දක්වයි.

එයට පප්‍රිධානතම ෙහේතුව වන්ෙන් ඇය තම පවුෙල් සුරක්ෂිතතාවය ගැන කල්පනා කිරිමය. තවද අධිකරණය කාන්තා ගැටලුවලට දක්වන සංෙවේදීතාවෙයේ අඩුවක් පවතින බව ඇය ෙපන්වා ෙදයි. නීතිය කි්‍රයාත්මක වීෙම්දී ඉතා දිර්ඝ කාලයක් ගතවීම කාන්තාවන්ට යුක්තිය ඉටුවීමට තවත් බාධාවක් ෙලස ඇය දකියි. ගෘහස්ථ හිංසන පනත වැනි නීතින් පිළිබඳව කාන්තාව යාවත්කාලීන වීෙම් යම් ගැටලුවක් පවතින බව ඇය පප්‍රිකාශ කළාය. එමගින් යුක්තිය ඉෂේඨ වීම මැගහැරයනු ඇතැයි තවදුරටත්ම ඇය ෙපන්වා දුන්නාය. ගෘහස්ත හිංසනය සමාජෙයේ සෑම ස්ථරයකම පැතිරී ඇත. ආගම, ජාතිය, කුලය හා සමාජ තත්වය වැනි සාධක මත තවදුරටත්ම එය රඳා පවතින බව ඇය පප්‍රිකාශ කළාය. පප්‍රිවාහනෙයේදී සිදුවන කාන්තා හිංසනය පිළිබඳව විවිධ දැනුවත් කිරිම් සිදුකළ යුතුයැයි ඇය සඳහන් කළාය. ඒ සදහා නීති කි්‍රයාත්මක කිරීමට කාන්තාව තවදුරටත් උනන්දු වියයුතු යැයි ඇෙගේ අදහසයි. කාන්තා හිංසනය පිටු දැකීමට නම් පිරිමි පාර්ශ්වයද දායක කර ගැනීමට ඇය ෙයෝජනා කරයි. එෙමන්ම පප්‍රිජනන ෙසෟඛ්‍ය පිළිබඳ අධ්‍යාපනය කුඩා කාලෙයේ පටන් ළමුන්ට ෙබදා දීෙම් වැදගත්ම ඇය අගය ෙකාට සලකයි. එම නිසාම මෑත කාලෙයේ ළමා මවුවරැන්ෙගේ අඩුවක් පවතින බව ඇය සදහන් කළාය. අවසාන වශෙයන් කාන්තා අයිතින් හා සමානාත්මතාවය වැනි දෑ පිළිබදව සමාජෙයේ ආකල්ප වල ෙවනසක් අවශය බව ඇය සඳහන් කළාය.

කාන්තාවකට මානසික, ශාරිරික ෙහෝ ලිංගික හිංසාවන් කල හැකි පුද්ගලයන් බිහිවන්ෙන් අප සමජය තුළිනි. අඩු වැඩි වශෙයන් විවිධ අයුරින් එකිෙනකා පීඩා කරගන්නා සමාජයක ජීවත් වන මාපියන් අතින් තැෙනන දරැවන් විවිධ මානසික, චිත්තෙවේගික සංකූලතා සහිත වීම පුදුමයක් ෙනාෙවේ. කාන්තා හිංසනය පිටු දැකීමට කටයුතු කරන අපි, හිංසනය කිරීම දක්වා ෙගාඩනැගුන පුද්ගලයන්ට ෙචෝදනා කරමින් සිටිනවා ෙවනුවට එවැනි පුද්ගලයන් හැෙදන වැෙඩන පරිසරය ෙවනස් කිරීමට කටයුතු කල යුතුය. එහිදී හිංසනයට එෙරහිව සකි්‍රයව කි්‍රයාකරන කාන්තාවන්ට පවා මග හැෙරන, සැලකිල්ලට ගත යුතු කාරණා ෙබාෙහෝමයකි.

අප සමඟ එකතු වූ මෙනෝවිද්‍යාඥ සමිතා ඇතුල්ෙදාරආරච්චි මහත්මිය කාන්තා හිංසනය පිළිබඳව දැක්වූ අදහස් ෙමයින් උපුටා දැක්ෙවේ.

ඕනෑම පුද්ගලයකු කායිකව හා මානසිකව මනා ෙලස වර්ධනය වීමට අවශ්‍ය මූලිකම අඩිතාලම සැපෙයන්ෙන් ගර්භණී කාලෙයේය. සතුටින් සිටින ගර්භණී මවක් හරහා ෙම් ෙලෝකයට එන දරැවකු ඉතා විශ්වාසෙයන් හා සතුටින් ෙලෝකය ෙදස බලන අතර අඛන්ඩවම ආරක්ෂිත හා ආදර්ණීය පරිසරයක් ලැබීම තුළ ඔහු සමාජ හිතකාමී ආදරණීය පුද්ගලයකු බවට පත්ෙවේ. ඔහු සමාජ සදාචාරයන්ට ගරැකරමින් ජීවත් වීමට දනී. නමුත් සමාජ සදාචාරයන් උල්ලංඝණය කරමින්, කාන්තාවන් ෙහෝ දරැවන් හිංසනයට ලක්කරමින්, ෙගෟරවයට හානි කරමින් කටයුතු කරන පුද්ගලයා අනිවාර්ෙයන්ම ගර්භණී කාලෙයේ සිට නව ෙයාවුන් විය දක්වා කාල පරාසය තූළ යම් අනාරක්ෂිත හා පීඩාකරී පරිසරයක හෑදී වෑඩුන පුද්ගලයකු විය යුතුය. පුළුල් අර්ථෙයන් ගත් කල

ගර්භණී මවක් රැකීම සමාජ වගකීමකි. මන්ද ඇයෙගේ දරැවා යම් දවසක සමාජයට පැමිෙණන නිසාය. පිරිමි ළමුන් තුළ පිරිමියා යනු තද ගති පැවතුම් ඇති, ශක්තිමත් පුද්ගලයකු ෙලස කුඩා කල සිටම ෙදමාපියන් ඔහුෙගේ මනසට කා වැද්දීම ෙනාකල යුතුය. මන්ද පිරිමි ළමුන් සියලු ෙදනාට සමාජය අෙපේක්ෂා කරන ශක්තිමත් පිරිමියා වීමට අවශ්‍ය සමාජ-පවුල් වටපිටාව ෙනාලැෙබන බැවිනි. නැතෙහාත් වීරයා විය ෙනාහැකි ව ඇතැමුන් මානසිකව කඩාවැටීමකට ලක් ෙවේ. ඔවුන් සමාජෙයේ මුල් බැසගත් මිමි වල හිරවී ෙපෟරැෂ හීනතා සහිත පුදිගලයන් බවට පත් ෙවේ. ඔවුන්ෙගේ ඇතුලාන්තෙයේ ඇති ෙවේදනාව පප්‍රිචන්ඩත්වයක් ෙලස තමන්ට වඩා දුර්වලයන් ෙලස හදුනාගන්නා ගැහැණු ෙහෝ දරැවන් හිංසනයට ලක් කිරීම හරහා සමාජට මුදා හරී. එෙස්ම ෙමාවුන් සමාජ සම්මතයට පිටස්තරව රහසිගතව ෙබාෙහෝ ෙද් කිරීමට ෙපලඹීම දැකිය හැකිය. ඇත්තටම ගැහැණිය හා පිරිමියා අතර ෙර්ඛාවක් සෑදුවෙහාත් එම ෙර්ඛාෙවේ විවිධ ලක්ෂ වල දරැවන් තම සමාජ ලිංගික අනන්‍යතාවය තහවුරැ කිරීමට නියමිතය. එම අනන්‍යතාවය මුල් බැසගත් ගැහැණු, පිරිමි පප්‍රිතිරෑප පිළිබඳ සමාජ මතවාද වලින් අභිෙයෝගයට ලක් ෙනාවුනෙහාත් ඔවුන් මානසික ෙහෝ චිත්තෙවේගික සංකූලතා වලට ෙගාදුරැ ෙනාෙවේ. එෙස්නම් කල යුත්ෙත් එකිෙනකා ෙතෝරාගන්නා අනන්‍යතාවයන් බැහැර ෙනාකරන, අෙනකාට ගරැකරන

-සමාජයක් ෙගාඩනැංවීමයි. ෙමහි අෙනක් පප්‍රිතිවිපාකය වන්ෙන් ගැහැණු පිරිමි සම්බන්ධතා අර්බුදයට ලක්වීමයි. සමාජය විසින් නිර්මාණය කර ඇති “මහා පිරිමියා” ෙගේ පප්‍රිතිරෑපය නැමැති මිරිගුව හබා යන පිරිමින්, ගැහැණු රාශියක් ඇසුරැ කරන්නට ෙපළෙඹයි. නමුත් නිසි සම්බන්ධතාවයක් ෙගාඩනගාගන්නට ෙනාදන්නා ෙම් වැනි පිරිමින් නිමක් නැති ආසාවන් ජාලයක අතරමන් වී සිටී. කාන්තාවන් ෙමාවුන්ෙගේ ෙගාදුරැ බවටද පත්ෙවේ. ෙබාෙහෝ කාන්තාවන් ෙමවැනි පිරිමින් ඇසුරැ කිරීමට ෙපළඹීම අද විලාසිතාවකි. ඒ ලාභ පප්‍රිෙයෝජන උෙදසාය. අකමැෙතන් ෙහෝ තම අසරණකම නිසා ෙමාවුන්ට ෙගාදුරැ වන කාන්තාවන්ද එමටය. ලිංගිකත්වය ජීවිතෙයේ අත්‍යවශ්‍ය අංගයකි. නමුත් සත්ව ආශාවන් අබිබවා සදාචාරමය ජීවන රටාවක් අත්පත් කරගත් අපි අෙපේ ආශාවන් සතුන් ෙස් එළියට මුදාහරින්ෙන් නැත. එෙස්නම් එම මනුෂ්‍ය ගති සමරන ෙගෟරවණීය ජීවන රටාවක් ඇතිකර ගැනීම අෙපේ වගකීමයි. ඒ සදහා නිසි ලිංගික අධ්‍යාපනයක් ලබාදීම ෙමන්ම සබඳතාවක වටිනාකම උගන්වා එම සබඳතාවය ආදරයෙගෟරවය සහිත වගකීමක් දක්වා වැඩි දියුණු කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය අවෙබෝධය ලබා දීම කලයුතුය. තවද සමාජය විසින් ගැහැණු දරැවා එක පිරිමිෙයක් මත්ෙතම සිටිය යුතු යනුෙවන් සමාජ සම්මතයක් ෙගනහැර දක්වයි. පාරිශුද්ධත්වයක සිරකර තබන කාන්තාව තම හැඟීම් යටපත් කර ගැනීම තුළ ඉතාම නපුරැ පිරිසක් බවට පත්ව ඇත. ගැහැණු සහ පිරිමි අතර තීව්‍ර ගැටුමක් නිර්මාණය වී ෙදපාර්ශවය අනවෙබෝධෙයන් ෙනානිෙමන ගැටුමක හිරවී ෙවේදනාෙවන් ජීවත් ෙවේ. ෙම් තුළඇතිවන පීඩනය කාන්තා හිංසනයක් දක්වා වර්ධනය ෙවේ. හිංසනයට පත්වන පුද්ගලයාට හිංසනයට අමතරව තමන්ෙගේ ෙගෟරවය පිළිබඳ ගැටලුවකට මුහුණ දීමට ද සිදුවීම කතාකල යුතු එක් කරැණකි. ෙමවැනි පුද්ගලයින්ට උදවේ කිරීමට සමාජෙයේ නිසි අයුරින් ක්‍රමෙවේදයක් නිර්මාණය වී ෙනාමැත.

එෙස්ම පීඩකයා අසරණෙයකු නම් සෑම විටම සිදුවන්ෙන් ඔවුන්ව නින්දාවට ලක්ෙකාට පප්‍රිතික්ෙෂේප කිරීමයි. පීඩකයා බලවත් අෙයක් නම් ඔහු වීරත්වය පත් වී හිංසනයට පත් පුද්ගලයා ෙවත වරද පැටවීමයි. ඒ ෙවනුවට අපට අවශ්‍ය වන්ෙන් පීඩකයා ෙමන්ම පීඩිතයා යලි සමාජගත කිරිම දක්වා ෙගාඩනැංවිය හැකි යාන්ත්‍රනයකි. නැතෙහාත් සිදුවන්ෙන් තව තවත් ෛවරී සහගත පුද්ගලයන් නිර්මාණය වීමයි. ෙම් පුද්ගලයන් ෙගේ මානසික මට්ටම ෙත්රැම් ෙගන නිසි අයුරින් ඔවුන් රැකබලා ගත හැකි යාන්ත්‍රනයක් ඇති කිරීම තුළ ෙබාෙහෝ සමාජ ගැටළු නිරාකරණය කිරීමට හැකි ෙවේ. අප ජීවත්වන සමාජයට පැවරී ඇත්ෙත් ඉතාම භාරදූර කටයුත්තකි. එනම් මිනිසුන්ෙගේ දුර්වලකම් මත ඔවුන්ව ෙල්බල් ෙනාෙකාට, ඔවුන්ට සිදුවී ඇති අකටයුතුකම් වලට අවශ්‍ය පිළියම් ෙයදීමයි. නැතෙහාත් ඔවුන්ෙගේ මානසිකත්වය ෙත්රැම් ෙගන සරිලන පරිදි කටයුතු කිරීමයි. අවසාන වශෙයන් සමාජෙයේ ඇතිවන ගැටලු රාශියක මූලාරම්භය යටපත් කල ලිංගික පීඩනකි. එබැවින් එම ගැටලු ෙනාසඟවා සමාජයට ෙහළිදරවේ කිරීෙමන් සහ සමාජය තුළ පුළුල් සංවාදයක් ඇති කිරීෙමන් සමස්ත සමාජීය ලිංගික පීඩනය අඩු කල හැක. ඒ මගින් අෙන්කා ෙපලන ලිංගික හිංසනයන් ෙබාෙහෝ දුරට අවම වනු ඇත.

Someone's Daughter ව්‍යාපෘතිෙයේ තවත් එක් දිගහැරැමක් ෙලස, ශ්‍රී ලංකාෙවේ ජනපිප්‍රිය කලා ශිල්පිෙයකු වන ලහිරැ ෙපෙර්රා මහතා කාන්තා හිංසනය පිළිබඳ එක් කළ ඔහුෙගේ අදහස් ෙමෙස් ඉදිරිපත් කරමු. ඔහුෙගේ ජීවිතය තුළ ඔහු පවසන ආකාරයට කාන්තාවකෙගේ සියලුම චරිත ඔහුට හමුව ඇත. නමුත් කාන්තා හිංසනය ඔහුෙගේ ජීවිතය තුළ අත්දැක නැහැ යනුෙවනුයි ඔහු අදහස් දැක්වූෙයේ. එය කාන්තාව ගැෙටන පරිසරය සමඟ ඇතිවන ෙදයක් අතර, හිංසනය ෙපාදුෙවේ කාන්තා, පිරිමි ෙදපාර්ශ්වයටම සිදුවිය හැකි ෙදයක් ෙලස ඔහු ෙපන්වා ෙදනු ලැබීය.

Rape and Sexual Exploitation by UNFPA “My boyfriend asked me if I loved him and trusted him from the bottom of my heart. When I answered “yes”, he asked me if I could prove it.

I loved him so much and since I had been in the relationship with him for 2 years, I told him I’d do anything to prove that our love is forever. He then took the opportunity and asked me to spend a night with him during his birthday weekend. He was first inviting me to have sex. But when I said I can’t and I wasn’t ready, he started to threaten me. I was too shocked; I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to have sex with him, I wasn’t ready for it. It was my personal choice. But he kept on scolding, threatening and forcing me to have sex. I knew this was not right. I didn’t want to lose him; He is the love of my life. But I thought to myself, why should I prove my love for him by sacrificing my body, my choice and my rights, just to please him? So I told my closest friend about what was happening and we decided to get help from our former A/L class teacher. I took her advice and felt confident enough to say NO!” A man who has sex with a woman without her consent commits an offence under rape. Rape can happen under statutory rape, guardian rape, marital rape and gang rape. All other sexual violence come under sexual abuse.

A woman as well as a man can be subject to such crime. ● ● ● ●

1 out of 4 females in Sri Lanka are sexually abused by the time they reach 18 years of age.

89% of sexually abused girls in a school run by the Department of Probation and Child Care had identified their abuser.

Most (30%) of the sexually abused girls in that school had been abused at the victim’s own home.

A study conducted in 2010 among 283 female undergraduates of the University of Colombo found that more than 60% reported to know female friends who agreed to sexual relationships unwillingly due to fear of breaking up of the relationship.

Sexual violence could lead to many adverse physical, medical, psychological and emotional symptoms which challenge the well-being of the victim.

Punishment under law Someone who is guilty for such offence can be convicted with imprisonment not less than five years and not exceeding twenty years, with a fine. (As an example on marital rape, a husband is guilty only if the wife is separated from him legally. However, there is legal protection under Prevention of Domestic Violence Act)

Source : 100 Voices by UNFPA Sri Lanka https://srilanka.unfpa.org/en/publications/100-voices-0

Harassment on public transport and on streets

Street Harassment

Street harassment is a form of sexual harassment that consists of verbal harassment such as making unwanted comments, wolf whistles, cat calling and physical harassment such as expressing unwelcomed gestures like touching, leaning, rubbing and other actions by strangers in public spaces including public transportation. “Few months ago, I had fallen asleep in the bus while reading a book. This was one of those buses with tall seats, where no one might know even if you get strangled, and on this particular day there were only about less than 10 people in the bus. I was sitting near a window and woke up to feel a hand reaching through the gap between the window and the seat. The hand was about to touch my waist. I could feel it almost touching me. I turned to see middle-aged man who was trying to touch me. He was then pretending to be fast asleep.�

Survey by UNFPA in 2015 revealed that 90% of the women who used public transport had been subjected to sexual harassment at least once in lifetime. 97% declared that these harassments were induced by men. 74% said that deliberate rubbing and touching of body parts were common. 92% of those who had been harassed on public transport did not seek legal assistance. 60% were unaware of punishments in line.

Under Section 345 of the Penal Code, sexual harassment is an offence punishable with imprisonment of five years and/or a fine.

It is the duty and the human responsibility of the bystanders to intervene through legal means to stop such harassments.

Source : 100 Voices by UNFPA Sri Lanka https://srilanka.unfpa.org/en/publications/100-voices-0

Sexual Harassments

at Workplaces and Educational Institutes “My first employment was with a reputed firm in Colombo. I was the only woman in that particular section.

Initially, I was of the opinion that my boss was a well behaved and a decent person. Once, when I was working on the computer, he came behind me and touched my shoulders. I was so excited. Then, he asked me “Are you afraid? Just forget and work”. I thought the incident was over. Unfortunately, when opportunity arose, he used to touch me unethically. I am afraid to tell this nuisance to the others.”

Everybody has the right to keep up the dignity without subjugation to harassments. There are different forms of sexual violence, but the majority reported are sexual harassments.

Sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome requests to the recipient for sexual favours, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.

• 62.3% out of 321 employees in industrial sector experienced sexual conduct that is unacceptable and unwelcome (Adhikaram 2005) • 40.5% of the women worldwide have experienced some form of sexual harassment at workplace (European Union) Employers and the senior officers in the organizations are responsible to prevent sexual harassments.

Their duty is to have an environment free from violence. Credible and immediate actions are necessary in case of any such incident.

Any victim has the right to complain in accordance with the rules and regulations of the institution and/or to the nearest police station individually or as a group.

Sexual harassment is an offence of the perpetrator and it is never a fault of the victim. Legal actions can be taken against sexual abuse in accordance with Penal Code, Act to Eliminate Ragging and other Forms of Violence in Educational institutions and Bribery Act.

Source : 100 Voices by UNFPA Sri Lanka https://srilanka.unfpa.org/en/publications/100-voices-0

Article published in NewsIn Asia Violence against women and girls is a grave violation of human rights. Its impact ranges from immediate to long-term multiple physical, sexual and mental consequences for women and girls, including death.

Someone’s Daughter is an initiative by the Rotaract Club of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura in order to raise awareness and gain support for women violence issues that are prevalent in Sri Lanka.

Mainly, there are two phases to this project. Reputable artists such as Mr Thumindu Dodanthenna, Lahiru Perera, Ridma Weerawardena, Miss Eshani Diana, the Ambassador for Youth for Human Rights International, Mrs. Sawrna Sumanasekara, Ministry of Women and Child Affairs, Chairman of the National Committee on Women, W. Jayasiri and an expert in the field, Dr. Samitha Ethuldoraarachchi etc. joined hands with us for the first phase of the project which was a social media campaign.

The main goal of the first phase was to create a large crowd surrounding their voice against this issue along with the public awareness of the issue at hand.

Until now, they reached the public creating posts and videos through social media like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp and also wrote so many articles on this matter. Having completed a “Quote Challenge” successfully to show the world their objection for violence against women.

In their second phase, few series of videos will be published in association with victims from the real world, the Yeheliya Foundation and officials of other Rotaract clubs with the objective of socializing unconventional methods of reacting to the violence and harassments against women. The legal measures that can be taken and untraditional perspective on the victim and the victimizer.

Currently, Someone’s daughter’s team is working on an online survey which will be opened for the public with the intention of gathering the public perspective on the issue. Based on the results of the survey, an online magazine which includes a broad insight into the issue of violence against women will be published.

Particularly, an app which will report the daily cases of violence and harassments against women will be launched under the second phase. To be explanatory, this app will enable a victim to report the injustice in front of her by touching a button on the screen through the app. We are working on it to enable the complaint to be received by the Center for Gender-Based Complaints, Ministry of Women and Child Affairs or the nearest police station.

What sort of help can the public provide?

Everyone can join this campaign by showing the world their objection to violence against women. People can give their ideas and opinions through their FB and IG page below.

Official Facebook Page –https://www.facebook.com/SheDeservesBetterRACUSJ/ Official Instagram Page – http://www.instagram.com/someonesdaughter_racusj

One in three female homicides in Sri Lanka are related to intimate partner violence and 69 percent of such incidences go unreported, according to a study done in five provinces commissioned by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

A Statistical Analysis of Violence Against Women The domestic violence set of questions was administered to 91 percent of the eligible ever-married women age 15-49. For seven percent of them the questionnaire was not implemented due to lack of privacy or because security concerns. Two percent of eligible women rejected to answer the questions of the domestic violence module because of privacy concerns or other reasons (Figure 1.1). The prevalence of domestic violence by an intimate partner increases with the age of the woman, going from 13 percent among ever-married women age 15-19 to 19 percent among the oldest 45-49 women. A similar pattern is observed by age among those rejected to answer the questions on the module.

Table 1.1 Summary on domestic violence by age Percentage of women who suffered no violence from intimate partner, experienced any of the violent behaviors mentioned, experienced any type of violence daily, rejected to answer questions on domestic violence and who requested help for domestic violence according to age groups.

Table 1.1 Description

15-19

20-24

25-29

30-34

35-39

40-44

45-49

Total

No violence from intimate partner

86.7

83.6

83.5

82.4

82.3

81.5

79.4

82.0

Experienced any violent behaviors

12.7

12.7

14.7

15.5

16.2

17.0

18.9

16.6

Experiencing any type of violence daily

1.3

2.0

1.5

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.2

2.1

Rejected to answer on domestic violence

1.8

2.0

1.5

1.7

2.0

1.9

2.6

2.0

Number of women

169

1,130

2,335

3,364

3,720

3,056

2,856

16,629

Figure 1.2 Domestic Violence by District

Table 1.2 presents the percentage of ever-married women age 15-49 by experience of domestic violence by their intimate partner, experience of daily domestic violence, and percent who requested help for domestic violence according to background characteristics. Among the eligible ever-married women, 17 percent indicated to have suffered from domestic violence from their intimate partner during the 12 months preceding the survey.

Furthermore, 13 percent of all the women who suffered from violence, declared to have suffered violent behaviors by an intimate partner on a daily basis and violence increases with the age of the women. Among all women who have experienced domestic violence, only twenty eight percent (28%) sought help to escape from violence (Table 1.2).

More women from the urban sector have experienced violence (20 percent) compared to women living in the other sectors (16 percent of the rural and 17 percent of estate counterparts). Experience of violence by the intimate partner among ever-married women varies according to the districts of residence: in Batticaloa and Kilinochchi, the districts with the highest prevalence, half of the women indicated to be affected by violence from their intimate partner. Figure 1.2 shows clearly the highest domestic violence prevails in Northern and Eastern provinces. In contrast, in Hambantota, Anuradhapura and Monaragala, the districts with the lowest prevalence, less than eight percent indicated to be affected by domestic violence by an intimate partner.

Experience of domestic violence declines with the educational level, excluding the educational category “No education�. The survey results suggest that there is a negative relationship between the prevalence of physical violence and household wealth (the lowest wealth quintile has a significantly higher prevalence of domestic violence than women in the other four quintiles).

Source : http://www.statistics.gov.lk/social/DHS_2016a/Chapter13.pdf

Sexual Harassment Sexual harassment,

this does not always happen in the most stereotypical manner. Many of us are under the wrong impression that it can only be physical. In fact it can be physical, verbal, gestural or even visual. Sexual harassment depending on where it takes place, whether in the streets, your workplace, educational institute, public transport, at night or even in broad daylight can take various forms. Regardless of when, where and how it takes place, sexual harassment is a violation of fundamental rights in freedoms as protected under the Sri Lankan legal framework. According to section 345 of the Penal Code of Sri Lanka which states that outraging the modesty of a women, sexual harassment is listed as a criminal offence and can be punished with either imprisonment that may extend to five years or a fine, or sometimes even both. The court may also order to pay compensation to the victim. In 2013 the International Labour Organization, in its Code of Conduct in work places has described many ways which sexual harassment can occur. Making unnecessary physical contact, making sexual comments, sending unwanted emails or messages or posting intimate pictures without the consent are some of the many examples of physical, verbal, gestural and visual harassment. If you are being subjected to sexual harassment at your workplace, what can you do? Firstly you can approach your colleague in a friendly manner and ask them to stop. If that does not work make a complaint to the Human Resources Department in writing, make sure to provide proof if you have any.

Failing which, you can always seek the help of the Sri Lanka police. Even under the prohibition of ragging and other forms of violence in Educational Institutions Act, it is stated that anyone who causes ragging in the form of sexual harassment to a student or a member of the staff will be imprisoned with the maximum punishment of 10 years and may also be ordered pay compensation to the victim. Another highly misunderstood fact is that women are the only target of sexual harassment. But nowadays we see both men and women heterosexual or otherwise been subjected to harassment. However even

if you have never been a victim of harassment of any form, why should it be your problem? Here's why.

If 51% of population feels too unsafe to step out on the streets alone or take longer hour jobs or go shopping or go to a restaurant or go for a movie at night, that's a massive chunk of people who will not contribute to our economy. It is a loss to the businesses, a loss to the workforce and loss to the economy as a whole.

So what if you are being subjected to harassment.

What are your options? First and foremost be safe.

Your safety is the priority. If you are alone in a secluded place do not confront the aggressor.

Immediately, call your family or a friend and move to a crowded or a better lit area. However, if you do feel safe, try to take a photo or a video it might scare him away and even if not, at least now you have proof. If you are using public transport, such as a bus you can make the ones around aware and ask for help. If you are travelling alone in a cab or a taxi, share your travel details with a friend or family and make sure the driver is aware that you have already taken the necessary precautions. You can always file a complaint at the Sri Lanka police as sexual harassment is a criminal offense. If you have a photo or a video of the culprit, this process should be easier. What you must keep in mind is that you will be asked a bunch of questions as procedure, so be prepared. Finally, if you see this happening to someone else stand by them, do not ignore .We can bring down the numbers of sexual harassment through bystander intervention and social awareness.

As a community let's all create a safe environment for ourselves, in order to create a better tomorrow.

- Ms. Narthana Wevita Yeheliya Foundation

Domestic Abuse Domestic abuse as a topic is quite important especially considering the current situation of our country where we are tackling the COVID-19 virus along side a serious increase of domestic abuse rates inside the country, possibly owing to the fact that the victims are now 24/7 confined into their homes alongside their perpetrators and thus resulting in an increase in the rates of abuse. According to government statistics, only as little as 28% of victims actually seek help and this number could be low owing to cultural reasons, owing to a fear of reprisals, owing to concerns regarding their children but most importantly this could be owing to a genuine lack of knowledge as to where to go for help. We have observed that around 3/4 of those who seek help have done so from family members or friends or neighbors or such personal contacts and only as little as 18% have actually gone to institutions like the police for help. It is also important to be aware of what types of violence takes place. This can range all the way from verbal abuse to more serious offences like rape and from the reported types of violence around 15% claim that they were forced into having sex, around 13% claim at they were burned and around 13% claim that they were strangled. It is important to note that most of these cases of abuse takes place daily. The laws that are prevalent in Sri Lanka with regard to domestic violence can be derived from the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act of 2005 and the act itself also sets out a series of offences within the penal code which will also apply. Chapter 16 of the penal code, sets out a series of offences including rape and attempt to commit murder or culpable homicide causing hurt which includes bodily pain, disease or infirmity causing wrongful restraint or confinement, causing criminal force and assault, kidnapping, abduction, slavery, causing miscarriage or causing injury to unborn children, -

-causing unnatural offences which are offences considered to not be within the natural order of things. These all under chapter 16 falls within acts that could amount to domestic violence. Further, in section 372 of the penal code, you have the offence of extortion, which is inducing fear in the victim in return for something valuable from them, section 433 also sets out the act of criminal intimidation under penal code. So all of these offences as well as any attempt to commit those offences would give rise to a charge against domestic violence. Apart from all of that, the 2005 act also makes way for emotional abuse, which is basically any inhumane treatment or humiliating conduct directed towards the victim would amount to emotional abuse, under which you can bring a charge. Further there is a bit of a grey area as to who can commit domestic violence. There is a common misconception that it has to be an intimate partner or a spouse that commits domestic violence against you but the law provides for more than that. The spouse can commit the former spouse can commit, a cohabite can commit violence against you but also according to the law, your parents grandparents, step-parents, children, grandchildren, step-children, siblings, half siblings, step-siblings, aunts, uncles, nephews and nieces and such relatives are also capable of committing domestic violence against you. And this doesn't have to be necessarily your relatives but also the relatives of your spouse of your former spouse or of your cohabite are also capable of committing these offences against you. And if you happen to be a victim of domestic abuse, it is necessary that you stay aware of the legal proceedings that you can initiate, you can make an application in the magistrate’s court either directly or you can have a police officer make that application for you at the magistrate's court.

And the court, if it sees fit before giving out a protection order, it will grant what is known as an interim protection order, which is meant for your immediate safety and to sort of protective from any immediate danger of violence in the hands of your perpetrator. In the meantime the court can appoint any official or a counsellor or any such officer to monitor the observance of this interim protection order and submit a report to court in that regard. The accused or the perpetrator will be informed under section four, sub section 3 that application has been made in court for a case of domestic violence. A protection order, once it is granted, can prohibit a perpetrator from entering any shared space with you. That could be a residence, a school, a workplace or any kind of temporary accommodation. They can be stopped from contacting the victim or the victim's children. They can be stopped from following them around or stalking them. Court can prohibit violence against those who are assisting the victim for example a social worker or a family member. And also a perpetrator can be prohibited from selling your matrimonial home or any such act that will eventually lead the victim to be destitute. Non compliance with any such protection order could lead to a prison sentence of one year at maximum or a fine not exceeding 10,000 rupees or both. According to section 21 of the 2005 act, nothing stops a victim from bringing charges for other offences too, may they be civil or criminal alongside the charge for domestic violence. And that is important to note as well. So it is necessary that we stay informed of the legal help that we can seek, not just for our sake or our protection but also for the sake of anyone who would approach us for help in such situation of abuse. So I hope that this outline of the laws and the situation would be helpful and let's all take steps to stand against this menace that we call domestic violence and that we will do for our sake and for society's sake.

- Ms. Nimansa Thalduwa, Yeheliya Foundation

Cyber Bullying Over the past two decades technology has gushed into our lives altering the way we interact each other.

It is increasingly observable that social media presents an enormous risk to individuals. Cyber Bullying is one of the many types of cybercrimes.

Cyber bullying involves the use of electronic communication to threaten or harass another. It can be done by social media, emails, messages and is a component of violence against women. One may not look further than the many facebook pages portray innocent school girls in uniform, slut shaming and increasing rate of revenge porn that shows the sri lankan society is deeply rooted in patriarchal norms, unnecessary sensationalizing and a culture of victim blaming. If you’ve grown up as a woman in Sri Lanka, think about the time that you’ve been cyber bullied; maybe through stolen photos, fake social media accounts, threats, cyber stalking, sextortion, rape or even death threats. With regards to Sri Lanka’s legal framework, cyber bullying is not listed as a separate offense and thereby leaves citizens unprotected. However, Provisions of the Penal Code, Computer Crimes Act, Obscene Publications Act and the Nudity Act can be used to against these perpetrators. However, the lack of awareness surrounding this situation and awareness on where to go to get a form of redress the general mistrust in this system delays and high cost have prevented victims from making complaints.

Cyber harassment is a breach of privacy. However, Sri Lanka does not have laws to protect your privacy, therefore, it is important that we respect to privacy of another and it is a value that we must include in ourselves. Never respond to the person bullying you because when you do it only encourages them to bully you further. Use the block icon on social media to block such perpetrators.

Bullying is a serious offense and if you’re being bullied, tell somebody may it be a parent family member, friend or government center because with the right assistance you can push your matter further.

Hold bullies accountable, let them know that what they are doing is wrong and that there will be a severe consequences if they continue to do so.

There are few authorities that you can make a complaint to; one is Facebook which would take down the post or picture when you make a complaint. However there is a lack of Sinhala and Tamil speaking moderators on Facebook and therefore when you make a complaint, they may say that the content does not violate their community standards. If Facebook doesn’t takedown your post.

You can speak to CERT which will then speak to Facebook on your behalf to get the content down.

Alternatively you can also speak to the CID Cyber Crimes Division and if you’re under the age of 18, to the National Child Protection Authority.

There are a few precautions or steps that you can take against cyber bullying; one is to put as less personal information on social media as possible. before you post something think if the content can be used against you and if it will compromise your safety and reputation. If you receive message or compromising picture or video of another person, do not share for purposes of entertainment of sensationalizing nor endorse somebody to do so.

Think of how this comment or picture would have affected you, if it was about you and therefore take measures to educate that person to not spread such information and take steps to report this cyber bullying.

Check your privacy settings regularly. Use a screen lock and lock down your phone if you lose it. Use a strong password and do not give your password to anybody else. Change your passwords frequently. Do not accept a friend request unless you know the identity of that person. Be choosy about Facebook applications that you give permission to and do not click on a link unless you know the identity of the sender. Understand that you do not need to send nude pictures to your partner, if you do not want to do so. Because you know of the possible negative consequences. Respect your partner to not ask for such pictures and understand that it is not you that they do not trust but technology. The bottom of the line is that technology is here to stay, so it is important that we understand the importance of protecting ourselves from cyber bullying. Maybe through online safety regulations or general digital etiquette. As much as we love the internet, it could be a scary place if we’re subjected to a malicious violent attack, but with the right support and reporting to the right authorities, you can keep yourself and your family safe.

- Ms. Tarangee Mutucumarana, Yeheliya Foundation

Some strong personalities among us in society gave their genuine and valuable opinions stating that violence against women should be eradicated and that women should be treated in a more humane manner.

Someone’s Daughter Public Survey The survey was conducted by administering a questionnaire via Google Forms for which a total of 267 responses were received. A detailed analysis of the survey is as follows.

From the total number of responses,we received, a majority of respondents were females which is 78% whereas 22% were male respondents.

Question no 3:

Do you think that women are given the deserved respect in the society?

Through the analysis of the survey results it was identified that out of the 208 females who responded, a majority of the respondents (53%) think that women do not get the deserved respect in the society while 26 respondents (13%) think that women do get the deserved respect. From the 59 males who responded to the question, 24 are not quite sure whether or not women get the deserved respect while 20 of them responded “yes” and 15 of them responded “no” to this question.

Accordingly, it could be concluded how a majority of the females do not think that they receive the respect that they deserve whereas males have no clear opinion on this.

Question no 4:

Where do you see violence against women happening most commonly?

This was a multiple-choice question where respondents were able to select one or more answers from the given list. A clear majority of the respondents, which is 76.4%, think that violence against women most commonly occur in public transportation. 59% think that violence occurs mostly via cyberspace and 34% think that violence occurs inside the working place. 53% of the respondents think that violence against women mostly occur at a domestic level.

Question no 5:

How often do you experience/witness sexual, verbal or physical violence against women?

46% of the respondents either experience or witness violence against women often while 34% of the respondents experience or witness such violence rarely. Hence it can be concluded that violence against women is experienced often within the society.

Following evaluation was done by considering the females who responded to the above question.

Approximately half of the respondents experience or witness violence against women often while 30% of the females rarely witness or experience such encounters. 7.6% of the females responded “very rarely” while 10% of them responded “very often” as their answer to the question about how often women experience or witness violence against women.

Even though majority of women has responded that women get harassed often majority of men has responded as women rarely get harassed which is 42%. Almost equal amount of men has responded that women get harassed often and very rarely.

Question no 7 :

If you have faced/witnessed such an incident, what was your immediate reaction?

Almost an equal amount of responses were recorded for both, acting violently and informing someone nearby as the immediate reaction if the respondent faced with or witness an act of violence against women. But unfortunately, only 18% of the respondents have lodged a complaint or taken legal action against such activities.

Question no 8:

Have you ever remained silent in front of violence against you or someone else?

49% of the respondents have remained silent in front of violence against themselves or someone else while 51% of the respondents have raised their voice against it.

Question no 9:

If yes, why?

Out of the 49% who remained silent in front of violence, the response of 55% of them was “fear� as the reason for them to remain silent and 39% of them said they were embarrassed to raise their voice against such an incident and hence, remained silent.

Question no 10:

Are you aware of immediate hotlines to make a complaint when you are experiencing/witnessing any violence?

We saw that out of the 267 people who responded to the survey, 75% of them are not aware of any immediate hotlines to lodge a complaint then and there, when they are experiencing or witnessing any violent activity against women.

Question no 11:

Do you think that women are also responsible for any violence that occurs against them?

50% of the respondents are not quite sure whether women are responsible for the violence that occur against them while 25% says that they are, and the other 25% doesn’t accept that fact.

Emergency Contacts හදිසි අවස්ථාවකදී ඇමතිය යුතු දුරකථන අංක

Emergency Contacts 1929 - Emergency Hotline Call for immediate assistance on child abuse.

1938- Online Inquiries Call for immediate assistance on women affairs.

1919- National Information Center Call to acquire more information about other organizations.

Ministry of Women & Child Affairs Tel : +94 11 2186055 / 0112187274 E mail : secycdwa@gmail.com Fax : +94 11 2187249 Address : 5th Floor, Sethsiripaya,Stage 11 , Battaramulla.

National Committee on Women Tel : 0112187257

Women’s Bureau Tel : 0112187270

Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka Tel : 0112505580 0112505581 0112505582

Counseling Centers of the Ministry of Child Development and Women’s Affairs North Central- 0252222662 North Western- 0372227875 Sabaragamuwa- 0353228805 Southern - 0913938797 Uva - 0553567222 Western Province - 0113061794

Women’s Charter Tel : 0112368072

National Child Protection Authority – 1929

Computer Emergency Readiness Team Tel : 0112 691 692

CID Cyber Crimes Unit Tel : 0112 326 979 or email to both dir.cid@police.lk and telligp@police.lk

SL Police Emergency number – 119 Legal Aid Commission Tel : 011 2433618

Family Planning Association Tel : 0112 555 455

Bakamoono OďŹƒce - +94 114 282 550 Mobile - +94 763 488622 Whatsapp - +94 763 488622

Women in need Tel : 0112 671 411/ 0114 615 549.

24 hour hotline - 011 471 85 85, connect@winsl.net

Sumithrayo 011 2682535, 011 2696 666, 011 2682570 info@srilankasumithrayo.lk slssumithrayo@gmail.com

Voice it

Voice it

Voice it is a Mobile Application designed by the Rotaract Club of University of Sri Jayewardenepura in association of the project, Someone's Daughter.

The second phase of the project entails the publication of an E-magazine including the interview transcripts and insights obtained from the 1st phase of project, statistical analysis of a public survey that we conducted with special focus on this matter and the launch of a Mobile Application.

This Mobile App is named "Voice it" as it is one of the best and effective ways of raising one's voice against violence and injustice.

Voice It is designed in collaboration with the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs of Sri Lanka and the developer of the application Mr. Dulanga Chamith, creating a platform for people, specifically women to obtain support, consultation and necessary services.

This Mobile Application is designed to provide access to directly contact the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs at any instance that a person requires support.

Through this app the user can contact the Ministry through just one click. It is a 24/7 hotline, where anyone can contact for help at anytime. Adding more value to this App it has been updated with contact details of counseling members from each province and contact numbers that one could use to get immediate assistance on such unfortunate situations.

Our goal is to lessen and ultimately prevent violence against women by deploying this Mobile Application to the society in order to build a safer environment for women.

We expect that this app will assist to report or lodge complaints on harassment and injustices women face and this app will oblige women who are in need of assistance.

“

Someone's Daughter, is a project carried out to make people aware and inspire them to oppose violence against women. Our main goal was to educate people about how women get harassed in the society, how to stop it and the legal aspect and measures that can be taken regarding this particular issue.

We were able to gather ideas from respected personalities in the society inclusive of Artists, Doctors, Lawyers and other distinguished personalities.

In this pursuit of our’s several parties extended their immense support to make this initiative a success. Among such parties, Yeheliya Foundation, UNFPA and Impulse Inc. have played a major role in this cause.

Violence against women is a topic that has been under discussion for generations. But, we cannot see any identifiable progress in this regard in Sri Lanka. We, as the Rotaract Club of University of Sri Jayewardenepura hence thought that it was best to make a move to create awareness regarding this issue, and to prevent further harassments and injustices from occurring.

This was only a minor step taken in a very distant journey. We alone cannot make the greatest impact on society regarding this. But, together we can do wonders. So, let’s face this problem together with the sole purpose of resolving it reasonably and opposing violence against women together as a community.

’’