Women representation of local governments in Sri Lanka: a case study of kalmunai municipal council

Abstract

Local government plays an important role in building up the democracy of a country. There are three kinds of local governments in Sri Lanka namely Municipal Council, Urban Council and Pradeshiya Sabha.This study examines the women representation in Kalmunai Municipal Council. Although, in Sri Lanka, many opportunities are available to enroll the women representation in local government bodies, women representation is still very poor. Kalmunai Municipal Council, which is established in 2001, has not got any women representation yet. The objective of this study is to find out the reasons for no women representation and identify the opportunities to generate the women representation in Kalmunai Municipal Council. This research is built on qualitative research methodology by using primary and secondary data. In the primary source, qualitative interviews and limited observation are used as well as books, magazines and internet articles are used as secondary data. According to this research, the reasons for no women representation are women’s lack of interest in politics, lack of support from family, women do not come forward to vote for women, effort of culture and women’s tendency of getting scared to violence. Political parties, society and each person should take efforts to solve these challenges to make women take part in politics.