The Pathfinder Foundation in collaboration with the Women’s
Chamber of Industry and Commerce (WCIC) organized the fourth public meeting for
the year and 11th in the series of Sanvada. The meeting took place
on the 19th (Friday) of September from 9:00 am -12:00 pm at the
Sri Lanka Institute of Development Administration.
The topic under discussion was Integrating a Gender Perspective
to the National Budget of Sri Lanka.
The main presenter at the Sanvada was Dr. (Mrs) Masinghe, a former Consultant
to the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance. The other panelists
included Dr. S P Premaratne, a Senior Lecture in Economics at the University of
Colombo and Ms. Sriyani Perera, ActionAid International Asia Region Women’s
Rights Coordinator.
The meeting was chaired by Mrs. Ramya Weerakoon, Chairperson of the WCIC.Dr. (Mrs.) Masinghe in her analysis focused on three line Ministries that is Education, Health and Agriculture. Mrs. Masinghe focused on the 2007 budget allocations, the proposed policies in the upcoming budget and recurrent expenditure for Education, Health and Agriculture Ministries. Her analysis clearly states that, “the national budget of Sri Lanka does not provide allocations separately for men and women because it is presumably a gender neutral policy statement. Nevertheless, in certain circumstances, it makes specific allocations targeting women, men and children.
Some of the policy recommendations that were put forward were
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The need for a gender aware statistical database to be built up in the sector Ministries using primary as well as secondary data sources so that applicable rates ratios and other indices can be calculated to understand the Gender impact of the budgetary expenditure.
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The Education, Health and Agriculture sectors have been the key sectors of female employment creation. Education and Health sectors provide state sponsored service sector employment for service delivery activities of these sectors. Employment opportunities in the Health and Education sectors have been largely at the senior secondary level. Take steps to increase the productivity of this category of employees in the services sectors through provision of in -service training and infusion of technology.
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Female representation at the decision making levels of management and administration in the Ministries investigated need to be strengthened. Encourage and promote and make avenues for increased female involvement in decision making positions.
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Increase the efficiency of the service delivery of curative health services through various categories of hospitals by targeting cause specific morbidity and mortality
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For primary school children combined programmes to improve and enhance child nutrition can be launched by the joint effort of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education
The Sanvada attracted a variety of stakeholders including;
Academics, Public Policy Institutions, I/NGO's, concerned citizens and Media.
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