Give women equal status

By Sandeep Tissaaratchy

Recalling that there is less representation of women in the Police, Lihini Fernando of ‘Kantha Saviya’ Women’s Organisation, said, women who wish to make complaints or a report to the Police, have to face difficulties and if it was a woman she spoke to instead of men it would more comforting to them.

She was speaking at a Media briefing in Colombo yesterday (23) and was commented on the petition filed against the appointment of Bimshani Jasin Arachchi to DIG. She also pointed out, the fact that there are no female Senior DIGs in the Police and said that although over 52 per cent of the total population are women, they are poorly represented in politics and other professions.

“Women represent perseverance and courage amidst hardship, which is what we see in Bimshani who worked hard and competed on fair grounds with other men to gain her position, breaking so many barriers. It is time for us to get rid of the mentality that women are weak and are not capable of holding high positions,” she said.

Meantime, former Presidential candidate Dr. Anjantha Perera and former Chairperson of the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation, Inoka Sathyangani Keerthinanda, explaining their own experiences, went on to say that if a man was in a certain position, that would never be questioned, and they wanted, that same place to be given to women too.