Cultural Construction of the 'Sinhala Woman'

and Women's Lives

in Post-Independence Sri Lanka

Janaki Jayawardena

Ph.D.
University Of York
Centre for Women's Studies
October 2002
 2

You are dOing this (research) because there is a reason for it. Otherwise
you could have stayed at home surrounded by your family. But you left
them and are doing this work because it will do good to someone. I hope I
may have a chance to read the book (thesis) you write.

Podi (Age 54, Badulla)

 3

Abstract

This thesis examines the lives of Sinhala women in postcolonial Sri Lanka,
particularly the cultural construction of the 'Sinhala woman' as an aspect of
the 'invented tradition' during the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries. In order to historicise gender and culture I examine the pre -
colonial and colonial period and also focus my attention on a set of
informal restrictions working to constrain women's equal participation in
economic, social and political activities, which the Sinhala community
identifies as a part and parcel of the 'culture and tradition'. This thesis
uses life histories of sixty-four women and life cycle and life course
approaches to analyse the data. The first chapter sets the context of the
study. The second chapter discusses childhood in order to examine how
girls come to understand that they are different from boys. The third
chapter discusses an important milestone in Sinhala women's lives,
attaining puberty, where the 'traditions' they learn become meaningful and
reinforce gender differences. The fourth chapter discusses how and why
the 'tradition' was invented. The fifth chapter explores the impact of the
cultural construction of the 'Sinhala woman' has on adult women's
education, paid work, political participation and family. The sixth chapter
focus attention on ageing women, a subject that has previously received
little attention. My study concludes that 'culture and tradition' transcend
social, economic and urban/rural boundaries and impede Sinhala women's
progress, constrain them by maintaining and reinforcing existing gender
differences and prevent them enjoying equal rights and equal respect.
However, the life histories also show that women's experiences of
subjugation differ from each other according to social, economic and
geographical differences. Therefore, the interplay between the cultural
construction of the 'Sinhala woman' and the socio economic material
conditions which has a profound impact upon women's lives.
 Acknowledgements

I would like to thank:

The Commonwealth Scholarship Commission, the United Kingdom for

offering me the Commonwealth scholarship for academics and providing

me an opportunity to study for a PhD. at the University of York.

Professor Stevi Jackson, Centre for Women's Studies, and Dr. Joanna de

Groot, Dept. of History, for your support and guidance in supervising my

thesis and for always taking care of my personal needs.

Dr. Arjuna Parakrama, former Dean/Arts, University of Colombo, for your

outstanding support from the beginning of applying to the Commonwealth

Scholarship and leaving to study in Britain.

Professor Gamini Keerawella, Dept. of History, University of Peradeniya,

Dhamma Dissanayaka, Dept. of Political Science, University of Colombo

and his family, Anula Jayasundara and Seneviratna aiyya and their family,

Badulla, My mother in law Nora Jayawardena, Kohuwela, Mr. P.

Hevavitarana, Sarvodaya, Matara branch, Mr. W. G. Vidyaratna and Miss

Daya, Sarvodaya, Hambantota branch, Mrs. M. T. Kanthilatha,

Hambantota, Director of the World University Service Canada,

Hambantota branch, Director of the National Youth Service Centre,

 5

Hambantota, Miss Rita Peris, vocational training Centre, Hambantota: for

helping me to meet interviewees.

My friend Bill Soden and Malcolm Wren, The Language Centre, University

of York and Ali Neilson, for proof reading.

Anne Fairbanks for the wonderful friendship, easing my stress, and

helping me with proof reading and discussing mutual ideas on our studies.

All the staff and students of the Women's Studies Centre for the support

given to me and making my stay in York a happy and memorable

expenence.

Nira Wickramasinghe and Gameela Samarasinghe for the help you both

gave me.

The libraries and staffs of the University of York, The British Library,

School of Oriental and African Studies, UK, Centre for Women's

Research, Sri Lanka and the National Archives of Sri Lanka.

My husband Hemantha for proof reading/commenting and for the interest

and respect showed for my study

 6

My parents, my mother in law and my family for creating a network of

support to make it possible for me to come to UK to study.

All the principals, teachers and the women police officers whom I met at

the schools and Police Stations I visited and the Grama Seva Niladhari of

Neluwa.

Finally, my life long gratitude and thanks to all the interviewees because

without you, this study wouldn't have been a reality.

 7

Table of Contents

Chapter One: The context of the study ................................ 10

Gender history and tradition .............................................................. 14
A general description of Sri Lanka .................................................... 23
Contemporary literature on women ................................................... 27
Education ......... ~ ................................................................................. 28
Paid work ............................................................................................ 31
Family/sexuality .................................................................................. 33
Methodology ........................................................................................ 36
Research process ............................................................................... 40
IfltE!r1IiE!w!; .............................................................................................4~
Selecting areas: .................................................................................. 42
Setting u~ inte~iews and inte~iewing ................................................ 4~
Transcribing I translation ................................................................... 59
Using statistical data .......................................................................... 64
Chapter organisation .......................................................................... 65

Chapter Two: Boys are boys, girls are mothers and 69

wives
Understanding of the family ............................................................... 71
Changes in the family and girls' situation ......................................... 84
111 !;c:t1()()I ....................................................•...........••...............•............. IIIJ
The world outside the family .............................................................. ~3
c:lJltlJrE! ....••..•.••..•...•.••.••.••.•.••.••.•.•..•.•..•...•.••..•.....•••...•••••.••••.••.••.•......•.•.• ~!;
Conclusion ......................................................................................... 101

Chapter Three: Being a 'Big girl' ......................................... 104

Different anthropological interpretations ........................................ 108
Killa (Pollution) .................................................................................. 118
The puberty ceremony ...................................................................... 122
Social meani ng of puberty ................................................................ 123
" A llig girl" ........................................................................................ 1:!E;
From asexual to sexual ..................................................................... 128
Feeling important .............................................................................. 137
'fJCI~~i"E! girl!;' .................................................................................... 14:1
Conclusion ......................................................................................... 148

Chapter Four: 'We are not born but constructed' ............. 151
Tradition' reinvented ......................................................................... 151
Part I: Pre-colonial period ................................................................. 153
Part II: The colonial period ............................................................... 165
Colonialism ....................................................................................... 165
Nationalism ....................................................................................... 183
Part III: The debate on the rights of women .................................... 204
Women's ~Iace ................................................................................. 204
 8

Conclusion ............................................................................•............ 221

Chapter Five: I live for others .............................................. 223

E:<JLJC:Clti()11 ...................•....................................•.................................. :!:!~
Education and aspirations ................................................................ 233
Women an<J employment ..............................•...........•....................... 238
W()mefl Cln<J p()litic:~ .......................................................................... :!~IJ
F=Clmi1lf ................................................................................................. 2!i~
Conclusion ......................................................................................... 275

Chapter Six: Everything has changed but we adapt 283

The past affects the present ............................................................. 287
Access to resources ......................................................................... 29~
Resource <Jistribution: ...................................................................... 296
F=amilial relations ............................................................................... 300
Culturally prescribe<J behaviour....................................................... 310
Cultural Change an<J negotiations: .................................................. 311
Conclusion ......................................................................................... 313

Chapter Seven: Conclusion ................................................. 318

~ppendice!; ............................................................................ :s:s~

Appen<Jix I: Interviewees from Colombo ............................................ 334

Appen<Jix II: Interviewees from Ba<Julla.............................................. 335

Appen<Jix III: Interviewees from Hambantota ..................................... 336

Appen<Jix IV: Chronology of key events in Sri Lankan history......... 337

~1()!;!;Clf1( ................................................................................. 3:S8

Bibliography .......................................................................... 3~O

List of Tables
Table 1: The percentage of literacy among the population 19~
1881-19~6

Table 2: Population of university stu<Jents from <Jifferent 225

backgroun<Js
 9

Table 3: Population (10 years and over) by literacy and sex, 226
census years

Table 4: Rate of illiteracy among males and females -- 227

population census of 1990/91

Table 5: Labour force participation rate 238

List of Figures
Figure 1: Map of Sri Lanka 23

Figure 2: Literacy rates of persons over 10 years, census 2001 226

Figure 3: Population Age Pyramids 285

Chapter one: The Context of the Study 10

Chapter One

The context of the study

One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman. No biological,
psychological or economic fate determines the figure that the
human female presents in society; it is civilization as a whole
that produce this creature, intermediate between male and
eunuch, which is described as feminine (de Beauvoir,
1988:295).

I have selected this quotation from a white middle class French feminist, Simone

de Beauvoir to start my thesis on Sinhala women because, as my study will

demonstrate, what she has said more than half a century ago is still relevant and

applicable to the Sri Lankan society in 21 st century. Following her argument in

The Second Sex, the aim of this thesis is to examine and explore the cultural

construction of the 'Sinhala woman' and how its persistence permeates the social

discrimination against and subjugation of Sinhala women in the post

independence period in Sri Lanka.

As in most developing countries, in Sri Lanka there is an increasing interest in

improving women's status and eradicating gender inequalities to achieve an

equal and just society. According to Article 12 (2) of the 1978 constitution of Sri

Lanka, 'no citizen shall be discriminated against on the ground only of ... sex'

(Coomaraswamy, 1990:123). However, despite many social, economic, legal

and political changes, women in Sri Lanka are deprived of equal participation in

political, economic and social activities. The prinCiples, ideas, rules, norms and

decision-making procedures governed by males, have been used to regulate the

Chapter one: The Context of the Study 11

position of women in Sri Lanka despite the changes which have occurred in the

wider society. Women have been given a fixed identity through this regulation as

a species biologically weaker than the male, sexually vulnerable, born to produce

children and to take care of domestic affairs and, therefore, in need of the

protection and guidance of men.

The apparatuses that work to maintain the identity of Sinhala women are

described within the Sinhala community as cultural traditions. It is generally

accepted that these traditions were permanent features of oriental cultures and

preserve women's honour and respectability and were infused into society from

the beginning of the history of Sinhalese people. Recently, a male writer of an

article in the newspaper the Is/and criticising the 'cultural invasion' of television

says 'apart from being foolishly sentimental, they (drama on television) have

infringed upon the barriers of culture and decency as to be an insult to the purity

and chastity of womanhood and motherhood, particularly, raised with sanctity in

the traditions and customs of the oriental way of life' (Lalprema, 2002). A

common argument in the media is that the traditions assigned to Sinhala women

provide a 'correct place' in the community and if women behave according to

their 'correct place' they are honoured and respected and, therefore, there is no

need for them to have equal status with men.

However, my personal experience as a woman of the same ethnic group and my

lifelong observation of the community have enabled me to realise that the core of

these 'traditions' is mqintaining a set of informal constraints that reinforce and

Chapter one: The Context of the Study 12

strengthen gender differences within the Sinhala community, generating unequal

power relations and subjugating women. When I was a small girl, I was

reprimanded for sitting with my legs upon the chair, for climbing trees and

whistling. My elders always told me this is not how girls do things or this is not

how girls walk, laugh or sit. Once when I protested about my father opening my

personal letters he said 'whether right or wrong you have to obey and accept my

decisions and actions as the head of the family and if you don't agree, the door is

open and you can leave this house.' Both he and I knew that I couldn't make

such a decision because of my sexual vulnerability. When I informed my friends,

relatives and colleagues that I was going to the United Kingdom to study for a

postgraduate degree and decided to go alone, the first thing many of them said

was 'Oh what will happen to the children then'. If a woman resists the cultural

expectations of female behaviour by expressing her personal desires, then she is

regarded as not a 'proper woman'. One of my colleagues once informed me my

behaviour was more mannish than a male's behaviour. The answer to the

question what does a woman achieve by behaving according to her 'correct

place' is a 'good name' (honda nama) or good reputation in society. For this a

woman has to restrain her personal ambitions and desires and submerge her

individuality in the name of family and the community. Thus, it is clear that the

Sinhala woman's 'correct place' constrains what she can do, where and on what

grounds.

The personal stories of women interviewed for this study _strongly indicat~ that I

am not unique. Women talked about their desire to progress and expressed their
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 13

happiness about the 'progress' women have made so far. However, their stories

show how they are constrained in their aspirations by having had to behave as

'proper Sinhala women'. Hence in my view, today equality for Sri Lankan women

is a fundamental need. By saying equality for Sri Lankan women I do not mean

only having equal opportunities with men in spheres other than home and sharing

household work and responsibilities equally. In Sri Lanka, women respect men

but they do not receive the same respect from men. Therefore, in my view,

equality for Sri Lankan women means equal opportunities as well as equal

respect in every aspect as a fellow human being.

All the same, this study is limited to the women of the major ethnic group, the

Sinhalese, because being a multi-ethnic, multi-religious country, the three main

communities, namely, Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims, have maintained cultures

that are distinct from each other. Therefore, it is difficult to do a study on Sri

Lankan women in general because even though they are in a similar situation,

their experience may vary from each other under different religious, cultural

conditions.

Since the late 1970s, women's issues in Sri Lanka have been subjected to

intense research at both academic and non-academic levels. Substantial data

has been gathered on the economic, political and social issues that women in Sri

Lanka face, and these studies point out that women have an unequal secondary

place due to gender discrimination. However, apart from a few studies centring

on the colonial era (Risseeuw, 1991; de Alwis, 1999) there have been no in-
Chapter one: The Context of the Study l~

depth studies done on how gender is constructed and why gender differences

prevail in contemporary Sri Lanka. In my view, it is important to identify the roots

of the problem before addressing the consequences because, as feminists have

successfully argued, it is not biological sex differences but the social construction

of gender that deters women from enjoying equal political, economic and social

rights.

This chapter deals with five key issues. The first section will provide an

understanding of the conceptual concepts and issues that are surrounding the

study of gender and history and why they are important to this study. The

second section will give a brief account of historical background and the situation

of today. The third section is about existing research on Sri Lankan women and

will examine the gaps in that research in order to contextualise my study. The

fourth section on methodology will justify life history interviews to collect data and

using life cycle and life course approaches to my analysis. I also discuss the

research process, including selecting areas for interviews, interviewing,

transcribing and translating data and problems of using statistical data. Finally, I

will briefly outline the content of subsequent chapters.

Gender History and Tradition

Among the reasons for gender discrimination in Sri Lanka, many women cite

traditional, patriarchal and cultural constraints. Nevertheless, the majority of

these studies do not examine what these constraints are to the same depth as

they examine class, caste, colonialism or religion. Hence this study will attempt
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 15

to fill that gap by examining the nature and extent of the nexus between culture

and gender in contemporary Sri Lanka and it will demonstrate how 'traditional

cultural' patriarchal constraints limit and determine women's status. While gender

is the central concept in this study, it will also explore the idea of the invention of

tradition introduced in Hobsbawm and Ranger (1983).

Here I will argue the idea that what the Sinhala community believe to be 'ancient

Sinhala Buddhist traditions' are in reality inventions of the late nineteenth and

twentieth century, which emerged in the context of nationalist movement against

British imperial rule. During the protest over imperial rule, the idea of the

Sinhalese as a distinct 'nation' different from the other 'nations' in the island-

Tamils and Muslims - emerged. The Sinhala nationalist leaders imagined the

identity of the postcolonial state as a 'Sinhala Buddhist State' but also as

scientifically and economically developed country. As this thesis points out, in

the post colonial state, roles and places for men and women were clearly

demarcated according to gender. Partha Chatterjee (1989) says that in India,

'the nationalist resolution against the dominance of colonialism was built around

a separation of the domain of culture into two spheres-the material and spiritual.'

The material domain, which was reserved for maintenance of superior western

techniques in governance and policymaking, was assigned to males. The home

was considered as spiritual domain where the distinction between 'East' and the

'West' was marked to construct the self-identity of national culture. According to

Chatterjee, nationalists used a variety of sources to draw a specific solution and

reconstructing a 'classical tradition' was one of them. This he named as a new

Chapter one: The Context of the Study 16

patriarchy, which worked to confine women to the domestic sphere. He argues

that:

The home was the principal site for expressing the quality of the national
culture, and women must take the main responsibility for protecting and
nurturing this quality. No matter what the changes in the external conditions of
life for women, they must not lose their essential spiritual [that is feminine]
virtues; they must not, in other words, become essentially westernized
(Chatterjee, 1989:627. Original emphasis.).

Elsewhere Chatterjee argues that within this context, the nationalists in India

solved the women question by constructing a new identity for women, which was

distinguished from both westernised and indigenous patriarchy. Though the

'tradition' is the symbol of the native cultural identity he says it was a 'deliberately

"classicized" tradition- reformed, reconstructed' and works to determine Indian

women's place today (Chatterjee, 1990,244).

From the middle of the nineteenth century to right up to the present day there
have been many controversies about the precise application of the
home/world, spiritual/material, feminine/masculine dichotomies in various
matters concerning the everyday life of the 'modern' woman-her dress, food
manners, education, her role in organizing life at home, her role outside the
home (Chatterjee, 1990:243-244)

The ideology of the Sri Lankan male nationalist leaders was very similar to Indian

nationalists and as I argue in this thesis, as a consequence, a set of 'traditions'

were stamped upon women in the name of culture, which became deeply rooted

within the Sinhala community. In Gender and Nation Nira Yuval-Davis (1998)

states that women reproduce nations, biologically, culturally and symbolically.

argue that this is the case for Sinhala women and this has led to a construction of
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 17

an imagined Sinhala woman, which marginalises women and restricts their

access to spheres other than home.

One of the remarks the interviewees for this study constantly came up with was' I

do/follow this because it is our culture/tradition'. What women have internalised

as 'culture and tradition' has a strong impact upon contemporary Sri Lankan

women's individuality and deciding their place at home and outside the home.

This study hypothesises that what the community believes to be an ahistorical

'Sinhala woman' of today is not a fixed product of an imagined two thousand five

hundred years old pure Sinhala Buddhist culture, but rather a discursive

production of the socia-cultural construction of gender as a consequence of

structural and ideological changes Sri Lanka underwent during the late

nineteenth and early twentieth century.

Geraldine Gamburd points out:

When we ask how women were portrayed in this civilization, which is over
2500 years old, there is of course some ambiguity. . .. They have been both
admired and spurned. I argue that this is the case, first of all because Sri
Lanka's values and ideals, though they were viewed and labelled as
Buddhism, have roots in both Hinduism and Buddhism (Gamburd, 1994: 37).

Though Chronicles and other historical sources such as ruins and stone

inscriptions pOint about a 2,500 years old history of a civilisation, the culture of

that civilisation was not permanent and static. Invasions at various periods,

migrations and cultural exchanges with other countries have had a significant

impact upon the culture of Sri Lanka. Hence I would like to argue that the ideas,
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 18

norms, beliefs, values, customs and habits of the Sinhalese community were

changed and shaped by the influence of other civilisations.

This study aims to historicise 'gender' and 'culture' by examining the nexus

between culture and history because my research indicates that the level of

subjugation of women has shifted along with the historical changes. Thus it is

clear that the relation between dominant men and the domesticated women and

the power structures are fluid and not static, as the majority of the community

believe today. Very often Sri Lankan feminists speak about the patriarchy as a

reason for subjugation of women in Sri Lanka. Hence I was interested in finding

out what forms and structures of patriarchy operate within the contemporary

Sinhala community. It is clear from my research that the Sinhala community

cannot be described as a 'classic patriarchy', which Deniz Kandiyoti (1991)

identifies as operating within South Asia, North Africa, Muslim Middle East and

East Asia. Evidence on pre-colonial period indicates that Sinhalese did not

practice primogeniture. Women had access to property and had a claim on

family patrimony. There is evidence that indicates that women participated in

non-domestic work and were not totally secluded from public spheres. However,

it also is clear that men were honoured and respected as leaders and had an

authoritarian place in family. Kandiyoti states patriarchal relations are susceptible

to historical change and as this study clearly shows, the patriarchal relations

within the Sinhala community changed and modified and adjusted according to

time space and structure. Nevertheless, loosely following Sylvia Walby's (1989)

argument that patriarchy does not have a single basis, I will explore four spheres
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 19

of women's subordination, namely, familial production, education and paid work,

patriarchal relations in sexuality and patriarchal culture.

This study is dealing with three different historical eras, namely, the pre-colonial

period, the colonial period and the post independence period in order to support

the central arguments of the thesis. There is not much recorded evidence on

ordinary people in pre-colonial times because the main sources of pre-colonial

history, chronicles and rock inscriptions, mainly deal with political history and

rulers. However, this study reconstructs the status of women in the pre-colonial

period by using scattered information in those historical sources and by using the

records of Europeans from the 15th century onwards, which provides useful

insights into ordinary people's lives. It is important to note here that I am

selective in quoting Europeans. All the European writers I quote in this study

were residents in Sri Lanka for a long period and not mere travellers who spent a

few months in the country. Some of them were civil servants who were engaged

in administrative work and mastered the Sinhala Language.

As this study will show, it is highly likely that the reason for women's secondary

status in the pre-colonial period was the influence of Hinduism and Brahmin

ideology. According to Hayley, a former civil servant, 'in a Buddhist community

the necessity of obtaining a putra (a son) for the maintenance of prosperity in the

future life did not exist' (Hayley, 1923: 167). Based on the principle of equality,

Buddhism rejected rigid oppressive social practices, norms and structures

prevalent in ancient India. Buddhism was brought to Sri Lanka in the third
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 20

century BC and since then became the religion of the majority in Sri Lanka and

rulers of the ancient period took a pledge and ruled according to the principles of

Buddhism. However, the evidence shows that both state law and religion did not

have a strong grip on deciding the civil affairs of ordinary Sinhalese. According

to Hayley, three kinds of law, namely royal law, sacred law and traditional law

prevailed in pre-colonial Sri Lanka and what influenced people's lives most was

the law that is recognised as the traditional law (Hayley, 1923:154). Under this

traditional law women enjoyed far more rights and freedom than today.

Nevertheless, it does not mean that they stood equal to men. The evidence

shows that men were respected and had more privileges than women. Being

close to India, inevitably Sri Lanka was influenced by Indian politics, and culture.

This influence of Indian politics, culture and religions had an impact on deciding

the Sinhalese women's place in Sri Lanka, but such influence took less rigid

forms than in India, it seems, due to the influence of Buddhism.

The study will examine how the next phase of history, namely colonialism, had a

profound impact on changing Sri Lankan women's lives. This thesis mainly deals

with the British period because as will be explained below, it was the British who

were able to capture the whole island and introduced many structural changes.

As I will demonstrate, the introduction of Catholicism by the Portuguese, the

introduction of Roman Dutch law by the Dutch rulers, and the more profound

changes imposed by the British rulers on social, political and economic structures

put constraints on women's spaces and reinforced their secondary place in

society. At the same time, the emergence of nationalism in the late nineteenth
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 21

and early twentieth century as a counter product to imperialism ensured the idea

of women's secondary place and the nationalist ideology was in accord with

colonial male ideologies. In inventing an imagined pre-colonial'Sinhala Buddhist

Society', the male nationalist leaders solidified the idea that women's place is at

home, and they should free men to work to build up the postcolonial nation and

country by taking the responsibilities of women's natural place, doing domestic

tasks and being carers. Women were not looked upon as leaders or human

beings that are on a par with men.

It is evident that what the nationalist leaders imagined as the place of 'Aryan

Sinhala woman' in pre-colonial society was actually that of women in ancient

India. However, as the thesis will demonstrate, the identity of the 'Sinhala

woman' constructed by the nationalists was distinct from the pre-colonial'Sinhala

woman' and as Chatterjee argued this 'new identity' was based on selected

'ancient traditions' and also on ideas, values and norms of colonialists on women.

Hence the ideas of nationalists were went hand in hand with colonialists and in

turn created a mythical image of a 'Sinhala Woman' who was 'modern' and not

yet modern and founded the notion of a woman's 'correct place'. This in turn

created an ambiguous situation for the majority of women when they had access

to the 'new spheres' in the postcolonial period. On the one hand, they found that

they had access to modern education, paid work and access to spheres other

than home, but the benefits women could gain through these were restricted due

expectations that they play the role of the 'Aryan Sinhala Woman'.
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 22

The political, social and economic structures that were created during the colonial

times began to change after independence was achieved in 1948. Successive

governments adapted to various changes with an attempt to develop Sri Lanka

as a 'modern nation'. The state paved the way for deprived lower class people to

have access to modern developments by adopting welfare measures. In the late

1960s and early 1970s, the overall economic framework was manipulated and

controlled by the government and that era saw the nationalisation of Foreign

owned plantations, industries and services in order to Sri Lankanise the

economy. Several economic plans were introduced to achieve economic

development and to steer towards socialism but the development plans did little

to contribute to economic development. Sri Lanka changed its economic

structure into a market and trade oriented approach and the economy was

liberalised in 1977. Since then the private sector has been expanding slowly but

steadily and more job opportunities were created than before 1977, especially in

business, finance and information technology.

In spite of all these changes, culture and tradition are regarded as static and

unchangeable, thus providing the basis for the notion that Sri Lankan women do

not need an equal place because they have a 'correct' place, and women who

behave according to this 'correct' place win the respect of the community. This

prevents women from enjoying equal rights by constantly reminding them that

they are secondary to men and their prime role is domestic work and caring.

Though women are aware of their ambiguous situation, they are reluctant to

break the barriers because of the '/ajja and baya' (shame and fear) instilled in
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 23

them by the family and community and by their internalised ideas of being a

woman within such a context. Therefore women are deprived of the full benefits

of access to economic, political and social spheres.

In order to understand the situation of contemporary Sinhala women it is

necessary to say a little about the general characteristics of Sri Lankan society

before narrowing the discussion to specific areas. Hence the next part will give a

brief account on colonial era and the emergence of modern Sri Lanka.

A general description of Sri Lanka

· &Y ·
of .
8tfnga~ ..

Figure 1: Map of Sri Lanka

Chapter one: The Context of the Study 2.+

The first colonisers, arrived in Sri Lanka in 1505 (then called by them Ceylon) had

a stronghold in the coastal areas. The Portuguese ruled the coastal areas for

only a short period of sixty-two years out of Sri Lanka's 450 years of colonial rule,

during that time they ruthlessly destroyed the Buddhist temples in coastal areas

to i~pose Catholicism. The Buddhist monks fled to the interior of Ceylon and

Catholicism took strong hold in the coastal areas. The Dutch captured the areas

controlled by the Portuguese by 1766, and ruled until ousted by the British in

1796. The major change brought about by the Dutch was the introduction of

schools and implementation of Roman Dutch Law in the coastal areas. When

the British captured the areas ruled by the Dutch in 1796 they placed these areas

under the control of the British East India Company. In 1815 the British were

able to do what the other two nations had failed to do: capture the last kingdom of

Sri Lanka in the central area, helped by the local chiefs who were against the

king. Sri Lanka remained as a British crown colony for 145 years, and thus

British rule had a far greater impact on Sri Lanka than the Portuguese and Dutch

rule. As a consequence of the British colonial regime the political, social and

economic structures of Sri Lanka changed profoundly.

Sri Lanka gained its independence in February 4th 1948 and became the

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka in 1972. Since independence, Sri

Lanka has been grappling with the consequences of colonial domination. It has

also been ravaged by protracted civil war for more than three decades originating

from the tensions between the two major ethnic groups and two unsuccessful

insurrections staged by a Marxist oriented political party. The major structural

Chapter one: The Context of the Study 25

transformation since independence has been change from a state controlled,

planned economic system to a free market economy. Sri Lanka has two systems

of law today. The 'Common Law', which developed from Roman Dutch and

English law, is applied to all people in Sri Lanka in general. The other legal

system, which is known as the "Personal Law" is the customary law and has

three flavours - the Kandyan Law which applies to the Sinhalese in central Sri

Lanka (Kandy and surrounding areas), Thesawalamai 1 of the Tamils and the

Muslim law (Sharia Muslim Law) but these are applied only to limited areas such

as property and marriage.

Since independence, Sri Lanka has been defined within the category of

'Developing Nations' by the United Nations and similar organisations. Despite

the low economic growth, (real GOP growth rate 5.5% from 1991-95 and dropped

to 3.7% in the last quarter of 2001 ) some areas such as education and health

reached higher levels of development due to welfare measures. For example,

the literacy rate is over 90% of the population, and 93% of the population have

access to basic health care. Since independence, Sri Lanka's human

development has been remarkably successful, but according the World Fact

Book, in 1997 it was estimated that 22% of the population would be below the

poverty line (Central Intelligence Agency, 2002). The major obstacle to economic

growth is the ongoing war. Defence expenditure averages 50 billion rupees ($

725 million! £ 4,736,304) a year and puts severe constraints on economic

development (CSIS, 1999).

,
Thesawalamai is a system of law, applicable to 'Malabar inhabitants of the Province
of the Jaffna' and was codified bv the Dutch in 1707 (Vakilno1.com, 2002).
UNIVERSITY I
.

) Of YORK \
LIBRARY
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 26

According to the 2001 census, the total population of Sri Lanka is estimated to be

18.73 million. The majority ethnic group, the Sinhalese, make up about 75% of

the population and Tamils and Sri Lanka Muslims are the next two ethnic groups

which comprise about 12% and 6% of the population respectively. The rest of

the population is composed largely of Burghers (descendants from mixed

marriages of locals with the Portuguese and the Dutch) and other minorities.

Buddhism is the major religion and as the religion of the majority of Sinhalese is

given more prominence by the state than other religions.

Even though the caste system is in practice in Sri Lanka, it was different from the

caste system in India. As the fourth chapter will discuss, the caste system in Sri

Lanka was changed significantly with the colonial influence. Moreover, the caste

system of the Sinhalese was based on occupations and when the trades such as

cinnamon gained importance new castes were created. The castes are divided

mainly as upper castes and sub castes. Another caste division among Sinhalese

is upcountry and low country. Some castes are found only in the low country

area. However, the importance of caste has decreased over time and only has an

impact on marriage in some instances. Richard et al. (1971) mentions a list of

castes among Sinhalese and according to them, Goyigama, Radala (holders of

royal appointments), Mudali (popular leaders), Patti (cow herds to the king) are

the high castes. There are sub castes only found in Kandy (upcountry) such as

Katupulle (royal clerks) Nilamakkara (temple servants) and Hevapanne (soldiers).

Karawa (fishermen) and Durawa (toddy tapers) and Salagama (cinnamon

Chapter one: The Context of the Study 27

peelers) are found only in low country area. Apart from that there are various

other low castes such as Navandanna (craftsmen and smiths), Hunu (lime

burners), Hena (washers), Berava (drummers), Vahumpura Uaggery makers)

rodiyas (untouchables) etc.

The interviews for the study show that class has a significant impact on women's

lives. However, the class system in Sri Lanka is flexible and also underwent

significant changes overtime. Roughly in Sri Lanka classes are divided upper

middle class, lower middle class and working class. However, since 1977, the

emergence of a new category, identified as the 'new rich' has further blurred the

class division.

Contemporary literature on women

While life stories I collected are central to my analysis of Sinhala women's lives of

today, I also draw on existing research in order to historicise gender and culture.

Research done by both native and foreign women on women in Sri Lanka, and

other publications, have illuminated the colonial and pre-colonial part and also

delineate the gender disparities that prevail in contemporary Sri Lanka.

However, in this section I will examine the gaps in existing research and show

how the research for this study differs from the existing literature particularly in

relation to culture and tradition.

There is a growing body of literature on women published since the late

seventies that has contributed to raising the awareness of the situation of women
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 2S

in Sri Lanka. However, the majority of this research is quantitative and is based

on statistical data and structured interviews which, though they provide

information on the gender discrimination and disparities in various areas, are

limited in understanding individual women's lives. Since the focal point of this

study is to examine women's lives in the post independence period, I have

concentrated on literature dealing with the three main areas of women's lives

which feature in my study, namely education, paid work, and family/sexuality.

Education

All the research on education shows that, even though women have an equal

access to education, gender disparity still prevails at primary, secondary and

tertiary levels. Abewickrama (1991) concludes that girls are not discriminated

against in primary and secondary education and have equal access to education

at all levels, but that gender difference is visible in higher education, which is

important for future career opportunities. Abhayadeva (1991) states that

women's education up to any level appears to be an investment for their future

while the findings of Jayaweera (1991, 1995,a, 1995b), Jayaweera and Ismail

(1992), state that girls do not face gender discrimination in education. However,

there are gender differences in career guidance, curriculum, and vocational

training for girls. Hence girls' education does not provide many employment

opportunities. All these studies identify that there are various factors that produce

gender disparities in education, most importantly, that poverty, class differences

and rural/urban differences are the main factors that generate gender disparities
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 29

in education. Rupasinghe (1991) shows that the difference between the

achievement of girls and boys in secondary education is very insignificant when

compared to the difference within each sex across the different types of schools

in Sri Lanka and points that socio economic factors such as poverty and class

differences affect achievement in education. According to Jayaweera gender role

stereotypes and cultural conditions also influence gender but there are no in-

depth explanations on how and why these factors constrain girls' education.

Indraratne (1994) suggests that there is a gender gap in university education

despite equal access for girls and boys in primary and secondary education.

Liyanage, in her research based on a case study of the University of Peradeniya

(1996) further states that there is a difference between male and female

participation and achievements in academic as well as in non-academic activities.

She points out that among other factors, the freedom of the female students is

limited by the restrictions imposed by the family and boyfriends and also by the

'educated' community (she does not explain who they are) and rules and

regulations in the residential halls (e.g. night curfew). Liyanage indicates that

there is a lack of opportunity for men and women to develop open and flexible

relationships due to cultural barriers and gender role assumptions that promote

sexism. Some other studies have attempted to analyse the nexus between

socialisation and education (de Mel, 1994, 1996; Jayasena, 1996,1998). These

studies also show that educational policy, curriculum and textbooks and the role

of teachers in education are affected by the prevailing ideologies of gender in Sri

Lankan society which reinforce such ideologies.

Chapter one: The Context of the Study 30

Madiwaka et al. (1990) investigated the problems women in Sri Lanka face in

pursuing higher education. This study shows that the financial status of women

plays a major role in determining participation in higher education. Married

women are in a more disadvantaged position because it is a problem for them to

spend a part of their income on education instead of on the family. The other

major problems women face are having an insufficient knowledge of English and

poor library facilities. Though this study found that domestic work is an

impediment for some married women, it also shows that husbands encourage

their wives' participation in higher education and the majority of men are willing to

give support in domestic work.

It is important to note here that one of the major limitations of these studies is that

they investigate education only as a qualification for employment opportunities

and do not highlight women's aspirations in education other than as a route to a

career. The issues that emerged from my study confirm many of the findings of

previous studies. Nevertheless as demonstrated in the fourth chapter, I take a

different stance on some of the constraints on women's education and in

particular I explore how education is valued by women other than as a

qualification for paid work.

Chapter one: The Context of the Study 31

Paid work

Almost all the studies on women and paid work show that there is unequal

participation in paid work despite the fact that women constitute over 50% of the

population and have equal access to education. However, research on paid work

is mainly centred on a few areas, namely, the plantation se cto,-2 , Free Trade
3
Zane house maids in West Asia4, and credit, rural economy and self-
5
employment . The reason is that these are the main sources of foreign income

for Sri Lanka and the sectors where women's participation is more prominent.

There have also been a few studies on women and technology (Amarasooriya

1992; 1993; 1995, Andersson Claes-Axel! 1991; Ariyabandu, 1994; Dhanapala,

1994). Three studies concentrated on factors impeding women's careers

(Iddamalgoda 1990; Jayaweera S. & Sanmugam Thana 1992; Amarasooriya,

1993). However, these studies are limited to high profile careers. Both

Iddamalgoda and Jayaweera carried out their studies respectively on women in

higher management positions and on female engineers, while Amarasooriya

concentrated on science and technology professions only. Amarasooriya

indicates that although discrimination between men and women in terms of pay

and conditions of work is non existent in science and technology professions,

cultural and socia-economic factors limits women's equal participation. According

2
See: Jayaweera. 1991; Pinnawela 1991; Kuhatasan & Baddewela 1991;
Kanapathipillai, 1992; Wickramasinghe, 1992; Uyangoda. 1995; Atkin, 1995;
Gunasekara, 1996.
3
See: Abeywardena et al. 1999, Rosa,1994, Dep Weerasinghe 1992, Jayasena, 1991;
Hettiarachchi , 1992.
4
See: Dias, 1987, 1992,1996; Gunatilaka 1991; Hettige 1992; Dissanayake 1996.
5
See: Jayaweera 1991; Reid. 1991; Dayaratne 1992; Ebert,1994; Ekanayake &
Srisena, 1994; Amarasinghe,1992; Eshani, 1995; Gunasekara and Leitan, 1996
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 32

to her, traditional cultural values and child bearing and nurturing responsibilities

lead many qualified women science graduates to seek teaching or desk bound

jobs rather than go into the field. Iddamalgoda also argues that in paid work,

business or self-employment, women need to be freed from the burden of

domestic work. Jayaweera and Thana's study concluded that women engineers

are constrained by societal expectations of gender appropriate careers.

However, in addition to the particular problems women face in paid work due to

gender differences, these researchers give prominence to issues such as lack of

state welfare support and law, low income, working conditions and adjustment

problems. Other explanations for gender discrimination in paid work are

'feminine curricula' for girls' in education and vocational training, occupation

crowding in service sectors and under representation of women at a decision

making level. The patriarchal nature of the society and traditional cultural norms

and customs are also mentioned, as are attitudes of parents, husband and males

at the workplace. However, there is no in-depth explanation of what, how and

why traditional cultural norms and customs constrain women in paid work.

My research indicates that some of the above explanations are less evident

today in creating gender disparities in paid employment. As the fifth chapter will

demonstrate, the girls' choices in curriculum and attitudes of the family and men

are changing. Chanuri Jayasena (1996) shows that the male attitude is less

influential in creating gender disparity in high level employment and that women's

internalisation of familial and maternal ideals are more influential. Among the
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 33

research on women and employment, Carla Risseeuw (1991 ) provides a

particularly valuable insight as to how subjugation to colonial rule, especially the

British colonial domination, changed and strengthened the gender differences in

pre independence Sri Lankan society and how that changed the situation for

women of today. Following the argument of Riseeuw, in this thesis, I argue that

women's own internalisation and the community's internalisation of the idea of

'male work' and 'female work', led to an inadequate interpretation of the concept

of the 'female worker'. In the same manner the idea of the male breadwinner,

which was constructed during British colonial rule has been internalised by the

community. It is my contention that these factors are still very powerful in

creating gender disparities despite structural changes.

Family/sexuality

Compared to studies on education or women's paid work, little research has

been conducted on family and gender relations in Sri Lanka. Feminist interest, it

seems, is more focused on economic aspects, health, and violence. Research

into the family tends to focus on how the functions and patterns of family life have

changed due to economic developments, the role of the mother in families, or on

domestic violence (De Silva N., 1992; Kiribamune, 1994; Jayaweera. &

Sanmugam Thana 1996). Jayaweera (1992) attempted to review changing

gender roles and relations in the 19th and 20th centuries from a broad socio-

historical perspective. She identifies the macro structures and processes that

have contributed to positive and to negative changes. She argues that gender
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 34

inequalities are caused by unequal access to resources and reproduced by the

gender division of labour within and outside the household. However, the

limitation of this study is that there is no in-depth investigation of the structures

and process she mentioned in creating gender inequality. Kottegoda (1994)

shows that in the Sri Lankan context, the need to define more clearly what is

meant by the term 'gender' arises from the uninvestigated relationship between

characteristics associated with biological differences and those characteristics

which are identified as socially constructed.

However, Sasanka Perera's (1997) study on the social and cultural construction

of female sexuality and gender roles in Sinhala society attempts to understand

how gender discrimination still prevails in Sri Lanka despite women having

progressed in many areas. He pOints out several sexual scripts that formulate

female sexuality and gender roles and concludes these are based on, justified

and legitimised on the basis of perceived continuity in the form of traditions or

conventions. He identifies the major reason for this as the problem of attitudes

and lack of serious intervention to change these attitudes. Furthermore, he

discusses the importance attached to women as primary socialisers and the

'cultural archives' of the society, and how women's relations within society are

marked by a lack of power. However, as he himself pOints out, the study is brief

and incomplete. His research is limited to examining a few publications and

some unstructured and informal interviews, done on a random basis.

Chapter one: The Context of the Study 35

Even though many of these studies tend to cite patriarchy, culture and tradition

as a factors in gender discrimination in Sri Lanka, it is remarkable that there has

been no attempt to see how the cultural aspect affects the construction of

gender, to identify the 'traditions' that reinforce gender differences today or to

determine what forms and structures of patriarchy exist in Sri Lanka.

Nevertheless, Malathi de Alwis (1994, 1999) fills this gap to some extent. She

explores how the forces that emerged during the colonial period constructed the

gendered identity of women and subverted them. She provides an important

inSight to the emergence of nationalism and the western ideas imposed on

women in Sri Lanka by colonialism and how the impact of this has led to women

policing themselves. However, her studies are based on historical data and do

not represent the voices of women of today.

My study also examines and explores the cultural construction of the 'Sinhala

woman'. However, my point of departure differs that from previous studies by

investigating how the cultural construction influences the life of contemporary

Sinhala women. I employ life history research method to bring Sinhala women's

voices to the forefront.

Chapter one: The Context of the Study 36

Methodology

An important aspect of this study is to use life histories as a primary

methodological tool. The interviews done for this study are of a narrative type

and they collected events and happenings of the lives of interviewees as primary

data, which helped this study to explain how culture and tradition constrain

women. This offers a way to integrate Sinhala women's lives into Sri Lankan

history, which has hitherto been neglected by conventional methodology, which

feminists identify as androcentric (Jackson, 1998:47). According to Sherna Gluck

(1996), life histories reflect the values, attitudes and relationships of the

interviewee: the patterns and rhythms of her life and times. Therefore, the aim of

this study is to use life histories to put women's previously unheard voices at the

centre and to bring the patterns and actions of their lives to the surface in order to

examine the accounts of Sinhala women's experiences from their own

perspectives. In other words, individual understanding of how women's life

experiences, values and attitudes were shaped and how they have altered them.

Following Jan Sangster (1998), by using oral history I do not attempt just to 'fill in

the blanks in women's traditional history' or to provide 'better history' or 'more

history'. My intention is to examine how dominant ideologies shape Sinhala

women's world and how women understand, negotiate, resist or challenge these

ideologies. In my view, though the quantitative research done by feminists in Sri

Lanka provides knowledge of gender inequality in Sri Lanka, the picture is

incomplete and does not tell us how women accept, react and respond to

discrimination and oppression. Hence by using oral histories, exploring how

Chapter one: The Context of the Study 37

culture constructs gender, my study acknowledges women's cultural agency and

allows their voices to be heard. Life histories of women also give an insight to

the roots of this discrimination and how it operates to constrain women.

In life histories for this study women actually reconstitute their lives and therefore,

they are not just primary texts, providing information. One may argue that people

cannot remember everything about their past, or they may conceal things when

talking about sensitive topics. However, it is important to note that during the

interviews, the interviewees were actually engaged in constructing their

memories and what they remembered is what they kept intact in their memories

and what was therefore significant to them. Women may have been selective in

what they said during the interviews but what they chose to tell me was what they

wanted to express. In other words, what women presented to me as their

accounts of their lives is what they wanted to be heard.

Chanfrault-Duchet says:

I shall define the 'life story' as the product of a ritualised speech act, which
results from the conjunction, in the 1970s, of a genre, autobiography, with a
new medium, the tape recorder, within the institutional framework of social
sciences. Life story is thus at first a methodological tool used to collect
information from social categories (among them women) which, although
social actors, do not have access to the public stage. But considered as a
genre, it can be viewed as an object created by the form and the contents,
which produces meaning, just like a literary form (2000:61-62).

Using life stories as a primary source to analyse women's situation, in any society

in the world, is crucial because as she pOints out, 'the orality of genre produces a

system of formal and structural recurrences and the interactional system, as well
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 38

as the stress on the social self, produce reference to socio-symbolic discourse

and the social imaginary through which a culture, by means of language, maps

and deciphers the world, a dimension also present in autobiography, but heavily

marked in the life-story: .(Ibid. 63)

I argue that what Chanfrault-Duchet says here is applicable to the stories of my

interviewees, because as I have mentioned the stories are not just sources of

information. Though my interviewees were at different ages, different locations

and from different socio- economic backgrounds, their life stories enabled me to

identify and extract the common themes that appear across them. Their stories

clearly indicate how 'culture and tradition' operate within the Sinhala community

and thus provide a conceptual understanding, since the narratives of women are

based on the discourses available to them.

The life stories collected for this study reveal events in the life courses of these

women from their birth to the present. My familiarity with people's way of

speaking enabled me to see that the women did not hesitate to share their

knowledge of their own experience. Nor did they find it difficult to relate that

experience to me though I was a 'stranger'. Many said 'this is the first time I am

telling about this to anyone'. Perhaps it was easier for them to reveal their private

lives to someone from outside because of the knowledge that I am not a

character that appears in their day-to-day lives. Most importantly, these life

stories clearly show how Sinhalese women absorb and internalise the social

norms, customs, and traits. Revealing the tension between this constructed
 Chapter one: The Context of the Study 39

identity and their lived experience and also how women have construct their self

identity according to these traits and the ambivalence this produced in them is an

important aspect of these life history accounts.

Since this study uses stories of women's lives as the prime resource, it uses the

life cycle and life course approaches, which has to my knowledge, not been used

so far as an analytical framework in Sri Lankan gender studies. According to

. Giele and Elder 'The superiority of the life course idea is in its flexibility and

capacity to encompass many different types of cultural, social, and individual

variation' (Giele and Elder, 1998:22). They state that life course refers to a

sequence of socially defined events and roles that an individual enacts over time

and, also allows for the 'encording of historical events and social interaction

outside the person as well as the age-related biological and psychological states

of the organism' (ibid.:22-23) According to Patricia Allatt and Teresa Keil, (1987),

while life cycle emphasises 'ages and stages' in life, life course emphasises the

individual's transition through those stages in changing historical conditions. As

they point out, these approaches help to unshackle our conceptualisation of

women's life experience from the family cycle. Both these approaches 'show

how gendering the public/private spheres is neither random nor 'natural' but

critically controlled and influenced by cultural dictates and structural constraints'

(Allatt and Keil,1987:2). Differences in life stages clearly indicate how individuals

are subjected to social change and also gives an insight to how an individual

adapts, resists or finds options and strategies to cope with social change.

Therefore, these approaches allow the analysis of Sinhala women's life

Chapter one: The Context of the Study 40

experiences through the various important stages of their life in order to

understand the social construction of gender within the community and how it has

impacted on women. As a spectrum of diversity, this enables the researcher to

understand the change and reflexivity of interviewees and also the link between

historical changes and women as individuals.

Hence organising this study through life cycle and life course, approaches, I

locate the life stories of the interviewees from childhood to later stage of the life

of Sinhala women to examine the changes that happen in their lives. This in turn

will support the main argument of this study, that the cultural construction of the

'Sinhala woman' profoundly impacts women's lives today. As Stevi Jackson

points out, those who research on their own memories or others memories 'do so

from the assumption that our past has something to tell us about our present

selves, about our individual subjectivities, about what made us what we are'

(Jackson, 1998:51).

Research process

Altogether a sample of sixty-six women were interviewed from the three areas

selected for this study, Colombo, Badulla and Hambantota. I did not plan to

select a specific number of women and my aim was to interview as many as

possible. Therefore I stayed around a month in each in Badulla and Hambantota.

My intention was to emphasis the diversity of the social world Sinhala women live

and experience. Therefore, I did my best to include women from different socio-
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 41

economic backgrounds, to find out how the structures and the prevailing

dominant ideologies impacted upon them.

A special consideration was given to age because, though this study is on the

post independence period, it was essential to include memory and narratives of

older women in order to reflect upon the changes that have taken place since

independence. Ten out of these sixty-six interviewees are over fifty years old and

nineteen interviewees are fifteen to twenty five years old while the rest of the

interviewees are between twenty-five and fifty. The reason for interviewing a

large number of women between ages of twenty five and fifty is the narratives of

that age group includes memories of childhood as well as adult life. Hence in my

view their stories provide a better understanding of the changes in the post

independence period and how they affected women. Also in my view, the

youngest interviewees and their stories of their lives and their views on paid work,

family and marriage as well as interactions within spaces other then the family,

enabled me to understand the solidity and centrality of the cultural construction of

the 'Sinhala woman'. Because what they said reflects what they have already

internalised of being a woman within the Sinhala community. Hence including life

stories of women at different ages enable this study to examine Sinhala women's

lives in the context of past, present and future.

Chapter one: The Context of the Study 42

Interviews

Selecting areas:

Conducting research in Northern, North central and Eastern provinces for the

research was not possible because it was relatively unsafe to go to those areas

due to civil war. Therefore, I decided to conduct my research in Western, Uva

and Southern provinces of Sri Lanka. Three districts in each of these provinces,

namely Colombo, Badulla and Hambantota, were selected for oral interviews.

The main reason for selecting these districts was that the majority of the

population consisted of the Sinhalese. I also took class difference, urban/rural

differences and economic structures into consideration in deciding upon these

districts. I would like to mention the fact that the names of the villages I am using

in this thesis are pseudonyms.

Colombo, situated on the West Coast of Sri Lanka, is the commercial and

administrative capital of the country and a highly urbanised and industrialised

area. As the commercial capital, almost all the factories, private businesses and

technology companies are located in and around Colombo. Being the centre of

cultural influence, my observation was that Colombo is also subjected to

contemporary external cultural influences and cultural changes more immediately

than other areas in Sri Lanka. The social strata of Colombo are also different

from the other two areas because a large number of professionals and industrial

workers and business community reside in the metropolitan area. Many houses I
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 43

visited in Colombo were large, comfortable with nice gardens and modern

facilities. This was a major contrast with the other two areas. The way of

women's speaking and manners and dressing were more 'polite' and 'cultured'

than in Badulla or Hambantota. Apart from girls who were in school, some

university students and all the other women were paid workers. Most of the

women interviewed in Colombo were more privileged than the women from the

rural areas.

By contrast, Badulla district in Uva province, which is located in the east-central

part of Sri Lanka, is relatively isolated. Even during colonial rule, English officers

rarely visited the Uva Province due to the difficulty of the reaching the area

without proper roads. Therefore, it has been almost excluded from exposure to

cultural changes. Uva has always been, and remains, a rural farming community

- mainly paddy and chena (slash and burn) cultivation. In Badulla, I interviewed

women from three different areas in the Deniya Administrative Division of Badulla

District, namely: Neluwa, Deniya and Pataha. Neluwa and Pataha are two

villages of the Deniya division as it is divided into several Grama Niladari (Village

Official) divisions for administrative purposes. There are about 1,500 to 2,000

families in the Neluwa village. The village belongs to the Komarikaveva Govi

Janapada Vyaparaya (Komarikaveva Farmers Settlement Scheme), which was

established in the 19505 as a result of the government decision to irrigate certain

areas in order to promote agriculture and to settle farmers who did not own land.

Yet the village does not receive water for irrigation because it is situated at a
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 44

higher altitude than the reservoir. As a result they have to depend on rainwater

and they face difficulties due to droughts.

According to the stories told by my colleague's family and his friend, their

ancestors left the plains and settled on hilltops during the 1818 and 1848

uprisings against the British to avoid the reprisals of the British colonial rulers.

Their main occupations then were hunting and chena (slash and burn) cultivation.

Gradually people began to come down from the hills, settled in flat lands and

such settlers populated Neluwa village. It is a very fertile area. The villagers use

wells as the source of water for drinking, washing and bathing and the area has

not yet received pipe-borne water. Women draw water in pots. When the wells

get dried up in the dry season, women have to walk for two to three miles to find

water. The village received electricity at the end of the 1980s. However the main

electrical household items are restricted to small television sets (mainly black and

white), or cassette players. In a very few houses I saw modern goods such as

gas cookers, water heaters and refrigerators. Most of the houses are small and

partially built. In most of the houses, kitchens have clay floors plastered with cow

dung. According to the women in the area, cement floors are not suitable for the

kitchen because they do not absorb the water that always spills on the floor when

pouring water out of the pots in which they store it. Firewood is the main energy

source for cooking. They gather firewood from their gardens or bring large

bundles of wood from the jungle or chena two to three miles away from homes.

They told me that males cut the wood but it is they who carry the burden home.

The place that has the lowest priority in their houses is the toilet. There is a nice
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 45

looking little stream flows near the boundary of my colleague's parental home

and when I expressed my desire to wade through it , was informed that many

people still use the stream for defecating.

Oeniya is the most developed area compared to the two other villages. All the

government offices are situated in Oeniya and part of the village is populated by

the people who have been settled there for generations. The others settled there

under Badulu Oya Govi Janapada Vyaparaya (Badulu Oya Farmers Settlement

Scheme). People in Deniya seem to be well off when compared to the people in

the other two areas. According to one of my companions (people who helped me

to find interviewees and who escorted me around the area), most of them are

engaged in petty businesses such as small-scale retail traders and owners of rice

mills. The owners of these businesses in all three areas I visited appeared to be

wealthier than the rest of the villagers. They have better houses and some own

private vehicles too. Some villagers spoke about a vicious circle of a business

with these petty businessmen. During the harvest villagers earn more money

than usual either by selling paddy or working in rice fields. With this money they

buy lUXUry items, mainly televisions, cassette players, bicycles, wristwatches and

jewellery. When the villagers have financial difficulties between harvests they

pawn these items to businessmen to a small sum of money. Many of them are

usually unable to reclaim the items as they cannot pay the high interest or the

money and the traders sell them. According to the villagers this happens every

year.
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 46

Pataha is a remotest area in the Deniya AGA Division. The village is situated on

a foot of a hill. Main occupations in the village are paddy farming and chena

cultivation. The village comprises mostly people who did not inherit land for

housing and farming from their parents mainly due to being members of large

families, and hence are forced to 'move up' to the hill seeking land for housing

and farming as the population gro~s. There is a gravel road going through the

village. The village received electricity in the year 2000. There are no 'big'

sh ops6 around and they have to come to Neluwa to buy provisions. Most of the

houses are small and partially constructed. Only a few houses have televisions.

The nearest school is about two to two and a half miles away.

Main occupations in all three areas are farming (rice and chena cultivation), brick

making, casual labour, government service, and small business, selling firewood,

working in armed forces and garment factories. Both men and women talked

about not having opportunities to earn money in other ways. During the time

between cultivating and harvesting some men went to Colombo to work as

private security officers (because after preparing paddy fields men have no more

work to do) but according to some, because of the cost of living in Colombo, they

could not save money to send home with the little pay they received. At the time

I visited several boys talked to me said they were looking to work as conductors

on buses owned by individuals in Badulla or Colombo because it is better than

being unemployed.

6 These shops are small and sell only a few essentials such as rice, powdered milk,
soap, kerosene oil etc. People usually buy things from the weekend fair because
 Chapter one: The Context of the Study 47

Hambantota, the southernmost coastal district of the country, was under

successive colonial regimes. Hence I generally assumed that this district has

experienced the changes that had been brought by the three colonial powers.

The main occupations of people in Hambantota are fishing and farming. The

major industry in that area is salt making. The salt plants in Hambantota have

provided salt for the country since ancient times. Today the salt plants are

operated under the authority of the Salt Co-operation (semi privati sed state co-

operation). Hambantota has a mixed population, mainly Sinhalese and Muslims.

In Hambantota my interviewees were mainly located in two areas, that is, Seruwa

and Badda. Seruwa is a settlement about a kilometre away from Hambantota

town and considered as a village7 . The first family arrived and settled in the

village in 1947. The government in power at that time started a housing scheme

for middle class people and land was given on 99-year leases. Later in 1986

ownership deeds were given to these settlers. There were families in

Hambantota town who encroached on state land. These families were removed

from there and given land in Seruwa village when plans were made to develop

Hambantota town. At first, 18 families came to settle in Seruwa and then more

people arrived. The village received electricity and tap water in the 1990s, and

until then their only source of fresh water was from wells built on the seashore.

Most of the houses I saw are not completed as in the Badulla area, but it seemed

that they are a little better off than the people in Neluwa. Badda, the other area

things are cheaper.

7 The towns in Sri Lanka are where the all shops, other business and usually the bus
stand is located. Village is where the houses are located, usually with a small shop
or two, and place to worship.
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 48

of Hambantota where I interviewed women, is an area about half a kilometre from

Hambantota town. It is a densely populated area and has a more suburban

environment than Seruwa.

Seruwa, the village I visited is mainly a Sinhala village but the two ethnic groups

live side by side. Being situated in the south-eastern coastal plains, Hambantota

belongs to the dry zone but rice and a few vegetables are CUltivated in the area.

At the time I visited, the area was in the midst of a drought with severe water

shortage even for the most basic needs. The main occupation in the area is

fishing. Most of the villagers in Seruwa are labourers. They work in rice fields,

brick making or at the Salt Co-operation. Some work at the rows of shops

situated along the road. Kataragama, a very famous shrine for the god Skandha,

visited by many Sri Lankans to fulfil their vows or to worship is situated in

Hambantota district and there is a thriving business for these shops. They sell

some sweets, which this area is famous for, other types of food and drinks,

handicrafts and herbs. Another thriving business is buying and packing salt.

Therefore, unlike in Badulla, both men and women have more opportunities to

earn an income however small it is. There are a few women working in the

Government sector, many of them teachers. Many girls work in garment

factories. According to the information I received, many women from the area

have also gone to Middle Eastern countries as domestic helpers. A few women

also work in Colombo in places other than garment factories.

Chapter one: The Context of the Study

Setting up interviews and interviewing

As well as conducting oral interviews, J visited three schools, one in Colombo and

two in Badulla. I also visited two police stations in Badulla and Hambantota. I

had a lengthy conversation with a teacher involved in a counselling project in the

area of Badul/a. I was able to meet the gramaseva niladari (village official) of

Neluwa but unable to visit one in Hambantota or Colombo due to clashes of my

schedule and theirs. The purpose of speaking to the officials, prinCipals and

teachers was twofold. Firstly, to make general observations in order to have a

more clear vision about the areas. Secondly to find out about the number of

incidents reported on domestic violence, rape etc. and the drop out rates of girls

and boys in schools. However, pieces of conversations I gathered from them

provided more information were very useful as additional data.

I engaged various methods in all three areas to set up interviews. Making

contacts through relatives and friends was the primary way of meeting

interviewees. When approaching interviewees having intermediates is important

because it helps to build trust between the researcher and the interviewees and

thus helped me to gain people's confidence. After having been interviewed,

many women said they could talk to their friends or relatives and arrange an

interview; hence I used 'snowballing' to enlarge the sample. My initial point of

contact was Colombo where I reside. Before going back to Sri Lanka I spoke to

my mother in law and asked her help to find interviewees in Colombo. She
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 50

contacted neighbours and some women she knew and the students in her tuition

class. All the young girls I initially interviewed were educated in girls' schools and

when I expressed my desire to interview young girls attending a mixed sex

school, she contacted a friend of hers and arranged for me to go to a school to

interview schoolgirls .. The teachers selected some girls because they said those

girls are 'forward and not shy'. I interviewed women from the neighbourhood of

my home in Colombo, the market in the town I live, and in the University.

directly approached a colleague, my students and a friend.

A colleague in my department helped me to contact interviewees in 8adulla

District and I stayed with his parents. I was keen to go to his birthplace because

of the stories he told us about his mother and about the conditions in that area.

His mother, a friend of his and his friend's sister in law helped me to approach the

interviewees.

I approached the interviewees in Hambantota through the support of one of my

former teachers, who is also a friend at the University of Peradeniya. He

introduced me to a top official of the Sarvodaya Organisation in Matara who

introduced me to the Hambantota branch of Sarvodaya. Sarvodaya is a non-

governmental organisation that operates in most parts of Sri Lanka and aims to

help deprived sections of the population to better their lives. A woman at the

centre introduced me to another woman who is working in a development bank

and she introduced me to interviewees in the village. While in Hambantota, I

came to know about non-traditional vocational training given to women by World

Chapter one: The Context of the Study 51

University Service - Canada, another non-governmental organisation that

operates in the area. I approached the organisation and they agreed to introduce

me to the two institutions in the area that help them to carry out the training

programs they funded. Hence I interviewed several young women from

Hambantota who were being trained at Seruwa vocational training centre and

Eraminiyaya National Youth Service centre.

Doing interviews in Colombo was not very difficult, as the women I contacted

were either known to me or to my mother in law, therefore I was relaxed when I

did the interviews. Most interviews were conducted at interviewee's homes. Two

interviewees arranged to meet in my mother in law's house because they felt they

couldn't talk freely at their own homes. Some interviews were done in my office

at the University of Colombo. At the mixed sex school I had to do the interviews

during the school hours because the principal expressed his concern about

young women being 'alone' on the school premises after school hours. An

agreement was reached and the girls were allowed to talk to me at free periods

and a science laboratory was given to us. We had interruptions during the

interviews because sometimes students or teachers entered the lab. Once we

had to move into a small room inside the lab because a class was supposed to

have an audio-visual lesson.

Before setting up interviews, I met the women and told them that my purpose is

to gather life stories and asked them to think carefully whether they wanted to be

interviewed or not. I also explained that I was not going to use real names if I
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 52

used their stories in my thesis. My explanation varied according to the level of

the education of the interviewees. For women who could understand what a PhD

and a thesis means I explained directly what my purpose was. To some I said I

am writing a 'book' for an 'exam'. Some women asked me whether the purpose

of my research was to write for a newspaper and I had to further explain the

'exam'.

I was little anxious when I visited the other two areas. I sensed the uneasiness in

my family about going to another area to do interviews. One request of my

husband was 'not to ask IIprovocative questions" and not to give advice if women

talk about family problems because if husbands found out, that might create

trouble'. I explained that I know what I should do and should not do.

People who helped me to get in touch with interviewees' in Badulla and

Hambantota at first thought I wanted to interview women who have difficult lives.

I explained that I wanted to interview any woman who would agree to do an

interview. They also wanted to know what kind of information I was expecting

from my interviewees because they wanted to explain to interviewees before

taking me to meet them. I asked them to tell the interviewees I was interested in

knowing their life story from childhood.

Another issue I had to confront was my dress code. In Colombo, when I visited

the mixed school to get permission to do interviews, I was wearing trousers as I

normally do and I sensed that there was an expectation I would dress in a sari
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 53

when doing the interviews. I inquired from a female teacher and she said it

would be better to wear a sari. Her explanation was if I wore a sari it would be

better because I am a lecturer. I realised that the teachers wanted to establish a

power relation between the students and me as between them and the students.

I said I thought wearing a sari was not necessary because I was just going to

have a conversation with the students and finally they agreed with me.

When I went to my colleague's house in Badulla to live and conduct the

interviews, my colleague strongly advised me not to wear trousers while I was

there because women wearing trousers are looked down on by the villagers and

it might hinder my research. Therefore I took some long skirts and rubber

slippers to wear while going around the village. This helped me to look like I was

one of them. When I met his family members for the first time, I felt a little

tension because of my anxiety about the kind of reception I would get from them.

It disappeared soon when I joined them in cooking lunch. Later they told me that

they were worried that they may have to wait on and serve food and drink to this

woman from Colombo who would do nothing but stand around with her hands

crossed. It was not difficult for me to get incorporated into the village life in

Badulla, as I grew up in a village in Walapane, near the Badulla District and close

to Deniya.

I decided to wear trousers in Hambantota as I felt that I was an outsider there. I

stayed at the regional centre of Sarvodaya and thought because of that I was not

going to offend anyone in particular. I also assumed that the people in

Chapter one: The Context of the Study 54

Hambantota would not find wearing trousers offensive as this area was subjected

to colonial influence and also frequently visited by both local and foreign tourists.

However, every time I visited the village, a group of boys and some men whistled

and shouted behind me and demanded my trousers. Gayan, a small boy I

became friendly with asked me why I did not wear dresses like other women.

was taken back a bit, but decided to keep wearing trousers because I did not

want to give in.

In Badulla I had to confront some other tensions too. During one interview in

Neluwa, another woman came and sat with the interviewee and me. I explained

that I do not want to do the interview in front of others and asked the interviewee

to ask her to leave. Later I came to know that this woman has spread a story that

I was there to stir trouble again as during the 1980s insurrection. However I had

finished the interviews in Neluwa by that time and was about to go to Deniya.

Fortunately, the story did not cause any trouble. My companion (who introduced

me to interviewees) advised me not to carry a file or anything that looked as if it

contained documents because people might think that I was a government agent

collecting information on people's income and they might refuse to talk to me. At

that time the government was reconsidering cutting the amount of money given

to low income families under Samurdhi, a government aid-programme. Hence I

had to be careful when I asked interviewees about sources of family income.

I was concerned about establishing my relationship with interviewees. With my

experience I knew that in Colombo calling women by name or their title (Miss/Ms
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 55

or Mrs.) was easier than in the other areas. As is the common custom in many

areas, I used kin titles to address interviewees in Badulla and Hambantota and

sometimes in Colombo. I used the term Amma (mother) for older women and

akkalnangi (elder sister/younger sister) and duwa (daughter) for the other

interviewees. This helped to create trust and a friendly relation between

interviewees and me.

Being accustomed to the customs, habits and traits of villagers in rural areas in

Sri Lanka and to the urban life also was a plus point for me as a researcher. I

was not a total stranger for the interviewees. Nevertheless, I sensed that my

career as a lecturer and studying in United Kingdom made many women believe

that I was different from them. In Badulla and Hambantota, women tried to be

polite in front of me. They tried to be nice to their children when their children

nagged them. They also tried to use formal Sinhala instead of the colloquial

Sinhala they normally use in the area.

Some women were a bit tense about taping the interview. In Colombo only two

women were concerned about interviews being taped and one woman out of

these two did not agree to tape the interview even after my explanation. She was

concerned that if I allowed my tapes to be used by others, someone might

recognise her voice. However in Badulla when interviewees saw the micro

cassette recorder I carried around they relaxed. Nevertheless, I had to convince

some interviewees that a micro cassette could not be put into a standard

cassette and listened to by others. One elderly woman refused to take part after
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 56

my explanation. She later told my colleague's mother that she almost fainted

when thinking of talking of her impoverished life to a stranger. However, the

other elderly women were enthusiastic of being interviewed. One woman asked

me whether I could give a copy of the cassette to her.

I usually began the interviews by telling them 'Iefs talk about your life and to

begin with tell me when and where you were born'. The educational level and

exposure to outside areas other than home and birthplace of the interviewees

had a Significant impact upon the telling of their life stories. I observed that the

higher the educational level, the easier it was to speak more coherently and to

understand my indirect questions clearly. Many women asked me what is the

value of knowing their life stories. Sometimes, after giving me a piece of

information, some said 'I don't know whether this important' or 'am I talking

rubbish?' I kept a mental note on what the interviewees talked about and if I felt I

needed more information or they did not talk about the matters I was interested

in, I asked indirect questions.

I also noted that women specially sacrificed their time and stayed at home to be

interviewed. Many interviewees told me 'I had to go for weeding or put soil

around chilli plants but I stayed today to talk with you' or either 'if I was not talking

with you I would be doing this or that by this time'. It should be noted here that

one man in Neluwa said that it is women who carry the burdens of families and

do everything. Nevertheless, they agreed to sacrifice the time they could make

earning a living or doing their daily domestic chores. This showed me that the
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 57

interviews were important for these women as well as they were for me perhaps

because they realised it gave them a chance to have their voices heard.

One of the constraints I felt while doing the interviews was the need to do a lot of

prompting at times. Women sometimes wanted to know what answer I expected

from them. I had to explain that I am not looking for answers but information.

There were moments when I prompted some interviewees asked me what

exactly I want to know. I explained what I want to know is not important and what

is most important is what they want to say. Sometimes some women

misunderstood my indirect questions. For example when I asked 'can you tel/ me

how was your relationship with your father?' some responded 'oh it was like

father and daughter' because the Sinhala word for relationship (sambandhaya) is

also used to describe a love or sexual affair. More elaborate explanations were

needed on the question in such instances.

Contrary to the women I met in Badulla, women I met in Hambantota and

Colombo were sharp and not shy about being interviewed. I observed that

women in Hambantota are familiar with being interviewed because of the

development work carried out by several non-governmental organisations in that

area. Some women said they were interviewed several times by some

researchers. They were not shy about talking of their lives and some talked about

their bad experiences as if they were routine and without showing many emotions

whereas women in 8adulla were often emotional.

Chapter one: The Context of the Study 58

Another fact that should be noted here is that t observed that interviewees from

Colombo and Badulla were cautious when they talked about their hardships, bad

experiences or bad familial relationships whereas women from Hambantota did

not mind vOicing what they felt. Though it is difficult to assess the reason for this,

I believe that the main reason is women in Hambantota were not shy about

talking such matters. It is also highly likely that women in Colombo and Badulla

internalised the saying 'gei gindara pitata epa' (do not discuss family problems

with outsiders) more strongly.

Interviewees in Colombo did not ask any questions after my explanation of the

purpose of research. Nevertheless, some women from Hambantota wanted

know what benefits they would receive out of my interviews and many of them

were very inquisitive about the nature of my research unlike the women from

Badulla. The reason for this, I believe is that women in this area are used to

being interviewed by developmental agencies in order to provide economic

opportunities.

However, I strongly sensed that both in Badulla and Hambantota women

expected that there would be some benefit for them out of these interviews. In a

way I believe this was right because the interviews were emotional outlets for

many women. Unlike in the other areas, during the interviews almost all the

women Badulla were in tears at some pOints. Mentioning death of family

members, hardships of life, or attempts to pretend the abuses they faced as

simple moved them to tears. There were times I said to some interviewees that
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 59

we could stop the interview if they wished, but none of them said yes. They

shared their sorrows, fears, anxieties and hopes with me. I was burdened with

the ethical concerns that I was distressing the interviewees for my own purposes

and therefore what I was doing was wrong. I was emotional at some pOints

because some anecdotes bore similarities to my own life experience and I felt

and touched by their pain if as it was my own. Nevertheless, it strengthened my

purpose, seeking a better understanding of Sinahala women's lives.

Transcribing I translation

According to Barbara Tuchman, the real difference in research in contemporary

history and research in past history is in the stance and the intent of the historian.

She says:

Where does he stand in relation to the events? Is he writing from inside or

out, as participant or as observer? Is the intent basically apologia, or an
attempt to collect the whole story and stand back from it so that he can see it
in the round? The answer determines the research, or rather what is done
with it, for what finally counts is not the research per se but what you do with it
after you got it (Tuchman, 1996:95).

The process of writing up based my research is influenced by being an insider.

In other words, I was able to integrate and understand the stories of the

interviewees as a woman from the same community and, as a woman who

shares the constructed meaning of the 'Sinhala Woman.' However, in my view, I

am an observer and outsider too because of my privileged position of having the

necessary theoretical understating to unravel the meanings of the constructed

identity through the life stories presented to me by other women. Hence I stood

back from the stories, looked at the various discourses tangled in those life
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 60

stories and hidden meanings of every pause, silence, tear and laughter of the

interviewees.

Nevertheless, it was a difficult task. I completely transcribed and translated five

interviews from the three areas. Having experienced how time consuming this

was I decided to half transcribe the rest of the interviews. On the basis of

translated interviews and by listening to all the tapes 1 designed a list of themes

and divided them into sub topics. All the interviews were transcribed in point form

under these themes and subtopics. Whenever I heard a piece of conversation,

which I felt worth quoting, I transcribed the whole piece. Though I realised I have

been selective, the strategy was to tease out the ideas and explain things where

it was necessary.

However, the main limitation this study faced was translating the quotations of

Sinhala publications and transcribed data from Sinhala to English. Three out of

sixty six interviews were conducted in English. Two women were not fluent in

Sinhala as their first language is English and the other suggested to talk in

English because she said since my thesis will be written in English, talking in

English would be more suitable and I respected her view.

Maria Birbilli, (2002) states that when collecting data in one language and

presenting in another, the translator's linguistic competence and knowledge of

the culture are among the facts that affect the quality of translation in social

research. Phillips (1960 in Birbilli 2002) says this is 'in absolute terms an
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 61

unsolvable problem' which results from the fact that 'almost any utterance in any

language carries with it a set of assumptions, feelings, and values that that the

speaker mayor may not be aware of but that the field worker, as an outsider

usually is not.' However, in my case, it was not a difficulty being an insider.

However, this does not mean that I have not encountered problems when

translating.

According to Gerding-Salas (2000), the most frequent difficulties translators face

are of a semantic and cultural nature and another problem is 'not found terms'.

The writers cited in Maria Birbilli's (2002) article suggest that on occasions where

two languages do not offer direct lexical equivalencies, researcher's efforts

should be directed 'towards obtaining conceptual equivalence without concern for

lexical comparability'. I have encountered both problems and tried to find the

nearest common sense interpretation and provided more explanations in

footnotes where I thought it was necessary.

Another problem I encountered was women's 'roundabout' way of talking about

matters they thought they did not have to explain because I would understand

perfectly or with a topic they found difficult to talk about openly. This frequently

happened when menstruation, sex or sex related topics and their relationships

with boy friends were discussed. For example if a woman said she thinks

'women are filthy' and when I asked her to explain why she thought so she would

say 'eyi mase wen a wane , (a direct translation would mean - why! it happens

monthly). I have had to encounter the same experience with the interviewees

who spoke in English. For example a quotation I have cited in the third chapter
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 62

chapter says: 'That is telling the brothers you will have to look after your sisters. It

is not just a meaningless thing. In a nice subtle way, told the brothers, your

friends will come but they (brothers) must look af ... [after](their sisters) you must

look after the sister.' What she actually meant here is that ceremony of puberty

signals to the brothers that they have to be cautious and keep their eyes open in

order to prevent an intimate relation developing between his sisters and his male

friends. She did not elaborate this because she knew I would grasp the meaning.

However, at such instances I was able to pick up the full meaning and

implications and used my knowledge of understanding to interpret what the

interviewees actually said.

According to Honig (1997, in Birbilli 2002), a literal translation (translating word by

word) could perhaps be seen as doing more justice to what participants said.

However, as Birbilli says, at the same time it can reduce the readability and

understanding of the text. A good example is lack of articles in the Sinhalla

language. We use the word eka (one) as a prefix or suffix when talking about a

single objects or subjects (A car - car eka, A fridge - fridge eka, a child - eka

/amayek). If translated word by word it would mean car one, fridge one or one

child. Hence there was a need to be careful when translating published articles

and the transcribed speech of interviewees.

According to Kay Standings (1998) translating the transcribed interviews into a

more suitable and acceptable form for an academic piece of writing is

problematic. In her experience, by tidying up (editing) the transcripts of the

Chapter one: The Context of the Study 63

interviews conducted in English, Standings states she homogenised the women's

voices by making them all sound (or read) the same way. She further states 'I

took away their own (and my own) distinctive way of speaking, which reflects

their background and culture, and made standard English the 'normal' means of

communication'. My own experience of translating Sinhala to English was the

same as Standing's experience. I felt not only the regional and class difference

in Sri Lanka, but also the cultural difference in using the English language as a

form of speaking in both Sri Lanka and Britain. Though the interviewees who

spoke in English were fluent in the language, their English was Sri Lankanised

and Sinhalafied.

Therefore, I decided not to look for more elegant words because I felt it would

destroy the Sri Lankan essence that was presented in the quotations, but tried to

translate my quotations into good everyday English as it is essential to present a

meaningful piece of writing. I have paid attention to the intended function of the

quotations (Rossman and Rallis: 1998 quoted in Birbilli, 2002) and worked to

provide the best possible meaning and correct message of the quoted articles

and interviews. Therefore, whenever I encountered difficulties I consulted a

native English speaker to grasp the meanings of the words I was intending to use

and assessed the possible meanings to find the nearest equivalent.

In addition to the interviews I have drawn statistical data to conceptualise my

findings and using them has not always being easy.

Chapter one: The Context of the Study 64

Using statistical data

A study done by Franzinetti (1991) shows that current definitions of European

Community and the United Nations on work, employment, activity and inactivity

are inaccurate in storing statistical data and therefore problematic for women as

they do not represent the actual situation of women. Though quantitative data

are valuable and important for research, I found using statistical data published

by the Department of Statistics for this study was problematic. Even though the

primary research method in this study was qualitative, presenting numbers and

percentages were important where it was necessary. However, as the fourth

chapter will show, using statistical data to conceptualise women's work was a

problem until the 1970s (Risseeuw: 1991). As Risseeuw points out the data

either did not represent or misrepresented the women's contribution to the Sri

Lankan economy in colonial and postcolonial times. The validity of using

statistical data in this instance diminishes, as it can be not said to reflect the

actual situation.

Another problem I encountered when using statistical data was the universality of

the statistical data. The statistical data includes every ethnic group and, except

in a few situations, which have no importance to this study, there was no

separate data on individual ethnic groups. The population surveys after 1970s

were not extended to the Northern areas, which are under the control of the

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and is largely comprised of the Tamil

population. Nevertheless, it is generally assumed that the data adequately

Chapter one: The Context of the Study 65

represents the situation of the majority ethnic group as it comprises 750/0 of the

population.

Chapter organisation

This thesis is primarily based on data gathered through life histories and the

chapters are organised according to the life cycle approach and will start from

childhood and proceed into older age.

The second chapter is important in two ways: a) as the first stage of the life cycle,

i.e. childhood and b) as a basis for grounding the themes that intertwined in this

thesis. Therefore it discusses what are the decisive factors that make girls

imagine that they are different from boys, focusing on family, school, social

relations outside the family and the wider culture. Family as the primary space of

people's lives plays a crucial role in generating power relations within the

structures of a society. Therefore this chapter will discuss how the relationships

between family members generate unequal power relationships and what girls

internalise through their exposure to this process. School is a major space in

many children's lives. They spend a significant part of their time in school and it

has an important impact as a major institution of learning. Here, the chapter

focuses attention on the taught curriculum and children's interactions in Sri

Lankan schools. In my contention that, both impose social values and norms that

prevail in society in general and strengthen unequal gender relations children

experience at home. Experiences in interacting outside the family are very

important, as this is where internalised behaviour will be tested and assessed.

Chapter one: The Context of the Study 66

This chapter will show how limited access to social life outside the family makes

girls understand that they have a different place and role within the community.

Culture is a key factor within all the parameters discussed above because of the

role it plays on 'deciding' social habits, values and norms. Hence the chapter will

give an insight to the culturally appropriate patterns of behaviour for Sinhala

women, which will be intertwined in the following chapters.

The third chapter focuses attention on the attainment of puberty, which is a

turning point in Sinhala women's life cycle as the junction that decides women's

transition from childhood to adulthood. Various writers have attempted to

analyse the ritual of puberty and its social meaning, nevertheless, I propose that

they analysed the ceremony of puberty at a macro level and did not attempt to

examine it in terms of gendered experience. Hence this chapter will critically

analyse the research on the ceremony of puberty among Sinhalese using the

reflections of women on the ceremony and what they have been told in order to

examine how the ceremony reifies and reinforces gender difference. Connecting

with the Foucauldian idea of self-surveillance this chapter will provide an

understanding of the contemporary Sinhala girls' lives within the context of being

a 'big girl'.

The fourth chapter questions the roots of 'tradition' which provide meaning to the

place of Sinhala women as they enter puberty within the community to show how

this imagined place is socially constructed. It will also discuss how women's

access to the spheres other than home is determined by the two sets of
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 67

ideologies, namely, the colonial social, religious values and paints of view of male

colonial officers, and the ideologies, social values and norms of the rimagined'

pre-colonial Sinhala Buddhist culture and tradition, which surfaced with the

growth of nationalism in the early twentieth century. Building on the analysis of

'invented tradition', I will argue that the colonial view and the nationalist view

were in accord where women were concerned.

The fifth chapter will discuss how women's internalised ideas of being a female in

Sinhala community in post independence period affect their adult life. In order to

argue that the developments in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century,

which is rooted deeply within the community, constructs the contemporary

'Sinhala woman' and constrains her, I will explore four main areas, namely,

education, paid work, politics and the family/sexuality to analyse the situation of

women in the post independence period. Within this discussion the thesis will

examine the concept of modernisation and individualisation in relation to Sinhala

women.

The sixth chapter discusses older women in Sri Lanka, a subject which has

received very little attention in previous research. The chapter will discuss how

not having access to resources in their earlier life has deprived them of making

free choices and how, even though older women prefer living with the family of

children as is the custom, it puts them in a dependent position and constrains

them. The chapter will also examine the role of the state and the non-
Chapter one: The Context of the Study 68

governmental organisations in caring for older people as the primary

organisations, which work to better older people's lives.

Finally the conclusion will sum up the key findings of previous chapters and

evaluate the consequences of the gender construction of Sinhala women. It will

also discuss the measures that have been taken to change the situation of

women in Sri Lanka and the results of those measures.

Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 69

Chapter Two

Boys are boys, girls are mothers and wives

Everybody knows that men and women are different

but behind this knowledge lies a certain uneasiness:
how different are they? What is the extent of the
difference? What significance does it have for the way
male and female behave and are treated in society?
(Ann Oakley, 1972:9).

As Oakley pOints out, it is very important to understand what causes the

difference between men and women in any society because it may have an

influence on their rights as human beings. Therefore, the aim of this chapter is to

begin analysing the Sri Lankan scenario from the particular pOint of view of the

interviewees and their reflections on pre-pubescence will set the background for

succeeding chapters. Understanding childhood is crucial because this is where a

child begins to realise his/her place in the society in which he/she lives. Social

institutions such as family and school, and the interaction within and between

these institutions and the customs, norms and traditions which govern that

interaction, tell a child the place she/he has in the society she/he inhabits. Hence

this chapter will discuss the narration of Sinhala girls' life experience within the

family, outside the family and in school and identify the decisive factors that make

girls understand themselves to be different from boys. It is important to note that

the narratives of the lives of interviewees contain what they remember of their

past and present. The continuity of those memories shows that they have a large

impact on the shaping the lives of those women. The interviewees' memories of
Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 70

childhood strongly indicate that far from being passive, the interviewees were

active in observing and learning and interpreting the social world around them.

Bronwyn Davis (1989) suggests that positioning of children in society is facilitated

by the interactions with others whom a child encounters and by the discursive

practices they learn in which bipolar maleness or femaleness is embedded. It is

evident that the interviewees were keen observers and active learners when they

were children and from what they learned and observed, they made their own

sense of culture and continued to remake it during the interview. The discussion

in this chapter shows that in their childhood, girls realise and internalise that they

are different from boys and men. When they reach one of the most important

events in their life, puberty, girls have already registered in their minds that they

have a distinctive place in the family and in society.

To investigate the ways in which the girls learn and realise these differences and

the subsequent power relations between men and women I will look at three

different spaces that are important in childhood: the home, school and

interactions with the world outside home. It is also equally important to discover

the factors dominant within the Sinhala community in creating and maintaining

this difference. The life stories of the interviewees provide ample evidence to

argue that 'culture and tradition' have a strong influence in creating gender

differences irrespective of class, age or regional boundaries though the impact is

varied. Hence this chapter will examine what influence 'culture and tradition' has

on creating the identity of Sinhala Women.

Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 71

Understanding of the family

For many children, the very first place of experiencing social values is the family.

The family cannot escape the social values and norms embedded in the society

and the familial relations are woven according to them and therefore the home

situation influences the way men and women behave. Within this parameter, in a

typical Sinhala family, a child's relations with family members are important in

creating her or his identity. From the accounts of interviewees on their life as a

little girl, four themes have emerged. The different power relations between the

sexes, different gender roles in the family, a, different set of restrictions for girls

and the heterosocial nature of the community were identified as the most

powerful factors that girls internalise in their understanding that they are different

from the other sex.

When comparing the accounts of interviewees on their mother and father it

reveals how the girls understand and internalise the unequal power relations

between the mother and father.

A: We were scared of father. If we had anything to tell him, we let him

know that through our mother.
Q: Why?
A: I don't know, he never hit us but I don't know. [ ... ] He scolded me but
never hit. All of us were scared of him, but I don't know why (Seena, age
36, Colombo/translated.).

As is typical in many societies around the world, in Sri Lanka the father is

considered as the chief figure of the house. The majority of the interviewees

expressed the same feeling about their father. The children are expected to

respect his authority and be obedient to him. Though this is expected from both
Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 72

sexes girls undergo a different experience. Not only do they have to respect and

be obedient to him but they also have to serve him.

Because he is the head of the family, we specially serve him food first and
we treat him with lot of respect [ ... ] We bring everything to him. Even the
tea and the food. When he finishes eating we take the plates away and
wash them. It (serving the father) comes from early times.[ ... ] He is the
head and we also have to treat both father and mother well. But we treat
father beUer than mother. However, mother eats later and that is how the
women are being shaped from the beginning (Ruwini, age
26, Hambantota/translated).

Here Ruwini justifies men's different status by saying that is how it has been 'from

early times'. In other words many people believe that what is in practice today

was in practice a thousand years ago and therefore it is the Sinhala tradition.

The girls see how their mothers and elder sisters serve the father and that makes

them feel that father is a special person. The majority of the Sinhalese accept

the Buddha's teaching to pay respect to parents and elders. However, as Ruwini

observed what the girls see in practice is, their father being served before the

mother and how their mother waits on to serve him. From this primary

observation, many children infer two things: that their mother is less important

than their father is and secondly that women are less important than men

generally.

In addition, fathers have the authority to punish girls if they defy him. Most of the

interviewees said their fathers were strict. According to Seela (age 41, Badulla)

her father severely punished his children for the slightest misdeed, so they did

not like him much. At the same time the children could not defy him if he said,

'don't go to school today.' Hansi (age 41, Hambantota) another interviewee said
Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 73

that the girls used to retreat to the kitchen or bedrooms when father came home

and never looked directly in his face.

Girls' experience in familial relationships also pOints out to them that women are

the nurturers. Even though they said they were scared of the father on the one

hand they remember their fathers as also being loving, caring and good because

they are seen as the providers. Almost all the interviewees said they were either

scared of or respected the father though he was not strict. The fear and respect

stems from the idea that he is the protector of the family because he is the

provider. Therefore he has the authority to be vigilant about their behaviour and

punish them if necessary. In Deesha's (age 16, Colombo/translated) own words:

I '" and daddy thinks there is no one above him. He always says if go over him no

one can stay in his house anymore. He feels so because he is the head of the

home, and thinks everyone should listen to him. Especially our mother because

mommy doesn't work, (paid work) he thinks mommy should be under him.'

Not only does he have an authoritarian place in the family, he is also free from

the responsibility of day-to-day domestic drudgery. Apart from an interviewee

from Badulla, all the others said the father or husband helped with domestic work

but the data show that it is not an equal sharing. Deesha (age 16, Colombo) and

Dilu (age 17, Colombo) both from upper middle class families in Colombo said

their fathers would help the mother in the kitchen or with cleaning if there was no

servant. This strengthens the little girl's idea of father being the provider and

mother being the nurturer. They remember their mothers cooking, feeding and
Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girts are mothers and wives 74

taking care of them. The interviewees did not mention that their mothers

provided economically for the family.

A: I think our father is very valuable. I consider father is nobler (utum) than
my mother. We [ ... ] mm [ ... ] because he works hard to maintain us. When
think, it is in only in our family [... ] that there is more unity in our family. We
do not have a close relation with other relatives, because of that [... ] mm
[ ... ] We live under father's orders.

Q: Now, doesn't mother help with the work in chena (shifting field) and the
rice field?
A:(She) does. Both of them go together [... ] both of them [... ]

Q: Does father help with the domestic work?

A: Yes he does too

Q:How?

A: mm [... ] now if there is no work in the fields and only if the food is not
prepared, when we (women) were not able to be at home to cook, he
cooks (Rasi, age 15, Badulla/translated).

Rasi's (age 15, Badulla) mother works in the fields together with the father. Both

of them go in the morning and come back late in the evening. However, her

mother has no hand in taking the crops to be sold in the fair in Badulla town and

so she does not see her mother as economically productive. What Rasi said

about her parents' show that she has grasped the idea father is superior than

mother and should be well respected.

Many interviewees used the term mother in plural form [Ammala (mothers)] when

they were referring to parents or family in general. What the girl child

experiences is her mother being pivotal to the family. Mothers spend most of

their energy and time on the family therefore practically girls are closer to their

mothers. Mothers also scold and beat girls but there is more physical and mental
Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 75

contact between them and daughters and they are more available and

approachable than fathers. Hence in a girl's mind, a mother is associated with

the private sphere while a father is associated with the public sphere. In other

words, though their mothers were farmers or paid workers and played roles other

than being mothers, what the girls remember is how mothers took care of them

and nurtured them, and how their fathers went to work everyday to earn money

to maintain them. They do not remember fathers as people who did domestic

work. Fathers were always linked to the world outside home.

However, the picture is somewhat complex and it seems that class, education

and urban/rural differences have an impact on deciding the relations between the

girls and their fathers. It seems that compared to the pre-pubescent years, girls'

relationship with their fathers changed after they attain puberty. There was a

physical closeness when some girls were small. Some girls even slept in the

same bed with the father when they were small. However, that closeness

gradually lessens when the girls grow up. Except one girl, the interviewees from

Badulla or Hambantota did not remember their fathers as having been friendly

whereas many interviewees from Colombo remembered their fathers as friendly.

In middle class and educated families girls are friendlier with their fathers.

Nevertheless, except a young interviewee, all the women said they did not tell

everything to their fathers. What being friendly meant for them was not getting

beaten or scolded by fathers. Most of the girls from Colombo said their fathers

were not strict and they were not scared but they respected their fathers.

However, a very few said that they could discuss their private feelings with their
Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 76

fathers. Overall, it seems that the father has a distant place in girls' lives

regardless of whether he is being strict or friendly and he is the most respected

figure in the family.

The other area where the girls learn different power relations in the family is the

relation between the male and female siblings. The narratives of interviewees

report boys in families having authority over girls. The girls who have brothers

also observed that there is covert favouritism and preference for the boys in the

family and they did not have to do domestic work as the girls did.

The boys have fewer responsibilities at home and the girls have to help with

cooking, washing, cleaning and sometimes taking care of younger siblings at

home. The older interviewees said that they were kept from school to take care

of siblings and the cooking in order to allow parents to do farming. Some said

they wanted to go to school and felt sad about dropping out: they had no choice

but to obey their parents. In rural areas, boys do also perform domestic tasks

such as cooking, drawing water and bringing firewood. However, when the

young girls are at an age of managing such tasks they have to do the bulk of the

domestic work. The eldest girl has more responsibilities than the younger girls do

in the family. According to Podi (age 54, 8adulla) because she was the eldest,

she had to work in the fields with her parents and when not doing so had to look

after younger siblings and cook. In urban areas, it seems except in working class

families, boys seldom help with domestic work. It is been customary in rural

areas to keep children at home to help with cooking, to take food to workers,

cleaning and taking care of younger siblings because the older people are busily
Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 77

involved in farming activities such as ploughing, planting and reaping harvest.

However, the young interviewees from rural areas said their parents do not try to

keep them at home to do domestic work as in the past when planting or

harvesting. In urban areas also the situation is different today and girls spend

more time on studies than on domestic work. Due to the high competition in

passing ordinary level and advanced level exams, they go to private tuition

classes after school and at home spend more time on studying though they help

with cleaning and tidying the home. It seems the situation has changed for the

younger generations with parents' ambition to provide a good education for girls

as it will be shown in the fifth chapter.

Apart from the difference of involvement in domestic tasks girls see that the boys

have more power within the family than themselves, especially the elder brothers.

Even though (brothers) did not advise [ ... ] really even if we have not been told
[ ... ] we knew [ ... ] of brothers [ ... ] in the family, I have three. Among them one
brother works in Hambantota post office. He is a bit strict. Really, since from
the days of schooling [ ... ] now after we lost father, that brother is like a father
to us. So even now, he doesn't tell us directly anything. Even he doesn't tell,
most of the time we know how he wants us to behave ... most of the time
brother is very very strict. When I was living in parental home [ ... ] I remember
when I was small [ ... ] because one of my sisters had cut my hair short, that
brother tied my sister's hair to the key on the door. If something had
happened he beat us, kicks, just like that he was very strict. So we knew that
it is because girls need to be disciplined. [ ... ] After father died that brother
gave us protection. If we went out, mother or sisters can't follow us all the
time, so it's the brothers kept an eye on us. [ ... ] Most of the time we were
under that brother. Even today, though married, we have something like a
respect for him ... 1am telling you, still I am a bit scared of him. (Laughed)
(Rani, age 34, Hambantotaltranslated)

It seems Rani's situation is most common to girls who have elder brothers. Next

to the father brothers have most authority over girls. They keep watch on girls to
Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Gins are mothers and wives 78

see whether they behave well. They can beat girls if they 'do not behave well'.

One girl said she is not scared of her father but scared of her brothers because

they are strict and if her brothers were not in the area their friends spy on her for

them. When I was in Hambantota, I went with three teenage boys to see the

windmills erected as a pilot project to generate electricity and to collect some wild

berries growing abundantly around that area. While we walked we saw two girls

around nine years of age walking together. One girl was very fair and was

wearing a skirt slightly above her knees. It turned out that the other girl was one

of the boy's sisters. The boys were in front of me and I heard the brother saying

to the other boys 'Her (sisters friend's) character is not good and I have told her

not to associate with her. Wait till I get home.' This incident and the other

accounts of the interviewees' show how the brothers' keep control over girls'

lives. They are also watchful about how girls fulfil their domestic tasks. Taru,

(age 42, Badulla) recalled how her brothers used to check the bottom and inside

of the pots in which they kept water. The girls in the family were asked to clean

the pots and scrape the inside of the pots to keep them dirt free and if the pots

were dirty brothers scolded and hit the girls.

Brothers can also impose restrictions on girls. According to Priya (age 25,

Colombo), when they (she and the elder sister) wore a dress her mother used to

ask them to show it to the cousin brother,a (fathers sisters son). He would say 'it

8
The kinship tenninology of the Sinhalese is as following:
Seeya and Achchi (grand father, grandmother)
Amma and appachchi or tattha (mother, father)
Duwa and putha (daughter and son)
Leli and bana (daughter in law and son in law)
Akka and aiyya (elder sister and elder brother)
Nangi and malli (younger sister and younger brother)
Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 79

doesn't matter if it is another girl but this dress is not suitable for a sister and

good if it is a bit longer' at such times their mother asked them to wear trousers.

A very few interviewees said their brothers are like friends. Yet, brothers could

decide what they wear, where they go or with whom they socialise. None of them

said they could do the same to their brothers.

Although generally there are no overt signs of son preference and the Sinhala

community accepts that boys do better than girls it also seems that boys attract

more favourable attention in the family than girls.

Mother seems to favour my brother a lot. One thing is he is very bright. When
she praises us in front of someone she praises him a lot. When she gives
food he always gets the lion's share. Because there is a little comparison
between me and my brother, from the beginning I was not close to my mother
(Amali, age 25, Colombo/translated)

Her mother's attitude was that the brother studied well and went to the university

but she assumed Amali's A' level results would be not good even though she had

good results in her 0' levels. She gleefully reported her results were better than

her brother's was even though she did not study as hard as he did. According to

Amali this special attention and the comparison had an impact on her and it led to

her distancing herself from her mother. Priya's (age 25, Colombo) father died of

Minipiri and munupura (granddaughter and grandson)

Loku appachchi/loku tattha/mahappa (father's elder brother)
Bappa (father's younger brother)
Mama (mother's brothers.[loku mama-elder brotherl podi mama-younger brother])
Nanda (father's sisters [Ioku nanda-elder Sister, podi nanda-younger sister]
Loku amma (mother's elder sister)
Punchi amma (mother's younger sister)
Children of loku appachchi, bappa, loku amma and punchi amma are blood (parallel)
cousins and marriage between blood cousins is prohibited.
Children of nanda and mama are called Nena [female] and Massina [male]. They are
cross cousins and cross cousins are allowed to marry.
The common pradice among Sinhalese is addressing the blood cousins and cross
cousins by the same terms we use for sisters and brothers.
Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 80

cancer when she was seven months old. The grandmother who came to look

after them said they lost their father because they had sinned in a previous life.

Therefore, the girls should serve their brother. So she washed his clothes.

Whenever they had sweets they were given to the brother to share out. When

relatives brought gifts, the brother could choose first. Her sister was unhappy and

rebelled because she was older than the brother. Even the grandmother did not

always ask the eldest sister to serve the brother, because she was the eldest and

the brother too respected her as the eldest in the family. This is primarily due to

the respect for age as this chapter discusses later. However, Priya has always

been advised to serve the men in her family, with consequences, as can be seen

in a later chapter, for her marriage. According to Neetha (age 57, Colombo) boys

in her family were loved more than the girls. Special food was made for the boys.

She explained it by saying that the elder brother was born after the two girls and

the family was very happy to have a son. The girls did not dwell on the special

treatment afforded their brother. However the fact that she still remembers it (she

is 57 years old) suggests a lingering consciousness of the difference.

The research for this study shows that the role of the brother is also more or less

the same as the father. Brothers also have been seen as protectors and

providers. It is an accepted norm In Sri Lanka that older brothers should not

marry until the girls in the family are given away in marriage. In the family, it is

the brothers who keep surveillance on girls and they have an unquestioned

authority to beat or scold girls. Hence the girls learn to be obedient to the male

members in the family.

Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girts are mothers and wives 81

Gagnon and Simon (1974) state that females live in a homosocial world as do

males but it is a homosocial world composed both of adult women and peers who

primarily value the girl for her ultimate status as wife and mother. They further

state: lin this sense girl is prepared for heterosociality, if not for heterosexuality'

(Gagnon and Simon, 1974:56). In my view what they said about adolescents in a

western country in mid twentieth century is true of Sinhala society today. The

interviewees are closer to their mothers, sisters or aunts or grandmothers in the

family than to male members of the family. Hence I would like to argue the close

relations with female members of the family prepare Sinhala girls for

heterosociality later in their life and the advice they receive from adult females on

behaviour is what those women internalised themselves.

Our mother is very good. My friends also say she is good. That means [... ]
that I can tell her any problem, but some things [... ] I don't tell everything to
mother [... ] but I joke with mother and we are close like friends. (Upsara, age
18, Colombo/translated)

The majority of the interviewees stressed the closeness to their mothers. Only a

few women reported they are not close to their mother because she was stricter

than their father. The close relationship, it seems, stems from practicalities of

childcare. The mother is the person who inquires about their needs. Hence the

girls perceive that mother to be more attentive and approachable than the father.

Furthermore, it seems that that this differential intimacy is extended to the

mother's kin in preference for the father's. In other words, many interviewees

said they are more close to their maternal relations than to paternal relations.
Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girts are mothers and wives 82

However, most of them admitted that they do not tell everything to their mothers.

It seems that they are close to their mothers yet apart from them. The reason is

that mothers are the main advisers to the girls. The mother tells girls how to

behave inside and outside the home. Hence if the girls feel that what happens to

them in day-to-day life or their feelings differ from the expected behaviour, they

are reluctant to reveal their feelings and possibly face their mothers' disapproval.

Elder brother was not at home. Now, [ ... ] next to mother and father, elder
sister mostly acted as the head of the family. I think when small my other
sister and me grew up without doing anything wrong because we were more
scared of our sister than our mother or father. She acted like an elder.
(Seena, age 36,Colombo/translated)

In a typical Sinhalese family, the eldest sister has a more influential place than

younger sisters or brothers. The interviews show that if the eldest girl is

educated or an employee, her opinion is also respected in decision making. The

older interviewees who were the eldest in the family claimed they acted like

surrogate mothers. They took care of the home and younger siblings in the

absence of the mother. According to Kiran (age 22, Hambantota) their childhood

was spent at paternal grandparent's house because her parents worked away

from home. They suffered a lot because their aunts were cruel. Her elder sister

had to do a lot of domestic work and the aunts frequently beat her. Nevertheless,

she took care of the younger siblings to the best of her abilities. It seems that

this responsible role allocated to the eldest girl in the family has decreased in

recent years with increased emphasis on girls' education. However, many girls

cannot escape from domestic work completely. They still have to be domestic

helpers and more importantly they are also the prime advisors to younger girls in
Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 83

the family, hence they have to be an example to the younger siblings. An elder

sister is expected to conform. More often than not she follows the expected set

of behaviour in the family. However, she may have an influence over younger

brothers and earn their respect though she is not equal to her elder brothers.

Like the rest of the siblings she has to respect and be obedient to the elder

brothers.

My sister is quiet. She may be not as good as mother but she also is very
good and I can tell anything to her. She advises me a lot. Even if a boy asks
to have a love affair I tell my sister. Such things I don't tell my mother. My
sister helps the family even though she is married and separated from us.
Especially for my education (Disni, age 18, Colombo/translated).

While brothers provide protection, the elder sisters provide guidance and

examples of appropriate behaviour. The elder sisters are authoritative but not

authoritarian. They advise and take care of their sisters but the sisters have no

control over the girls' lives as their brothers do. However, sisters in general

provide more moral support than the other family members. Hence the girls are

closer to sisters than the other family members and they can talk about their

anxieties, hopes fears and day-to-day experiences with their sisters. It seems the

bond with the sister closest in age is stronger than with the eldest sister. This is

because as discussed the above, the elder sister also wins the respect of the

family as an elder brother or parents.

The data suggests that as a general rule, little girls soon recognise the

asymmetrical power relations in the family. The father is the head of the family

and next to him the brother is the most powerful figure. Women provide service
Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 84

to them. Men and boys have the power to police the behaviour of women in the

family, though mothers and elder sisters advise them on how to behave. Girls'

close influences in the family are their mothers, sisters, aunts and grandmothers.

It seems that the power relations in a Sinhala family are based on dynamics of

both gender and age. Though the gender difference is most strong, and has a

negative impact on women's place in the family, hierarchy of age, on the other

hand seems to have a positive impact on women. The older women earn respect

in the family and they have a considerable influence in family affairs.

Changes in the family and girls' situation

In Sri Lanka, family formation has undergone several changes due to economic

and social changes of the post independence period. As a result of the

imposition of monogamous marriage as the only legal 'civilised' form of marriage

polygamy has gradually disappeared and is socially not favoured anymore. Free

education increased the number of qualified people and access to job market.

Since the process of urbanisation is slow in Sri Lanka many kinds of job

opportunities are available only in the few highly urbanised areas and therefore

people have to migrate and settle in such areas. As a consequence the number

of married children who live away from their parental home is increasing. Some

married interviewees in Badulla and Hambantota said they first lived with the

husband's parents when they had children and found it difficult to share what

they earned with the rest of the family so they built their own home and left.
Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 85

Some interviewees said though they lived under the same roof, they cooked

separately. The households of interviewees in Colombo were mostly limited to

parents and two or three children. Another reason for this is that many young

people like to break away from parental ties and have their own life. However, it

does not mean their relationship with parents is completely severed. Many young

women go back to the family for the birth of their children and stay the first three

months at the parental home, which is an established tradition. It is quite

common for the mother of the wife to come and stay with the couple for a period

of time to take care of the young mother and the newborn. Couples with young

children very often get the help from mothers to take care of children while they

work since finding servants for domestic help is difficult and unaffordable for

some and also due to lack of childcare facilities.

The size of the family has also changed due to the implementation of successful

planning and propaganda on family planning by the successive governments.

Many families tend to have two or three children. Hence, the nuclear family is the

most preferred family for many Sri Lankans (Abeykoon, 1995). The average age

for marriage for females rose from 20.9 in 1950s to 23.5 in 1970s and steadily

went up in subsequent decades (Dallas Fernando: 1975).

As Asoka 8andarage points out:

Higher education, wage employment, urbanisation among other factors

have contributed to increasing the average age at marriage for women in
Sri Lanka. In 1991, the average age at marriage for women was 24.4 and
men 27.9. The late age at marriage in conjunction with wide spread
acceptance of family planning have brought down fertility levels over the
last few decades. At a total fertility rate 2.39 children per woman and a
population growth rate of 1.2% per year, Sri Lanka is considered a
demographic success story (Bandarage, 1998:8).
Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 86

However, it seems this change in the family formation did not have a large

influence on changing the role of girls in the family. In other words, the size of

the family does not lessen the girl's participation in domestic work. Today

parents do not ask young girls to drop out from school to be a substitute for the

mother. Yet, they have to learn the same domestic tasks the older interviewees

performed as little girls and the domestic tasks are still not evenly divided

between girls and boys.

In my understanding from the interviews girls have no ambiguity about their role

in the family in the future. They assume they are born to nurture families. It is

clear that the majority of women give priority to family life and being a mother.

Even the younger interviewees who aspire to higher education and a high profile

career are aware of the role assigned to a mother. Dilu (age 17, Colombo) is

such a girl who, when she talked about education, mentioned the fact that even

women who are not looking for higher education or a job have to be educated.

She said that as mothers such women should know how to take care of the

health of the family and bring up children properly because, if the world is a

cradle, the hand that rocks it is a woman.

Q: How do you find your life as a daughter?

A: Some times I am happy about being a daughter but sometimes I feel

sad about it. If being a boy there are no problems to a great extent. It is
not so if being a girl. There are problems and a girl is asked not to do this,
not to do that, don't follow this [ ... ] a boy is not get beaten at home. It is
not so for a girl and they get scolded and beaten (Geetha, age
15, Hambantotaltranslated)
Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 87

All the interviewees mentioned a set of restrictions, which will be discussed later

in this chapter, to which they are expected to conform. However, it does not

mean that boys have a free life either. The main restrictions on boys mentioned

by the interviewees were not to associate with bad friends and not to go out after

six o'clock in the evening. In contrast to that, there is a well-established set of

restrictions for girls, which has a huge impact on deciding girls' place at home

and making them obedient and docile. It is important to note here perhaps that

this obedience is not voluntary. If the girls do not follow the restrictions the elders

can punish them. Hence the threat of abuse is the underlying force that gains the

girls' obedience. Girls are aware that they can be verbally! physically abused if

they disobey. No evidence could be found in the interviews about resistance to

that authority when girls are small. The resistance emerges later in teenage

years in different forms. However, I argue the major impact of these different

restrictions that they inculcate in girls behaviour that is different from boys.

There is strong case to argue that when the girls start schooling at age five they

already have established that there is a difference between them and boys

through their relations in the family and already know they have to behave

differently from boys. The interviewees' reminiscences of the time in school show

that in all the schools across Sri Lanka, a set of rules to discipline children,

attitudes of teachers and, the taught curriculum generate the idea that girls are

different from boys not just biologically. Therefore they are treated and expected

to behave differently from boys.

Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 88

In school

According to a study carried out by Swarna Jayaweera, dropout studies on Sri

Lankan schools in general found that boys had a slightly higher rate of early

leaving than girls. Statistics show that at secondary level, especially at senior

secondary level, the participation rates of girls are higher than that of boys

(Jayaweera, 1990: 100). Needless to say as an institution of learning, school has

an important impact upon children. Children learn social values and norms as

well as formal subjects in school as an integral part of society. Hence this section

will explore the areas already mentioned to examine how they reinforce the

difference between Sinhala girls and boys.

Research on school and gender by western writers shows that the school

environment reinforces gender differences (Steedman, 1982; Davis, 1989;Archer,

1992; Thorne, 1993). According to a study done by Signorella and Liben (1987)

referred in Archer(1992), children are highly knowledgeable about activity

stereotypes by kindergarten (age 5-6), and about trait stereotypes by seven to

eight years of age and therefore there is little room left for variations in middle

childhood. The interviews carried for this study also clearly show that when girls

go to pre-school and to primary school they have already internalised

stereotyped gender roles and traits through their experience in the family, which

is reinforced at school.

Girls and boys don't sit together [ ... ] it is that [... ] I don't know why. We [ ... ]
but we don't sit together with boys [... ] sometimes [ ... ] maybe, otherwise
Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 89

we are very embarrassed. If boys are sitting on one side the girls are
sitting on the other side (Rasi, age 15, Badullaltranslated)

In Sri Lanka, there are two systems of schools; single sex and mixed sex schools

and girls and boys have to sit separately in mixed schools. Some interviewees

said they sat together with boys up to year two (age six) and then they had

separate rows for girls and boys. Hence the school promotes gender

segregation and it reinforces the idea that girls should keep themselves away

from the boys.

A: When I was very small [ ... ] at the time I did not understand things I
played with boys. But later when I started understanding things, kept the
boys away, didn't like to get them near me even. Earlier there was a
danCing [ ... ]
When we were small a dance was taught to us at school. For that we had
to hold hands with the boys, so we took a small stick with us. And never
hold the hands of the boys and gave them the stick to hold if had to hold
hands with them.

Q: Why didn't you let them to hold hands?

A: Don't know (laughs) maybe because embarrassed when I was small or

otherwise because didn't like it. Any way at that time [ ... ] boys are not [ ... ]
we were not in an age of understanding when we were at four, five, six,
seven grades (Rosha, age 16, Badu/laltranslated).

The girls find it embarrassing to interact with boys at the grades mentioned by

Rosha. Many interviewees said they played and talked with boys when they

were very little and later they started to play and chat separately. In school,

primary teachers seemed to be encouraging them not to mix. According to

(Hansi, age 41, Hambantota) children were not allowed to do things together.

Once they played with the boys and the principal had beaten them. Nimmi (age

20, Badulla) said the principal in her school sees interactions of boys and girls in

a strange way. She does not like girls talking to boys.

Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 90

Kiran (age 22, Hambantota) said they had separate classes for boys and girls

until year nine. This was changed when a monk was appointed as the principal.

His opinion was having separate classes for girls and boys were not good to

develop friendly relations. As a result of having separate classes she said the

girls did not speak to boys at all until they were in year eleven.

Many schools in highly urban areas are single sex schools and the interviewees

from such schools said the schools very strongly opposed socialising with boys.

There are very few male teachers in girls' schools and boys are not allowed to

come into the school.

Yes, we were subjected to very [... ] now if there was the prefect's day or
something like that held, boys and girls are totally separated in the school
[... ] That is the nature of our school. That school treats boys as another
species of animals (Priya, age 25, Colombo/translated).

Deesha (age 16, Colombo) another interviewee said once they had a fair at the

school and a banner was put up declaring it was a girls-only fair. Fathers were

allowed to come but brothers were not allowed. According to Dilu (age 17,

Colombo), she studied in both mixed and single sexed schools and the advice on

behaviour was extremely different in the two schools. In her own words, at the

girl's school, speaking to a boy was considered as a great crime and was like a

disaster. She was involved in a project on AIDS and she had difficulties in talking

to boys to get information. Another friend of hers had problems because she was

seen in a shop with her father and brother. Hence, in girls' schools interaction

with boys in or outside the school is highly discouraged.

Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 91

The majority of the primary school teachers are women and their attitude on

behaviour has a big influence on children. Many interviewees said that teachers

encouraged them not to talk with boys. Research done by Gaya de Mel (1994)

pOints out that the responses of the teachers indicates that they promote gender

differences in schools because they have been socialised the same way. Her

findings are important because they show the ambivalence of women in a society

where opportunities are available but at the same time constrained by the social

values and norms. According to de Mel, the majority of the primary school

teachers accept equality of sexes and reject sex stereotypes. However, they

accept the superior status of males in the field of employment and on family

relations they are less liberal in rejecting sex stereotypes9 . A minority of teachers

in her research sample did not reject sex stereotypes and did not accept the

equality of sexes. Another study done by de Mel (1996) shows that the majority

of the female teachers prefer boys as leaders. Hence it is clear that the attitudes

of the teachers promotes and preserve the beliefs and values of the community

at school.

The school curriculum also promotes and reinforces gender differences. Asoka

Jayasena (1991) concludes that the examples presented in text books illustrate

the process of cultural and social reproduction through text books and the

portrayal of women in school textbooks continues to be depressing. She has

examples to show that the textbooks give students a clear demarcation of the

9 This is an important phenomenon represented in the interviews done for my study

too. Though women are in favour of having equal access to public spheres, many
accept sex stereotypes. In the fourth chapter I argue that this was a result of the
invention of tradition in the late nineteenth and twentieth century.
Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 92

roles assigned to men and women. In both Sinhala and English text books there

are lessons and illustrations indicating that girls and women perform household

work while men go out to work. Also in lessons for various grades while

occupations such as nurses, teachers, and weavers are assigned to girls, jobs

such as planters, astronauts, postmen, and cricket players are assigned to boys.

The text books also promote the ideas such as women are beautiful, feminine,

deceitful and easily get frightened while men are masculine, bold and intelligent

(lbid.:5-17).

Thus the experience of the interviewees, and the research already done on

schools suggests that the school in Sri Lanka promotes and reinforces gender

differences in society. The little girl's experience of being different from boys,

which begins at home, is confirmed in the next social institution they encounter,

school. This has an impact on future life of the girls. Girls who studied in girls'

schools said it was more difficult for them to interact with boys in the university

than for the girls from mixed schools. They said it would have been better if they

had chances to mix with the boys. The girls from mixed schools said they do not

find interacting with men very strange because they were with the boys in school.

The consequence of not mixing with boys is that young girls feel embarrassed

when they have to play or work together with boys because they feel that boys

are different species. This creates barriers and makes it difficult for women to

interact freely later in life.

Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 93

However, for many interviewees their happiest time in life was the time at school.

According to them school was a happy joyful place. Though they were subjected

to discipline, in school they could make friends of their own sex and interact freely

with them. For many interviewees forming friendship with other girls was

important because they could confide in their best friends. In that sense it seems

it is correct to assume that school provides a sense of independence and

freedom though there are restrictions.

It seems that the little girl's world has had only two major spaces. That is home

and the school. The school is the major place they could meet and interact with

people other than family members and relations. The girls from very rich families

in Colombo talked about going to parties, swimming clubs, dances etc. However,

that is not the case with the majority of Sinhala girls. As shown earlier, there are

restrictions on girls' behaviour in schools too. One interviewee said their

teachers told them boys are beUer than the girls because boys do not shout like

girls. Whenever girls flouted rules they were reprimanded. Hence both worlds

remind her constantly of her place in society in general.

The world outside the family

I have to keep my problems inside me and have no one to talk to about

the problems I have. My family doesn't like me mixing with friends. Not
only friends can't mix with anyone. And my family doesn't like even
sending letters to my friends. Because of that I live like a prisoner
(Ruwini,age 26, Hambantota/translated).
Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives

Ruwini said she was discouraged from making friends from her childhood. Her

case may seem an extreme situation because the majority of the interviewees

talked about their friends and some childhood friendships with other girls that

continued into adult life. Nevertheless, according to all the interviewees,

interactions outside the family (immediate family and the kin), especially with

males, were highly discouraged. When they were little girls they were told to

study instead of playing outside. Some were beaten for playing instead of

studying. This does not mean that they did not play at all. Nevertheless, they

were encouraged to play with their own siblings rather than with children from the

neighbourhood. The interviewees said they were not barred from playing with

boys, however, when asked who the boys were, many interviewees revealed that

the boys they played with were either their cousins or children of other relatives.

The reason for not playing with boys other than relatives is that they were

advised by the elders not to talk with boys.

Children were very often advised not to associate with 'bad' children. When

asked what the parents meant by 'bad children' it came up that children

belonging to low castes or children not from their own social circle were regarded

as bad. Therefore other than gender difference, interactions with children outside

the family are controlled by the caste and class dimension too.

Going out is also not encouraged by the family. As one interviewee summed up,

it is to school from home and then to home from school. Except in urban areas,

there are no children's parks or play spaces to entertain children. According to

Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 95

many interviewees they have been scolded or beaten for going to neighbouring

houses to play. The girls who have brothers said the brothers had few

restrictions on going out or playing outside. Brothers could play outside all day

long and in villages they could roam around. The only restrictions they had, as

mentioned before, was the night curfew and not associating with Ibad children'.

This suggests that a girl's experience in the family and interactions with outside of

it is different from that of the boys. Hence in their growing up years girls leam

that they have a different place in the family and society and they are expected to

behave according to that place. This difference is clearly marked by the set of

restrictions that are exclusive to girls within the Sinhala community and the

interviewees identify them as Isampradaya' (tradition) and part of lape

sanskrutiya' (our culture). I argue that the foundation of these restrictions is the

perceived sexual vulnerability of Sinhala women. These restrictions are the

primary tools that police the behaviour of girls, the aim which is to turn girls into

obedient, modest, chaste and virtuous women, control their sexuality and is

therefore instrumental in constructing their gender identity. Hence the next

section will examine what the restrictions are and how they influence girls.

Culture

As a daughter? A daughter has more problems than a son. Influences [ ... ]

a daughter has to [ ... ] more than a son [ ... ] mm. [ ... ] At home [ ... ] now, a
son can do anything. A daughter is not allowed to do everything like that
(Kiran, age 22, Hambantota/translated)
Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 96

This was Kiran's reply for my question 'how is your life as a daughter?' The

interviewees talked about a considerable number of restrictions they have been

asked to follow as girls. Among them the most prominent restriction is on talking

or having love affairs with boys1o. Girls have been told not to talk to boys more

than necessary. They were told not to talk or laugh loud, to sit properly and

adjust the dress before sitting down, and not to run. They were not allowed to go

out late in the evening especially after six o'clock, go out alone or go out without

the permisSion of an elder. Some said they were not allowed to drape a sarong

when bathing11. They were encouraged to study rather than to play. They were

not allowed to go out with their girl friends to see a film, a drama or on a trip. If

girls want to go to see a film either they have to go with the family or with a

brother. Most of their outings were either school trips, trips with parents and

relatives or visiting relations. Very often, the girls were not encouraged to spend

a night out of home, even with close relatives. Strict restrictions are placed on

dressing or undressing in an open area. Girls cannot decide on the way they

dress. They have to listen to parents, brothers and wear what is acceptable to

society. In general, applying makeup, having long nails or short hair is not

approved. The girls can wear anything when they are very small, up to age five,

but they have to follow the restrictions as they grow up. The dress code becomes

especially prominent after puberty.

10 The interviewees used the English word affair when talking about their past or
present relationships with boyfriends. In Sri Lanka, having a love affair is somewhat
different from the West. Most of the time people speculate that the affair would end
up in marriage. An affair may be more intimate and sexual or it may be limited to
holding hands kissing if the couple have a chance to meet freely or it may be limited
to writing letters only. Having several love affairs is considered as bad and if a girl
has had several love affairs before marriage, she is seen as having a bad character.

11 The sarong is men's cloth. Some believe if a gin wore a sarong, she might conceive.
Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 97

The restrictions are also connected with the nambuwa (honour) of parents and

the family. According to Amila (age 28, Hambantota) her mother always told the

girls they should behave like girls and save the respect of the parents. A girl who

does not behave according to the restrictions is considered as a shameless girl

and would bring social humiliation to the family. Gaya (age 73, Colombo) an

elderly interviewee from a traditional aristocratic family said they used to run on

the hills and play around when they went for holidays in their ancestral home, but

said in an amusing tone, that her Grandmother always cautioned the girls 'Genu

lamai wikunanna tiyena badu', girls are just goods that had to be sold, therefore

must be flawless. In other words, telling the girls' that their character must be

perfect. The underlying message is that girls have to be careful not to lose their

virginity and femininity.

It seems the girls internalise the idea that unlike the boys, girls always tend to do

wrong. Therefore they are given strict guidelines to follow in order to be socially

accepted. It was clear that during the interviews, interviewees strongly feared

that they might be seen as bad characters. When questioned whether they

received any advice on how to behave as a girl or whether they had any

restrictions, many of the interviewees said no and reported there was no need

because their parents and teachers knew they were good and wouldn't do

anything wrong. What the interviewees meant by 'good' was that they did not

have intimate relationships with boys, and that they were obedient and listened to

the parents and teachers. However, when asked about how they dressed or
Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 98

whether they went out with friends they said they did not do this or that because

the girls have been told not to or because they have sensed their familylfatherl

brother would not like it. This shows that what interviewees believe about such

restrictions is contradicted by their actual situation as it exists. My data suggests

that while talking generalities women did/do not realise restrictions which they

have internalised as part of the Sinhala 'tradition and culture.' However, when

they constructed more specific memories restrictions had been mentioned.

Therefore, I would like to argue that the socialisation process for girls in and

outside the family is different from that of the boys and therefore, as they mature

girls already assume that they have been assigned a different role in society and

the family.

Really [ ... ] now, we are women no? When being girls [... ] especially a girl
should know everything about working in the kitchen (Sumi, age 41,
Badulla/translated).

One of the most quoted proverbs in Sri Lanka is that a 'woman's luck is in a

corner of the kitchen.' As is common in many societies, it is an accepted fact that

women's primary role is managing domestic work. Hence little girls are not

excluded from domestic tasks. They have to help with cleaning, drawing water,

helping with cooking and sometimes taking care of younger siblings. However, if

the parents do not earn enough money girls have to be economically productive

too. Especially in rural areas many girls help with farming and if not they take

care of domestic work and allow the mother to spend more time on farming.

According to Saman (age 39, Colombo), she was born as the eldest to a family of
 ~' . ,

Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 99

seven children. Her mother had to pluck tea on a nearby estate when the father

alone couldn't maintain the family. She cried when she recalled the memory and

said she felt very sad because her mother is fair, thin, and with long hair, a very

beautiful small made woman. Her mother used to wear long gowns but she had

to wear redda (a cloth women drape around hips) and hatte (blouse) to go to

work. Along with studies she did domestic work, marketing and took care of

siblings. During the weekends she visited her grandparents to gather gotuko/a

leaves (a green leaf eaten as a salad). She tied them into small bundles and

sold them to the women who trade in the nearby fair. She continued helping her

family even after she got married and left parental house. It is believed that

women have traditional duties to raise children and take care of domestic work as

mothers and caring for the family and elders is their prime duty.

The interactions outside the family centred on fear and shame. While the men in

the family are seen as protectors, men outside the family are seen as dangerous.

However, the little girls are not informed why they should not talk to strangers or

boys. Instead of explaining why it is simply demanded of girls that they restrict

their behaviour. The restrictions are similar in many ways in all three areas

where the research has been done. However, there are differences too. Almost

all the interviewees from Badulla said they had been told not to speak to

strangers or boys. The women from Colombo reported that they had been asked

not to have affairs 12 but they were allowed to talk with boys. Some were able to

invite boys to their homes as friends. There was a mixed response from the

12 I am using the same word used by the interviewees.

.. _-------
Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 100

interviewees from Hambantota. Some said they could socialise with boys and

some said they were not allowed to.

When reading the narratives of interviewees, what emerges is the underlying

belief that the factors that discussed are in society as a part of Sinhala cultural

traditions and values to safeguard women. Hence it is important to understand

the image/s of woman in Sinhala culture. Within Sinhala culture, the social

acceptance of women is based on 'Jajja' (shame) and 'baya' (fear). Women who

do anything socially unacceptable will be shamed and therefore they face the

fear of being ridiculed. According to Hansi (age 41, Hambantota), her father

always told them as girls they should have shame and fear in them and it is the

dowry of girls. Very often interviewees mentioned that their parents asked them

'samajayen katandara ahannna epa. Apita /ajja karanna epa' (don't let SOCiety

spread stories about you and shame us (the family).) Another indication directly

related to shame and fear is protecting virginity. The girl who loses virginity

before marriage is seen as a woman without fear and shame. Secondly, the

culture asserts women are the prime socialisers with children because it is they

who spend most of the time with children. Therefore it is their duty to teach the

cultural values and traditions to the next generation. Thirdly, women are the

symbol of culture. It is mainly through women that the Sinhala Buddhist national

identity is manifested as will be shown in the following chapters. Even though

women live in an modern era, their access to modernisation is limited because of

the constructed identity of the 'Sinhala woman'. Hence unlike men, women have

to shape themselves in fear and shame.

Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 101

Sasanka Perera (1997) claims that 'Sinhala women are merely a repository for

cultural knowledge and practices formulated by men'. He refers this situation to

the fact that women are prime socialisers and 'cultural archives' of the society.

Hence they are not perceived as initiators or creators of culture and not

supposed to think but to carry out what tradition has prescribed for them.

Sasanka Perera points out a number of important notions he finds as dominant

among Sinhalese as the perceived culturally appropriate patterns of behaviour for

women. Firstly, what women should attempt to achieve is their 'correct place' in

society, and not equal status with men. Secondly, demanding equal status is not

acceptable in terms of Sinhala cultural values. It also seen as an impossibility

because of women's physical and psychological differences. Many of the

problems the Sinhala society currently face and the cultural deterioration that has

occurred have been blamed on women because of their failure, particularly as

mothers, to perform traditional duties due to their Westernisation. It is clear that

these notions are connected with preserving and implementing the traditional and

cultural values both in and outside the home. The general belief is that those

traditions and values embedded in Sinhala culture for thousands of years have

helped to shape the behaviour of Sinhala women.

Conclusion

The interviewees had mixed feelings about their childhood. Many interviewees

very clearly remembered the sufferings of their childhood. Economic hardships

were the major causes of suffering for many of them. As a result of parents not
Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 102

having a steady income and being a member of a large family, some of these

girls had to earn money to support the family. Others have suffered from deaths

in the family or being separated from the family. Many of the young interviewees

said they were not happy because of the restrictions they faced. Some said life

was good because they listen to parents and are obedient and as a result do not

have to suffer. Nevertheless, the important fact is that almost all the interviewees

reported their childhood was more carefree and happy when compared to their

life as married women or life after puberty. I argue that the reason for this is that

though girls learn the restrictions in their childhood, they neither realise nor do

they try to interpret the actual implications of these controls and therefore they do

not feel constrained by them until after puberty because it is after puberty that

these restrictions become meaningful.

The stories of the interviewees clearly suggest that girls learn to behave and

interact differently from boys within and outside the family. In interactions within

the family, school and elsewhere, the notion of male superiority and male

domination is instilled in girls' minds. Girls internalise that they are secondary to

men, which is justified by the community by assigning a 'cultural role' for women.

Hence traditions and culture playa strong role in determining women's role,

which strengthens the gender differences within the Sinhala community.

Through observation and verbal information, girls intemalise that they have a

specific role assigned in the 'culture' and it is their duty to protect 'culture' by

behaving according to 'traditions'. The data for this study points out that this

cultural role is based on two main themes, namely, vulnerability of the female
Chapter Two: Boys are boys, Girls are mothers and wives 103

gender and honour of the family. However, the data also suggests that there are

other factors that influence the girls' experience of being female. The most

prominent fact is class differences and, urban/rural difference and regional

differences emerging as the other factors that are influential. However, my data

also pOints out that though the process of becoming female is neither unified nor

universal for Sinhala girls, their intemalisation of the importance of behaving

according to Itraditions' and Iculture' transcends all other boundaries. Hence the

sueceeding chapters will explore how image and actuality of Sinhala women's

lives are shaped within a framework where politics, the economy and society

change over time and vary from one context to another.

Chapter Three: Being a 'Big girt' 104

Chapter Three

Being a 'Big girl'

One of the most striking features of the data is interviewees' memories of

attaining puberty and the ceremony which marks it. From the older

interviewees to the youngest, women remembered how they felt upon

discovering bloodstains and what happened afterwards. This clearly

shows that attaining puberty was one of the very important events in

Sinhala women's lives. It is also important to note that within the Sinhala

community, male puberty does not have the same social importance as

female puberty. This is probably due to the fact there are not such 'visible

signs' of male puberty, as they do not menstruate. Hence men are

regarded as pure. Many western writers state puberty is a transitional

period for adolescence (Van Gennep, 1960; Gagnon and Simon

1974;Gross,2001). As Gross (2001) points out, many writers of today

describe it as one of multiple transitions teenagers experience at this age.

In the case of the Sinhalese it is important to question why the puberty of

females has such an important place in the community if puberty is a

transitional period for both sexes.

However, in many non- western countries 13 attaining puberty is a turning

point in females' life cycle and rites, rituals and ceremonies mark it.

According to Lalitha Karalliadde Witanachchi, (1999) the event of attaining

13 See: Bemba of Zambia: Richards (1956); Rauto and Saniyo-Hiyowe in New Guinea,
Zogari in Manan Island: Lutkehaus and Roscoe (eds) (1995).
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big girl' 105

puberty is of major significance in a girl's life and is second in importance

only to her marriage. As this chapter later shows the ceremonial practices

vary among the community.14

However, there are some practices which are central to the ceremony

today. Firstly, when a girl attains puberty an astrologer is consulted. He

takes into consideration day, the age of the girl and place of occurrence to

predict whether her future is going to be fortunate or not and what

influence she will have on the fortunes of the family members, especially

on the father. Secondly, he will give a date for and time for the ceremonial

bath of the girl. Thirdly, the girl will be kept in a secluded place until the

bath with another woman as a companion and no male is allowed to see

her. Fourthly, a washerwoman will be called to supply the clean linen for

the girl while she is confined. Fifthly, the girl will be taken outside and

given a ceremonial bath under a milky sap tree or a citrus tree and usually

the washerwoman does the bathing. After the bath the girl is covered by a

clean white sheet from head to toe and led into the house. Sixthly, the girl

14 According to her there is a book titled as Kotahalu Puwata (story of puberty), which
contains many details of the story of origins of the puberty ceremony. The Hugh
Nevill Collection of Sinhalese Manuscripts (Folklore Texts and Notes, Sinhlese and
Englsih Manuscripts, Oriental, the British library) contains several different
documents of Kotahalu upata either on Palm-leaf or as hand written texts. The story
was of a mythical origin and handed down in oral tradition for a long time. As the
author of the catalogue of Hugh Nevill Collection, K. D. Somadasa clearly points out,
the story was modified with the changing time. It is very clear that the various
versions of the story do not feature some of the modern day practices. These
versions do not mention concealing the woman from men's view and only say a hut
was erected for her to perform the ceremony. Some versions say foster mothers
guarded the woman (queen). It is interesting to note here that there are different
versions on purification too. However, it is clear that the practice of today, bathing the
woman was not mentioned in the stories as an important ritual. In some stories, the
ceremony seems to be more concerned with the purification of the celestial robe
mentioned in the story, which was dirtied by the bloodstains.
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big girl' 106

girl is led into a room with a clay vessel filled with clean water, where she

throws back the cloth and looks in the water and sees her image as a

woman for the first time since confinement (while in seclusion, the girls are

not allowed to look in the mirror). Sometimes girls are made to look at a

Jak tree full of fruits and the belief is they would not be barren. Winslow

(1980) mentions that in one of the ceremonies she observed the girl was

asked to comb her hair and look in the mirror. Finally, the girl emerges

from the room dressed with new clothes and jewellery and makes an act of

reverence to parents and all the elders at present. Then a feast will take

place and all the guests will bring a present to the girl.

The evidence suggests that such ceremonies are very important because

they contain significant social meanings and values. According to Van

Gennep (1960), rituals of puberty are a process of initiation, separation

and incorporation, i.e. a rite of passage. He points out that even though

such rites have a sexual nature they are rites of separation from the

asexual world, (childhood ~ adulthood) and they are followed by rites of

incorporation into the world of sexuality and, in societies and social

groups, into a group confined to persons of one sex or the other. Hence

he argues that physiological puberty and 'social puberty' are essentially

different and only rarely converge. The first chapter identified how girls

find they are different from boys and, as mentioned in that chapter, when

attaining puberty girls realise why such a difference exists as they come to

realise the attached meanings to the expected social cultural behaviour of

Chapter Three: Being a 'Big gir1' 107

women. Therefore, the main argument in this chapter is though the

ceremony of puberty marks a new stage in Sinhala girls' lives, the

ceremony is not a unique event but a small part in the whole process of

the transition of girls into women and determining their gendered identity.

Therefore, bearing in mind the importance of transition, initiation,

separation and incorporation, this chapter analyses the social meanings of

attaining puberty in Sri Lanka and how social meanings continue to

influence and reinforce gender differences.

According to Lutkehaus (1995) early anthropological studies on female

puberty rituals ignored the importance of examining them from an

individual point of view (or women's point of view) and looked for broader

structural understandings. As the main attempt of this thesis is to explore

women's lives from women's point of view, this chapter will examine the

process of attaining puberty and the ceremony of puberty in Sinhala

community, centred on women. First of all, it will discuss the different

interpretations of the ceremony and rites and rituals of the ceremony of

puberty in order to understand why the views of certain writers differ from

mine. To show that the rituals and the rites are not unique, and vary from

region to region to I will look at the different information provided by the

interviewees. Finally, the chapter will discuss the experience of

interviewees and how they faced the transition followed by an analysis to

discover whether the meanings have changed along with changing time

and structure.
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big gir1' 108

Different anthropological interpretations

Anthropologists have observed the ceremony of puberty among Sri Lankans and

provide different interpretations of the ceremony (Yalman: 1963; Winslow: 1980;

Good: 1982). It seems that anthropological studies on the ceremony of puberty

in Sri Lanka are centred on the ceremony itself and its impact on broader social

structures. In other words, even though they refer to the status of women, all

these studies examine the ceremony of puberty in relation to social structures

such as caste, religion or marriage. Because these studies concentrated on

these structures they tend not to examine the social conditions that precede and

succeed the ceremony as they impact on the girls at the centre of the ceremony.

As stated earlier, in my view, the ceremony is part of a continuous process of the

cultural construction of the Sinhala woman and needs to be examined from a

different pOint of view.

Yalman (1963) states that the main issue is the way in which ceremonies centre

around female sexuality while male sexuality is not necessarily ritualised.

However, he uses this to say the aim of the ceremony of puberty is to protect

female purity because it was fundamental to the caste system in Sri Lanka and

Malabar as the purity of caste was protected by filiation of the mother. He

justifies his argument by pointing to the custom that women were strictly not

allowed to have a sexual relationship with a low caste man while men were

allowed to have sex with low caste women. He concludes that the reason for this

is that purity of caste is protected through women. If a woman slept with a low
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big girl' 109

caste man she would be chased out of the varige (caste) and become a low

caste woman. However, Winslow argues that when the focus is wider (including

Muslims who do not have a caste system), the ritualisation of puberty and

bilateral caste filiation do not inevitably go together (Winslow, 1980:603-04).

From the accounts of interviewees it is clear that marrying a member of a lower

caste is still regarded as bad among some Sri Lankans, especially among some

people in (up country) rural areas. However, the life histories collected for this

study also show it is a custom that the Sinhala community does not strictly

adhere to. For example, Amali, age 25, Colombo) said she had to stop her first

relationship with a boy because his mother objected on the matter of caste. She

said differences in caste did not cause problems in her current relationship. The

question I want to raise here is if the ceremony of puberty is connected with the

idea of purity of caste, why the ceremony has not disappeared with the

decreasing attention on caste in Sinhala society today as mentioned in Chapter

One.

Yalman also raises an important question in his essay.

But is this all we can say about the ceremony? Why is it that the
puberty of women should be of such absorbing interest to make it a
festive public occasion, feasts etc; when there is almost nothing for
boys. Certainly not connected with their sexuality? When put the
question into my Sinhalese villagers, they were surprised by my
naIvete. Obviously, the girl starts bleeding and is polluted; how can
you know what happens to a boy? When further pressed they would
say that the rite has two related purposes. I) It protects the fecundity of
the womb of the woman. 2) This is necessary since the honour and
respectability of men is protected and preserved through their women.
(Yalman, 1963:32. Emphasis mine.)
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big gir1' 110

Because of his interest in the caste dimension, it seems Yalman did not

venture further more than raising the question. It is important to pOint out

that he questioned men and not women. The people whom he questioned

talked about men's honour and respectability but not caste. It is also

important to emphasise as this study will show later, that Yalman carried

his research in Sri Lanka from 1954 to 1956, at a time when a woman's

chastity, purity and modesty was promoted as national honour as well as

family honour. Thus it is not a surprise that men would say that the

ceremony is connected with honour and respectability of men.

In footnotes he tried to translate the Sinhala version into English thus:

Genu Lamainge utsava(magul) vadiyan tienni genu paksayan

Female child ritual more have female side

gotraya
line

Nambu rakini nisa Pirimi ko tena giyot pirimi

Respect safeguard because male wherever place if gone male

genu lamainge gatiguni naraka venavanang serama

female child character-body polluted if become entire

kattiyata leccai
to the family shame.

If translated into English as a whole it means: 'there are more festivals

(rituals) for girls because (the) respect of (the) community (line) (is)

safeguarded (through) womankind (genu paksayen). "Wherever (we) go

men are men. (If) the character of girls become corrupted/bad it is a

11

shame for everybody.' (Translation and Emphasis is mine)

Chapter Three: Being a 'Big gin' 111

My translation suggests that some of the Sinhala words he has used put

particular constructs which are misleading. The word 'naraka' means bad

or not good, and the Sinhala term for pollution is 'killa' or 'apirisidu'

(unclean). The term'kattiya' does not necessarily mean the family and the

nearest English terms for that is group or everybody. Therefore 'kattiya'

can be referred to as the community or a group and the Sinhala term for

Family is 'pavu/a'. Hence it is not clear whether the men he spoke to

talked about the honour of family or honour of community or both.

However, it is clear that Yalman did not examine the assumption

underlying his informants' accounts: that men can go wherever they want

and they can do whatever they want but it does not affect their status as

men. Women cannot go wherever they want or do whatever they want

because their status is not the same as men's status within the

community.

Winslow (1980) did her field research from 1973 to 1976 and attempted to

examine the connection between religion and the ceremony and studied

the puberty ceremonies among Sinhala Buddhists and Catholics and the

Muslim community. She recognises that one major similarity between the

three sets of rituals is the way that the physical commencement of

menstruation is used to mark a major change in female social status. She

acknowledges that the ceremonial practices are different according to

different religions. So that, for example, within the Sinhala speaking

Chapter Three: Being a 'Big gir1' 112

community, Buddhists and Catholics have different practices. She says

that there are different practices due to the fact that girls go through the

ceremony of puberty as individuals and not as members of a social set in

contrast to some other cultures. What she meant by this it seems, is that

there is not a collective ceremony for all the girls who attain puberty in the

same area. Furthermore, she says that a collective ceremony is absent

may be due to another common feature, that the menstruation rituals are

the concern of the immediate kin group rather than of the village as a

whole. It seems that she comes to this conclusion through observing two

ceremonies of Buddhist families that were different from each other. One

family had a low-key ceremony and the other family had a more elaborate

ceremony and a big feast. As she noted, this may be basically due to the

wealth of the family. Families who could not afford a big ceremony have a

'quiet' ceremony with immediate kith and kin but families who could afford

it usually have a big feast after performing the rituals.

Winslow states: 'In sum, the three rituals are all concerned with structural

transition, with protecting the health of the girl, with warding off demonic forces,

and with the girl's new status as marriageable female' (Ibid: 58). What she meant

by the three rituals is actually the three ceremonies she observed in families of

three different religions. Nevertheless she observes that:

Similarly during the transition period the girl is carefully and auspiciously
led through the details of the required behaviour of women. She must
change from being at ease with men to circumspect and modest. This
appears as an exaggerated avoidance of men during the transition
(Winslow, 1980:614).
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big gir1' 113

With that statement she concludes that 'the Sri Lankan rituals also confirm and

legitimate the relevance of adult behavioural norms for the girl, further to ensure

her an auspicious future' (lbid.614). She also rightly identifies that category of

'woman' is different in three religious traditions.

Though she mentions that rituals are about women and the specific nature of

femaleness affects the meaning of ritual, in her aim of trying to identify the

ceremony with regard to religion she does not concentrate on the impact of the

ceremony on strengthening gender differences. According to her:

Differences appear in different emphasis. All three variants are concerned

with restoring ritual cleanliness, with providing protection from potential
dangers, and with defining and proclaiming adult female social status. But
the Buddhist version emphasises the first concern in accord with a
tradition that portrays fertile women as potent and dangerous (Winslow,
1980:620)

However, she does not explore why women are seen as 'potent and dangerous'.

Furthermore, though girls go through the ceremony as individuals and it is not a

collective ceremony, as in some other cultures, it is subjected to the public

interest. As will be shown in this chapter, though girls have individual

ceremonies, attaining puberty has a strong, shared social dimension. According

to my interviewees the community participates in the feast without an invitation

and everybody gives the girl either money or a present. When the girl goes to

school she takes sweetmeats for classmates and teachers. Thus the girls

themselves announce their new status publicly.

Anthony Good (1982), another anthropologist concludes:

Chapter Three: Being a 'Big girl' 114

As the exo-orientation increases, in other words as the ritual cycle _

and particularly its first stage, the "puberty rite" - comes to put more
emphasis upon resolution of the girl's status vis-a-vis her marital
relatives, this should entail a greater, more precisely defined (in
genealogical terms) affinal role in the puberty rite. This should be
associated with more pronounced patrilineality, a greater stress upon
the giving of dowry, and an increasing tendency for post marital
residence to be patri-virilocal (Good, 1982:53).

Good describes female puberty rites in South India and Sri Lanka as one

stage of affinitive oriented cycle:

puberty Husband's
rite wedding birth ritual funeral
Girl _ _ _--..Woman _ _ _--...Wife _ _ _ _... Mother _ _ _ _~.Widow

According to him this works to control and legitimate female sexuality in

order to keep purity of women. He argues that aI/ the practices (in South

India and Sri Lanka) are concomitants of the caste system, and operate to

maintain unambiguous caste identity (Ibid: 54).

Though he has done an extensive research on female puberty ceremonies

in South India, which are similar to Sinhala rites only in a few ways, his

account of Sinhalese puberty rites and marriage relies heavily on studies

of other anthropologists such as Yalman and Leach. His model may work

in the Southern Indian context but not in the Sri Lankan context because

of some changes which I will discuss later in this chapter.

Yalman's essay (1963) emphasises the ideas of the new status of the girl,

warding off demonic influences whilst she is in seclusion and being marriageable.

However, some of the rituals and rites he discussed in his papers have
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big gir1' 115

disappeared today. Even the older interviewees did not mention the rituals

Yalman mentioned in his study, for example during seclusion putting all the girl's

polluted clothes, urine, menstrual blood and faeces into a cooking pot and after

the ceremonial bath the washerwoman breaking the pot filled with pollution

against a milky sap tree and so removing the danger from demons. He links his

interpretations of some of these vanished practices to their symbolic meanings.

According to him, girls were either kept alone during the confinement or only an

old grandmother was allowed to be with her and he states that grandmothers

were allowed to be with the girl because they were no longer fertile and beyond

danger. He mentions keeping a rice pounder in her room and according to him it

was an overt phallic symbol. The girl is bathed in milk and it symbolises the

purifying the girl. He also mentions that the maternal uncle unveiled the girl when

she reappeared (a ritual that has now vanished) and says this showed the rights

of the maternal uncle as the father of her cross cousin, who has the right to marry

the girl. He also states that the future marriage is often arranged at this time.

Another practice that vanished from the ceremony of puberty today is the role of

the washerman. Yalman says a washerman was also summoned along with the

washerwoman; he decorated the house and purified the polluted clothes.

Yalman also says that the members of the family must not see the girl when she

was taken away for the ceremonial bath but he does not mention that males

should not see the girl until after the ceremonial bath. Other residents of the girl's

house were also regarded as polluted and had to avoid auspicious objects and

acts. Apart from maternal uncle, astrologer and washerman, Yalman also

mentions that the Kapura/a (temple priests) made the girl gaze into the water
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big girt' 116

after the ceremonial bath. After the ceremonial bath the house was cleansed by

applying cow dung and sprinkling turmeric water.

However, none of these is practised in Sri Lanka today. It is difficult to say,

without evidence, how, when and why they disappeared but it could be due to the

progress in health and education and due to diminishing role of the

washerwoman as the centre figure of performing the rituals. Today many houses

have proper lavatories inside or outside the house. Many consider it is better that

the girl is bathed by the mother or an immediate kinswoman, perhaps because

they do not want to give the valuable jewellery and other items used by the girl

while in confinement to the washer woman as is the custom. Also there is no

need to reward the washerwoman. There is no evidence to show in the

interviews that marriages are arranged at this time, which is probably due to

diminishing popularity of arranged marriages and the parent's interest in giving

their daughters a better education. In modern day practice, except for the

astrologer, men aren't involved in puberty rites and it is either the washerwoman

or the girl herself who does the unveiling. This practice and not having a

mo/gaha (rice pounder) in the room where the girl is kept is difficult to explain.

However, today cross cousin marriage is highly discouraged in Sri Lanka due to

the scientific discovery of the risk of giving birth to disabled children. The other

practice, keeping only aged women is also not in practice and girls are kept with

any available woman. In fact, according to Winslow (1980) little boys were kept

with one girl she studied and according to her the girl complained that she had

been used as a baby sitter. Again it is difficult to explain why such a change
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big gir1' 117

occurred without a proper investigation. Nevertheless, the significant fact is that

the practises surrounding ceremony of puberty changed and modified with the

time. In Winslow's (1980) accounts, the two ceremonies she observed in Sinhala

Buddhist family and Sinhala Catholic family differed from each other except in

main features.

In contrast to these anthropological accounts my analysis of puberty is based on

the stories of women and thus provides a clear picture of the impact of the

ceremony on women's lives. It also provides a strong case to argue that the

ceremony is still prevalent because it reinforces and strengthens gender

differences within the Sinhala community.

The next section will examine the idea of killa (pollution) in relation to

menstruation and how the beliefs changed with economic and social

changes. The succeeding sections will examine the puberty ceremony of

today, and variations of it according to regional and socio-economic

conditions and, how it works to initiate, separate and incorporate girls.

Through this, I will explore the idea that the ceremony of puberty conveys

the meanings of the set of restrictions girls learned as 'traditions' in their

prepubescent years.
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big girl' 118

Killa (Pollution)

It is clear that the Sinhala community regards menstrual blood as pollution. The

major belief is that menstrual blood attracts demonic influences. Apart from that

there were/are beliefs that menstruating woman would pollute certain religious
15
places and ceremonies. Women therefore are not supposed be in such places

while menstruating. According to an old interviewee, Loku (age 70, Hambantota),

puberty is a very bad pollution. She said Buddhism does not talk about pollution

and she goes to temple while menstruating. Yet she admitted that though she

goes to the temple she does not go the Devale (the place to worship Hindu or

regional gOds.). Namali (age 33, 8adulla) said she does not go to Bali

ceremonies because the witch doctor can tell if there is a polluted woman and he

would come and beat the woman. When asked whether she had experienced

this, she said once she went to a ceremony while menstruating but left as soon

as she realised she was menstruating and the witch doctor said that someone

had polluted the ceremony. Ramani (age 41, Badulla), a teacher, said she

believes in the idea of pollution because the villagers believe in them.

According to Knox menstruation was regarded as a strong pollution during the

1ih century. Not only the woman, but also her house, was regarded as polluted

and people would not approach the house of a menstruating woman. Far from

15 Winslow (1980) provides a long list of places and ceremonies in which women are
not to be present, and events become polluted by their presence.
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big girt' 119

hiding the fact, woman would call to approaching people to avoid the house and

Women would be purified after a bath (Knox (1981[1681]: 250).

Today the idea of pollution is not as strong, yet it still prevails in the society and

works as a restriction on women's mobility. Many interviewees said that they do

not attend religious activities without a body wash. Married older women said

they did not even sleep in the same room with their husbands. Some young

married women say they do not have sexual intercourse during menstruation.

Sera (age 39) from Hambantota said that women are not prevented from going to

places because of menstruation and only a small percentage of people believe in

such ideas. She is a prominent leader in her village and participated training on

gender and development. She implied she does not believe in such ideas.

However, her daughter said she stopped worshipping at home (there is a small

shrine at home) because of menstruation and does not go the temple on such

days. Also she is not allowed to eat oily food during menstruation and not

allowed to go out if she has had oily food.

However, it seems today the reasons for killa are pragmatic rather than rituals.

During the interviewing I found out that many women like to stay at home when

they menstruate. Namali (Age 33, Badulla), said she does not go to work in the

field because it is hard to bend and work in the fields. Rani (Age 34), a teacher in

Hambantota said she does not go to school during menstruation. The main

reason for this it seems that many women still use rags as sanitary towels. It

makes movements uncomfortable and blood seeps easily through clothes and
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big girt' 120

stains outer garments. Namali (Age 33, Badulla) said she would like to use

sanitary pads but she cannot afford to buy them. Some interviewees also

indicated that they are embarrassed to buy sanitary pads in public. To my

knowledge there is a strong opposition to unmarried girls using tampons because

of the fear of breaking the hymen (hence the girl will not be a virgin) and one can

find them in only a few shops. Today these are the factors may influence women

confining themselves to home rather than the idea of pollution. Discovering a

woman having her monthly periods has associations with shame and cleanliness.

The tendency today is not to reveal but to conceal menstruation because

menstruation is seen as shameful. Girls who have attained puberty are

advised by both women in the family and by female teachers how to dress

and sit properly to avoid bloodstains on clothes. One old saying among

Sinhalese is 'Genu jatiya Jara jatiya', which means 'womankind is the filthy

kind.' This is based on the fact they menstruate and the menstrual blood

is unclean blood. Even though the observation of prohibitions during

menstruation are dying away, the idea of unclean blood is still prevalent

within the community and women are still seen as unclean. This seems to

be much stronger in rural areas than in urban areas. According to some

young interviewees from Badulla and Hambantota, the boys do not sit on a

chair that a girl who attained puberty sat on. According to some of them,

boys crack jokes about such girls when they come to school after the

ceremony or if they saw bloodstains on a girl's uniform. Geetha (Age 15)

from Hambantota said one of her friends stopped coming to school

Chapter Three: Being a 'Big gir1' 121

because after they had seen blood stains on her uniform, the boys kept

tabs on 28 days (because they learn it in the lesson on reproduction) and,

after every 28 days they taunted her and scolded her for coming to school

on such days. This interviewee asked her mother not to have a big

ceremony because boys would make jokes. However a young interviewee

from a mixed school in Colombo said the boys do not joke about

menstruation and if they see blood stains on a girl's cloth, they would

inform another girl and never talk loudly about it or make jokes.

As Mary Douglas (1966) rightly pointed out, pollution ideas are related to

social life and some of them are analogies for general view of the social

order. Hence such ideas tend to take long time to change or disappear

completely. Within the Sinhala community old beliefs relating to menstrual

pollution have changed among many people due to scientific education of

the nature of menstruation. Urbanisation is also another fact that can be

mentioned as responsible for such a change. Nevertheless, In rural areas

agriculture is still the main occupation and farming methods and system

largely use traditional methods even today. In such an environment

pollution has a strong impact. However, it seems that today the idea of

shame has emerged as a strong dimension in place of pollution because

today the community believes female body is subjected to shame.

Chapter Three: Being a 'Big girl' 122

The puberty ceremony

Judging from the accounts of the interviewees, there are individual practices and

regional differences in the ceremony. However, the rituals and rites were strictly

adhered to except in one case. Chitra (Age 16, Badulla) said her father came to

see her when she attained puberty and said he wouldn't mind any evil influence

from her falling on him. At some places the clay pot that used for the ceremonial

bath is also given to the washerwoman but in some places the washerwoman

droped the pot on the ground to break it. In some places instead of looking into a

vessel full of water, the girl was asked to go three times around a mat full of

traditional food with a lighted lamp. Then she had to unveil the cloth and blow

out the lamp. In some places instead of the washerwoman, an aunt or the mother

of the girl bathed her. Girls had to keep something made of iron with her all the

time to ward off evil influences. The idea is that a girl can be easily possessed by

evil demons until the ceremonial bath. In Badulla looking at a 'Kiri gaha'(a tree,

which contains sticky milky sap, usually a jack tree) is a must so that the girl will

not be barren. The girl may not be allowed to sleep in a bed but must sleep on a

mat on the floor. During the period of confinement girls' ate a strictly vegetable

diet and was not allowed to eat any fried food or food containing oil. In

Hambantota, the period of confinement is different from the other two places

where the research was undertaken. There the girl is allowed to wash on the first

day or in some cases to have a bath. The astrologer sets two auspicious times

for the initial bath and ceremony. On the day of the ceremony the girl has to

have a bath again. According to my interviewees, it was after the ceremony they
(;napter Three: Being a 'Big girt' 123

were confined to home for a period ranging from fifteen days to three months and

during that time was not allowed to meet any males. However, the important fact

is it seems that almost every Sinhala girl, irrespective of class differences,

experiences the rites and rituals and celebration of puberty. It is a very much

more social affair rather than a personal physical change and social meanings

outweigh the physiological changes.

Social meaning of puberty

Audrey Richards (1956) in her book, Chisungu, on female initiation ceremony

among the Semba of Zambia points out that rituals, rites and symbols in such

ceremonies are connected with sex, fertility, matrimony/motherhood and

subordination. Though there is no overt expression of such ideas, it is clear that

the Sri Lankan ceremony of puberty is connected with those. Hence it is not a

surprise that the ceremony is still in practice and regarded as only second

importance to a girl's marriage. Only one interviewee said it is nothing but a

natural biological and hormonal change and we (the Sinhalese) tell the SOCiety

what happened to the girl but it is unnecessary. Hence I argue that the ceremony

of puberty reifies the norms, values and ideas of the Sinhala community on

women.

The story of Ruwini (Age 26, Hambantota) shows how important it is for a girl for

not only to attain puberty but to do so at the expected age. Eleven to Fourteen

vears is the common age for reaching menarche for girls in Sri Lanka, but Ruwini

jid not do so until she was nineteen years old, a considerably late age for
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big girl' 124

attaining puberty in Sri Lanka. According to Ruwini her parents were very

worried and said maybe it was because that time period was a bad time in her

life. The family thought it was not good that she wasn't reaching puberty and the

parents sought both western and local remedies. They took her to doctors and

they also visited astrologers. One astrologer said she had already attained

puberty but did not inform the family. One person advised them to have a Bodhi

Pooja (offerings to Bo tree). The parents organised a Bodhi Pooja and chanted

Seth Kavi too (Verses which wish well for the person.). The doctors said if she

did not menstruate soon it was because of biological facts.

However the most interesting fact is the interest and attitude of her relations and

the rest of the villagers. She said villagers used to make fun of her and joked she

was not going to attain puberty until the age of marriage and she could celebrate

both ceremonies together. She said many, including her relatives, especially

from her father's side, said to her face that she was not going to attain puberty

and she would be useless without attaining puberty. At first she did not feel

anything but later when all the girls younger than her attained puberty and when

she went to those feasts she felt sad because she was subjected to other

peoples' talk. They said she would not be able to produce children. Though she

does not believe it she said there is a saying in Sri Lanka that if a girl attained

puberty late she would be a barren woman. Even the boys in her school made

fun of her. They asked her why is she was not becoming new like the other girls.

Because when a girl attained puberty she goes to school wearing new clothes,

shoes, jewellery and carrying a new umbrella. Ruwini believes that it would affect
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big girl' 125

her future. According to her, her parents are looking for a bridegroom for her and

could not find one yet. Her story clearly pOints out how attaining puberty is

important within Sinhala community and more crucially, it is not just an individual

but a very public affair.

It seems that the ceremony of puberty conveys three important messages to the

community. First it marks the initiation of the girl as an adult. Second, it conveys

the message to the community that the girl is sexually active. Thirdly, it confirms

the acceptance of the girl into the adult women's group.

When my children attained age I followed those customs as was done for
me. But I think at a certain stage when my younger daughter attained
age 16 there were a few people in the low country (she was born in
upcountry area) who said ohhhh you shouldn't make such a fuss about
this type of thing and so on. But now about twenty years later they find
that is important. You inform the relations your daughter has attained age,
she is a young woman, and she has to looked after. That is telling the
brothers you will have to look after your sisters. It is not just a
meaningless thing. In a nice subtle way told the brothers, your friends will
come but they (brothers) must look af ... [after]( their sisters) you must look
after the sister. And telling the neighborhood we have a grown up girl, she
has to be looked after carefully, treat her with respect and you know you
also feel important. I, even in Australia, my grand daughter attained age, I
got a call and found the time (auspicious time), gave her a bit of jewelry
and new clothes and I think it was good in that society also (Gaya, age 73,
Colombo/in English)

Gaya mentions three primary ideas here: first, having a grown up girl in the

family. Second, the girl should be protected and respected. Thirdly, the

girl feels important (attaining age). Hence the discussion will follow up

these three themes to explore the messages conveyed to girls when they

attain puberty.
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big girl' 126

U A big girl"

All the interviewees said that they received only limited information about

the physical changes their body would undergo during puberty or what first

menstruation means. A few of the young interviewees mentioned learning

about it at year ten school lesson on reproduction. Until two decades ago

such lessons were not included in the curriculum. According to some girls

from Badulla, some teachers chose to omit the lesson. Some taught it

after school because the classrooms were in the open halls and other

classes could hear what they were talking about. This illustrates silence in

society on about menstruation. 17 Some interviewees learned about it

from their mother, school friends or their elder sisters. Some did not know

about until it happened. What the girls have been told by their mothers or

elder women relatives was to inform an elder woman if they saw blood

stains. Apart from that they received no further information. Hence it can

be assumed that many girls have no idea why such physical changes took

place. However, after attaining puberty girls are informed that they are not

children anymore and they have become 'big girls'.

16 In Sri Lanka attaining puberty is referred as attained age

17 However, recent women's new papers and some television programmes on health
had medical discussions on menstruation and I believe girls today have more
knowledge on the subject.
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big gir1' 127

Q: Do you think that there is a difference in life before puberty and after
puberty? Is there a change in your life after puberty?

A: (Silence). There is.

Q:How?

A: Now after becoming a big girl I didn't go out often. Even with my aunt I
didn't go out a lot, anywhere. Mostly stayed at home. Before that we used
to play. Now, younger brothers, we, younger sisters and elder sisters
played with them together. We played having small shops. After attaining
puberty we thought it was not good to do those, we are big children and
stopped playing. And did whatever household work had to be done and
stayed like that

Q: Why did you think so? You all are big children and not good doing
playing as before?

A: No, mother and others 18 say so, not good playing now because you all
are big children and aren't you all ashamed, mother and others said. They
told us it was not good to be playful (Namali, age 33,Badulla/translated).

The girls who attained puberty are not considered as small children anymore.

Suddenly they have to leave the world they are used to and have to adjust to

another life. Needless to say they feel the physical difference as they experience

first menstruation. However, the different attitude in the family and society in

general is seemed to be beyond their grasp. The rituals of the ceremony and the

confinement to a room before that, ensure they feel they are not the same girls

as before. Girls are not allowed to see males and or to look at themselves in a

mirror while in confinement. According to Nimmi (Age 20, Badulla) she felt

suddenly grown up. She felt even her face has changed. This may be because

of coming out after a long confinement and not looking in a mirror as girls have

been told not to look at their image. Apart from that her parents asked her not to

18 Here the term she used was Ammala (plural term of mother) as mentioned in the first
chapter she is referring to her mother and other elders who advised her. Therefore I
have translated it as mother and others.
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big gin' 128

be playful and suddenly her childish games had to stop. It was difficult for her to

stop playing. This social change girls have to undergo is very different from the

boys of the same age. Because the Sinhala community pays no special attention

to the physical/social transition boys of the same age undergo and the boys are

not subjected to as many restrictions as girls.

According to many interviewees they felt scared, ashamed and cried upon

discovering bloodstains on their clothes. It seems this is due to two reasons.

First when a girl is not made aware of what happens when attaining puberty and

when she sees the bloodstains it makes her confused and frightened. Secondly,

when such a change happens to the body, the feeling is that she is no longer the

same child and furthermore, as part of the community she knows how the others

who underwent the change have been treated. Hence attaining puberty not only

initiates the girl into Sinhala society as a grown up but also reminds her that a

different style of life is awaiting her to which she will be expected to conform. In

particular, she is now a sexual being and thus has a different role.

From asexual to sexual

According to Michel Foucault (1979) the human body is a target and object of

power. Talking about modernising western societies, he says the body was in

the grip of very strict powers, which imposed on it constraints, prohibitions or

obligations. He points out what is underlying in those techniques:

Chapter Three: Being a 'Big girl' 129

To begin with, there was the scale of the control: it was a question not of
treating the body, en masse, 'wholesale', as if it were an indissociable
unity, but working of it 'retail', individually; of exercising upon it a subtle
coercion, of obtaining holds upon it at the level of the mechanism itself -
movements, gestures, attitudes, rapidity: an infinitesimal power over the
active body. Then there was the object of the control: it was not or no
longer the signifying elements of behaviour or the language of the body,
but the economy, the efficiency of movements, their internal organization;
constraint bears upon the forces rather than upon the signs; the only truly
important ceremony is that exercise. Lastly there is the modality: it implies
an uninterrupted, constant coercion, supervising the process of the activity
rather than its result and it is exercised according to a codification that
partitions as closely as possible time, space, movement (Foucault,
1979: 136-137).

Foucault introduces these methods, which operates to control and to assure the

body is constantly subject to such forms to make it docile, to discipline the body.

Sandra Lee Bartky (1990) points that though Foucault shows how discipline

produces docile bodies, he treats the body as if it were ungendered, as if the

bodily experiences of women and men did not differ and as if men and women

bore the same relationship to the characteristic institutions of modern life. As

Bartky rightly argues women's bodies are more docile then men's bodies and

there are disciplines that led women to exercise self surveillance which produce a

modality of embodiment that is peculiarly feminine to perpetuate silence and

powerlessness of women. However as Bartky, states, Foucault's argument can

be applied to analyse the docility and powerlessness of women in any society

and I will demonstrate how the body of Sinhala women is subjected to discipline

and control to make them docile and powerless.

Chapter Three: Being a 'Big girl' 130

As discussed above, a notion of ceremony of puberty is disclosing to the world

that the girl is an adult woman and ready to take social tasks expected of her. At

this stage the social scripts a girl has learned in childhood come to their full

meaning. Hence following Sandra Bartky's argument, I argue that within this

context it is clear that what Sinhala girls understand as culture and tradition ,

works as a set of rules which have the effect of social and self discipline to make

them docile and passive.

For the society the girl is now ready to engage in sexual relations and produce

children. Because sexual intercourse or any other sexual encounters outside

legal marriage are strongly considered to be bad and inappropriate within Sinhala

society, the Sinhalese believe that the girl who has attained puberty will need to

be protected from such experiences.

During childhood [ ... ] mother and others were not scared even about me.
That means [ ... ] my existence was not a big problem for them. But after it
is, after attaining puberty they said they have to protect me. After puberty
they said when being a girl it is not good to this or that, not good going to
this place or that, not good to dress like this, all that has been told to me
(as advice)] after that. When small there was no difference between me
and my younger brother. (Laughs) even there was no difference between
me and my eldest brother. We played together. But after that ... where
ever I go [.. ]To tell you [ ... ] even visited a friend's home, parents don't let
me spend lot of time there. After an hour or two they give a call and tell
me to come back. That's how it is (Nelka, age 23, Colombo/translated).

After puberty a girl is expected to alter her behaviour and relations with males.

They are not forbidden to socialise with males, but are warned about the results if

they go beyond certain limits. For example Sandun's (Age 43, Hambantota)

mother asked her not have love affairs with boys and not to be alone with men.
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big gin' 131

Further she said if Sandun had sex she would become a woman and if a man

touched her breasts it could be discovered just by looking at her breasts. (when

questioned she said breasts drool if a man squeezed them). Ransi's (DoB

unknown/older, Badulla) mother told her that no one would marry her if people

have talked about her, and that if stories were spread about her it would be an

insult to their family. From the interviews it is clear that such kinds of advice are

still common in Sri Lanka. According a number of interviewees, their familial

relationships also changed after puberty. Girls who had been close to the father

felt more distance. They no longer played with their brothers and brothers

distanced themselves from the girls. Girls feel scared about being close to boys.

This is as a result of instilling fear in girls in order to prevent them from being

sexually active. Others said there was no change but their stories indicate how

they changed their behaviour in the family according to the sex of the family

members.

Moreover, the other social scripts that predominate in society to keep girls

passive become more forceful and strong after puberty. Girls are not suppose to

go out unless there is someone one to accompany them or parents feel that they

are secure in going to particular places, for example to the tuition class or to a

close relative's home. However, girls are very much discouraged from spending

a night away from home or coming home late in the evening.

The dress code becomes stricter although there are urban/rural and class

differences. All the interviewees said that they like to wear long, simple dresses
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big gir1' l32

that cover their body properly. Girls who used to wear trousers stopped wearing

them after puberty. There is a very strong opposition to girls wearing trousers

especially in Badulla and Hambantota. Many interviewees said that they think it

is an inappropriate and degrading dress for women because it is male dress.

Some said they find it more modest and comfortable but are scared to wear

trousers because villagers humiliate them and the men hoot at girls who wear

trousers. Usually girls are not allowed to wear short dresses (above knee level)

and sleeveless dresses. The girls from urban middle class families said they are

not asked not to wear trousers or shorts. One girl said she is not allowed to wear

transparent dresses. Many interviewees said women should dress according to

the place and according to the culture. Wearing makeup is also considered as

bad and women who wear make up are seen as 'fast women'. Hence it seems

the general view is that women should dress modestly in order not to be sexually

provocative. Such ideas are not applied to males in Sri Lanka. From the

interviews it is clear that women believe that they should take care not to dress

contrary to the way women are supposed to dress.

The accounts of my interviewees show that after attaining puberty, the behaviour

of girls also change profoundly. Girls are advised to walk slowly, talk quietly, and

sit properly and not to do anything that would disgrace themselves and their

families. Some interviewees said they were advised by parents, relatives and

also some female teachers to stop participating in sports specially high jump,

long jump and running. Many interviewees said they have become more

'tanpath' (Tanpath means a person not so loud, modest and decent in attire) after
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big girt' 133

puberty. These changes in behaviour do not occur solely because of this kind of

advice. Girls are aware of the accepted social codes and they change

themselves accordingly and begin to excise self-surveillance. It seems that this

is a continuum of different gender behaviour they have learnt in childhood.

According to Ama (Age 29, Colombo) she started seeing a difference between

men and women before puberty. When she was small she used to address boys

by their names but when she was in year sixl seven she called them '/amaya'

(child) because she felt calling them by names was wrong. It was a big problem

for her but she couldn't understand it at that time, and the same thing happened

with all the girls in her class. She attained puberty at fourteen. She had heard

advice given to her elder sisters. She said though she was not given any specific

advice when she attained puberty, she had put some restrictions on herself. She

did sports and used to run home wearing shorts after practices but she stopped

that and according to her, her behaviour altered according to what she has

observed on other girls.

A: I thought now I am a child who attained puberty and I should behave

differently in front of men and women. Eventually I have changed the way
of speaking even.

Q: Why did you think like that? To change your behaviour?

A: I thought so [ .... ] Because of our future [ ... ] now I ~m a ~ig child [: .. ]

because a change happened, I thought something like thiS [changing
herself] should be happening. Thought this life after attaining puberty is
more valuable than childhood (Rasi, age 15, Badulla/translated).

As she points out girls are aware of the kind of life that awaits them after puberty.

Unlike the boys they know they have to take care of domestic responsibilities and
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big girl' l34

have to be trained to be a proper wife/mother. Hence the ceremony of puberty

re-emphasises the idea of domesticity as central to women's role in life.

A: Generally I have become more modest. Going out without permission

was prohibited. Then the burden and responsibility of our life was
increased in general. Then considering my future [ ... ] I had to pay special
attention to the clothes I wear.

Q: What does it mean?

A: It means that we have to improve our knowledge of what we know

about how to behave and monthly [ ... ](menstruation) and had to take care
of everything (taking proper care to conceal menstruation). We know what
happen to us in the future after attaining puberty. [ ... ] We know what
happened to others (other women) and according to that we also thought
shouldn't behave as earlier and should pay special attention to cleanliness
and about domestic work and with that feeling, I thought that I should
know things and should do something to learn them

Q: Why did you think like that? What made you think like that?

A: I thought so because of the social situation around me. When I saw

how others behave, I felt that we should also be like that. Then [ ... ]
mother and others always told us not be playful as before because you are
a big child. [ ... ] They said so [laughed]. (Krisha, age 41 ,Badulla/translated)

According to many interviewees after attaining puberty they had to stop playing

and learn domestic work. When not going to school or doing homework they

engage in domestic tasks such as cooking and cleaning. Only three interviewees

said that they did not feel a change in life after attaining puberty. Yet through the

interviews it was clear that they too are aware of the expected pattern of

behaviour of adult women. However the experience may be different for girls due

to different class and economic backgrounds.

Deesha (Age 16, Colombo), Geetha (Age 15, Hambantota) Rasi (Age 15,

Badulla) are around the same age. Oeesha was born to an upper middle class
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big gir1' 135

family and her father works as a consultant and mother is a housewife. Geetha's

father works in a small shop and mother works in a bank operated by a non-

governmental organisation, which is connected with developmental work in Sri

Lanka. Rasi's parents are farmers. To the question how they spent a day in

general they said:

Now, if I go to school it is two o'clock when I come home. Have lunch, and
watch the TV a bit. I am normally not a methodical person. Sometimes I
have to feel [ ... ] now, if I feel like studying, I take the book immediately and
study. During holidays just spend the time on the TV, phone and the
computer (Deeshaltranslated)

I get up [ ... ] I get up at four in the morning to study. After that, I study until
five thirty. At five thirty I put the radio on and listen to Pirith (Buddhist
chanting). After that get ready until seven o'clock to go to school. The
school closes at two o'clock and after finishing the work in school comes
home around two thirty. It is three o'clock when I finish lunch and then
clean and tidy home until three thirty. Then I go to have a bath and after
that, cook the dinner. At that time I put the cassette player on. After the
dinner I study until nine thirty and go to bed. Some days go to a
neighbour's house to watch TV at eight (Rasi/translated)

It is five thirty when I get up. From five thirty to six thirty I study. After six
thirty I do the domestic work. Sweep and tidy home and then go to school.
School closes at two and after that I go to a tuition class if have a class
and other days do domestic work[ ... ] Because mother goes to committee
meetings in the evening I do domestic work and stay at
home." (Geetha/translated)

To sum up it is correct to assume that in Sinhala society people believe that after

attaining puberty girls are potentially sexually active and ready for bearing

children and domestication. Therefore the life of many girls is similar to both

Geetha's and Rasi's experience.

Chapter Three: Being a 'Big gin' 136

As a result of widespread belief that girls should remain virgins until they get

married it is considered that they need to be protected from having pre-marital

sexual encounters. If a girl loses her virginity before marriage or if her sexual

reputation was the subject of talk among people this is considered as a disgrace

for the family and would jeopardise her future including her chances of marriage.

Therefore girls need to be protected/restrained from sexual activities/harms

because they have to be respected as potential mothers/wives. Thus the

ceremony of puberty works as a primary tool of signalling to family members and

the community more generally that they have to keep an eye on the girl to avoid

any sexual 'danger' to her. Girls who have attained puberty are also seen as

capable of being sexually provocative and therefore there is a need to keep

attention away from them. As a consequence, the restrictions on behaviour and

dressing are used by the public as well as by women themselves to police other

women's lives.

Such ideas are still prevalent in society irrespective of the changes which have

happened since independence. The focal aim is to create passive/submissive

domesticated woman. Women who step out of such a framework are deemed to

be bad women, women without shame and fear. Such women will lose respect in

society, which would have negative consequences in both her private and social

life. This is why it is important to explore what impact this series of concems have

on Sinhala women.
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big girl'
137

Feeling important

It is clear that attaining puberty is a turning point in a Sinhala girl's life. All but

one of the interviewees said that their lives changed after puberty and even the

case of the exception clearly shows that her way of interacting with males has

changed after puberty.

Clearly attaining puberty has two significant meanings. First it incorporates girls

into adult society and secondly it makes them aware of their own worth. Both

Yalman (1963) and Winslow (1980) point out in their studies that after puberty

girls are considered as mature young women. 19

Q: Was there a change of attitude in the people after you attained

puberty? People who are like very close relations and so forth? Was
there a change in the way of acceptance?

A: Yes. That [ ... ] I felt that strongly. Because earlier when I said
something people took no notice and ignored me. Sometimes even didn't
see I was there. So those days, because I had lot of attention from
childhood I always try to get attention. So it was a big thing for me from
childhood. When no one pays any attention, I got angry. But now it
seems that I am very well noticed. Now relations ask my ideas also, they
accept my ideas too. Now there is such a situation.

Q: so what do you think of your childhood?

A: Mm my childhood was better than now. (Laughs)

Q: Why?

A: Mm, In childhood I think there are less complications no? Parents,

parents are there for anything to help us no? Now those days I did not

19 Both Yalman and Winslow point out after puberty a girl is no longer regarded as a
kella or gatissi (young child) and becomes a lamissi. Although kella is still widely u~e~
for unmarried girls regardless of age, the other two terms are very rarely used. Gatlssl
literally means small breasts and Lamissi means raised breasts.
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big gir1' 138

have a big capacity to think, so whatever we did we were excused so

even if we did crazy things, could get away with it. Now have to think ~ bit
before doing things (Deesha, age 16, Colombo/translated).

As Deesha expresses it, after attaining puberty the girls have access to the adult

world. However girls face an ambivalent situation at this stage because as the

restrictions becomes stronger and girls have to police their behaviour they feel

loss of childhood. According to another interviewee she was not chased away

from where the adults are having conversations as had happened in the past.

Another interviewee said that after attaining puberty she could talk and make

jokes with adults as if she belonged to their age group. She said for her it was

like starting life all over again. Nevertheless, it is clear from the last part of

Deesha's conversation above that this incorporation into the adult world is not an

easy transition for girls. Madu (Age 17, Hambantota) said she did not understand

many things before puberty but now she understands the problems she has to

face from the family and the neighbourhood. A girl who has attained puberty has

to face lot of pressure from society.

According to many interviewees they become aware of how they are burdened

with the new responsibilities that girls have after attaining puberty. This is as a

consequence of girls knowing that they are no longer children who are allowed to

play around and they have to learn the way of adult women. As mentioned

earlier even if a girl is explicitly not advised how to do so, she changes herself by

following the implicit rule of society. The ceremony of puberty reinforces and

internalises the expectation to become a passive, domesticated creature.

Chapter Three: Being a 'Big girl' 139

On the one hand this acceptance into adult world give girls a new value because

they recognise that they have passed the most important step towards fulfilling

the role sOciety expects from a grown up woman: that is to become a

wife/mother. As one young interviewee, Disni (Age 18, Colombo) said, she was

happy because she considered puberty as the first step to becoming a mother.

On the other hand physical changes in the body and the societal attention to that

change also has a significant impact on girls' minds. About five interviewees

talked about the bodily changes they had undergone but only one interviewee

said she was ashamed of the growing breasts and tried to conceal them by

hunching her shoulders when she walked. However what is most interesting is

the impact of the physical change on the interviewees' way of thinking.

A: There is a big change between those two age limits. One is soon after
attaining puberty there is a something like a chaotic condition, having said
that, It was at that time I said that I started to behave like crazy, singing
songs. I knew, the time that sang songs and collected paper cuttings. I
think it starts in such a chaotic condition, after that I have understood from
the girls I mix with, now some are, I am, normally I am not a person who
run after boys but it was after attaining puberty we started to talk about
boys: laah look, that one is beautiful and this one is handsome.' Because
I remember from year nine everybody started to talk about boys and to
giggle and they had their own jokes to tell. Except that, we, now that body
changes, that changes the way of thinking. Now when we were small we
didn't say lAney that one is handsome' and giggled Hee Hee. Because
when we were small, around five years old, we were not like that. But,
after that, every person, I think there is an increase of mental capacity, I
think that and some things developed, that happens with the physical
growth. There is a big difference between those two age limits. Because
that is when we begin to see the world as a woman. See the world as a
man. (Laughs) when small there is no big difference I think.

Q How [ ... ] what you mean by seeing the world as a woman?

A: Now seeing the world as a woman means, now I have understood, me,
there are my friends - boys, now even today as soon as they see me they
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big girt' 140

come and say 'aiyyo! Machang!,20 it is like as going to have a physical

fight, they enjoy it very much. Showing their strength. Now, women, when
small we all have fights, hit each other. And I am not a person going to be
shy, if I want to fight I will fight, if I have a chance I will but I am not going
to fight with other girls to show my strength. So such changes. Changes
occur in our behaviour. Now some times, the boys, I realise, normally
there is a more tendency for drinking. I think it is the way they think that
they can show their strength and maleness. That is what I see in my male
friends. Like that they behave, as if they are very macho. Now, I don't
have to show I am macho. (Laughs) because there is no importance in
that for me, that's why. (Dilu, age 17, Colombo/translated)

Dilu is a girl from an upper middle class family in Colombo and her parents

believe in men and women having equal status and encourage her.

Nevertheless, two important discourses on changing way of thinking can be

derived from her conversation. First a woman should have feminine qualities.

IThere is no importance in being macho for me': she indicates that she can if she

wants but she doesn't. The reason is that her understanding of the society tells

her that it is not an appropriate behaviour for girls.

The second important fact is the changing behaviour of her and all the girls in her

class towards boys. Fifty percent of interviewees from all three areas said that

unlike in lower grades they started to get friendly and talk with boys during

pubescent years. It is clear that girls like to increase their interaction with males

after puberty. Chatu (Age 22, Hambantota) put it into words as 'life became

beautiful and naughty' after puberty. Girls are conscious that their physical

changes add power to their sexuality, that they are attractive to the other sex. It

seems girls face a dilemma here: on the one hand the physical changes arouse

20 Machang is a tenn use by boys and men to show friendship. Some times boys call
girl's machang if they are very friendly. Some times girls also use this tenn to call
their girls friends but get scolded if elders hear.
--- Cha-pterfhiee: Being a 'Big girl' L4 L

their feelings i. e. the attraction for the opposite sex and on the other hand they

are told to suppress those feelings and be passive. The social scripts on dress

and behaviour constantly reminds her that she has to constrain herself.

Gagnon and Simon suggest that in western societies, not having such an

initiation process create an ambiguous situation for pubescence. 'Ado/escence in

Western societies remains a period with ill defined beginning and end points'
(Gagnon and Simon, 1974:51. Emphasis is mine). According to them,

ceremonies of puberty of the non-western societies, studied by anthropologists

show that biological puberty was celebrated as a transition into a wide variety of

adult roles including sexual and reproductive ones. However the western

societies have tended to operate more independently of these biological events

as necessary signals for transitions into adult roles. They also point out in the

particular cultural conditions of Western societies, adolescence is largely a break

with the past. (Childhood) Therefore the outcome of changes associated with

this period and the psychosexual development are not associated with previously

learned social and sexual scripts. Nevertheless, Gagnon and Simon (1974) say

that the past (what is leamed in the childhood) influences this period, but most

profoundly through forms of gender training that has minimal sexual character.

Hence the need to manage sexuality may derive not only from the intrinsic

attractions of the sexual experiences but also from the increasingly important role

sexuality will play in the conduct of both heterosocial and homosocial

relationships.
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big gir1' 142

The accounts of the interviewees on puberty shows that there is strong case to

argue that attaining puberty is a landmark in constructing and controlling Sinhala

girls' sexual identity in order to maintain unequal power relations of males and

females. The girls should not exhibit any 'male traits' and should be feminine but

at the same time their femininity should not appear as a sexual danger to men.

As Gaya (Age 73, Colombo) an interviewee put it into words: 'Don't behave like

boys (like we used to climb trees to (eat) guava) but don't be tomboys, (and)

don't flaunt your beauty (either), dress modestly'. What she said echoes what

almost all the interviewees said.

Though the ceremony of puberty marks the transition to adult roles it seems that

girls who reach puberty in Sinhala society also face an ambivalence situation.

On one hand they feel positive about becoming a 'big girl' and their inclusion to

adult world. On the other hand there is feeling of nostalgia. In other words, they

experience this in a negative way in terms of 'loss of childhood', particularly its

freedoms. Girls from the Sinhala community are aware that their new status is a

consequence of cultural conditioning. They are conscious that their lives are

shaped within the framework of their tradition and culture. Hence girls' transition

from childhood to adulthood is not an autonomous process. Even though the

girls are accepted as mature women, they are not allowed to express their

sexuality. Instead they have to guard and protect their sexuality.

Chapter Three: Being a 'Big girl'

'Passive Girls'

The first chapter showed that a girl child is not encouraged to interact outside the

family. It seems that when compared with the life after puberty, the restrictions

are not so strictly adhered to in childhood. It also showed that girls spent most of

their time in the family and the school. Nevertheless, this does not mean that

they are totally confined to those two spaces. They may travel in vehicles or walk

to school. Some go to market or visit relatives with parents. They may go on

pilgrimages or may work to support the family if they are poor. These activities

pave the way for girls to interact with the outer world. Nonetheless, the emphasis

is that girls should not go out alone and shouldn't be at a wrong place at a wrong

time or shouldn't associate with bad people and such prohibitions become

stronger after attaining puberty.

However, as time passed, girls' access to spheres other than home and school

increased. According to some older interviewees they got married right after

puberty. However, with the introduction of the act establishing free education in

1943, education for girls became compulsory. Thus many girls today go to

school up to Advanced levels and many girls go to private tuition classes if their

parents can afford it. After secondary education, if they are not qualified for

university entrance, they may attend vocational training. Hence their

opportunities to socialise with males is higher than that it was six decades ago.
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big gir1' l-l-l

Hence the girls have to either submit to social expectations or resist them. Even

though they grow up with internalised shame and fear there is a temptation to

break prohibitions. For example, majority of the interviewees said they had love

affairs still at school. They met their boyfriends in school, vocational training

centres, on the bus or while going on a pilgrimage. Many of them tried to keep it

as a secret from the family and teachers. However, there was a mixed reaction

from interviewees about having a relationship with a boy at this age. The

interviewees who were well past the age of attaining puberty said they now feel it

was wrong to have affairs at that time and their parents were right. The reasons

they gave were that, having affairs may disrupt education, it makes trouble for the

family and it destroys the hopes parents have for a girl.

It seems that girls who had relationships know the repercussions of it through the

verbal or physical abuse and threats they received from the family/relations and

the community. Rosha (Age 16, 8adulla) said her mother and others told that the

relationship she had would affect her future marriage because when the groom's

family inquired about her from the village, villagers would certainly tell them what

she had done. Jeeva (Age 23, Colombo) another interviewee said she felt that

she lost her respect within the community somewhat. Moreover, having a

relationship with a boy may cause more restrictions on a girl's movements and

this might destroy her future progress, as Ruwini's (Age 26, Hambantota) story

shows. She had a love affair with a bus conductor when she went to be trained

as a pre-school teacher. However when the family found out they forced her to

resign from the job and a brother took her to a relation's house in another area
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big girl'

pretending it was a short visit and left her there until she broke up with the

boyfriend. Her hopes of having a career were destroyed and she said her family

is still suspicious of her and does not like her going out at all.

The interviewees of the same age level said it may not be wrong to have an affair

but a girl should know the limit. Nelka (Age 23, Colombo) a second year medical

student said she learned that sex influences the sustainability of a marriage.

However she said according to the community it is not good to have sexual

intercourse before marriage. She thinks that if a girl wants to understand the

nature of her partner there should be a certain limit of intimacy, but one should

not go over that limit. It seems it is correct to assume what interviewees meant

by 'limit' is not having penetrative sex with a boyfriend. One teenage interviewee

said it is not good to get phYSically close (kissing) because it is not certain that

girl would marry the same person and the man may dump the girl after he had

what he wanted (she meant penetrative sex). Another interviewee said it is not

good to get physically close to a boy when a girl is a student because she might

ignore her studies.

It is difficult to directly discern how the interviewees learned what the Ilimit' is

because it wasn't put as a question to them. However, it seems that interviewees

themselves put together whatever information they gather quite possibly from

peer groups or media and decide what the limit is. Nevertheless, it seems that

there is no clear-cut version of what the limit is and it seems what they see as

limit is something very vague.

Chapter Three: Being a 'Big gin' 1-l6

However, al\ who admitted that they had or have relationships with boys were

very keen to reiterate that they do not go out or did not go out with their

boyfriends. Very few admitted they are and were phYSically close i.e. held hands

or kissed. Even so, as a person from the same country and according to my

knowledge and experience girls do go out with their boyfriends mainly to the

cinema, the beach and the parks and for rural girls it may be the temple or a

hidden path or a friend's house. Nevertheless, if caught they are subjected to

punishments such as beating by family members or expulsion from school. One

interviewee said her school found out that after school two of her schoolmates go

to another friend's house to meet their boy friends. During the school assembly

the girls' parents were summoned and in front of them they were advised and

asked to pay homage to all the staff members. After that they were asked to go

to all the pupils of the school and apologise. She said that the girls hung their

heads in shame and cried all the time.

The women themselves are reluctant to break the dress code or to behave

'improperly' because that brings social humiliation on them. Many said they

prefer to wear long dresses, which would cover them properly. Yet, it does not

mean that Sinhalese girls will not wear clothes which society might disapprove of.

What will be approved of varies according to the social status and education,

urban/rural differences and also according to class differences. Wearing trousers

is not seen as improper in Colombo while in the other two places the feeling is

trousers are an 'asee/achara' dress (roughly translated: an uncivilised dress).

Chapter Three: Being a 'Big gir1' 147

Women are reluctant to wear short or sleeveless dresses or to wear make up.

Only one young interviewee from Badulla said her brothers scolded her for not

wearing fashionable dresses and say she looks like a 'godaya' (a term for

uneducated rural people). Her family has high social status in the village

because the father is a school principal and the mother is a teacher. However,

she said she prefers to wear long decent dresses to avoid catcalls.

Ruwini (Age, 26, Hambantota) is a girl from a tightly controlled family. She said

has been told that a sari is the dress for women according to Sinhala culture. Her

father told her he would cut her fingers if she grew long fingernails or painted

them. Nevertheless, she had long nails and her toenails were painted. When

asked about it she said she hides them when she goes near the father. She also

used to do sports but the family said not to partiCipate in sports. She was told not

to participate in running or high jump. Nevertheless, she wore a pair of shorts

under her school uniform and partiCipated in sports.

Thus it seems from my interviews that girls believe that they should discipline

themselves according to restrictions and expectations of family and community

and here again they are operating self-surveillance. It is clear that within family,

school and SOCiety in general there are certain restrictions that are specific to girls

and those restrictions have not changed though the time and space changed.

Even though there are women who would like to wear fashionable clothes and

make up they are reluctant because society sees such women as bad characters.
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big girt'

Nevertheless, there is a resistance within girls and their accounts show that they

find strategies to flout the restrictions whenever they can.

On the other hand girls are aware that within the community there is a different

set of punishment for boys and girls who break the accepted social norms and

traditions. Therefore, the girls know they have to discipline themselves to avoid

being branded as a 'Ioose woman'. One of the women's newspapers, Navaliya,

(new woman) provided a supplement called 'Oiyaniya'(daughter). It publishes

interviews with principals and head girls in some prominent schools of Sri Lanka

and various articles written by women advising girls. A head prefect of a leading

girl's school in Sri Lanka pointed out: 'the society (community) especially

assesses girls as bad and that they always tend to do wrong. But boys are not

considered as so and not get blamed as girls. Therefore girls should remember

who they are and be careful with what they should do or should not do' (Perera,

D. S., 2001-Translated)

Conclusion

The discussion in this chapter supports my argument, that the puberty ceremony

is connected with initiation, separation and incorporation of females into society -

it therefore has a significant influence on defining gender roles and maintaining

gender differences within Sinhala society as a part of a process which constructs

Sinhala woman's identity. The discussion pOints to three important themes that

interlink with the previous chapter, namely, the identity of girls as mothers and
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big girl' 149

wives, the sexual vulnerability and danger of girls, and how 'tradition' maintains

girls' sexuality and identity.

It is universal within the Sinhala context for girls who reached puberty to learn

domestic tasks. The domestic work they perform may vary according to their

class backgrounds, but the ground rule is that a girl should learn these tasks.

This initially strengthens their vision of their future position that has already been

internalised by them, that women are born to be mothers and wives and their

main role is to be carers and nurturers.

The 'silence' on menarche and the myths surrounding it help to maintain fear and

shame in girls. Girls learn that if they do not behave according to the sexual

scripts imposed on them they are considered as a bad women that pose a sexual

threat to men. Not observing these restrictions puts them in a vulnerable

position, and if discovered being sexually active before marriage, they betray the

family honour. Therefore, the majority of the girls exercise self-surveillance on

their own behaviour and control themselves through the fear of being shamed.

Hence attaining puberty is a significant milestone in women's lives because it

strengthens the already learned ideas of gender differences in mature girls'

minds and shapes their future as grown up women.

The community imposes a 'silence' on girls by telling them the restrictions are

part of their culture and 'tradition'. Even though there is no evidence of an overt

resistance, the accounts of the interviewees show that although they are
Chapter Three: Being a 'Big gir1' 150

constrained they try to find strategies to overcome them. However, as this

chapter shows, in reality, these 'traditions' work to regulate Sinhala girls and

maintain and reinforce their secondary position in society and thus constrain

them. Hence it is important to investigate how and when the 'traditions' were

created and became embedded in society. Where did these traditions come

from? Were these ideas embedded in Sri Lankan society for two thousand five

hundred years of history without changing as is the general belief? The next

chapter will investigate the invention of 'tradition' and the cultural construction of

the 'Sinhala woman'.

Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 151

Chapter Four

'We are not born but constructed'

Tradition' reinvented

The aim of this chapter is to argue that the situation of the Sinhala women

today is a creation of the historical situation of the late nineteenth and

early twentieth centuries which has consolidated the unequal power

relations between Sinhalese men and women and the subjugation of

women within the Sinhala community in the post independence period. It

will examine the roots of the 'cultural traditions' and I argue that restrictions

on women derive from an 'invention of tradition', which came from

opposition to colonialism, imperialism, modernity or Europeanisation

during the upsurge of the revivalist and nationalist movement in Sri Lanka

in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Hobsbawm (1983) point out that 'traditions' can actually be invented, constructed,

formally instituted and can emerge in a less easily traceable manner within a brief

period and establish themselves with great rapidity. Further more they say:

'Invented tradition' is taken to mean a set of practices, normally governed

by overtly or tacitly accepted rules and of a ritual or symbolic nature, which
seek to inculcate certain values and norms of behaviour by repetition,
which automatically implies continuity with a suitable historic past
(Hobsbawm,1983:1).
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 152

There is a strong case for arguing that, in line with Hobsbawm (1983), what the

Sinhala community believes to be ancient traditions were actually invented during

the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

As it will be examined later in this chapter, the structural changes in the

first half of the twentieth century due to British colonial policies and

reforms laid the foundation for modernisation in Sri Lanka. The colonial

rulers believed they were civilising the Sri Lankans (Ceylonese) through

which women would benefit. However, as I will argue later, the colonial

ideology based on Christian values and male colonial officers' perceptions

was compatible with the view of women depicted in the nationalist

ideology. This had a strong impact on shaping women's situation in

contemporary Sri Lanka.

This chapter is divided into three parts. The first part will attempt to

reconstruct the pre-colonial situation for women and the second part will

examine the consequences of colonialism and nationalism on women's

identity/sexuality and their access to changing spaces and structures. The

third part will focus attention on the growing debate on gender equality and

women's correct place' within this context. These factors are historicised

by reconstructing pre-colonial and colonial conditions under which they

emerged. This historical view will give the reader a better understanding

the ways gender differences have been redefined over time. Interlinking
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 153

these three parts provides a clear picture of socio economic and political

changes and how they affected the lives of Sinhala women today.

Part I: Pre-colonial period

The scattered evidence found in the chronicles, rock inscriptions and other

historical sources such as letters of royal grants and ruins suggest that ancient

Sri Lankans were a heavily agrarian community. Rice farming was the major

agricultural activity and the ancient kings built huge reservoirs complete with a

complex system of canals to store water to use during dry seasons. In addition

there were gardens for growing vegetable and fruit. Cattle breeding was another

economic activity, not for meat consumption but for transport and ploughing

fields. Foreign trade was a royal monopoly but mainly conducted by the Muslims.

Archaeological ruins and other evidence also suggest that there were very well

developed engineering and architectural skills and arts and crafts. However, no

evidence has emerged yet to show that women were involved in such work.

Most women worked in agriculture, which was based entirely on family labour

and community based collective labour. Though coins were in use, the internal

trade was based on barter system. With the invasions from south India from the

10th century AD, the rulers decided to move the capital into the Southwest region

of Sri Lanka from the northern area, and the decline of agriculture started. The

rest of the country was not suitable for large-scale rice farming because of

geographical and climatic difficulties. Trade became the major source of income

for rulers, especially the foreign trade, and export oriented crops such as spices
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 15~

and areca nut had a special place in the trade with India and other countries.

However, rice cultivation was not totally abandoned as it remained the staple

food in Sri Lanka, but another method of farming was introduced, that is slash

and bum cultivation in the jungles (chena cultivation). Within such a self-

sufficient economic system, concepts such as wage labour and market oriented

production were not as important as in colonial Sri Lanka. Even though the royal

income was based on trade after the 10th century, it is probable that the

commoners were not very much influenced by it because the spices were

collected from the jungles and there was no royal order to cultivate them.

However, it is highly likely that women were not totally excluded from economic

activities because their labour was necessary for the sustenance of the family

and economic system in general. Within such a context, it seems the situation

was more favourable for women. Evidence on ancient Sri Lanka shows women

enjoyed the right to inherit family land and other special privileges. One of the

earliest example is the rock inscriptions around 4th century B. C. reveal that

women of noble families donated caves to monks, which would suggest that

women in the upper strata of society held property.

Robert Knox, an English sailor was captured by the king of Kandy in 1660 and

spent nearly twenty years in the interior of Kandyan kingdom as a detainee until

he escaped. He was quartered in two different villages and learned the language

and the way of Sinhala life. After his escape, he wrote of his experiences of life

as a prisoner in Sri Lanka and his observations on the Sinhalese. According to

Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 155

Robert Knox, during the fifteenth century children inherited land from parents, but

the eldest son did not have a privileged right to all the land. In the cases where

the eldest son inherited all the land, without dispute he had to maintain his

mother and the other siblings until they were capable of looking after themselves.

Knox's accounts also show that women not only had owned land under the pre-

colonial tenure but also participated in growing commercial activities during that

time. Knox says: 'Lands of Inheritance that belong to women are exempted from

paying Harriots to the king. Women pay no Custom for things they carry to the

Seaports. Neither is any Custom paid for what is carried upon any Female
J
Cattle, Cow or Buffalo (Knox 1981 [1681]: 250). This account indicates that

women not only had the right to own property, but also enjoyed special privileges

in the trade activities they were engaged at early times.

Women also enjoyed legal privileges. Hayley says: 'Women were treated with

indulgence. Those of low castes and slaves were occasionally whipped, and

women of the royal villages sometimes received slight corporal punishment, by

the authority of the Gabada Nilame'. According to Hayley, women were never

detained in the prison or house of officials (Hayley, 1923:131). Thus during pre-

colonial period women were treated leniently under the law, possibly because

they were considered as tender and weaker than men. However, it is important

to note that the system of law did not treat all women equally and women of the

upper strata of the society were treated better than the poor.
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 156

Scattered evidence also suggests women had access to education though it may

not have had been on an extensive scale. Drawing on U. D Jayasekara's Early

History of Education in Ceylon Elizabeth Harris says that Sri Lanka's education

system came from India and, subsequently, education opportunities were

available for women and Bhikkunis (Buddhist nuns) would have received a higher

standard of instruction (Harris, 1994:36). Harris also reported that several British

writers who studied ancient Sri Lankan chronicles mention records of educated

Buddhist women (ibid.: 36) Since there are no records of a main centre of

learning they may had been educated at home as Harris suggests.

There is no evidence to show that women were prevented from partiCipating in

politics. The evidence in the chronicles suggests that there were a few women

rulers and warriors in the ancient times. Wilhelm Geiger's (1960) accounts based

on chronicles and other historical evidence point out that women in royal families

took politics into their hands by scheming with monks and other chief royal

officers in order to decide who would succeed to the throne. Thus noble women

did participate in politics to some extent and sometimes had specific ceremonial

roles. During the consecration of the king, it was a maiden of the nobility who

poured water on his head and pledged the support of the nobles to him and

asked him to rule with justice and peace safeguarding the law.

Women also enjoyed certain rights and power within their families under the pre-

colonial economic and social structures. Some historical researchers argue that

the position of the family as a unit was respected and considered important in
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 157

pre-colonial Sri Lanka (Metthananda, 1990: Kiribamune, 1990:Risseeuw, 1991).

The family was an extended unit since collective labour was important in

agriculture. Marriage between cross cousins was permitted but marrying a

woman or a man from a low caste was not allowed. The children looked after

aged parents, and accounts of Europeans show that family attachments were

strong and children treated parents with respect and affection (Metthananda,

1990). The research carried out by many indigenous and foreign researchers

indicate Sri Lankan women enjoyed more rights during the pre-colonial period.

The records of European missionaries, officers and planters show that women

were not confined to home. Constance Gordon Cumming recorded: 'the

enforced seclusion of Zenana life is unknown in Ceylon where women enjoy

freedom as absolute as their western sisters'(Cumming, 1892 quoted in Harris,

1994:47). A British planter and writer, William Knighton, in History of Ceylon

says: 'if the sovereignty and priesthood, then, were not denied them (women),

may we not assent, that no other right to which they could pretend would be

debarred them' (Knighton: 1845, quoted in Harris: 1994:47). Such comments

show that these Europeans were surprised by the degree of freedom Sinhala

women enjoyed at that time. Records of other colonial administrative officers

also show that women were not barred from public activities.

The reason for this might be the main religion, Buddhism, acknowledged that

women have a special position as a wife and mother and also emphasised that

the marital relationship is reciprocal with mutual rights and obligation

(Metthananda, 1990). This has led to the saying that 'mother is the Buddha at
Chapter Four. We are not born but constructed' 158

home' and the Sinhalese believe that a mother should be well respected.

Buddhism does not impose rules or regulations on lay life. The five precepts and

eight precepts that are set out for lay men and women are self-pledges to refrain

from sin.

Nevertheless, the scattered evidence indicates that women did not have an equal

place with men. The concept of 'head of the family' may have not been there as

Risseeuw (1991) pOints out, but there is evidence to show men's position in the

family was higher than that of females and there was a clear demarcation of work

and household duties based on gender, at least around the fifteenth century. In

the official document entitled In Memoranda of the Laws of Inheritance, Sawers

quotes a proverb in Sri Lanka according to which women are born into three

miseries or great evils: first is to leave the place of their birth (when they get

married), second is to the pain of the child bearing, and the third is to be under

the husbands (Hayley, 1923). According Robert Knox's (1981[1681]) accounts,

women served meals to husbands and waited until he finished his meal and ate

what was left in the pot. It was not acceptable for women to sit on a stool in front

of men. Men had the privilege to demand one another to do or not to do things in

the name of the king, but if a woman did so the penalty was to cut out their

tongues. By law, a man who found his wife and her lover was permitted to kill

them both. Women partiCipated in the work in rice fields and grew vegetables in

the gardens and looked after cattle. It was their duty to keep the house tidy and

clean and to do the cooking, bringing firewood and water and taking care of

children. According to the accounts of John Davy, an English officer in the early
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 159

nineteenth century, men did laborious tasks in the agriculture while women did
I

weeding and reaping but managing household affairs was entirely in a woman's

hand' (Harris: 1994). This clearly shows that women had more responsibilities

than men and there was no equal sharing of labour.

Even though the caste system existed in Sri Lanka for many centuries it was not

based on religion as in India and therefore did not form a rigid social structure.

The caste system of Sinhalese is a mild form compared to the caste system of Sri

Lankan Tamils. H.L. Seneviratne (1999) attributes this to the influence of

Buddhism. According to him, anthropologists do not consider the Sri Lankan

caste system as a caste system in true sense and even Nur Yalman agreed with

this (Seneviratne, 1999:18). According to Geiger (1960), the ancient chronicle

Mahavamsa, the chronicle of the Maha Vihara temple, did not mention castes at

all when describing medieval times. He says it may be partly due to the fact those

chroniclers were written by Buddhist monks who did not care for castes but

mainly due to the way the social organisation was developed. He states that the

chronicles divide lay society into two categories: KuITna and HTna, the former is

for the noble clans, namely the royal clan and the civil and military government

officials, the latter was for the people of the lower ranks, which belonged to non-

agricultural professions21 . According to him, the caste system was modified and

mildly observed through these two classes. However, the Mahavamsa mentions

21 Geiger(1960) did not mention the agriculturists. Though they were not regarded as
aristocrats or nobles, they were/are known as goyigama caste and higher in social
strata next to the nobles and regarded as kulina. Nevertheless there is a dispute
among the Karawa (fisher) caste and goyigamas (agriculturists). People of KarAwa
caste maintain that they are higher in rank and Goyigamas dispute it. Ruwini, an
interviewee said her relationship with a boy was opposed by both families because of
this dispute.
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 160

'the four castes', the four Varnas of Hindus as paraphrase for the whole of
th
society in the 13 century. Geiger states that this was due to queen

Kalyanawathi's separation and purification of castes to stop a social upheaval

caused by intermarriages between families of lower and higher classes, which

was repugnant to a more conservative and aristocratic mentality (Geiger: 1960):

Thus the castes of the Sinhalese were not always pure and marriage beneath or

above the caste was tolerated at least up to the thirteenth century.

However, caste had a major impact on women's sexuality and marriage at least

by the fifteenth century. As Knox pointed out:

They are especially careful of their Marriages, not to Match with inferior
Cast, but always each within their own rank: Riches cannot prevail them in
the least to marry with those by whom they must eclipse and stain the
Honour of their Family: On which they set an higher price than their lives.
And if any of the Females should be so deluded, as to commit folly with
one beneath herself, if ever she should be appeared to the sight of her
Friends, they would certainly kill her, their being no other way to wipe off
the dishonour she hath done the Family, but of her own blood.

Yet for the Men it is something different; it is not accounted any shame or
fault for a man of the highest sort to lay with a Woman far inferior to
himself, nay of the very lowest degree; provided he neither eats nor drinks
with her, nor takes her home to his House as a Wife. But if he should
which I never knew done, he is punished by the Magistrate, either by Fine
or Imprisonment, or both also he is utterly excluded from his Family, and
accounted thenceafterward of the same rank quality, that the Woman is of
whom he hath taken (Knox 1981 [1681 ]:203).

In his book, A Sketch of the Constitution of the Kandyan Kingdom, A British

official of the nineteenth century says Kings prohibited this custom and in such a

case the relevant parties should seek redress from the king and with time the

practice of wife killing had diminished (John D'Oyly, 1929 quoted in HarriS,

1994:29). When examining the caste system in ancient Sri Lanka it is clear from
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 161

the above quotation of Robert Knox, that both men and women were not allowed

to 'pollute' their caste. The two differences are firstly that women were not

allowed to sleep with men from an inferior caste while men were allowed to sleep

with low caste women, and secondly the major differences between the

punishments. Knox says that he never knew a man marrying a woman of an

inferior caste.

Above all the influences of caste was most evident in marriage. It was
unusual for a person to marry below his or her own caste. He was likely to
be ostracised by his family as well as by his caste group. If a high caste
woman ran away to live with a low caste man, group disapprobation took a
more violent form and not infrequently the woman was killed because of a
belief that by her death the stain on the family honour would be removed
(Sirr, 1845 quoted in Wickremeratne, 1973:170).

Both accounts above clearly show that not only women but also men were not

allowed to marry beneath their castes. However, it is evident that women's

sexuality was more tightly controlled than men's and was far more severely

treated.

Nevertheless, women were not totally confined to the home and they participated

in religious events and other social events. Knox says that husbands were not

jealous and especially the wives of noblemen in particular frequently talked and

socialised with any men they pleased (1981 [1681]:202}. Robert Percival pointed

out:

The natives of Ceylon are more continent with respect to women, than the
other Asiatic nations and their women are treated with much more attention.
A Ceylonese woman almost never experiences the treatment of a slave, but is
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 162

looked upon by her husband, more after the European manner, as a wife and
a companion' (Percival, 1803, quoted in Yalman: 1967).

It seems that the legal rights and privileges that a Sinhalese woman had in

marriage contributed to her respected position in the family. Hayley pointed out,

'The legal unity of husband and wife under the English law or the community of

property under the Dutch law, find no place whatever in the Sinhalese system'

(1923:285).

It seems several forms of marriage existed simultaneously and the Sinhalese

practised polygamy and monogamy. Knox referred to Polygamy as while men

had one-wife women were allowed to have several husbands (1981[1681]:248).

Polyandry was in practice to keep the property intact. Usually in such marriages

one son of the family brought a wife home and she became the wife to all the

brothers in the family and each husband was the co-father of the children.

Monogamous marriages were divided into two categories known as Binna

(uxorilocal) and Deega (virilocal). In Binna marriages, the husband settled down

in the house of the wife's family while in Deega marriages a woman left her

parental house and lived with the husband and his relatives. In Binna marriages,

property belonged to the wife and her family and the husband was allowed to use

it under certain conditions. He was liable to expulsion at any time by the wife's

parents, or brothers if the parents were not alive. If the parents of the bride

arranged the marriage, on their death the wife's consent was necessary to

dissolve the marriage. In such cases, the children belonged to the mother's

family and were allowed to take the mothers family name, and furthermore
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 163

women could bring another husband to her and reside on her parent's property.

In Oeega marriages, women lost their right to parental property but they were

given a dowry, which consisted of moveable and immovable property, which the

wife was able to reclaim in case of divorce. Therefore, rules were clear on the

property rights and on divorce women enjoyed economic security.

Her position in marriage was further secured by not having state intervention.

There was no legal requirement to register marriages, and divorce by mutual

consent was accepted. As Knox described 'But their Marriages are but of little

force or validity. For if they disagree and mislike one the other; they part without

disgrace. Yet it stands firmer for the Man than for the Woman howbeit they do

leave one the other at their pleasure'. Knox says both men and women

commonly got married four or five times before they settled down and became

content (1981[1681]: 248). As Risseeuw (1991) also points out, the above

account suggests that divorce took place not only by mutual consent but also at

the instigation of either party.

The male children belonged to the husband and the female children belonged to

the wife in the case of a divorce (Hayley, 1923:35-38). If the wife left the

husband without his consent, she had the right to retain all the children or take

some of them not exceeding the half their number or she could refuse taking any.

Also she could claim maintenance at any time. If the husband left without the

consent of the wife she had to take only one or two children and children were
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 164

entitled to an equal share of inheritance to his property (Hayley, 1923, appendix-

one: 36).

The accounts of Hayley (1923) and Metthananda (1990) show that according to

Niti Niganduwa (a Sinhalese treatise on Kandyan law), when a girl reached the

age of twenty or was married she was no longer under the guardianship of her

elders and they could not exercise any control over her inherited property.

Daughters of any age, while they remained under the roof of the parental home

had a temporary jOint interest with their brothers in the landed property of their

parents. When married, the property of the wife was separate and was entirely at

her disposal and the couple's respective properties remained distinct from each

other, because, as stated in Niti Niganduwa, marriage does not create a

community of goods. Therefore the husbands had no power over their wife's

estate. In the husband's absence, the wife was regarded as the manager of his

affairs and she was permitted to use his property for the benefit and maintenance

of the family, and his money could be spent and his moveable goods could be

sold to provide for the royal services due from his land. The wife could sell the

produce or mortgage his land if necessary but the husband could not make such

a use of his wife's property without her consent.

A daughter married under the deega system was entitled to share the parental

property if she returned home destitute, though she ceased to be a permanent

member of the family after she married. If a woman returned after the death of

the father, brothers had to provide maintenance for her. If a daughter became a
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 165

widow or a divorcee, the father was obliged to provide her maintenance if she

possessed no property and could not support herself.

Widows had a life interest in the estate of the deceased husband and were

supposed to have the chief superintendence and control over the whole estate

for life. In cases of a divorce, if the children were under the care of the wife, the

father was expected to provide them with the necessities of life or set aside a

portion of his lands to be cultivated on their account or some income from the

proceeds of his manual labour (Metthananda, 1990: 55-57). The legal rights

women enjoyed under the ancient law regarding property and marriage were

more advantageous for women. However, her position with regard to economic

rights and family rights was to be profoundly changed through the intervention of

colonial rulers.

Part II: The colonial period

Colonialism

The structural changes that took place under the colonial powers, especially after

the whole island came under the British rule in 1815, had a significant impact on

women's position. When the British defeated the European rivals in South Asia

and secured power in the region through their naval supremacy, Sri Lanka

ceased to be an important strategiC spot in the imperial plan of securing the hub

of the empire; India. 22 Hence Sri Lanka was no longer an important colony and in

22 The imperial policy of the British for the Asian region in the late sixteent~ centurf was
preventing the French from filling the power vacuum caused by the decline of the
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 166

England, the economic reform movement protested about the 'irrational

expenditure incurred by the mother country for her colonial empire' and Sri Lanka

(Ceylon) was seen as a conspicuous example (Samaraweera, 1973:77)23. As a

result, in 1829 the Colonial Office sent a commission of inquiry to Sri Lanka,

known as the 1832 Colebrooke-Cameron commission. The proposals

Colebrooke made on the Civil Service and economy had a strong influence on

the development patterns of employment and economic activity in Sri Lanka. He

believed that importing civil servants from England was a waste and proposed to

open the civil service to qualified candidates from Sri Lanka, and since the

language of government was English he proposed that there should be English

language education (Ibid.: 84). He believed that the colonial economy should be

free from government monopoly and should be open to private enterprise, and

that the government should depend on taxation. He made proposals to

encourage capital formation and investment. He proposed to revise the

traditional land law, which the British saw as an impediment to individual

Dutch power in the region. Being in the middle of the Indian Ocean and close to
India, Sri Lanka was important in British naval strategy. During the monsoon its naval
squadron defending India needed a place to lie to the windward of India and a safe
harbour to shelter. Trincomalee, a natural harbour in Sri Lanka was ideal for this
purpose and defending the British trade with India and China. During the peace
times the Dutch allowed the British to use the port but in 1781 when the Dutch and
the British went to war it was feared that the Dutch would let the French to use the
harbour in case of an attack on India. The coastal area possessed by the Dutch was
ceded to the British at the peace of Amiens in March 1802. However, after the first
few years of the nineteenth century, Trincomalee lost its importance in the British
naval strategy because by 1805 the French naval power was completely destroyed
and there were no other European threat in the region.(De Silva K.M,1973)

23 In the first two decades of the British rule, Sri Lanka was not a crown colony and
there was no close supervision on the affairs of the colony. The frequent deficit in
finances was a major problem and the colonial office sought the assistance of the
imperial treasury to meet that. When Sri Lanka was no longer important as a
strategiC point, it was reluctant to grant more money.
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 167

ownership and to abolish Rajakariya, which was based on compulsory service to

the king.

Neither the Portuguese nor the Dutch tried to change the native administrative

system but rather introduced a few modifications. The attitude of the British

towards caste however was somewhat ambiguous. Since the British

administration needed the collaboration of native officials they favoured higher

castes, the British colonial policy maintained the rajakariya system (services to

king based on caste) for economic purposes. Hence they recognised and

maintained caste distinctions on one hand but on the other hand, there was

resentment about the practices that promoted social degradation for low castes.

The British colonial government slowly and cautiously took steps to break down

the caste system. In January 1821 the colonial government issued a

proclamation announcing that any person or persons who killed a woman on the

ground that she had had relations with a low caste man would be sentenced to

death. The same proclamation announced that assaulting or harassing low

castes for arrogating the privileges of caste, to which they were not entitled,

would be punished with fines or imprisonment. By 1833, rSjakSriya system was

abolished and the government strongly supported the missionaries who started

schools for low castes such as rodiySs. In 1845 and 1853 despite the strong

opposition of the Goyigama caste, the government apPOinted two wealthy

members of the Salagama and Karava as Mudaliyars(High ranking officials)

(Wickremeratne, 1973: 172-3) Hence the caste differences were slowly eroding in

th
Sri Lanka from the 19 century.
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 168

The Dutch had already introduced cinnamon plantations to Sri Lanka, but the

plantations introduced by the British in the nineteenth century were on a far larger

scale. As in the West Indies, tobacco, sugar, indigo, cotton and coffee were tried

as experimental cash crops, and finally in the 1830s coffee became the most

successful crop. The colonial government developed an infrastructure to assist

the largely European owned plantation sector and barely paid attention to

developing traditional agriculture. However, urban industries, services such as

transport, postal, shipping and commerce thrived under the new system and

created new jobs. Even though wage labour was introduced to some extent by

the Dutch for the cinnamon trade, the concept only became well established

under the British colonial economy.

The British colonial policy on recruiting locals to the civil service and absorbing

wage labour into the economy was based on a preference for males. Peasant

agriculture declined due to several factors: scarcity of land as a result of the

colonial land policies and the emergence of large-scale plantations; grain taxes;

importing rice; and the govemments negligence in maintaining irrigation. The

result was that collective family labour lost its importance and men emerged as

the sole providers for the family. Risseeuw points out:

As the knowledge of the growing landlessness and subsequent

unemployment became impossible to ignore, the colonial government policy
aimed at absorbing labour into the emerging industrial sector and services in
the towns. The concept of the male bread winner was not actually stated but
all reports, plans and policies developed by the colonial government spoke
only of employment for males(1991 :75).
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 169

Inter-linked with this change, some of the other structural reforms brought about

by the colonial rule were detrimental for women's right to own property. As I will

pOint out below, the change of the pre-colonial land policy and change of

marriage from several forms to monogamy were the primary tools in curbing

women's right to inherit property.

As shown earlier, the pre-colonial system of marriage was not under the control

of either the state or religion, and it was very much a civil affair. With the

introduction of Christianity, monogamy was established and registration of

marriage came to be practised in the low country areas. A British official noted

that in low country area, higher number of people 'regularly in married state as it

is usual in other parts of the world' and 'among those who live under the British

Government, and profess Christianity, instances of divorce are extremely rare;

and a husband is not permitted to marry two wives' (Cordiner, 1807 quoted in

Harris, 1994:23). Under the Roman Dutch Law introduced by the Dutch in the

coastal areas, the principle of monogamy was applied and it enabled the

husband to acquire marital power over his wife and her property. Children in a

non-legal family were considered as illegitimate and no relationship to the father

was recognised. Hence the natural father was no longer obliged to maintain the

children as under the traditional law (Risseeuw, 1991 :60). The women in the

upcountry area, however, enjoyed rights granted to them under the traditional law

until the British captured the area in 1815. Risseeuw pOints out while praising the

Dutch marriage law in low country areas as an 'enlightened' form, the British

noted the traditional law in the upcountry area as a 'curious anomaly'. This view
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 170

stemmed from their western conceptions of civilised and primitive peoples, linked

with their own theory of development and progress (1991: 19). According to the

British, the rules of marriage and divorce were vague and therefore there was no

clear demarcation between illegitimacy and legitimacy of chi Idren.

According to Risseeuw, the British gathered information of local laws and

customs by speaking to the local elite male officials, who themselves saw the

advantage that changing marriage law would bring them. In other words, they

realised that implementation of European law would prevent women enjoying

rights to property and other advantages. Sawers's Notes on the Laws of

Marriage notes the following:

Sinhalese Chiefs are unanimous on [about the old law of child custody] but
they consider it a privilege to be exempted from the trouble and expense of
bringing up the children - in short they represent the general feeling on this
subject to be what are but too generally the feelings of the parents of
illegitimate children in England towards such progeny (Sawers in Hayley,
1923: Appendix 1,p 36).

The British started to change the systems of marriage under Ordinance no. 7of

1846, which declared that bigamy was unlawful. In 1855, Governor Ward

received a petition form the Chiefs24 of the Kandy begging to change the

marriage system, which was 'exceedingly unsuited to the present state of the

Memoralists (writers of the petition)'. They stressed that Buddhism has no rules

regarding marriage and hence the 'lax state of the law' on marriage. Risseeuw

(1991) quoted a part of a petition where the petitioners locate the problem of the

traditional marriage system. The petitioners claimed that in numerous instances

parents were reduced to complete poverty by the responsibility of supporting and

Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 171

maintaining their married daughters that the existing marital laws put upon them

and that there was no way to prevent husbands discarding one wife and taking

another. The petitioners were shrewd enough to mention the abolition of

polygamy and polyandry, which was abhorred by the Europeans. As Risseeuw

(1991) clearly points out, their real objection was to the rights of daughters to

return to the parental home if their marriage failed and thus regain rights to

parental property. Initially, the British were reluctant to use the opportunity

created by this because they realised that it was not a widespread desire and

that the majority of the Sri Lankans did not understand the proposal. However,

following a second petition in 1858 signed by 8000 'Kandyan Chiefs, Headmen

and People' the British implemented the Marriage Ordinance 13 of 1859,

according to which marriages must be monogamous throughout the island.

Formal registration was required to legalise marriages. Children born after 1859

to parents unable to prove registration were regarded as illegitimate and would

therefore have no right to inherit (Risseeuw, 1991: 30-46).

This situation was further aggravated by the British land policy of the nineteenth

century and many women lost their access to land. The colonial rulers

erroneously assumed that ,as they thought was the case in medieval Europe,

land ownership in Sri Lanka was based on the proprietorship of the State.

Therefore, they suggested that the Crown had 'a catholic right to all the lands not

proved to have been granted at an earlier period' (Roberts, 1973:124). Hence

the Wasteland Ordinance declared that aI/ the land for which the owners could

not prove ownership would be Crown Land. Under the Sinhala system, the land

24 The high officials or ministers of the local administrative system

Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 172

known as Paraveni (land owned through family) was heritable property and such

property holders had to provide a limited service to the king as the sovereign but

not as the overlord. Another title, mudal dun peruwak( a piece of land bought with

money} also indicates that there was individually owned land. However, as noted

earlier, all children in the family had rights to land and therefore there were no

absolute rights of ownership in the European sense since different individuals or

collectives could have rights or privileges over the same piece of land (Roberts,

1973). Land was cultivated under a system called tattumaru kramaya, which was

designed to rotate the land among shareowners for cultivation. The British called

this 'undivided proprietorship' and viewed it with distaste (Roberts, 1973). In

order to promote individual ownership the British, under the Ordinance 1863

no.10, in theory decided to give 'every inducement to landowners to seek a

division, or if the extent [was] small and the number of proprietors great, a sale of

the lands so held' though the administrators initially rejected the law of

primogeniture as an alien concept to Sri Lanka (Ibid.) Later, with the support of

the Land Commission Report of 1929, the Land Development Ordinance of 1935

introduced primogeniture, giving preference to the eldest son in case of intestate

succession to state land allotments (Jayaweera, 1992:7).

According to Risseeuw, the British colonial administration did not like the forms of

marriage in Sri Lanka and the 'subordinating and somewhat humiliating position

of the husband in a Binna marriage unlike in the usual type of alliance in a

patriarchal system' (Hayley: 1923, quoted in Risseeuw, 1991: 18). The dominant

ideology in European countries was that marriage is a lifetime commitment of one

Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 173

man and woman and the Christian ideal of faithfulness should be applied to the

marriage also. From a British viewpoint, the marriage systems of the Sinhalese

created the problems about the legitimacy of children and property inheritance.

Though some English legal officials recognised that under the Sinhala marriage

system women held a higher position relative to men than in other countries and

the changes in established ancient law would be detrimental to women (Judge

Burwick quoted in Risseeuw, 1991: 39-41), the British went ahead and

implemented the laws on marriage. Earlier in this chapter it was explained how

the new law resulted in profound changes on women's rights to property and right

to work, and this led to the subordinated position rather than an equal partner to

the property of the husband. The majority of Sri Lankans did not welcome these

laws at first, but they slowly but steadily assimilated them as 'civilising the

natives' was continued through administrative and missionary work in Sri Lanka.

Another concept that was asserted along with these changes and legitimised by

the British was the concept of the head of the family. This was a consequence of

imposing monogamous marriage and ensuring the individual ownership of the

property. As Risseeuw pOints out 'They (the British colonial rulers) needed one,

continuous owner of land per 'family', but in theory the sex of the future owners

would make no difference. That this owner would be of the male sex was too

obvious, and could therefore remain unsaid' (1991 :53). The elite men who

collaborated with the English were not in favour of changing the situation when

the Married Women's Property Ordinance of 1907 was taken into discussion in

the council in order to correct the harm done to women. They argued that the
Chapter Four: We are not bom but constructed' 174

women had not yet reached the stage of civilisation where they could benefit by

the rights proposed in the Bill and that it would open the door to misconduct on

the part of the wife (Risseeuw, 1991 :62). However, the new law was passed and

women regained the right to hold property, to be the recipient of court actions, to

dispose of all movable and immovable property held before the marriage and

acquired after marriage. However, women were obliged to maintain their

husbands in cases where they had sufficient separate property while husbands

did not (lbid.60). Nevertheless, the idea that the man was the head of the family

took strong roots in the community.

The British realised the detrimental effects of the Roman Dutch law on marriage

because under this law women lost all the rights they enjoyed under ancient law

while husbands gained marital power. Hence from 1859 to 1923 several

ordinances were implemented to safeguard property rights and maintenance

rights for women, although this did not help to restore women's earlier right to

inherit property. The 1921 Married Women's Property Ordinance no.18 restored

many rights women lost under the Roman Dutch law, but it was women in

privileged classes that benefited from it. With their access to English education

they were also able to enter professional work such as medicine and teaching.

Even though main aim of the educating elite women was to provide ideal

housewives to English educated men, it paved the way for some of these women

to enter professions mentioned above.

Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 175

The developments in the nineteenth and early twentieth century on property and

marriage made many women marginal to economic activities. Nevertheless, as

Risseeuw (1991) points out, this was not a uniform process and it affected

women in different classes in different ways. Though the scarcity of land to

cultivate became a major problem, the commercialisation of the economy

provided opportunities for men. Because of lack of sensitivity of the colonial

administrators to women's needs, the opportunities were mainly opened for

males. However, this does not mean that women were totally excluded from paid

work. Many urban and rural poor women ended up as home-based workers in

home-based petty trades, which were regarded as feminine and casual jobs.

According to Risseeuw, as a consequence, in the first half of the twentieth

century women were categorised under the informal sector of the economy while

males were categorised under the formal sector. The basic reason for this,

Risseeuw says, was the British administrators' confusion of how to interpret

'female worker'. As she points, though the government census officials recorded

a large number of female workers and petty traders, their initial conceptualisation

of the female worker ignored this fact. As a result almost every census attempted

to form a new definition of female worker.

The first census in 1821 did not record figures on female labour. From 1871,

census reports added a column for working women also. In 1871, the column

was empty and this was as a result of instructions given to the census officials to

deal only with the 'head of the house' who was assumed to be a male. In the

censuses of 1881 and 1891, respectively females were introduced as 'practically

Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 176

all women without special employment were contained in the domestic class' and

as 'wives and children not having any special occupation contributing to their

maintenance were taken to be of the occupation of the persons on whose labour

they subsisted' and this led to a misrepresentation of female income earners. In

1911, census data categorised women as non-earners. This was a consequence

of colonial policy makers' idea of one earner per family and their recognition of

men as head of the family and as providers. To adjust the error, the 1921 census

introduced the concept of 'gainful occupation' but this was defined as 'an

occupation, by which a person who pursued it, earned money or a money

equivalent'. Risseeuw argues this was also had a negative impact on women as

the new term was combined with the rule of noting only the 'principal occupation'

of a family, i.e. the one to bring in the highest and most regular income. In the

1946 census this category was further redefined and divided as 'gainful

occupation' and 'useful occupation'. Under this, any activity not practised

regularly or which did not bring a steady income was excluded from the category

of gainful occupation. This was continued in subsequent censuses until 1974.

Risseeuw points out that the 1946 census report proves the establishment of the

idea of 'male breadwinner', and excluded women who did odd jobs to contribute

to the family income irrespective of their earnings, and the women were regarded

as the responsibility of the head of the family, i.e. the man (Risseeuw, 1991 :92-

99.)

I would like to reiterate that there is strong case to argue that these

developments had a profound impact upon deciding Sinhala women's position

Chapter Four: We are not bom but constructed' 177

within and outside the family as they were effective in changing the ideas of the

community on women's place. Not only did colonial rule effect economic

changes but also introduced new morals and values to the community, based on

Christianity, which combined with these structural changes worked to restrict

women.

The British colonialists believed that 'the introduction of purer morality must be

the work of time' (Risseeuw, 1991 :38). Along with the monogamous marriage the

European ideas of civilised life combined with the Christian values and virtues

such as chastity, fidelity and family honour were introduced to Sri Lanka. The

accounts of the various European men and women quoted in Elizabeth Harris

(1994) criticise the Sinhalese marriage forms and says sacredness of marriage

and morals such as fidelity or chastity of women are not such important matters

for Sinhalese. The view of many European men and women were that the liberal

form of Sinhala marriage was a threat to chastity, family honour and sacredness

of marriage.

One very good example of influence of colonial values and ethics on shaping

Sinhala women's sexuality is the idea of the virgin bride. Nowadays, the Sinhala

community strongly believes a girl should be a virgin on the day of her marriage

and there is a custom of testing her virginity. On the day of the wedding the

groom drapes a white cloth around the waist of the bride and they have to sleep

on it on the first night. The next day, the mother and some female relatives of the

bride and, the groom's mother would visit the couple accompanied by a
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 178

washerwoman. If there was no blood on the white cloth, it is considered that the

girl had sex before marriage and was therefore considered to be a loose woman.

Not having a bloodstain on the sheet would bring drastic results. Some may

annul the marriage right away. Some mother-in-Iaws would announce it to the

guests by not letting the bride wear a red sari and receiving her with white flowers

on the day of the homecoming, and serving the traditional rice cakes (Konde

kevum) with their heads broken. This public humiliation would continue to bring

shame upon the bride and her family. Even if husbands decide to keep the wife,

they use it as a weapon to insult the wife and the rift in the marriage would never

be healed.

Today the community believes that it is an ancient tradition for Sinhala girls to

remain as virgins until they got married. However, Robert Knox in 1ih century

said: 'They do not matter or regard whether their Wives at the first marriage be

Maids or not' (1981[1681]: 247). As it seems that the old system of marriage was

more liberal and people remarried several times before they settled for one long

term partner, the idea of a virgin bride would not have been so important though

a virgin may have been appreCiated. Knox also says that incest and infidelity

was not so rare and describes a habit of offering of wives or daughters to intimate

friends or an important person if lodged in the house. Hayley (1923) provides an

account of the wedding ceremony among the superior castes of but does not

mention a virginity test. In Sinhalese Social Organisation-The Kandyan Period,

Ralph Pieris (1956) describes various marriage ceremonies in Sri Lanka and

according to him this was a custom only among the Karawa caste in the low
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 179

country area. According to B. A. Ariyatilake the bible mentions virginity tests

(Deut.22: 13 ff.) and the Sinhalese learned the practice from the Portuguese

(Ariyatilake,2000). Though it was not clear from what sources he learned that

the Sinhalese learned the practise from the Portuguese the above sources

disclose that virginity of the bride was not an issue until the twentieth century. As

I will show later in this thesis, virginity tests have become a part of the 'tradition

'and highly influential on Sinhala women's lives.

These ideas spread among the locals through the education based on European

ideas and values. The English-educated, Christianised elite eagerly embraced

this new form of social values, and slowly the rest followed the elite and

assimilated them. The census of 1910 reported that the "habits of the natives"

had changed considerably. Changes are reported in food habits, dressing, in

amusements, religion and marriage (Risseeuw, 1991 :51). Along with these,

Christian ideas of morals and values on day-to-day life were inculcated in Sri

Lankan people and they imagined those were part and parcel of their ancient

culture and tradition.

As Gaya (Age 73, Colombo) an older interviewee pointed out, while teaching

Christian morals and values to women, colonialists encouraged and supported

the values and morals of the locals if they were compatible with their own values

and ideas.

And then at Hilwood (Girls College) we had a very fine education at that
time. Most of the teachers were European, but I want to tell you is, that
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 180

the Europeans maintained our culture. Our Sinhalese culture. Today I

often hear people who are, people who have given up their culture saying
all this is because of the British supremacy and they ruined our culture.
Now, I was ten years in the boarding and so there were six of us (she and
her sisters) in the boarding. Our [ ... ] we had Miss Reed, Miss Chapman,
Mrs Tyler, so many English teachers and only the Sinhala teacher was a
Sinhalese. They saw that we were brought up respecting our culture.
Which I would like to stress, you know, though they were foreigners, they
may have converted (local girls) and some people became converted but it
was not something rigid and forced. They (the girls) wore Kandyan half
saree, [ ... ] Hilwood was a school especially for Kandyan girls because
Trinity College was opened for boys in the Kandyan area. And when
parents found that when these boys went to Trinity and were educated
they wanted educated girls to get married to. People (girls) who knew
English, music, cookery, literature and that type were on the top in the
1920s, 30s and so on. At that time they did not think of people (girls)
going out to work and earn but they wanted a good housewife. So they
wanted to educate girls, then the missionaries felt well we (have) got to
provide, we have educated the boys so we have to provide them with an
educated wife. So they started Hilwood over about 120 years ago. And
when the principal came, the school was run by the Zenana mission,
Anglican of course, they [ ... ] the principal actually went to the Kandyan
homes, they were very particular that only the Kandyans would be there.
Because, you see, they realised that we had our caste system and a
Kandyan would marry only a Kandyan. So they did not want to break that
because that would have upset the people. So they went to these
Kandyan homes and brought Kandyan girls and taught them, you know,
the cookery, English and their (the student's) English was very good. You
should speak to people of [ ... ] my mother didn't go to Hilwood but my
grand aunts did and they would still talk about Westward Ho, Ivanhoe and
Walter Scott. They learnt all that so thoroughly, of course we learned the
Bible, we learned English and the English was really very good. You
know, handwriting and [ ... ] of course we wore the Kandyan sari with a little
collared blouse and we had earrings, we had to have a necklace on us.
When going to the Chapel, each one who did not have a necklace was
pulled out. And the principal said "you are not a widow, you have to have
a necklace". So, you know, little things like that [ ... ] they thought [ ... ]
culture was not broken. (Gaya, age 73, Colombo/English)

This piece of conversation of Gaya's provides a fine example of what the

community internalised as their culture and tradition was greatly influenced by the

colonisation. As she says, being privileged people of an ancient Kandyan

aristocratic family, the older generation of her family had access to English
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 181

education. It is highly probable that what her elders have learned in the schools

had a profound impact on shaping their habits and thoughts and passed to the

next generation as their own 'Sinhala traditions.' Hence Gaya did not see a

difference between her experience at home and what she has learned in that

missionary school.

As pOinted out in the first chapter, the Dutch and the British started western types

of schools in Sri Lanka. The main aim of the British education was to create a

small western educated elite to be recruited into the lower ranks of the civil

service in order to cut the imperial expenditure and so the British were not

interested in promoting or investing in vernacular education. The English

education was largely in the hands of missionaries. However, the Town Schools

Ordinance (Ordinance No.5, 1906) and the Rural Schools Ordinance (Ordinance

No.8, 1907) allowed the existing local government bodies to create facilities to

extend compulsory elementary education in Sinhala and Tamil. The former

ordinance gave the option to three municipalities and twenty-one local board

towns to provide and manage vernacular schools and enforce compulsory

attendance until the age of twelve (Jayaweera, 1973: 463). Nevertheless, there

were major differences between the curriculum taught in English and other

languages. While the English language based education was aimed at

Cambridge exams and university education, the vernacular education was limited

to the subjects of Geography, History, needlework, drawing, drill (exercise) and

gardening. In 1922, the vernacular curriculum was expanded to include hygiene,

physiology, linen embroidery and lace making (Ibid. 466). Hence the education
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 182

in the vernacular languages was a very limited elementary and vocational skill

based education and students stood no chance of entering into the newly

established University College in 1921.

According to Swarna Jayaweera, the local English educated elite were reluctant

to agitate for education in vernacular languages. Though they were interested in

introducing the study of Sinhala and Tamil, the majority were reluctant to have

them as the medium of instruction. The elite was more interested in protesting

against total exclusion from politics and in obtaining more extensive facilities for

and access to higher education and prestigious employment. They wanted to

identify themselves with the colonial rulers rather than with the vernacular

educated (Jayaweera, 1973:474). This changed when the Free Education Act

was introduced in 1943 and implemented in 1945. This paved the way for mass

education by establishing co-educational secondary schools in vernacular

languages as the medium of instruction. After 1958, vernacular languages were

adopted in senior secondary schools too (Metthananda, 1990: 69).

However, as Gaya (Age 73, Colombo) states the colonial administrators and

missionaries were interested in educating women mainly to provide educated

wives for local preachers and the educated male elite and also to promote

religious conversion. As the main aim of this education was to provide ideal

housewives it was the women of the elite families who benefited from the female

education in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century (Metthananda,

1990). However, Gaya says conversion was not forced on girls. Parents were
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 183

also interested in educating girls when they found that English educated men

were interested in marrying educated girls. As illustrated by Gaya's story, the

English did not try to change the culture or traditions and did not try to change the

caste barriers. Her account also points out that besides preparing for Cambridge

exams, they were also taught frugality, cleanliness, hygiene and mending

clothes, which were ideal characteristics for European women at that time. Her

account suggests that female education was aimed at providing educated

partners for the educated men and neither the missionaries nor the colonial

rulers, had in mind to preparing them for paid jobs and their own careers.

Nationalism

There is a strong case for arguing that the nationalist creation of the ideal

'Sinhala Buddhist woman' went hand in hand with these colonial policies and so

women internalised the idea that women have a secondary place in society.

As I will show later, the nationalist leadership wanted the postcolonial state to be

progressive and modernist, like a developed western country but on the other

hand they needed symbols, values and norms, that would distinguish and

separate the Sinhalese and Sri Lanka from the other: the western, imperial

power. Hence this identity was constructed through culture. However, they could

not totally discard the European values, ethics and norms they had internalised

through Christianisation and Westernisation. It is highly likely that, for them,

these values and norms were part of being progressive and modern. Therefore,

though they were critical of adapting symbols such as dress code, names and

habits that implied Westernisation and were opposed to Christianity, the

 Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 184

nationalist ideology was compatible with some of the western values and ethics.

Therefore, as this chapter will show, when they reconstructed the postcolonial Sri

Lankan culture, they incorporated western ideals of femininity into Sinhala culture

along with the Brahmin ideology.

It is a known fact that during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

many key leaders of the nationalist movement, especially a prominent leader

called Anagarika Dharmapala, were influenced by the contemporary

Theosophical Society in the western world. According to Kumari Jayawardena:

Theosophy was an interesting mixture of liberal views based on the "universal

Brotherhood of Humanity without distinction of race, creed, sex caste, or
colour" along with occultism and a faith in the "Masters of Wisdom". It was
also an amalgam of various aspects of the world's religions, and a denial of
the Christian, Eurocentric vision of the world (Jayawardena, 1986: 122)

The founders of the Theosophical society, Colonel Henry Olcott and Lady Helena

Blavatsky and another member Annie Besant visited Sri Lanka and had close

links with leaders who were involved in the Buddhist revivalism and temperance

movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. While rejecting

imperialism and calling for a 'Swaraj (an independent country)', Dharmapala had

a vision of ideal'Sinhala Buddhist society'. According to H.L. Senaviratne:

His image of the past society is based on the Mahavamsa,25 although it is

likely that the writings of British colonial authors, like Tennent whom he
cites, gave him his first inklings into that society, as well as into
Mahavamsa itself. The central political feature of that ideal past society
was righteous and paternalistic kingship. The basis of social order was
Buddhist morality or righteousness. The morality was also magically
25 Mahavamsa is an ancient chronicle written by monk Mahanama in 600 AD.
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 185

powerful: so long as it existed - and it always did when there was righteous
kingship - the nation prospered and no foreigner could overpower it. The
present state of kinglessness, in contrast, has caused a dedine in
Buddhist morality, which has resulted in the acceptance of foreign customs
and mores, keeping the SOciety in subjugation to an alien rule. Whatever
the present depths are to which the society has descended, morality can
throw off the foreign yoke and restore society to its former ideal state.
What is needed therefore is a return to righteousness. It does not take
much: living in accordance with Buddhist morality for a mere five years
would restore Sri Lanka to its former glory, but a glory that so
accommodates and conforms to modernity that, except for its unique
cultural stamp, it would appear no different from a prosperous, developed,
and modern nation. That is, Dharmapala is envisaging here a society that
is technologically advanced yet uncompromisingly moored within the moral
and cultural framework of tradition. From some of his remarks it is clear
that the models that he has in his mind are Japan and the United States
(Seneviratna, 1999:29-30. Emphasis is mine).

The 'nationalist' elite leadership was different from the English educated,

westernised elite leadership who agitated for constitutional reforms within the

framework of a British Westminster model of parliament. Leaders like

Dharmapala renounced their western names (his name was David) and

Christianity. Nationalist leaders were more interested in religious and social

reforms. More importantly, the forerunners of this movement were the 'new urban

and rural elite' which consisted of the lower rungs of the middle class: the urban

elite who were those accumulated wealth from investing in coconut, rubber,

plumbago and trade; and the rural elite were notaries, schoolteachers and petty

traders. As A.J. Wilson points out: 'Deprived of the opportunity of participating in

the government of the country they diverted their energies to the temperance

movement, which afforded them a training in the mechanics of organising and

influencing public opinion on controversial issues' (Wilson, 1973:383). They

unquestioningly accepted Dharmapala's idea of ideal Sinhala Buddhist society.

To take their message to society, they used available form of media,

Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' IH6

(newspapers and radio) and formed grassroot organisations. One such

organisation was Mahila Samiti' (women's associations) organised by urban

upper class women to promote rural women's economic status by reviving

traditional arts and crafts. However, it is ciear that they used those associations

as forums to revive religion and 'tradition'.

These nationalist leaders propagated the view that the Sinhalese are

descendants of Aryans. Hence Dharmapala introduced the 'Aryan Buddhist'

woman into his ideal Sinhala Buddhist society. Though Dharmapaia accepted

that society should develop benefiting from western scientific knowledge and

technologies, he believed social structures should be based on the imagined

'Aryan, Buddhist tradition and culture' in which he assigned a specific role to

women.

In his extremely influential pamphlet, the Gihi Vinaya - " the Daily Code
for the Laity" which was published in 1898, Dharmapala clearly spells out
how women's sexuality and their every day lives should be constructively
regulated through practices of sanitation and religiosity, so that they could
be suitable role models for their children (De Alwis, 1994:96).

According to Kumari Jayawardena, the freedom of the !Aryan Buddhist wife'

imagined by Dharmapala was almost a reproduction of the stereotype in verses

from Kavyasekaraya.l. a corrupted Hindu text, (which will be discussed later in this

chapter): 'The Aryan husband trains his wife to take care of his parents, and

attend on holy men, on his friends and relations. The glory of woman is in her

chastity, in the performance of household duties and obedience to her husband.

This is the Aryan ideal wife' (Quoted in Jayawardena, 1986:126).

Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 187

Hence the impact of the emergence of the nationalist movement on Sinhala

women cannot be measured in simple terms. Dharmapala's imagined vision of

the 'ideal Sinhala woman' had a tremendous impact on shaping the

contemporary Sinhala community's idea of what a woman is. According to

Malathi de Alwis this has resulted in posting a set of identities on Sinhala women,

simultaneously operating to create a set of exclusions on her (de Alwis, 1994:94).

She points out that Dharmapala constituted Sinhala Buddhist woman in

opposition to women in other religions and ethnicity. Dharmapala argued that the

Christian bible, Muslim Koran and Hindu texts degraded women and only

Buddhism accorded freedom and respect to women. He also felt that woman's

body is the maker of ethnicity, modesty and uniqueness. He attempted to

constitute Sinhala Buddhist women in opposition to the completely Europeanised

upper class Sinhala women as well as lower class and peasantry who were seen

as vulgar and unclean. As Malathi de Alwis also points out his 'Aryan Sinhala

woman' was a vision of a 'new bourgeois woman.' (Ibid: 95)

Through this discussion it is clear that what the Sinhala society today

understands a 'proper woman' to be was constructed during the height of the

nationalist movement. The findings of my archival research strongly support this

view. The ideas expressed in newspapers of the early twentieth century clearly

indicate the belief in the newly created myth of the 'Aryan Sinhala' woman and

her place.

A Buddhist monk writes that:

There were no vulgar dances [Ballroom dance, Baila dance (A

Portuguese dance)] among Aryan Sinhalese and such dances are
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 188

spread among respectable families today. Because of these dances

women's chastity and shamelfear disappears completely and if a
woman loose her shame and fear, there is no pOint of talking about
other things (that she looses everything a good woman suppose to
have). Especially women should be obedient to men and should have
quiet and sweet habits and behave well (Vajirabuddhi,
1923. Translated).

Another man expresses that:

Women and men lean on each other. Because men are strongly
intelligent and clever in dOing things and because women are less
intelligent and always cowards, men are considered as lords
(swamiyan) and women are considered to be obedient servants of
men. (Keekaru Atavesi). The good woman maintains a very beautiful
home, helps men to get rid of their grievances, entertain parents,
relations and teachers, does domestic work and therefore they are
suitable helpers to men and bring comforts to them. Such a woman
illuminates her clan and make the husband and relatives by serving
them. Develop her nation and the religion by bringing up her children
very well (Pangnadasa, 1923.Translated).

In another newspaper the writer points out that women's duty to the nation

is to follow and be obedient to men.

Not only men's but also women's service is very important to develop a nation.
Men will use their wise heads and tell what is need for development and women
should progress the development by obeying (to what men said) (Rupasinghe,
1924.Translated)

Such ideas were readily acceptable to the mass public and they propagated the

myth that that was how the Sinhala women were raised and behaved from

ancient times. Therefore while accepting the changing social structures and

accompanying modernisation, associated with men, and to a large extent with

women, people came to believe that women should not change because they are

the guardians of the so-called 'Sinhala Buddhist culture.' The idea of 'Proper
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 189

Woman' was strong in Sri Lanka even after the independence as one strong

consequence of the emergence of nationalism.

For example one very popular women's newspaper, Taruni (young woman)

carried a serious of articles under the heading of 'The girl I like' in 1960s and

young men enthusiastically wrote in about what the qualities they looked for in

women. One man says this:

She is a woman who shapes herself according to the changing society.

She is fluent in English. Get friendly with anybody very easily. Her walk is
brisk and 'cat walk gait' which she modelled deliberately. All this makes
her beauty double and treble. She is familiar with all the new fashions. I
Like her. But not for marriage. To get married I am looking for a girl
who is completely different from her. Men fancy such 'Saruwa Pitta/a'
[means glitter and glamour] girls. They have affairs with such girls and
give them various gifts and presents. But they look for girls with different
habits and customs (gati guna) to get married. (Original emphasis.)

[He goes on to say what he expects from a girl: she should be pretty and should

have good habits (gunawath) because he should be able to display her as his

wife without a shame in social functions and in society.]

Though some youths boast they do not want a dowry, when get married
they expect a dowry. According to one thinker "the biggest folly of the man
is bringing someone's daughter home and feed and dress her life time."
Dowry provides the good foundation for the family life.

The biggest problem is paid work. The only work that a girl can do while
protecting her youth, prudence and self-respect, is teaching. That also to a
certain limit. I don't like women who do or did paid work because I meet
such girls frequently when I go out.

She should be considerably educated though she doesn't do a job. It is

difficult to explain anything to an uneducated girl.
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 190

Some girls proudly say that they don't know how to make even a 'kiri
hodda' (a simple gravy). But educated men laugh at them. (Do you think) a
girl who doesn't know how to cook or sew, a woman? May be not domestic
work but it is essential that a girl is not lazy to grow a bit of vegetables in
the garden for consumption (De Silva, L., 1969.Translated).

Though the belief is that Sinhala woman from ancient times used to wear modest

dresses that covered her decently and was not sexually provocative, it is an

erroneous belief. Martin Wickramasinghe's Purana Sinha/a Stringe Anduma (the

Dress of Ancient Sinha/a Women) also subtitled in English as IIDress and

Ornament in Ancient Ceylon" (1993) analyses the ancient literature and paintings

and shows that ancient Sinhala women did not cover the upper part of the body.

He states that elite women did not cover their upper torso because they adorned

their nudity with jewellery. According to him, even though some Buddhist Monks

translated vedic Brahman literature on women's dress code, the ancient

Sinhalese did not follow it. Wickramasinghe says ancient Sinhala women's dress

evolved in five distinct stages.

i. Did not cover upper part of the body.

ii. Covered both upper and lower part of the body with two pieces of cloth.

iii. Tying a piece of cloth as a brassiere and covered the upper part of the

body with another piece of cloth.

iv. Wearing a blouse

v. Wearing a blouse and a sari (covered the blouse with the fold of the sari)

According to him there is no evidence to show that these changes occurred one

after the other because even though some literature presents the accounts of the

past, the evidence they present in those stories may have been influenced by the
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 191

contemporary times of the authors. Wickramasinghe believes that first three

styles were in practice Simultaneously.

Another important fact Wickramasinghe did not specifically mention in his book is

the influence of caste system on the dress in ancient Sri Lanka. According to

acoounts in History of Ceylon, vol. 3, in the nineteenth century women of lower

castes did not cover the upper part of the body. The low caste men and women

were not permitted to do so. One British official recounted how he saw an angry

mob of high caste men haraSSing a girl (from the padu caste) in a town in western

province for throwing a kerchief over her neck and shoulders, forgetting 'her

degraded lot in life' (Wickremeratne, 1973: 171).

There is a strong case to suggest that restrictions on women's dress became

prominent during the early 20th century, when the national movement against

imperialism emerged. Dharmapala severely criticised the western European

dress. It is known that it was he who introduced the sari as the Sinhala national

dress. His mother was the first woman to start wearing it.

In the same way that he (Dharmapala) wanted to purify Buddhism, he

wanted to purify the Europeanized men and women of Sri Lanka. In many
of his speeches and articles, he constantly ridiculed the Victorian hats and
crinolines that were worn by the women of the bourgeoisie and advocated
the Indian saree as a suitable garment for Sinhala women as it covered
their "black legs, navel and midriff' 26 (De Alwis, 1994:94).

26 Though the saree covers the legs it definitely does not cover the midriff and navel if
the blouse is short and the saree is transparent.
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 192

A woman writing to a paper called Mahajana Handa, under the title of Stri I

Pakshaya saha Veradi Matha Nirakaranaya' [Womankind and Correcting Wrong

Ideas] pOinted out:

The security of our nation is on the hands of our sisters, and it is true that
safeguarding our honour is also depending on our women. Our good
customs (guna dharma) declined and our national dress disappeared
during unfortunate time of the last few centuries .... Certainly now it is time
for us to pay special attention to what we wear. Women should wear
Osariya but no other dresses. It is a very sad reason that especially
women teachers (acharya pakshaye kantawo) are reluctant to give up
wearing gowns.

"Nabiya nodakva,

Salu anda bolata dakva,

Nopava tana sakva,

Sina nomasen dasan dakva,,27

According to Kavayashekaraya, a cloth that covers from navel to ankles, a

blouse that made to cover the breasts properly and covering that blouse
by the fold of the sari is the Aryan Sinhala Osary dress (Amarasinghe,
1921 a.Translated).

When reading the women's newspapers and newspapers in general it seems

such ideas were dominant at that time. However, as Martin Wickramasinghe

shows, Kavayashekaraya is a partial translation of Sanka Ukita Dharma Sutra of

India into Sinhala by the Monk Rahula. 28 Therefore it clearly shows that the

Sinhalese women did not have such a dress code as the community believed

and it is a Hindu Brahmin influence.

27 Do not dress to reveal your navel

cover up to your ankle
do not your show your breasts
do not reveal your teeth when laughing
th
28 Kavyashekaraya was written in the 15 century.
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 193

Furthermore, it seems that in pre-colonial and colonial times there was no visible

distinction of men and women due to similarity of the way they dressed and the

way men and women wore their hair. However, due to colonial influence the

dress code and appearance of both males and females changed considerably.

Women started wearing European dresses while men started to wear trousers

and cut their hair. I would like to argue that this had a significant influence in

establishing the gendered appearance of men and women. According to

Elizabeth Harris (1994), the Europeans were confused about the appearance of

men and women of Sri Lanka when they arrived because both men and women

had long hair and used to tie it in a knot. The sarong men wore is draped around

the waist in similar style as women draped clothes around their waist. Therefore,

men were often mistaken for women. Hence the trouser and short hair became

significant symbols in demarcating the appearance of men and women. It is

highly likely that this is the foundation for men's protest against women wearing

trousers.

Moreover, the articles written by women and Buddhist monks tell women how to

behave while criticising the behaviour of contemporary women.

Girl children should be taught the mother tongue and to protect everything.
[it is not clear what she meant by 'protect everything] But women today do
ballroom dancing, roam around with young men, cut the hair, which is a
necessary thing for women29 and dress in funny clothes (Somawatie,
1924. Translated).

It is true that European women learned to do the things that accorded to

men by nature because European countries did not have experience the
progress earlier [as our countries]. Because of that there are numerous

29 Sinhalese believe that long hair is one of the five necessary things that makes a
woman beautiful.
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 194

women who end up in orphanages. There are much evidence to show

that this [doing things should done by men - explanation is mine] brought
severe uncivilised results. No one can change the natural difference
between women and men (Padmaperuma, 1924. Translated).

In another newspaper, Mr. J. S. de Silva, from Waskaduwa wrote a letter in the

form addressing a daughter. In it he says that girls have to take strongly into their

minds that by newspapers and magazines it is proven that the world blames the

womankind (stri wargaya). He goes on to say that as it is a truth that iron is

meant to be corroded and as the same, women are blamed because of their own

fault. What he expressed in this letter is that it is an inherent nature of women to

do wrong deeds just like the metal iron naturally corrodes. Therefore, women

have to keep in mind that they get blamed because of that nature and always

have to be cautious in what they do and how they behave (de Si Iva, J. S. 1921).

The literate population of Sri Lanka was increasing at this time due to colonial

education policies and there was a massive upsurge of newspapers in vernacular

languages during the early twentieth century due to the revivalism of national

languages.

Year 1881 1901 1921 1946

I
Literate population 17.4 26.4 39.9 57.8
,
Male 29.8 42.0 56.4 70.1
- - - - - - - - - --

Female 3.1 8.5 21.2 43.8

---------

Table 1: The percentage of literacy among the population: 1881-1946.

(Source: Panditaratne & Selvanayagam, 1973:301).
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 195

The vernacular literature did not target the 'new elite' educated in English

because they could not read Sinhala. Hence it is clear the target readership

were the urban working class and rural elite who were educated in vernacular

languages. Table 1 shows that the literacy rate of women was growing steadily

at this time and it is clear that there was a small but considerable percentage of

women who could read.

However, it is clear that the vernacular literature including novels and women's

newspapers targeted women. An ardent nationalist, novelist Piyadasa Sirisena,

directed his writing to ridicule corrupted Buddhist monks, the upper class and

especially women. 'In defence of these same traditional values he was opposed

to the education and emancipation of women from their somewhat subordinate

role in the conventional Sinhala family structure.' (Sarachchandra, 1973:349). T.

G. W. Silva, another satirist constantly ridiculed women with his famous character

'Bhagalawafie iscole hamine' (Bhagalawatie schoolteacher). The media at the

height of nationalism constantly advised women how to behave, how to dress

and about their role as a Sinhala woman to the family and race/nation. The

impact of such criticism had a deep impact upon the community. From

newspaper articles it is clear that women themselves internalised the idea that

they need to be corrected. One such article written by a woman to women's

newspaper addressing 'Our Foolish Sisters' says: ' For a (long) time (our)

brothers shout (and) scold (us). They are shouting at us because they love us.

Because they (men) expect our assistance. (We) should take into our minds that

they try to take us on the correct path because they are scared that if we go
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 196

astray our future generation would be ruined' (Padmawatie Menike,

1925.Translated).

When examining the newspapers from that time to today it seems such ideas

took a deep root in Sri Lanka and were constantly presented in the media. For

example, Navaliya [modern woman] (2001), a women's newspaper in its editor's

column titled as 'brightness of woman's character' comes to four conclusions.

Firstly, there are people (women?) who do not accept what the editor's column

earlier wrote about women's character and they think that saying woman is the

strength of the family is wrong and there is another character (husband), who has

equal responsibility and (his) support is very useful for women to do everything.

Secondly, it is true that a wife needs the assistance, love and help of the

husband but the question is whose responsibility is to build up such an

environment? The wife must build such an environment and if she expects

someone's (husband's) help for that it's a illusion because the raw materials to

build up such a family environment is within the wife. Hence if she cannot build

up a family life like that and if she blames someone else (husband), it is highly

unfair. It goes on to say that the article is not trying to put more burdens on

women's shoulder but tries to explain the burden on women's shoulder and help

to strengthen the love and bond in the family.

Thirdly, there may be many women characters that talk about freedom and it is

not impossible that problems are created because of that. It is more important to
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 197

bring harmony through love rather than creating problems by thinking of freedom.

[In some families] women may be free but there will be no love and harmony in

their families. Hence women have to decide what is most important.

Fourthly, a stone becomes bright because of the polishing. Like so, a daughter's,

wife's, mother's mind need to be polished. That can be done and must be done

by parents and elders. It brightens life (of women) (The Editor, 2001.Translated)

Hence, as a result of what the nationalist thought the place of Sinhala women

should be, women were marginalised and constrained. The nationalists also

used education as a tool to establish their ideas of women, and the religious

revivalism of the late nineteenth century and the emergence of the nationalist

movement had a significant influence on female education in Sri Lanka. The

Sinhala Buddhist leaders resented Christian missionary domination of education

and with the help of persons such as Colonel Henry Olcott, Helena Blavatsky and

Annie Besant, many Buddhist women of wealthy families came forward to

establish Buddhist girls schools.

Many wealthy Buddhist women came forward to help in this challenge to

foreign and missionary cultural domination, including Ms. Wijeratna of Galle
and Cecilia lIangkoon of Matara. The latter entertained Olcott and Blavatsky
at her home in 1880, where a meeting of 2,500 persons was organized; she
also joined the local Theosophical Society, financed the first editions, in
English and Sinhala, of Colonel Olcott's Buddhist catechism. This book,
which spearheaded the Buddhist educational campaign, became text in
Buddhist schools and, according to Olcott, was very popular in Buddhist
homes (Jayawardena 1986:123).
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 198

By the late 1880's, the Society for Women's Education had been established and

it started the Sangamitta School for Buddhist girls. In 1889, a German woman,

Marie Museaus Higgins, joined the staff and in 1893 she founded Museaus

College to provide English secondary education for Buddhist girls. Anagairka

Dharmapala (mentioned above) was also in favour of educating females. He was

impressed by the western women who were involved in the theosophical

movement and was aware of women's activities in Europe and the USA through

his visits to those countries (Jayawardena, 1986: 126). He and the majority of

the nationalists promoted female education.

However, the aim of Sinhala Buddhist education did not differ significantly from

the Christian, English education and was certainly not aimed to encourage

women's paid work. As Mary Musaeus Higgins said:

Happily in Ceylon woman has no necessity to enter into the rough and tumble
of the world in competition with her male relatives. She has still to be wife and
mother, and we have to train the growing girls in all that makes woman the
goddess and the light of the home (Higgins,nd. quoted in Harris, 1994:33).

The nationalists thought the female Sinhala Buddhist education should be part

and parcel of the development of the country and the nation. According to

Kumari Jayawardena, there was a section among the nationalists who thought

that the education of women should be geared for political awakening and

women's emancipation (Jayawardena 1986: 125, 127). However, I would like to

argue that the majority thought women's education should be aimed at providing

good Buddhist wives in contradiction to the Christian other women, the

westernised, Christianised Sinhalese women. What they expected from female

Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 199

education was to produce a woman with good morals and manners, a suitable

companion for Buddhist men. The following quotation clearly indicates what the

nationalists expected from educating women: learn enough to be patriotic but be

domesticated: -

Some mothers and fathers think educating girls is unsuitable. This is unwise.
No one in the world today, even if they have a minimal education, would say
so. There are women who have earned doctorates and honorary places in
very great, developed European countries. Also there are associations in
Europe, lead by women, which work for the welfare of the public. We have
heard about the English ladies who boldly agitated to gain power to select
MPs to the House of Commons.

Though it is considered that education is unsuitable for women, the ladies of

the ancient times were clever in not only reading and learning religion but also
in minor strategies. Women such as Viharamaha Devi, Leelawathi,
Kalyanawathi, Ratnawali, Ulakudaya Devi, Meniksami are examples.

Therefore we affectionately remind our Sinhala parents to act enthusiastically

to teach our contemporary sisters as much as possible these things: reading
and mother tongue, religion, Sinhala history and the things that should be
learned by women: the arts of cooking and sewing, modesty,
"nirahankarakama,,30, obedience, respecting elders, tidying and cleaning the
home, taking care of patients, bringing up and disciplining children.

Women should boldly come forward to talk about the ancient ladies, the
progress of other women in the world and to explain the situation of the
women of our race. (Amarasinghe, 1921b.Translated.).

Only the wealthy middle class and the traditional elite could afford to send their

daughters to Sinhala Buddhist girls' colleges. It seems that many parents of the

unprivileged sections of the society in the pre-independence era were reluctant to

educate the girls and there was a preference for sons. Some of my older

interviewees said that they were kept at home to take care of young siblings and

to do domestic work. However, using the data gathered, I would like to argue
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 200

that sons were given preference not onfy because of the patriarchal nature of the

community and domestication of women but also for other reasons.

It seems that there were two major reasons for parents' lack of effort to educate

girls: not having enough money to meet the expenses of education and, most

importantly, girls' education was considered a less profitable investment than that

of boys. Therefore, as the quotation below points out girls' education was not

seen as a necessity.

Among the Sinhalese, women have never been deliberately excluded form
the acquisition of knowledge, but their education was not regarded as an
accomplishment, attainable only by the few - never as a necessity (Denham:
1912,quoted in Harris, 1994:39).

Until the end of the 1960s, though there were free food programs, unlike today

the government did not provide free textbooks or materials for school uniforms

and the majority of the parents in Sri Lanka were not in a position to provide such

needs. According to Harris (1994) a report of the Church Missionary Society for

Africa and the East recorded that in 1821 to 22, the Girls school held on the

veranda of the Mission house in 8addegama area had a larger and more regular

attendance than that of the boys school because of the gifts of clothing.

Gaya (Age 73, Colombo) started teaching in Anuradhapura Central School

because of the appeal of the principal in 1953 when her husband was stationed

there as a government officer. She said:

30 This tenn means the opposite of vanity. However it has multiple meanings such as
not being self-aware, not to look down upon people because of one's status and not to be
proud in front of relations.
Chapter Four: We are not bom but constructed' 201

A: They made a good use of it [her teaching]. When the Ordinary Level
results were out about ten boys were passed for the first time. So the
principal said we could start the Advanced level classes. So I said I'd teach
[ ... ] now, they couldn't do Advanced level in English. It was beyond them. So
I said I'll teach geography but I can do Ceylon history and European history or
Government too. Even though I had not done them for the degree I could
teach those four subjects. The principal said he would do Sinhala. So we
started. For the first time we sent one boy to the university unfortunately he is
dead, P.B. Wanninayaka. He became a civil servant, secretary to the minister
of post and telecommunication and retired two years ago. He got into the
university, next year out of three, two got in. Sirisena and Padmadeva, and
one became a lecturer.

Q: Were there any girls in that class?

There were [ ... ] the girls are [ ... ] unfortunately what happened was [ ... ] you
see, these are all [ ... ] they were not wealthy people. So it was expensive for
them to educate a girl. The girls came to the central school but if there was a
drought and the parents didn't get money, the first people to be withdrawn
from education were the girls. They had to stay behind and their parents' kept
them from school [ ... ] and there were one or two continued[ ... ] I sent one as a
dental nurse [ ... ] got her to apply for the job [ ... ] and they didn't like to take
these girls as teachers either. You see, for about the first two or four years
this is what happened. The girls were withdrawn. Because they preferred to
educate a boy and then expect him to support the family (Gaya, age 73,
Colombo/English ).

Gaya, this interviewee's response paints to an important fact. Educating girls

was expensive for parents because it was not easy for girls from poor families in

rural areas to be employed. They did not have the same opportunity for paid

work as the lower middle class women who went to urban schools.

However, it was not only the material expenses that mattered. When a girl was

educated, parents had to find a man suitable for her status as an educated

person and therefore had to provide a larger dowry in order to raise the woman to

the man's status in marriage.

Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 202

Some parents say this also: 'when we spent more money on a girl (on a girl's
education) and gave her a better education we have to give her to a man in a
better position. (And) then need to provide a bigger dowry. Because of that
it is enough to educate a girl a little. If there is a chance to get a high profile
job, she can be given in marriage even if there is no large dowry. But women
can't get a job in a place other than teaching or in a post office or a hospital.
So it is enough educating them a little' saying that sometimes parents prefer
to keep their girls in ignorance even if girls are more intelligent than the boys.
The reason for this is demanding a dowry (Senanayaka, 1923.Translated).

The administrative system created by the British colonial rulers, which was called

Ceylon Civil Service, was hierarchical and mainly male dominated. Though the

civil service was gradually opened to local men to cut colonial expenditure and

later in response to pressure from the English educated elite, women were not

involved in it. According to Harris (1994) some European women who were

heads of schools protested against this and questioned why government

departments and commercial offices were not opened to Ceylonese women, as

was the case in England. The quotation above clearly indicates that women

were excluded from high profile jobs and so parents considered it was pointless

to spend money on their daughters' higher education because of the preference

for males in the prestigious government service.

To sum up I argue that as a consequence of the structural changes brought by

colonial rule, and the emergence of nationalism as resistance against

imperialism, a new image of a 'Sinhala woman' was constructed which had a

deciding impact on shaping the lives of Sinhala women today. Under colonialism

women's secondary position in society deteriorated further as a result of

changing laws and transplanting ideologies and concepts from their christianised
Chapter Four: We are not bom but constructed' 203

industrialised societies to Sri Lanka. However, from the viewpoint of the

coloniser that meant 'civilising' the natives and 'liberating degraded women'.

In the section on nationalism it was shown that some restrictions on Sinhala

women are actually a result of Hindu and Brahmin influences in Sri Lanka.

Nationalist leaders combined an 'imagined' historical representation of women

with the colonial experience, and glorified the pre-colonial Sinhala Buddhist

society, while asserting that women's place was in the home. The result of such

influences meant that women had unequal and different access to some features

of modernity introduced by colonialism. Both the colonisers and the Sinhalese

males collaborated taking the view that notions of modernity were applicable to

them (males) and constructed modernity differently for women. In fact, because

of both the colonial and nationalist ideology of women's place, many women lost

equal access to spaces other than home.

There is a strong case to argue that the idea women have a 'correct place'

emerged in the early twentieth century. This 'correct place' is rather a caricature

of imposed Christian values and imagined Sinhala Buddhist values. However,

there was a growing sense among a small but significant section of women that

this imagined 'correct place' had a detrimental impact on women's access to

spaces other than home and her place at home. The next section will explore the

protracted debate on women's place and women's resistance to being confined

to the home.
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 204

Part III: The debate on the rights of women

Women's place

It is generally accepted that the idea of equal rights for women caught the

attention of women and the rest of the public and government of Sri Lanka in the

mid-seventies when the United Nations declared the year of women. However,

there is clear evidence to show that a debate was going on about the subject

from the beginning of the twentieth century. While the women of the upper

middle class forged an alliance with other left wing or socialist oriented political

leaders to fight for women's rights to education, the franchise and paid work,

there was another section of women who voiced their protest about the role of

women propagated by the nationalist leaders. Though there is no clear evidence

to show who they were or whether they formed organisations or used political

fora to convey their ideas, it seems it is correct to assume these women were

Sinhala educated petty bourgeoisie, who may have been most affected by the

constraints created by the nationalist leaders, quite unlike the westernised upper

middle class women. These women cleverly used the available fora such as the

newspapers for voicing their opinions and there is also evidence to show that

they used events such as school prize givings for that purpose.

Kumari Jayawardena states that both Buddhist and Christian education had

opened women's eyes to the constraints of the traditional life. I have argued

however, that this education was designed to confine women to the domestic
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 205

sphere. Jayawardena gives an example from a 1914 journal called Buddhist

Companion where in the form of a dialogue between two women, it criticises the

'traditional Buddhist view of women' as depicted in old Sinhala writings. It says

'Our Sinhala men are still trying to confine us to the kitchen. They are not

interested in teaching us anything beyond that.' (Jayawardena, 1986:127). Men

and even some women, were agitated by women's protests and their opposition

was evident in strong views on the subject expressed in the newspapers.

Though they did not use the term 'equal rights', women talked about women's

independence as parallel to the nation's independence. Opposing this view, in

an article entitled 'The dawn of independence in women's world', a Buddhist

monk, Habaradoowe Pannasena, says:

What independence a Sinhala woman should have needs to be examined.

Western women have extremely corrupted characters because of the
unlimited independence they have gained. That is why the ancestors were
against the independence of women. Women should try to live in harmony
with their neighbours. Taking care of parents, older relations and
monks/Brahmins lovingly and kindly is useful for both worlds [the present life
and after life]. Women should perform religious duties daily, morning and
evening, should have happy religious talks together with the people at home,
should put seeds of noble characteristics in small sons and daughters by
teaching them the tales of life stories of heroes [presumably the tales of
national heroes]. The noble women gain independence by doing such things
(1934.Translated).

A letter was sent by a man to a women's newspaper criticising a speech of a

former women student at a prize giving at a Buddhist School. He claimed that

she blamed men for all the faults in the world. According to him, she had said

that the 'only reason for women to be bad and go astray is men. The evil men of

early times insulted women and threw them downhill only because of their
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 206

personal hatred of women. It is unwise to say women are promiscuous and it is a

myth generated only in recent times'. As a response to this, the writer of the

article defended men by saying that it was the noble men and rishies (wise men)

who said women were promiscuous, and that the opinion of the pundits is that

women must be under the authority of their parents when they are small: under

the authority of husband in youth and under the authority of) children (sons) when

old. In his opinion women would not have to be under the authority of men if they

were not promiscuous (Wijayaratne, 1925. Translated).

A letter written to another newspaper argues:

Actually women are cleverer in learning than men, and women should be
educated. But it is disagreeable getting used to being involved in committees
and organisations. It harms the harmony and peace in the family. There will
be fights instead of peace. Women who get involved in such committees and
organisations cannot bring up children properly either. For these reasons, we
think it is wise for an educated woman to just take care of domestic work and
take care of her children (Wijayasekara, 1933. Translated).

From these quotations it is clear that during the first three decades of the

twentieth century the question of women's independence became a prominent

topiC of debate in which opponents criticised the modern western woman as the

'bad other' in relation to the 'good Sinhala woman.)

On the other hand, there was strong opposition from some women to the notion

of women in general as being bad, vile and promiscuous, and to the attempt to

bar women from access to spheres other than the home. Nevertheless, as it

seems even these women were careful to stress that being independent did not

mean that they wanted to be completely free as individuals. The argument put
 Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed'
207

forward by these women for wanting access to education, paid work or politics

was that it was necessary for the development of the country and the nation.

However, they stressed that they did not want to cross the barriers of 'culture and

tradition' while doing so.

In an article entitled 'Getting the (women's) head knocked after stroking the

(men's) head', Mallika Senaviratne of Nuwaraeliya Kulagana Samitiya (Nuwara

Eliya Noble Women's Committee) says that 'it is the so called most noblest,

excellent and senior male fraternity (pirimi paksaya) who say that women are

weaker and less wise than men are, not good to socialise with, violent, dishonest,

destructive and tend to do wrong as soon as they have a chance'. She asks, 'are

they an honourable group that don't do any wrong deeds?' and 'Is it correct to

blame (women) after getting help from women in sickness and in disasters?' She

concludes by saying that if the wish is for the progress of the country and the

nation, room should be made for mother-kind's (Senaviratne, M. 1925.

Translated)

In another article in the same paper Srimathi P. Florence Abhayagunawardena

writes:

Many men regard women as submissive and keep them aside. (Men) think
that women are fragile, get frightened easily and are not firm. Some women
have become like that because in everything, women are trained and
considered as a cowardly group. It may be a question among a certain group
of men (sahodarayan) to what kind of independence it is that women want.
The independence we demand is not like an independence that women in
some countries have; to do things or go out on our own accord or to do things
that would harm peace in the family but to get involved in the tasks that men
can do for the sake of the greater development of the country
(Abhayagunawardena, 1925. Translated. Emphasis is mine).
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 208

The debate on women's status or rights did not stop after independence but

became even stronger as more girls went to schools and were qualified to do

paid work. There was no opposition to educating girls because the nationalists

had established the idea that women should be educated to assist men to

develop the country and nation and to produce well-behaved patriotic children.

Yet there was protest against women doing paid work or sports and wearing

sports clothing. In an article called 'Is this Dress Bad?' in the newspaper Vanifha

Viththi (Women's News) the writer says:

A true woman will never ever compete with a man or try to absorb the male
habits and custom. Although she excels in her status or education, she will
never destroy her femininity. However, the girls nowadays tend to be
enthusiastic about doing difficult sports that for men only before. Hence, they
need a new dress that would protect them from shame and fear. It is vile to
wear short dresses like divided skirts and do sports like volleyball because the
imagery and the feelings it generates are vile and they are not suitable for the
culture of the country to show the bodies of young grown up girls in public,
shamelessly and without fear. (Vanitha, 1957)

An article entitled 'Do the Sweet Potatoes Planted by Trouser Clad Women

(kalisam kariyan) Produce Bigger Yams?' which criticised the calling of

applications for a women's farming school (govikam vidyalaya) in Kundasale,

says: 'when there are thousands of educated men in the country it is totally

inappropriate to have a farming school for women wasting lakhs of rupees of

public funds, because is not suitable at all to the country's civility'. The article

questions whether women are more suitable than men for farming or that sweet

potatoes planted by girls wearing trousers would produce bigger yams

(Anonymous, 1957. Translated).

Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 209

Articles such as those discussed clearly show that, at this time, the idea that

women's place was at home and that they should be docile and modest acting

with shame and fear, were established as part of the Sinhala 'tradition and

culture.' When reading Srimathi Abhayagunawardena's article (quoted earlier), it

appears that some women were aware that the constraints they had to endure

were not 'natural' but imposed on them by men in the name of tradition and

culture. It is also clear that some women began to openly question the inferior

status of women. One woman writing to a newspaper which had published

articles criticising women who agitated for independence, stated:

Saying that women are slaves of men, is it because when the husband comes
home she gets up from where she sits? Is it because she eats after the
husband? Is it because she goes to bed after him and gets up before him? If
women think this as an indicator of women not being independent, it is a
misunderstanding. Devotion to the husband (Pati Bhaktiya) is not an
indication of Sri Lankan woman's slavery. It is a feature of how we shape
ourselves and our culture (Roopa, 1957. Translated).

The changes in the twentieth century brought slow but steady changes for

women. In 1931 women gained the right to vote. The educated elite middle

class professional women engaged in politics since early days of nationalist

movement. According to Kumari Jayawardena, many of them were wives of

nationalist and labour leaders (Jayawardena, 1986: 128). In 1935, a woman

entered the Parliament for the first time. However, as Jayawardena (1986) point

out women's representation in the national legislatures has never have been

more than four percent. She also mentioned that 'the few women who have

successfully contested and made a name for themselves in the political process
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 210

have generally entered politics as the result of the death of a father or husband ,

inheriting, as it were, the male's mantle of power' (Jayawardena, 1986:129). The

number of educated women and women working outside the home was steadily

increasing. The rate of literacy among women in 1946 was 43.8°k and this rose

to 53.6% in 1953 and to 63.8% in 1963 (Department of Census and Statistics,

1972:28). When the University of Ceylon was established in 1942, it was open to

both sexes and by the end of the 1950s the number of universities increased. In

the same era, vernacular languages were introduced to the secondary level

education as a medium of instruction (Metthananda, 1990: 68-69). The

percentage of women's enrolment in universities increased from 10.1 ok in 1942

to 18.7% in 1950 and 24.1 % in 1960. (Source: University Council reports cited by

Jayaweera, 1990: 101).

As discussed earlier in this chapter, the early census data on the participation of

females in the labour force was inaccurate because of the categorisation of work

first as 'gainful occupation' and in the introduction in 1946 of the term 'useful

occupation'. When the latter term was introduced, any activity that did not bring a

steady money income or was not practised regularly enough did not come under

gainful occupation. As a result of this the recorded female labour force

participation rate went down drastically from 35.2°k in 1921 to 18.1 % in 1946

(Risseeuw, 1991: 96). However, the rate rose to 21.1 % by the end of the 1960s.

This was mainly due to the fact that the government service opened up to women

when British colonial rule ended.

Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 211

Amidst these changes, women found that men resented the opportunities they

gained, and that men and some women were trying to ridicule women by using

arguments that women have 'natural weaknesses'. Such arguments caused a

backlash from a section of women because they understood that the aim of this

was to confine women to the home and reinforce their subjugation. However,

because of the recent strong influence of nationalist ideology, these women also

expressed the view that the independence they were seeking was not for the

progress of women as individuals but for the progress of the country and nation. 31

Moreover, they were cautious to mention, like the above quoted woman Srimathi

Abhayagunawardena, that they were not going to be a threat to the Sinhala

culture and tradition or become an example of a 'bad' Sinhala woman.

It seems that in the 1960s, the debate became stronger and more intense. There

was also a significant change in the usage of terms. When reading women's

newspapers at the end of the 1960s, instead of the term 'independence' the term

'equal place' appears. There was no clear evidence in the newspapers to

indicate why such a change had taken place. However, one fact that may have

had a strong influence on this could have been the Socialist and Marxist political

ideologies introduced to Sri Lanka in the first half of the twentieth century, which

could be worth further research. The communist and socialist political parties

gained a following and there was much propaganda carried out by both the

Soviet and Chinese embassies. There was free distribution of literature on

communist ideology. Freely distributed magazines in Sinhala depicted women

31 I am using the term nation instead of race or ethnic group because at this time Sri
Lankans identified their ethnic groups as nations.
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 212

working shoulder to shoulder with men glorifying equality in society. I still

remember seeing the magazines called 'Soviet Deshaya' (Land of the Soviets),

'Soviet Kamkaruwa'(Soviet Proletariat) and 'China Today', which showed happy

pictures of women working in factories and farms. Such imaginary must have

had some influence on perceptions of women's place in society. Another

important fact that may have contributed to such changes was Sirimavo

Bandaranaike becoming the first woman Prime Minister in the world on July 21 st

1960. This significant election followed in the wake of the assassination of her

husband, the late Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike.

In an article in Taruni, a women's newspaper, One woman says:

It was many years ago that women in Sri Lanka decided that they should also
progress and work to be equal with men. That was even before the women in
recently more developed Asian countries thought about it. But even today we
cannot be happy although our women have progressed to a great extent
(Gunaratne, 1969. Translated).

The introductory paragraph in this article entitled 'Lankan women who shouldn't
32
be invisible' talks about the recently highly developed Asian countries and

concludes that the reason that Sri Lankan women have not progressed so well

lies in the social system, social pattern, education pattern, and not guiding

women on the correct path (EmphasiS is mine). She says, nevertheless, that the

awareness and interest (of women) has gone beyond such limits. She also

concludes that women cannot progress because of several other key factors.

Women are interested in, or have access to only a limited range of jobs. The

32 In my view she must have been referring to China

Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 213

public does not have a good understanding about the service that women can

offer and thinks that women do not have the strength to go forward and break

some barriers. She argues that women should get involved in various economic

and social activities and should become a lifeline for maintaining the country,

society and economy. She criticises the fact that even though the government

spent massive amounts of money to teach science, none of the scientifically

educated women made any significant contribution for the nation by coming up

with any new inventions. She laments the fact that women lack interest in

applying for bank loans to start collective domestic-handicraft businesses or to

start collective co-operative farming settlements. She points out that the biggest

victory women have achieved was a Sri Lankan woman becoming the world's

first woman Prime Minister and questions why Sri Lankan women should stop

there.

In my contention that this article clearly shows that her ideas were influenced by

communist countries and the social and economic systems those countries had

adopted. Some of ideas of this writer became popular in Sri Lanka at that time.

In the 1970s Ceylon became the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

(1972), the government adopted the planned economic system of the socialist

countries and there was a failed attempt to create co-operative farms following

those of Soviet Russia.

However, I argue that what is most important is that this article clearly manifests

the ambivalence in women due to the dilemma of having limited access to

Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 214

modernity and believing in what I have termed an 'imagined' culture and tradition.

The writer of the above article says that having access to some jobs does help

with women's progress in their private lives but it does not help the general

progress of women. She thinks the home based collective arts and crafts

industry is better than single paid work because she believes such arts and crafts

can be a major source of foreign income for the country. Further she says that

one job that women can do, but should not do, is climbing trees and, as assigned

by society, men should also not practise midwifery, which is only a women's job.

She ends her article emphasising that women should shape themselves to be

able to participate in the country's development, but while keeping their own

culture should not be afraid to break other barriers.

The reason for this, I assume stems from the fear and shame internalised by

women, which is imposed on them by the community through the ideas, norms

and values as identified as 'culture and tradition.' The 'traditions' significantly

symbolised the distinction between the Western and Sinhala culture and by

breaking 'traditions' women insult the family and the community's honour (or

honour of the nation). Ridiculing women through the media who wanted to be

free from barriers must also have had a significant impact on women to be

cautious when protesting about constraints. For example, T. G. W. Silva, who

called himself 'the greatest satirist of the Sinhale', in one of his satirical stories

used the idea of a mad woman to say that women lost the respect and

honourable treatment from men because they forgot that they were women and
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 215

started to compete with men and to say they were not second to men (Silva, T.

G. W., 1969).

However, in this period, some women became bolder and criticised the prevailing

ideas about women within the community_ They wrote articles and composed

verses that were published in newspapers side by side with the articles that told

women how to behave and what to do. Wasantha Gunatilaka challenges in her

verses the idea of confining women at home and says that this era is over

(Gunatilaka, 1969). Another writer under the pseudonym of 'Rancho Nona' in an

article titled 'Let us go to Work and Keep Men at Home', asks how it is that the

husband is considered as the 'god' of the wife in an era when women work and

earn just like men do. She asks, if a woman can be the ruler of the country why

women cannot be heads of their families. She also says that everybody needs

freedom and women sacrificed their freedom to men for thousands of years but

nothing useful has happened (to women). She asks whether the life of women is

worthwhile if they cannot live or dress the way they want, and says that when

women wear a dress journalists and' kavi kola karayo,33 never leave them alone

but no one criticises the way men dress. (Rancho Nona, 1969).

There was a protracted 'battle of verses' in the same newspaper from September

1969 to December 1969 about women's place in society. It all started when a

male teacher called Piyasena Ranwala wrote saying that women should have an

equal place in society. Both men and women took sides. Some people argued

33 At that time there were people who composed verses on current ~ssues .printe~ and
sold them. The people who sold them used to recite them aloud In public vehldes.
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 216

that women have the right to equality while others said women should not have

an equal place but the correct place. The critics ridiculed the teacher who started

the debate by saying that he is a IWoman' and asked of men who supported him

whether they had lost their minds. The above account shows that though there

was no clear leadership or movement, there was an important debate on gender

equality. This clearly shows that Sri Lankan women's demand for equality was

not imposed on them by the United Nations in 1975 when it was declared that

this was the Year of the Women. This also challenges another common

argument in media that the demand for equality is a consequence of the

influence of western feminists or upper middle class women in Sri Lanka

(Editorial, 1984).

It seems such ideas gained ground because of inadequate research on the

decades of 1950s and 1960s. Kumari Jayawardena states that Ithe women's

movement' in Sri Lanka was not imposed by the United Nations (Jayawardena,

1986, 1989). However the evidence she used to show this was the activities of

the upper middle class women political leaders of the first two decades of the

twentieth century within nationalist and leftist politics. She says:

In Sri Lanka, the women's movement was not imposed on women by the
United Nations or by Western feminists, but has an independent history.
Women partiCipated in the cultural revival of the 1880-1910 period, educated
themselves and began to enter the professions, (the first woman doctor
qualifying in 1899), and in the 1920s, the Women's Franchise Union led the
demand for female franchise, which was obtained in 1931. In subsequent
years, many organisations including the Women's Political Union, and the
All-Ceylon Women's Conference, agitated for equal rights. Women were
also active in trade unions in the 1920s ... By 1975, women had already made
important strides, not only in obtaining political rights, but also in education,
employment, literacy, life expectancy and health (Jayawardena, 1989b: 2.
Original emphasis.).
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed'
217

Most of the women she mentions belonged to the elite and as shown earlier they

had access to education and other modern changes and were very often active in

politics under the shadow of their fathers, brothers or husbands. These women

formed political unions affiliated to leftist political parties and nationalist

organisations, headed by English educated elite males. That leadership did not

question the tradition and culture imposed by the male nationalist leaders and

they agitated for political rights and rights for education and paid work. After they

achieved their aims during the movement for independence, there was a Ilull' in

women's politics until Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the Prime Minister. As a

consequence of this, the public today including many women's writers believe

that the demand for equality surfaced after the UN proclamation in 1975.

Kumari Jayawardena points out that:

The women's movement in Sri Lanka, in its origins and development, was
essentially a result of the movement for national independence and therefore
reflected most of its characteristics. Independence was achieved through a
process of peaceful negotiation and gradual advancement. In association
with this movement, women were able to win rights to education, suffrage and
juridical equality. Thus the case of Sri Lanka demonstrates the possibility of
some advancement through a gradualist programme of reform. But this very
ability also imposes certain limitations on the movement. It remained limited
in involvement to bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie women; since it existed
and worked within the social parameters, it did not question the patriarchal
social structures, or the role of the family in the subordination of women. In
these respects, it offers a contrast to countries like Japan where women were
compelled to question the very basis of family and sexuality and morality. The
other women to organize themselves and evolve their own methods of
struggle were the urban working women. They sought t~ obtain some
measure of change in the existing system of power relations, but they too
were unable to push their understanding beyond economic relationships
(Jayawardena, 1986:135-136).
Chapter Four: We are not bom but constructed'
218

Though Jayawardena is right in claiming that the 'women's movement' was

confined to the upper classes and the proletariat, she does not talk about the

women who voiced their concern about not being able to enjoy the fruits of

independence as fully as men. This is probably due to the fact there was no

prominent leadership of lower middle class women. They were followers of the

elite women leadership and active at the grass root level. However, they were

the section that were most affected by the 'imagined' character of the ideal

Sinhala woman. The elite women were already contented with and had access

to Westernisation and modernisation, which the nationalists thought inappropriate

for Sinhala women.

As Kumari Jayawardena pointed out, urban working class women were more

concerned about their prime needs, basic work rights and the wage problems,

which are basically economic oriented, because they were guided by the male

communist and socialist trade union leaders and political parties. The well-

established communist and social political party leadership believed that equality

could be achieved through economic changes. It was the Sinhala educated

lower middle class women who found they were in neither place. On the one

hand their education made them qualified enough for a type of paid work other

than being a labourer or a housewife. On the other hand, education made them

aware that what has been said about the ideal Sinhala woman constrained them

when the basic structures changed. Premalatha Gunaratne who was quoted here

was perfectly right when she said that the awareness and interest of women had

gone beyond the constraints imposed on them. At least a section of both men
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 219

and women in the lower middle class were strongly opposed to this situation and

the discussion here shows that there is a strong case to argue that they

questioned the very patriarchal social parameters Kumari Jayawardena has

mentioned.

The reason for them 'vanishing' in history could be assigned to the fact that they

did not have a strong prominent leadership or a political movement powerful

enough to convey their ideas to the community, which could have had a strong

counter impact upon the ideas, values, norms and beliefs that well established by

that time. As I have shown here the influence of media on reinforcing and

promoting the constructed images of Sinhala women was very powerful. The

other reason may be the volatile political environment of Sri Lanka. As a

consequence of communal clashes among Sinhalese and Tamils and the

influence of the political party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (Peoples Liberation

Front) on the Sinhala youth at this time. At the end of the 1960s the Marxist-

Communist oriented JVP (Peoples Liberation Front) was secretly arming, training

and lecturing youths with the aim of instigating a revolution. In 1971 there was a

JVP inspired armed uprising that failed, and many young educated women were

involved in it.

However, as a consequence of the 'silence' of women, the idea that women have

a 'correct' place in society and that they do not need an 'equal place' became

strongly rooted within the community. Secondly, it also generated the myth that

fighting for equal rights is recent and it is a westernised upper middle class
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 220

bourgeois trend. The stories of the interviewees very strongly indicate that the

impact of this on Sinhala women was considerable. From the oldest to the

youngest interviewees said that it is good for women to come out of home and

engage in work other than household chores, yet they believed that they have to

behave according to their 'culture and traditions.'

It was after 1975 that various women's organisations demanding equal

rights for women emerged. Women of all ethnic groups in Sri Lanka

established non-governmental organisations to voice their demands and to

challenge discrimination against women. There has also been an interest

in retrieving Sri Lankan women's history and research on contemporary

women. According to Wickramagamage (1998) 'women's organisations

have mushroomed in Sri Lanka since 1970s' because of the policy and

programmes of major organisations such as the United Nations and partly

due to donor interest in funding organisations that espouse women's

cause. However, the women's groups that emerged since 1970s are

different from earlier women's organisations because, as

Wickramagamage pOints out, 'these organisations are ... animated by a

notion of rights and desire for change in women's status'

(Wickramagamage, 1998:4). As she says, many of these organisations

are located in urban areas, mainly in Colombo. While it is an advantage to

remain in close proximity to both funding agencies and the national level

decision making bodies, this distances women's organisations from the

majority of women who live in rural areas. Another problem according to

Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 221

Wickramagamage (1998) is that since these organisations are run by

educated upper and middle class women, their class affiliation distance

them from the lives and concems of women from other social and

economic groups.

Conclusion

The discussion in this chapter indicates that gender identity was not static and

changed along with wider historical changes. My research strongly shows what

the Sinhala community believes today to be men's place and women's place was

constructed during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Though it is

not the prime concern of this study it is important to note that it was not only

women's identity that was changed during this period. I would argue that the

colonial introduction of such concepts as primogeniture, the male breadwinner,

the head of the family and different dress codes for men constructed a new

masculinity for men. Taking on board some of the ideas of the colonial rulers

nationalist leaders established and maintained this new masculinity by asserting

that men are leaders and thinkers and women are carers and nurtures who

should safeguard the 'culture and tradition' created by men in the name of

'Sinhala Buddhist culture'.

This indicates that although, since independence, women have access to spaces

other than home, the impact of the deep-rooted developments of the early

twentieth century strongly influence what women can do, where, and on what

basis. Therefore, the succeeding chapter will examine women's situation in the
Chapter Four: We are not born but constructed' 222

post independence period focusing on four key areas, education, paid work,

politics and family.

Chapter Five: I Live for Others 223

Chapter Five

I live for others

Chapters Two and Three discussed what Sinhala girls internalise about being a

female in the Sinhala community during their formative years, i.e. from childhood

to puberty. As already discussed, what they have already learned through advice

and observation indeed has a strong impact on their later life. The Fourth

chapter also discussed how emerging nationalism at the end of the nineteenth

and early twentieth century impacted on women's status within the community.

The nationalists either ignored or were not aware of the fact that the influence of

Indian culture and four hundred years of colonial domination had a role in

shaping the Sinhala culture and invented a 'tradition', which was remarkably

similar to the colonial ideology of women. This laid a strong foundation for the

belief in an imagined pure Sinhala Buddhist culture and 'tradition' within which

women become signifiers of that culture and tradition. As a consequence,

obedience, chastity, quietness, passivity and modesty have been promoted as

the virtues and customs appropriate for a good Sinhala woman, and motherhood

and domestic life glorified as their prime roles.

This chapter explains the ways in which the cultural construction of the 'Sinhala

woman' impacts on women's lives at home and in public. I begin with education

because it is generally perceived as paving the way to paid work. I will then

examine paid work within the context of equal access to education and move on

to another area, politics because it signifies women's involvement in decision

making. Finally I will examine women's place in the family in relation to the
Chapter Five: I Live for Others

spheres of life, because, in my view, access to other spaces has an important

impact upon women's place at home. The key questions in this section are that if

women are not barred from education, paid work and politics what prevents them

from enjoying equal access to these areas and why do they believe that they

should playa secondary role at home?

Education

The establishment of free education up to university level, nationalisation of the

majority of the schools, and the provision of welfare services such as free food,

school textbooks, and cloth for uniforms has made it possible for parents to send

their children to school. At the same time, women have had access to

government service and other types of paid work hitherto not available for them.

This has made their education more valuable. As a consequence, the preference

for educating sons has died out.

As Table 2 shows, another positive consequence of free education was that the

higher education (university education), which was limited to the elite or middle

class families only, was gradually opened up to people of lower classes too.
Chapter Five: I Live for Others 225

Occupation of the 1950 1970

Parents Male Female Male Female
Professional 55.5 69.5 8.9 11.3
Management
Teaching 12.6 7.2 9.8 10.5
Middle level: 20.3 20.3 15.3 14.3
Clerical
Small farmers & 6.3 1.4 31.5 27.9
Rural workers
Urban workers 4.2 1.4 16.2 15.0
Unemployed 8.3 8.5
Unspecified 10.0 10.2
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
34
Table 2: Proportion of university students from different backgrounds .

Source: Jayaweera, 1973: 172.

Table 2 above shows that in the 1950s the number of university entrants of

whose parents were in professional and management level jobs was very much

higher than those from other backgrounds. Nevertheless, by the 1970s even

some unemployed parents could manage to send their children to universities

because of the welfare programs. However, according to research on education,

having equal access has not eradicated the gender gap in education as the table

and the figure next page shows.

34 The columns 1,2 and 4 do not add up to 100.

Chapter Five: I Live for Others 226

Census Year 19S3 1963 1971 1981

Percent Literate
Irotal ~9 . 0 r?7 .0 r?8.S ~7 . 2
Males 80.7 as.7 ~S . 6 S1 .1
Females ~S.5 ~7 . 3 r?0.9 ~3 . 2

Table 3: Population (10 years and over) by literacy and sex, census years
(Source: Department of Census and Statistics, 2001 a: Table 21 .1)

-r-.--------~-----·--·-----·--·----- ---
100
90
80
70
~
60

~ 50
40
30 • Male
20 -
10 OFema.i£
0
Urban Rural Estate Average

Figure 2: Literacy rates of persons over 10 years, census 2001

(Source: Department of Census and Statistics, 2001 b)

Both Table 3 and Figure 235 above show that there is a gap in the literacy rate

among men and women . Table 4 shows the findings of a survey done by the

Department of Census and Statistics in 1990/91 , which makes interesti ng

35 This graph is divided in to three main parts, urban , rural and estate (plantations).
From the beginning there was a difference in education in the first two areas and the
plantation sector. Educating estate workers was not on the agenda of the planters in
order to prevent them seeking employment outside the plantations. This still has an
impact on estate workers.
Chapter Five: I Live for Others 227

reading. It shows that the main reason for the gender gap in the literacy rate is

the significantly higher number of illiterate women over forty-five years compared

to the number of illiterate men in the same age group.

Age group Rate of illiteracy among Rate of illiteracy among

Males Females

10-14 7.6% 6.8%

15-19 6.1 % 6.1%
20-24 8.70/0 8.4%
25-29 9.2% 11.2%
30-34 8.40/0 10.4%
35-39 8.90/0 14.7%
40-44 8.0% 15.6%
45-49 9.5% 22.7%
50-54 10.3% 30.9%

55-59 14.90/0 37.6%

60-64 16.0% 42.2°,{,
65 and 22.7% 53.0%
over

Table 4: Rate of illiteracy among males and females - Population Census

of 1990/91
(Department of Census and Statistics, 1996: p.20, table 2.3).

This clearly shows that the gap between the illiteracy rate among young females

up to thirty five and males is not very large as a consequence of equal

opportunity in education, while the rate of illiteracy among women over 45 years

is more than twice the figure for males of the same age, because they did not

have the same opportunity as younger women today. One positive consequence
Chapter Five: I Uve for Others 228

of equal access to education is that there is no large gap between urban and

rural education. In 1953, the urban and rural female literacy rates were 74.1 %

and 52.4% respectively. In 1971, the urban female literacy rate was 81.50/0 and

the rural female literacy rate was 67.90/0. By 1981, the two rates were up to

91.0%) and 79.9% (Jayaweera, 1990: 103; table 5.5). The above graph of the

census year 2001 shows that the literacy rate of rural females exceeded the

literacy rate of the urban females. 36.

The factors that are highly likely to influence this trend are as follows: many

factories, small workshops and construction work are located in urban areas and

since the liberalisation of the economy in 1977, more work is available in the

urban areas than in the rural areas. According to the oral interviews done for this

study, in rural areas parents tend to send their girls to school because there is no

major work available other than rice cultivation, slash and burn farming, and

casual labour such as brick making. As Swarna Jayaweera pOints out,

employment opportunities have a major influence on female education. Since

there are only few economically viable alternatives, the participation rates of girls

in secondary and senior secondary level are higher than that of boys (Jayaweera,

1990: 100). However, fifteen percent of primary school aged boys and fifteen

percent of girls are not at school. According to a UNICEF sponsored study, in

low income slum and shanty urban areas, 21 % and 23.7 % of male and female

children respectively between six and eight years of age, and 22.7% and 21.7%

36 The plantation sector has not been taken into consideration beca~se the population is
comprised of Tamils and this study does not concentrate on Tamil women.
Chapter Five: I Live for Others 229

respectively of children between nine and fourteen years were out of school

(Ministry of Education and UNICEF report, 1984, quoted in Jayaweera, 1990:99).

Even though welfare measures have been taken to reduce the inequalities

created by the colonial education, the school system has not changed a lot. The

resource distribution is far from equal at the urban and rural levels and between

urban prestigious schools and non-prestigious schools. Though schools were

nationalised in the 1960s, some are still fee-paying schools. Among the

nationalised schools, the old and prominent girls' and boys' colleges are far

ahead of the rest of the schools in Sri Lanka. These schools are based in urban

areas and mainly take middle class children. Though there is a year five-

scholarship programme, which helps children in less advantaged schools to enter

the good urban schools, it is difficult to enter the prestigious schools under the

marking scheme used to grade the exam. The students with low marks are given

entry to nearby national schools. Some parents from the rural areas may also be

reluctant to send their children to a far away school because they cannot afford

travelling or boarding fees if the students do not get into the limited school hostel

facilities. According to Swarna Jayaweera, the govemment does not give priority

to reducing regional differences, and cuts in educational funds affect the

education in general. Around 20% of children do not have access to primary

schools within two kilometres of their homes. Only 5.4% of nearly 10,000 schools

in Sri Lanka provide a senior secondary science education and of these only

3.5°A, are located in the rural areas. Between 30°A,-50% of schools in

disadvantaged districts have poor facilities (Jayaweera, 1995a: 97). This

Chapter Five: I Live for Others 230

unequal distribution of resources was clearly manifested during the 1980s

insurrection under the slogan used by students 'Ko/ambata kiri apta kekiri' (Milk

for Colombo and kekiri (a rural vegetable like cucumber) for us). Many

interviewees from rural areas talked about not having regular teachers for

compulsory subjects such as maths, English and science. Teachers tend to

request a transfer to either a school in an urban area or to their hometown as

soon as they finish their compulsory term in remote areas. As a consequence of

this, some schools have more than enough teachers while many schools do not

have enough teachers. Taru (Age 42, 8adulla) said they did not have a teacher

for English until up to grade eight and they did not know the alphabet. When a

teacher finally came, he asked them whether they had been scraping coconut all

that time (a phrase used for people who know nothing). She said he was very

strict but good. However, he also left after three years, probably completing his

term in a remote area.

According to Swarna Jayaweera, micro studies have indicated that early school

leaving is concentrated in low-income urban neighbourhoods, remote villages

and settlements, and in plantations (1995a: 104). Though the education is free,

poverty works as a constraint against achieving the best in education. Many

parents cannot afford to buy materials needed for classroom exercises. Since

there is stiff competition in Ordinary Level and Advanced Level examinations,

especially in Science and Commerce streams, students tend to go for private

tuition classes to get beUer results. Yet many parents cannot afford private

tuition for their children, as they have to struggle to earn enough for food. 8adra
Chapter Five: I Live for Others 231

(Age 38, Badulla) cried bitterly when she mentioned that her parents had pawned

their paddy field to educate her.

The idea that women should not travel alone also works as a constraint for girls

who can afford to have private tuition. It was clear from interviews done in

Badulla that parents did not like sending girls alone because they might find

boyfriends but this was not the case in Hambantota or Colombo. The good

private tuition classes are in Badulla town, which is 20 miles away and many

parents do not like sending girls alone that far. Nimmi (Age 20, Badulla) said that

although she was allowed to go to tuition classes in Badulla she stopped

because she felt that she could make better use of her time by studying on her

own rather than travelling to Badulla, a journey that took 2 to 3 hours by bus.

However, some girls from Hambantota said they went to tuition classes in

Matara, about 30 kilometres from Hambantota.

Rupasinghe's research on gender differences in achievement at secondary

school level in Sri Lanka concludes that the difference between boys and girls is

very insignificant when compared with the differences within and across the

different types of schools. It is the differences among the individual schools and

the type of schools that generate disparities in education. Her study finds that the

differences among schools arise due to influences such as the social and

economic factors, level of parental education and occupational category

(especially the educational level of the mother), motivational factors; facilities

Chapter Five: I Live for Others 232

available in school; teaching standards; teacher expectations and the status of

the school (S. Rupasinghe, 1989:14).

There is an imbalance between education and the economic changes that took

place after independence. Still a large number of students in senior secondary

education study arts subjects, which do not cater for the demands of the growing

private sector, which has been the main engine of economic growth since 1977.

The arts stream was popular because the government service was regarded as

the most secure and prestigious occupation during the colonial period, and for

some time afterwards, and Arts graduates were mostly employed in the

government sector. Business was regarded as less prestigious at that time and it

was only in the 1960s that the University of Ceylon offered courses on Business

administration or Commerce because such fields were not regarded as suitable

for University education (Richard et al. 1971: 219). There were fewer facilities

especially in rural areas to study science or commerce and the same still prevails

with the cut down of expenditure on education. As Swarna Jayaweera points out:

An artificial dichotomy between social and economic development policies,

however, led to increasing disparities between educational expansion and
economic growth, and to a situation in which education was claimed to be
dysfunctional in the context of an economically developing society vulnerable
to the pressures of global policies and crisis. Educational expansion slowed
and, despite the availability of free educational facilities and supportive
welfare measures, pockets of educational deprivation now exist amidst
relatively high levels of educational participation and literacy (Jayaweera,
1990: 98).

Therefore it is clear that it is not only the SOCially constructed gender differences,

but the social and economic constraints that are major causes of depriving of
Chapter Five: I Live for Others 233

women in Sri Lanka from the benefits of fully participating in education. However,

from the accounts of the interviewees, education means more to them than a

road to social mobility. Interviewees have emphasised the importance of

education as a qualification for paid work but they also emphasised a variety of

non-economic benefits of education for women.

Education and aspirations

Many writers indicate that education in Sri Lanka, especially higher education, is

regarded as an avenue for more prestigious employment and therefore an

avenue for social mobility (Jayaweera, 1991, 1995a, 1995b; Aturupana, 1996,

Rupasinghe, 1989). Within such a context, educational participation is important

for females to enter the public sphere. According to research published as

Women, education and occupational mobility (Jayaweera, 1991), access to the

secondary, and especially to higher education determines and ensures

occupational mobility. However, according to the same study, social class

inequalities affect women's achievements in education. According to the studies

done on the urban sector, women in low income neighbourhoods have not

completed secondary education and are engaged in the same low income

activities their mothers and grandmothers were engaged in, mainly preparing

food for sale, sewing or domestic labour. In contrast the educational level of

upper middle class and middle class women in urban areas acts as a tool for

occupational mobility. In rural areas, a minority of secondary schoolleavers have

middle level or semi-skilled production jobs, while the majority are unemployed or
Chapter Five: I Live for Others 234

engaged in economically nonviable self employment or unpaid family labour

(Jayaweera, 1995b: 48-180). Hence it is clear that three main variations, namely,

gender, class and urban/rural differences have a decisive impact upon women's

education and occupational mobility.

Interviews for this study show that women view the importance of education in a

variety of ways and there are both shared and divergent views. Some women in

both urban and rural areas view education as a way of having access to paid

work and therefore having better status. Mothers advise daughters to

concentrate on studies and as Upsara (Age 18, Colombo) said, keep girls free

from domestic work to study because of their desire for a better life for their

daughters. Chitra (Age 16, 8adulla) said her parents asked her not even to think

of working in rice fields. Rosha (Age 16, 8adulla) said people did farming earlier

because they were not better educated but it cannot go on forever because the

world has developed. Therefore to live in a good society, good education is a

must. Bindu (OoB unknown/older Hambantota) an illiterate older interviewee said

she wished to educate her children because she did not want them to be a wreck

like her. Oeesha (Age 16, Colombo) said her mother always urged her and the

sister to have the maximum possible higher education. Though her mother

belongs to an upper middle class family and married with a large dowry, she felt

her husband has been able to keep her under his thumb because she doesn't do

paid work. These accounts show how mothers reflect on their own situation and

make efforts to help their daughters to have a different life.

Chapter Five: I Live for Others 235

I think education is very important. To understand society education helps as

much as experiences. Like the same education is invariably essential and
important to have a certain status in society. A woman should educate herself
as high as she can. She likes to be an independent person in society. She
doesn't like anyone putting restrictions on her. Therefore one should have an
ability to stand up with one's own strength. The basic education is very
important to enable people to face problems. (Disni, age, 18,
Colombo/translated)

All interviewees in Colombo argued that education makes women independent

and strong. As Amara (Age 37, Colombo) said, 'I consider education as very

important. When one studies hard and goes up the ladder, one does not have to

bow the head to anyone. I don't think one has to be proud because of being

educated but you are accepted by anybody if you are educated. Then one has

confidence.' Ama (Age 29, Colombo) said if women are not educated they cannot

see beyond the things imposed by the society and therefore they get lost in the

symbolic world and rotate their lives around the same things and are not aware

that there are other things in the world. Nelum (Age 24, Colombo) said education

helped her to come out of the structure she was confined in, and now she does

not hesitate to discard any idea that would be an impediment to her progress in

life. She realised she has to modify traditional ideas on women in order to make

her life comfortable.

I think I suffered because I was not able to have an education. I was

determined to educate my children and to put them at a higher level because
then they could have a higher status in society, because of the knowledge
and understanding gained with an education people could achieve everything.
It is not only to have a job. But children would have the knowledge of how to
live and they would know about society. I am ignorant because I was
confined to home. My children are more intelligent than I was at that age
(Seetha, age 49,Badulla/translated)
Chapter Five: I Live for Others 236

The majority of women from all three areas said that education is not only a way

to find employment, but also helps them to understand society and the

environment they live in and makes their interactions with others better. Nelka

(Age 23) from Colombo said that with the technical developments of the twenty-

first century, in the near future people will start to use facilities such as banking or

using computers more than today and it is vital to have an education. Dilini (Age

16) from Hambantota said that if only men are educated, then women will always

have to ask them to explain things. Upsara (Age 18, Colombo) said education

makes life successful. Rasi (Age 15, Badulla) said at the time she entered

school, she did not know what a television was and they did not even have a

radio. Hence it was the school education that helped her to understand the world

better. Amila (Age 28, Hambantota) said education helps people to understand

how to face society, how to behave with other people and how to socialise.

About ten women said education helps to maintain a good healthy family and

help to educate one's own children. They said women should know about

hygiene, and healthy practices such as boiling drinking water. Namali (Age 33,

Badulla) said she was able to help her children with homework since her

husband went to school only up to grade eight. Women also think that day to day

experiences are also an education and as important as school education. Taru

(Age 41, Badulla) said even being interviewed for this study is an education for

her and she learned something by seeing a micro cassette, and talking to a

woman from a different area.

Chapter Five: I Live for Others 237

The unanimous conclusion of all women interviewed is that being educated gives

a better status for a woman within and outside of the family. Namali (Age 33,

Badulla) said her mother was not included in decision-making because she was

not educated, but in her own family she makes most decisions because she is

more educated than her husband. In rural areas, women with better education

are always selected for important posts in various committees for community

development. Priya (Age 25, Colombo), a married university student, said when

she was dating her husband, her husband did not have respect for her and

always thought he knew more than her, but with her higher education he views

things differently and respects her. Seena (Age 36, Colombo) a lecturer, said that

in her village, she is the most respected member in her family because of her

education.

The discussion here shows that gender per se does not work as a constraint to

hamper women's access to education, and it is poverty and inequality of social

status (class difference) that are the major impediments for female education in

Sri Lanka. Women regard education as one of the essential and important

dimensions in their lives, not only because it enables them to have paid work but

also because they believe it broadens their minds and helps them have better

social understanding. The above accounts also show that having an education

enables women to earn respect within the family and in the community. Hence it

can be assumed education helps women more than as a qualification for paid

work and is an important aspect in shaping women's lives.

Chapter Five: I Live for Others 238

The next section will look at the nexus between paid work and education

and why there is a gender gap in paid work if education works as access

to paid work. My argument in that section is that the cultural construction

of the 'Sinhala woman' has a huge impact upon determining women's paid

work.

Women and employment

As shown earlier the gendered attitudes and policies of the colonial rulers had

far-reaching effects on determining women's access to capital resources and

paid work. The structures created by the British did not change drastically after

independence. Nevertheless, de-colonisation and having access to education

created more job opportunities for women of all classes. In 1946, only 18.1 0A> of

women were recognised as gainful employees. However, although Risseeuw

(1991) points out this discrimination in census reporting carried out until 1974,

subsequent census reports show an increase in women's labour force

participation.

Year Total Male Female

1963 45.9 69.2 20.0
1981 44.4 64.8 23.1
1997 48.4 65.4 31.7

Table 5: Labour Force Participation Rate

(Source: Department of Census and Statistics, 2001 c)
Chapter Five: I Live for Others 239

52.0%. One notable factor is that the rate of female labour participation

increased every census year while the male participation rate has been static.

However, half of the total population is female and the data clearly show that the

percentage of employed males was more than double the percentage of

employed females. The rate of unemployment is 7.0%) for 2001 census year and

the percentage by sex 5.3 % and 10% respectively for males and females,

although the rate of unemployment declined steadily from 1992.

It can be argued that there are two main reasons for the rising but still relatively

low level of female employment. The level of female employment is rising

because of women's interest in participating in new employment avenues in the

business sector, which has been developing faster than the public sector after

1977 due to the introduction of free market economy.

However, on the other hand, there is still a high rate of female unemployment

and research done on paid work shows that gender construction is the major

reason for that. Swarna Jayaweera states that gender based 'occupational

crowding' in socially constructed appropriate 'feminine' jobs has been a

characteristic feature of the labour market in Sri Lanka as in other societies

(Jayaweera, 1995a: 169). According to the 2001 census on employment statistics

of corporations, statutory boards and public private companies, women

outnumber men in jobs such as nurses and midwives, lawyers and legal officers,

librarians, stenographers and typists, data entry operators, secretaries,

receptionists, sales persons, personal service workers (beauticians, hairdressers,

Chapter Five: I Live for Others 240

day care attendants) and estate labourers (Tamil). Men greatly outnumber

women among senior executives, managers, engineers, architects, business

professionals, physical science and engineering technicians, audio visual and

electronic controllers, life science technicians, modern health associate

professionals, house keeping (in hotel industry) and restaurant work, building

construction and metal and machinery workers, industrial plant operators and

stationary machine operators, mining, transport, factory labour, and in

administrative associate professionals. There are no women at all employed as

ship and aircraft controllers and technicians and as drivers and mobile machinery

operators. The number of women is almost half that of males in the fields of

computing professionals, university and higher education lecturers, accountants,

auditors, office clerks (Department of Census and Statistics, 2001 d: Table 4.17).

This clearly shows that women's paid work is largely limited to service oriented

areas and that women are employed in a narrower range of jobs.

Many women researchers believe the gender based school curriculum is a factor

that affects woman's choices of career (Jayaweera, 1995a; Amarasooriya, 1993).

In secondary education some life skill subjects are introduced into the common

curriculum. The subjects varied in the past three decades but they are mainly

woodwork, metal work, pottery, weaving, needle work, home-science, agriculture,

commerce and book keeping, and aesthetic subjects (western/eastern music, art,

dancing). However, the subjects are not reserved for girls and boys as the above

authors point out and choosing the subject is entirely a student's responsibility.

However, the choice is limited according to subjects offered by the school, which
Chapter Five: I Live for Others 241

seems to depend on the urban/rural differences and availability of teachers.

According to the interviewees, gender based preference was not always the

case. Only a few older interviewees said that they had selected home-science

because it is useful for domestic work. One younger girl said that she had

selected home-science because it is an easy subject to pass but some others

said they thought it was a useless subject. Commerce was the most popular

choice for younger girls, especially girls from the urban areas because they think

it is a useful subject if one wants to enter the commerce stream and is a good

qualification for a future career.

Several studies point out that there is no direct gender based discrimination in

women's access to paid work or promotion, but attitudes in general have an

indirect influence. A study done by Chanuri Jayasena (1996) found that male

managers do not feel that there is a marked difference in the capabilities of the

two gender groups, but by preferring to delegate authority to the male

subordinates they indirectly prevent the females from assuming greater

responsibilities and rising to higher levels in the organisational structure.

However, the interviewees for this study said they did not face any male

discrimination in their career, and that it was women who felt jealous and were

being obstructive when they received promotions. Three interviewees who

worked in both private and public sector were promoted to higher levels in their

careers and none of them had a university degree. The reasons they have cited

for their promotions were dedication to work, being responsible and obtaining
Chapter Five: I Live for Others 242

professional qualifications by participating in training programmes, sitting for

diplomas and other professional courses.

It seems that the high rate of female unemployment and low labour participation

is inter-linked with the education girls receive and their career aspirations. The

majority of female university undergraduates are in the arts stream, which does

not cater to the growing industrial and business sector. As in the early times,

women still prefer service oriented jobs because they believe such jobs are

feminine, they can do a service to the country and jobs such as teaching make it

easy to manage both paid work and domestic work because teachers can go

home after 2 PM. However, the interviews show that job preferences among

young girls differ according to urban/rural differences. The young interviewees in

rural areas still give preference to teaching, nursing and being a doctor. The girls

from urban areas preferred jobs in banking, accounting, and the computer

science field. The urban girls have more clearly defined career aspirations. The

urban middle class girls have more options and opportunities to make choices for

their future careers. The upper middle class girls prefer going abroad for

university education because it is considered better than the local university

education. Hence the urban and upper middle class women have a better

chance for breaking the glass ceiling effect in careers while the majority of

women are trapped in low paid or underpaid service oriented jobs or are

unemployed.
Chapter Five: I Live for Others 243

It appears that women's limited aspirations in their career are based on two main

facts. Firstly as Risseeuw (1991) pOinted out, the concept of a 'female worker' is

still not fully grasped in Sri Lanka. The interviewees point out that women

themselves believe that their place is at home and with the family, and this

should come first. The media, including women's newspapers, continuously pOint

out that women working outside the home destabilise the family and marriage.

Chanuri Rodrigo's study on career patterns and attitudes to work of women in

management (1998) indicates that the majority of women choose paid work

because they want to support the family or they believe they could give their best

to the motherland by working. Only 18.5% of the sample of Rodrigo's have said

they work because they get money to spend on themselves. Kaushi (Age 39,

Colombo) and Amara (Age 37, Colombo) left their jobs when they were promoted

to managerial level. The main reason they cited was that they wanted to spend

more time looking after children because they felt their children had been

neglected because of their work. Neetha (Age 57, Colombo) retired early when

she was promoted as a Senior Assistant Director in an important financial

institute in Sri Lanka. By retiring early she received a large lump sum of money,

which she wanted to use for her daughter's wedding and dowry. Rani (Age 34,

Hambantota) said she would give up her job to look after children if her husband

had a better paid job. She said she has postponed her training because of her

children.

Two studies on women and employment (Chanuri Jayasena, 1996; Madiwaka et

al. 1990) and this study find that women receive maximum support from their
Chapter Five: I Live for Others 244

family members and husbands for higher education, training and paid work if

women opt for it. However, they also suggest that women themselves are

reluctant to take jobs with high responsibilities because it hampers their domestic

duties and my own research supports their findings. Hence I would like to argue

that it is the women's internalised ideas on motherhood, domestic work and

responsibilities as a woman that affect and limit their role in paid work.

The gender-gap is widest in vocational training, which is aimed at students who

could not go to universities. Swarna Jayaweera (1990) says that while there is

no overt discrimination in vocational education, training institutions appear to

operate in a conceptual framework that places women in a supportive role in the

family and in the economy. She points out that the majority of women students

are enrolled in teacher's colleges, nursing schools, accountancy and secretarial

courses, institutes of social work, dress making and industrial sewing, home-

science, and traditional crafts. However, one has to bear in mind that it is women

themselves who choose these courses, which teach skills that are in low demand

in the economy in general.

The main reason for this, I would like to argue, is the attitude of the community

towards women engaging in 'non-women oriented' paid work. While doing the

research in Hambantota, I was informed that the World University Service of

Canada launched a non-traditional vocational training programme for girls with

the collaboration of the Hambantota technical college and the National Youth

Council, which are the main institutions for vocational training in Sri Lanka. Boys
Chapter Five: I Live for Others 245

were also allowed to participate but on the condition that a certain number of girls

should be included in order to get the Canadian funding. The Youth Council

programme was non-traditional tailoring for girls, which means they are trained to

sew men's clothes, including men's suits which is generally considered as a male

job. The course in the technical college offers tinkering, painting and welding

training for girls. The interviewees said that first they had objections from the

family, relatives and schoolteachers. However, after participating in a meeting to

raise awareness among parents, they had given consent. One girl dropped out

of the technical college whi Ie I was there.

The other two interviewees talked about how the villagers and boys in other

courses in the technical college taunt them. One reason is that they have to

wear trousers while on the training. Madu (Age 17, Hambantota) said some of

the boys saw her wearing trousers and shouted at her 'Akka (sister) has become

aiyya (brother),. Villagers wonder why they wanted to be trained for male jobs

and how they can work in garages or tailor shops. She also said some boys at

the technical college make obscene jokes about their training. Some boys

thought it was another step forward for women while some thought it was strange

and not suitable for women. Some villagers saw Madu talking with a small boy

and said 'Oho, go on talking with him, you may be able to get welded by him in

the future.' It seems that men showed their opprobrium for being 'non feminine'

by connecting her training with sexual intercourse. Neluka (Age 20, Hambantota)

said her villagers laugh at her and asked her whether she is going to work in a

garage and going to scrape rust. This clearly shows how hard it is for women to
Chapter Five: I Live for Others 246

penetrate into non-traditional vocations, which unfortunately have a greater

demand in the changing economy. The World University Service carry out a

'Gender and Development (GAD)' training for both girls and boys who are

enrolled in these courses. The girls said the GAD training opened their eyes and

now they think that they could do what men could do. However, Jaya (Age 27,

Hambantota), who is employed at World University Service said families are

reluctant to send girls for non traditional vocations and when she tries to

encourage people in her area they say that they wouldn't mind sending their

daughters to do computer training programme but other courses offered by the

World University Service are not suitable for girls. However, not having sufficient

knowledge of English is a problem for girls to enrol in computer training

programmes.

The girls attending non-traditional vocational training also said that the boys who

are trained with them have a better understanding of them now. However, the

World University Service does not survey how this training helped women to deal

with the outside world when they start a career. Also from reliable sources, I was

able to gather that some male employees in the World University Service resent

this awareness-raising programme.

In both Hambantota and Badulla, various development programmes promote

self-employment for women. However, they are limited to poultry rearing,

growing vegetables, preparing and packing food for sale, and crafts, which have
Chapter Five: I Live for Others 2~7

the lowest demand in the area. As Jayaweera pointed out (1990), at the policy

making level women are still confined to traditional feminine types of occupations.

In summary, it appears that, though women have access to paid work they are

trapped in 'feminine' service oriented jobs because of their own internalised

perceptions and the hostility of the community to women participating in

occupations considered as low status and inherently male. Within this context,

female education does not meet the demands of the changing economy and thus

creates a high level of female unemployment and underemployment. Barbara

Rogers says the division of labour between men and women in different societies

is based on perceived gender roles rather than the sex roles and determined by

culture rather than biology (Rogers, 1981: 12). Stressing her point, I argue that

the main reason, which my discussion here also clearly illustrates, for the high

rate of female unemployment and underemployment is the strong influence of the

invention of 'tradition' and its influence on the community's perceptions of 'male'

and 'female' types of work. The accounts of interviewees on paid work also show

that the constraints on paid work have shifted over time but lack of economic

opportunities and cultural constraints limit women's full economic participation.

Feminists in Sri Lanka argue that women's low participation in parliamentary

politics hinders making policies that would eradicate gender inequality. In their

Women's Manifesto, the women's organisations in Sri Lanka says that 'More

women are needed in parliament and local bodies, especially at decision making

levels, to put forward the many issues affecting women, and to take gender-
Chapter Five: I Live for Others 248

sensitive positions on matters of national and international interest' (Women's

Organisations in Sri Lanka, n.d.: 2). The next section will examine the reasons

for women's low participation in politics arguing culture is a major constraint for

women.

Women and politics

Vicky Randall states that women's low participation in politics is universal

especially where 'political power is concentrated' (Randall, 1987:95). This is the

case in Sri Lanka, where in general, women's political participation at grass root

level as activists is increasing but they are under-represented in political parties

as leaders and at decision making level. There were and are no formal barriers

for women to contest or engage in political activities. Women of the upper class

and proletarian class visibly engaged in politics during the early twentieth

century. Partly as a consequence of their activities, Sri Lankan women won the

right to vote, enter into parliamentary politics and many workplace rights.

However, there was no demand for women's full participation in politics. It is well

known that many upper middle class women entered politics through their

fathers, brothers or husbands and worked in their shadows. Selvy Thiruchandran

(1997) states that unlike in other Asian countries such as India, gender was not

on the programme of any early nationalist movements in Sri Lanka. My

assumption is that what she meant by this is that the nationalist movement did

not include the women's question in their agenda. I would like to argue further

that the gender biased attitudes of the male nationalist leaders actively, overtly

and covertly discouraged women's participation in politics by saying that the

Chapter Five: I Live for Others

Aryan Sinhala Buddhist woman's duty for the country is to be an ideal Buddhist

housewife, and that such a woman achieves her independence by being in her

'correct' place in society. There was no place for strong women leaders in this

utopia.

Women became Members of Parliament or Ministers, including the late Prime

Minister Sirima Bandaranaike, and her daughter is the present president of Sri

Lanka. However, many of them including president Chandrika Bandaranaike-

Kumaratunga entered politics when their father or husband were assassinated,

and often they would back their political position on the pledge to carry out their

father's or husband's vision of politics. The idea that women should serve the

country and nation by taking care of the family and raising patriotic children is

also not absent from these women's minds. Malathi de Alwis (1994) points out

that women politicians extended the role in the family to the nation by affirming

that their duty for the country is social welfare work.

However, published research on women and politics in Sri Lanka shows that the

proportion of women in parliament is very low and the main reasons for this are

motherhood and domestic responsibilities, attitudes of the community, the violent

political culture and slandering during elections (Liyanage 1992; De Silva, 1995a,

1995b; Thiruchandran, 1997). Because women's attitude towards politics was

important at the end of interviews I asked from several women what they thought

about participating in politics because the majority did not speak early about it.

The response from many interviewees was that they do not like to be politically
Chapter Five: I Live for Others 250

active. They thought politics was for men. This is not because they thought men

were more intelligent than women but because of the violent political culture and

the attitudes of people towards women's active political participation in Sri Lanka.

Podi (Age 54), an older interviewee from 8adulla said she preferred to cast her

vote and be quiet rather than dancing on the roads with her clothes raised. What

she meant by this statement was that politics is very much a public affair and

women have to behave in an 'un-feminine' way and, therefore, it is not

appropriate for women.

It seems it is very difficult for women to be active participants in politics with the

increasingly violent political culture of the post independence era as women's

experience of violence differs from men. During the last general election in

December 2001, the clothes of a woman participating in a political procession

were forcibly removed and she was paraded around half-naked. Another

woman's house was torched and she received death threats after she

participated in a parade posing as President Chandrika 8andaranaike. Though

the violence politics is not based on gender and both men and women have to

face it, women particularly find it difficult because mud slinging and sexual

harassment have a more profound impact on women than men.

Two interviewees spoke about their experience in politics for this study. One is

an active member of the United National Party, which was the opposition party

until December 2001. The other was an active member of the Janantha Vimukthi

Peramuna (People's Liberation Party), which staged two unsuccessful uprisings

Chapter Five: I Live for Others 251

in 1971 and during the late 1980s. Their accounts clearly shows the difficulty

women face when actively engaged in politics. Though this was not expressed

explicitly, it is clear that one's gender has an influence on participating in politics.

The first woman said one has to forget that one is a woman when contesting in

an election. She contested in local elections under the United National Party. At

that time she was working in a non-governmental organisation funded by foreign

aid and working independently in her area. Even before she filed her nomination

papers, she was summoned by the Director of that organisation and was

informed that they would have to ask for her resignation if she filed nominations

because a Deputy Minister from her area asked the organisation not to keep her.

The director asked her not to contest but she went ahead because she did not

want to betray her party. She lost her job and was unemployed at the time the

interview was done. She was also harassed by other candidates of her own

political party during the election campaign, mainly because of the competition

even among candidates from the same party. They covered her posters by

putting their own posters on top of hers. She said that she had heated

arguments with them. Once when she went for a propaganda meeting in another

area around midnight, she found that the road was blocked with logs to prevent

them from' going to the meeting. The driver begged her not to proceed but she

was determined to go to the meeting. However, she lost the election. She

thought being a woman is not an obstacle but one needs heavy financial support

and one should be bold enough to face the harassment.

Chapter Five: I Live for Others 252

The other interviewee was an active member of the JVP during the 1980's

insurrection. JVP was a banned political party at that time and was conducting

secret recruitment and political classes in order to stage their second uprising.

She became a member during her school days. She did various duties (which

she did not disclose) for the JVP and used to come home around 2 a. m. (JVP

was active at night), but the family did not protest because the JVP did not

tolerate critics and would not hesitate to kill. However, she had to go into hiding

because her villagers informed the armed forces about her. While she was in

hiding, the government ruthlessly cracked down on the JVP with the help of para-

military groups. Her family managed to put her in a school in the same area after

the insurrection.

However, the army tracked her down there and took her into custody. She and

another girl were forced to remove their clothes and they were suspended naked

from the roof by tying their wrists, and they were taken down only to eat a little

amount of food, and were also sexually harassed by the soldiers. She said there

was no vaginal penetration but the drunken soldiers put their penises all over the

girl's faces, mouths and underarm. The other girl that was arrested with her said

it isn't worth living and she thinks what the girl meant was that there is no point of

living if vaginal rape has taken place. The interviewee said she was more

concerned about being alive than about her virginity. After ten days she was

rescued by the head mistress of her school hostel. The head mistress used her

influence as she was having a sexual affair with the Captain of the army camp.

The other girl spent three months in the camp. When this interviewee was
Chapter Five: I Live for Others 253

released from the army camp, the JVP had threatened her because they believed

she was released early because she betrayed the JVP. After a while she left the

JVP because she understood that women have no Significant place in their

politics. Women were used to design posters, to take messages and they were

supposed to carry out men's orders. She said the male members did not want to

listen to or respect her opinions.

The two harrowing experiences of these women show why women are not willing

to be active in politics. The accounts of these two interviewees show that women

in Sri Lanka face violence in party politics differently from men. Unlike men they

have to face the threat of sexual harassment and it is highly likely that the social

humiliation associated with that generates fear and reluctance in women about

becoming actively engaged in politics. Another factor is that still women are not

seen as strong leaders and the importance of their political participation is

measured through femininity rather than ability. During the general election of

2000, the Minister of Women's Affairs appealed for more women to contest

elections because she said that it would curb the election violence. In writing to

political parties, she said, 'When election activities are conducted under the

leadership of womenfolk, there is a tendency to lessen thuggery and unruly

behaviour' (WIRE, 2000).

It seems that having the world's first woman Prime Minister, or even having a

woman as the President of the country, did not do much to change the situation.

Having more women members in parliament is also not going to help if these
Chapter Five: I Live for Others
254

women continue to preach the same gender biased attitude of the community. A

newly elected middle aged female Member of Parliament was interviewed on

television just after the last general election and was asked what she would do to

improve women's status. She said she would work for women, not to achieve

equal status but to safeguard their 'correct' place.

In the next section I am moving from the public domain to the household. As I

have mentioned earlier, in my view, women's accesses to spaces other than

home has an impact on deciding her place at home. The accounts of the

interviewees on education and paid work confirm this.

Family

As in many societies of the world, the family is the basic social unit in Sri Lanka.

The gender relations and roles in a family have a large impact on deciding

women's relations and place outside the family. Therefore I intend to examine

women's place within the cultural invention of the 'Sinhala woman' and to

examine women's agency on manoeuvring within such a context. I will explore

five key components to bring out what interviewees' reflections on lives of women

today have highlighted, namely, the dominant ideas on women's sexuality, their

place at home compared to men in decision making, finance, division of domestic

labour, and the idea of male superiority.

I would like to reiterate the point that, along with these morals, ethics and values

brought to the island through colonialism, the propaganda of nationalists

Chapter Five: I Live for Others 255

concerning men and women's place in society worked to reinforce and further

weakened women's place in the family today. In Sri Lanka, generally family is

regarded as very important and marriage is expected to be universal and

monogamous. The discussions in chapters one and two demonstrate how the

Sinhala girls' sexuality is shaped and moulded according to the accepted values,

norms and beliefs of the community. The girls are trained for taking domestic

responsibilities and strongly advised to safeguard their virginity until they are

given in marriage. The interviews suggest that these two areas of life are the

most important conditions for women to earn their "correct" place in society. A

woman who is not a virgin on the night of her wedding is regarded as a loose

woman and a woman who cannot fulfil her domestic duties is not a proper

woman. A saying in Sri Lanka says that even to get the work done by domestic

helpers a woman should know what are the domestic tasks and duties. The

media and the community continuously project images of how women have to

suffer if they were not virgins, and the idea that it is a woman's sole responsibility

to take care of home and children.

The idea of the totally submissive, obedient, tolerant wife and good mother has

been very strongly presented in women's newspapers since the early twentieth

century. In articles with titles such as 'to the daughter', 'to the newly wedded

bride', 'to you married sister' (written by both men and women) these newspapers

told women how to behave after marriage. In summary, those articles require

women: a) To be chaste and very obedient to the husband. b) To behave like a

mother and a slave to the husband. c) Even if they find a wrong deed done by
Chapter Five: I Live for Others 256

the husband they shouldn't be angry and should tolerate even his extra marital

affairs and or beatings in the name of the children. d) Not to talk back to her

husband. e) Not to discuss a husband's wrong deeds with other people. f) When

he comes home from work to get up from where they are sitting and provide him

with hot water to wash and tea with a smiling face. g) Not to think of leaving their

husbands. h) After marriage women should cease thinking 'I am', 'Mine' and 'Me'

and instead should think in the terms of 'We' and 'Us'. After the 1970s the

language of the newspapers became more restrained. The idea that women also

work to provide for the family is introduced but still the accepted idea is that it is

women's prime responsibility to take care of the home and they should learn to

be tolerant.

A writer says that according to a leading physician, Dr. Sriyani Basnayaka, Sri

Lanka is the only country in the South Asian region that practices virginity tests

(Weerawarne, 2000). It is difficult to say when this started to be practiced. As

pointed out in the first two chapters, girls have to follow various restrictions,

curtail their socialising with males and, above all, limit their freedom of movement

in order to remain as virgins. According to a paper presented by Dr. Sriyani

Basnayaka, a widely prevalent myth in Sri Lanka is that a bride who is not a virgin

will faint on the poruwa (a podium erected for the couple to stand while the

marriage rituals are performed). She says that three main categories of people

visit the Family Planning Association's clinic with virginity problems. They are:

mothers who bring young daughters fearing their hymen may have been

damaged, young girls who fear their hymen may have been damaged and
Chapter Five: I Live for Others 257

couples with post nuptial virginity problems. According to her, some mothers

request certificates from her to testify that their daughters did not lose their

virginity by premarital sex, which indicates social ignorance on the subject of the

hymen. According to a survey done by Dr. Basnayaka (1989), even though 71 %

of the sample had heard of the hymen only 29.5% knew what it was. There was

no significant difference between urban and rural areas and 21 % of men and

31 % of women believed the hymen developed only after the onset of menarche.

Only 24% of the total sample were aware that all women do not bleed at first

penetration, and among men only 170/0 knew this fact. In the same survey, the

sample (2466 respondents) was asked whether they thought it was good for a girl

to have to prove virginity and 63% said yes. Sixty five percent of the women

thought it was a good custom. This may be due to the fact that family honour

and attention is attached to the custom. Both her family and in-laws hold a

woman who is proved to be a virgin in high esteem.

Some traditions are good. Now [ ... ] to say [ ... ] the most important thing [ ... ]
there is a tradition in our country that all women do not have sex with men
before marriage. I consider it as great and I like it. I think it should be kept. I
think according to our tradition we have a wedding and if a girl can have the
wedding as a girl (because of the belief a girl becomes a woman after losing
virginity) I think it is beautiful (Seena, age 36, Colombo/translated)

This is an opinion of a university lecturer, and the same idea was strongly

expressed by all most all the interviewees. Nelka (Age 23, Colombo) a medical

student, said that after attending the lectures she has come to know that sex

influences the sustainability of a marriage, and it is good to have a certain limit of

Chapter Five: I Live for Others
258

intimacy with the partner but society says it is not good to have sex before

marriage and therefore one should know the limit.

This shows that when such ideas become imagined traditions and internalised in

a community, the reality does not matter. The other important fact is that the idea

of virginity applies to women only. It seems this is because it is women who have

'visible signs' to prove virginity. According to Dr Sriyani Basnayaka (1989), only

56.2°A> of the respondents of the survey knew that the correct definition of the

virgin is a girl who never had sexual intercourse. What the majority believes is a

girl who bleeds at her first coitus is a virgin.

However, my data suggests that virginity tests do not play an important part in

Sinhala marriage. Only five of the married women faced virginity tests.

According to Gaya (Age 73, Colombo) a woman of an upper middle class family,

they do not follow it because it is an uncivilised practice. The majority of married

interviewees in Badulla did not have a virginity test and they said it is not a

common practice in the area. However, women who married men outside the

area, and women who married into the area, had virginity tests. It is highly likely

the reason for this is not knowing the 'character of the woman from outside the

village. One woman from Badulla said it is only a practice among the middle

class families. This is probably due to the fact that the more elaborate the

ceremony is the greater the tendency to test virginity and it is middle class

families who tend to have lavish ceremonies. Many women from Badulla and

Hambantota did not have virginity tests because they ran away with their
Chapter Five: I Live for Others 259

husbands. One woman said she did not have the test because her mother-in-law

was not alive and there were no sisters-in-law in the husband's family to conduct

the virginity test. Two women from Hambantota said they had premarital sex with

their husbands. One girl did not go home and ran away with him because she

said she could not face the family after that. The other woman said they had the

consent of the parents and the man visited her home. When the marriage was

impending, they were alone at her home with a sleeping father because the

others went to see a devil dance. The husband forcibly had sex with her and on

the night of the wedding he cut his finger to put blood on the white cloth. Even if

the tests are not in practice, the idea that the bride should be a virgin is strong.

Many said husbands would know whether they were virgins or not and if they

couldn't prove their virginity it would ruin the happiness and harmony in the

family.

Women's attitude towards marriage has not changed a great deal; however, the

age of marriage has changed and women prefer to have smaller families. In

1946 the average age at marriage was 18.1 years and it rose to 23.5 in1970s

and to 24.4 in the 1980s but has not changed significantly in the last few years

(Dallas Fernando, 1975: 187). The fertility rate went down from 5.0% in 1963 to

2.30/0 in 1999 (Department of Census and Statistics, 2001 e). Women today

prefer to have a stable financial background, hence they like to have a good

education and if possible a good job before getting married. As a consequence

women tend to get married later. Another reason for getting married late is not

having an income or proper dowry to get married within current norms, because
Chapter Five: I Live for Others 260

still marriages between people of the same social level are highly esteemed

within the community. The interviews show that caste still has an influence on

marriages. Two women said they had to give up their love affairs because they

belonged to lower castes than their boy friends. One woman was forced to stop

her affair because her boy friend is beneath her caste. However, the majority of

women prefer to get married after having a relationship. Only one interviewee

said she would not mind getting married by a proposal37 because all her family

got married by proposals.

Another idea that was strongly presented in the interviews was women should be

tolerant for the sake of children and the continuation of marriage in the name of

children. Neetha (Age 57, Colombo) said if she were not tolerant she would

never have been able to give her daughter in a good marriage because then she

may have been seen as a bad character. She once left her husband but came

back because of the children. Many women put family and children before

anything else.

Women also think it is very important to be seen as decent and respectable by

their children, elders and in the community in general. As a result of this any

subject relating to sex or showing affection for each other in front of others is

seen as vulgar and culturally inappropriate. Interviewees in Badulla said holding

hands, kissing, cuddling and sitting together in front of others is against tradition

and culture. An interviewee from Badulla said people tell tales even if they see a

37 Marriage by proposal means finding a prospective partner through a mamagebroker

or a newspaper advertisement.
Chapter Five: I Live for Others
261

married couple scrubbing each other's back. Only one interviewee said she and

the husband kiss in front of the children and not in the presence of others. She

said 'I may be wrong but I think it is important to show children that parents are in

love and affectionate to each other. It will make their lives happy.' However, the

general view irrespective of class or regional differences is that 'if we behave like

that, children will be disrespectful and will not be obedient to us and we will put

elders and others in an embarrassing situation.' The notion behind this is the

fear of children undermining parental authority. This silence on sexual behaviour

works as a constraint on women. Women constantly have to be watchful of their

own behaviour. Women who are sexually molested find it hard to talk. One

interviewee was sexually molested when she was kept with some relatives

because her parents are separated and she suspects she may have lost her

virginity. She is scared to get married and though she had affairs when she grew

up she stopped them when marriage was mentioned. She said she was scared

to talk about it with her mother or other family members. Another interviewee's

stepbrother had sexual intercourse with her eldest sister when she was thirteen.

She spoke about it to the interviewee many years later. At that time she didn't

understand what had really taken place but now believes she lost her virginity

because she saw blood on her garment. She is getting ready to get married but

is scared and does not want to talk to her parents.

All the interviewees, except the widows, said either the father or the husband is

the head of the family. Rani (Age 34, Hambantota) said her name is put on the

documents as the head of the family because their home was built on the land
Chapter Five: I Live for Others 262

that belongs to her, but her husband has the authority at home. The idea that the

man should be the head of the family and he should be presented as the

authority was strongly presented in the interviews. Neetha (Age 57, Colombo)

and Oeepa (Age 38, Badulla) are the providers for their families (husbands were

and are not in paid work) but said husbands are the heads. Both of them make

decisions in their families and take total care of family matters but said they get

the consent of the husbands before they implement their decisions. Saman (Age

39, Colombo) said she makes all the major decisions on their business and her

husband never does anything without asking her first. She is in such a position

because the money invested in the business and their property was the money

she earned when she worked in the Middle East.

The majority of the interviewees said both husband and wife make decisions

together but in the most cases the last word is the fathers or husband's. Even

so, if women strongly object men listen to them. Only two interviewees said the

father alone made decisions. Five interviewees said they make decisions alone.

One widow said her sons make decisions but her opinions are respected. Only

one interviewee said her parents make mutual decisions on matters such as

decorating the house and children's education but on matters such as finance

control , investments and other affairs both make their own decisions. Her father

is a businessman and the mother is a director of a company and an owner of a

factory. According to her, her parents have their own different lives. It seems

women's education and paid work influence their participation in decision-making

in all three areas. Namali (Age 33, Badulla) said in her parental family the mother
Chapter Five: I Live for Others 263

was not included in decision making because she is illiterate and in her own

family she makes most decisions because her husband is not as educated as

her. The interviews also reveal that when older children are well educated and or

in paid work parents include them when making decisions irrespective of their

gender.

In all three areas women are the financial keepers38 of the family and the

husband or father or sons give money to them. In Badulla many women said

they keep the money and give it back when asked. One interviewee said she

had to give money back even for gambling. In Hambantota the majority of

women decide how to spend the money and they give money back according to

the needs. One woman said it is the money she earns that is spent on children's

needs and the husband only brings food home. The urban middle class families

have set expenditures on paying bills, insurance, children's needs such as

private tuition and they are managed by the women. In Badulla and Hambantota,

though women identified themselves as housewives, many of them do various

other income generating activities such as sewing, casual labour, food sales,

artificial flower making in addition to their contribution to agriculture. The majority

of them are connected with various development programmes conducted by

governmental or non-governmental organisations. They have formed 'small

groups' in order to have savings schemes and collective labour.

38 Research on Western women show that this is the case for them also. See:
Pahl (1989).
Chapter Five: I Live for Others
264

The money they eam is entirely spent on the family. As noted earlier in this

chapter, women view paid work as an extra income to maintain the family. Even

young girls said they look for paid work because they want to take care of their

parents and ease their burden. It seems because of this women's paid work is

not seen to be as important as men's paid work. A few older interviewees said

their husbands or the male members of the family did not allow them to do paid

work. However, this is not the practice today. Though families and husbands

support and encourage women to work outside home, if there are problems

regarding managing household work or taking care of children it is women who

pull out of their jobs. Seena (Age 36, Colombo) said her husband's income is

enough to maintain their family and whenever they have problems with getting

domestic help her husband suggests that she should stay at home. She said she

doesn't want to leave the job as a university lecturer because she likes her field

of study. At the time of the interview Seena was getting prepared go abroad for

higher studies. She said she accepted a scholarship, which will allow her to come

home after six months and continue the studies because her husband cannot go

with her and she has to leave the children. Her mother, her sister and her

husband's sister's daughter were going to stay at her home to take care of

domestic work and children. This may lead us to conclude that the community

still thinks taking care of domestic work is the prime responsibility of women.

The idea that men are providers and women are carers leads to an unequal

division of labour at home.

I get up at four in the morning, clean the hearth and start the day: Make tea
and offer it to the Buddha and worship. We eat leftovers of the dinner for
Chapter Five: I Live for Others
265

breakfast and then I wash pots. I finish the domestic chores by eight thirty.
Then I go weeding. I come home around eleven and prepare lunch.
Sometimes I go weeding a~ain. In the ~vening I have a bath and worship
Buddha and then prepare dinner, serve It and go to bed around nine at night.
If it is rice planting season I go to bed around eleven, because I have to
prepare food for helpers. Sometimes I start to cook dinner at seven at night
because we have cows and have to tie them or cut grass for them. If I have
body pains because of weeding I take a nap in the evening sometimes.
Sometimes I read a Bana potha in the evening. (A book of Buddhist doctrine)
(Taru age 41,a farmer in Badullaltranslated).

I get up around 4.30 to five in the morning and cook lunch because my
husband takes lunch to work. I make tea and wake him up. He irons his
clothes. I want to sweep the garden before six. Then I prepare a packet of
lunch for my husband and tidy the home. I wash clothes and finish domestic
work around ten. Then I play with my daughter. At noon I have lunch and
have a nap after lunch. In the evening I tidy home and wash pots.
Sometimes husband brings take away food and if not I prepare the food to
cook when he arrives. We go to bed around nine, nine thirty (Amila, age 28, a
young housewife from Hambantotaltranslated).

I get up around six thirty. Me and Roopa (a girl adopted by her mother) feed
my son. I check whether the son's things and husband's things and snacks
are ready. My son goes to school at seven thirty. After that I take breakfast
and clean the home. I keep the TV on and if I hear a good programme on I
watch it too. Then I read a book or newspapers. I have not a lot of work to do
because Roopa does it. I wash clothes if there are any to wash. Around 10
clock I go to school to pickup my son and sometimes he has extra classes or
stay for sports. Sometimes he asks me to play with him. I allow him to play
until six o'clock. After six I help him with his studies and at seven thirty feed
him. When husband comes home we chat together. My son goes to bed at
eight thirty and he wants me to go to bed with him so I also brush my teeth
have a wash and put a night dress on and go to bed with him. After he fall
asleep, if there is any, I prepare things class teacher asked ([t is a custom that
class teachers get help from mothers who do not work to prepare diagrams,
charts, pictures for lessons] or discuss with husband about family matters and
make plans. Then I give instructions to the girl what to cook for the next day
and go to bed around nine thirty (Kaushi, age 39, from Colombo. She gave up
working as an accountant in a private company/translated).

These three accounts are of daily life of women in three different areas, three

different backgrounds and different classes.

Chapter Five: I Live for Others
266

Both Taru and her husband are farmers. Amila ran away with her husband at

nineteen because her parents opposed her affair. She said she had to do so

because her husband threatened to commit suicide. After marriage her family

disowned her for a long time. She worked in the Middle East as a housemaid

because her husband did not have a permanent job. For three years she sent all

the money to him believing what he said in letters. When she came back she

found out that he had lied to her. Though he managed to build the house it was

not finished and he had wasted most of the money. While she was away her

husband stayed with aunts and she thinks he spent money on them. Though she

is sad she said she doesn't blame him because there was no one to cook for him.

Apart from this daily routine she makes bricks to complete the house and said

she doesn't let her husband do it because he is tired when he comes home from

work.

Kaushi left her job because she found that her female colleagues, including the

director of the department (a woman), increasingly becoming hostile to her

because she is married to the director of finance of the company and she was

invited as his wife to functions, to which her senior colleagues are not invited.

She said her son made it easy for her to leave such a good job because at that

time her son started to walk and needed full time attention.

There were many extreme stories. Ransi (DoB unknown, Badulla), an elderly

interviewee, belongs to one of the first families who settled in Deniya under the

farmer's settlement scheme. She was around thirteen when she got married.
Chapter Five: I Live for Others 267

Both she and her husband lost their parents by the time they got married. The

village was nothing but a jungle when they came. They started preparing rice

fields, slash and burn cultivating and cleared the jungle to make a garden. For

three years her husband was not well so she had to do all the heavy work in

fields and the garden. She gave birth to nine children and five died. There was

no one to take care of the children. She said she got up at three in the morning

and went to bed at 11.30. During planting and harvesting she went to bed

around 1.30 and got up at 3. She had to cook for 10-20 people. She had to husk

the rice with a pounder because there were no mills. The nearest town is twenty

miles away and no proper roads or vehicles to go there. She had to grind chilli

and other spices. In between that she took care of the children and washed

clothes for all of them. She said it is a sin to ask a man to wash clothes. She

served meals, fetched firewood and drew water. Her husband went to the market

because she said he would not allow her to go alone.

Many women in Badulla start their day around four in the morning. During slash

and bum cultivation they have to start the journey to the hills (3-4 miles) early in

the morning to get there at around seven in the morning. They bring firewood

home from there. They have to draw water from wells because there is no water

supply scheme. During droughts they have to walk two to three miles to fetch

water. Men do help with domestic work such as cooking, washing, taking care of

children and taking children to hospitals. They do such tasks when the wife has

to do field work or when there are no grown up daughters to do the tasks. Men

mostly do shopping and they even buy clothes and underwear for wives and
Chapter Five: I Live for Others
268

daughters. Only a few women said they would accompany their husbands or

fathers when they go shopping. When there is no fieldwork, men usually gather

in boutiques to play daam (a board game) and chat.

In Hambantota women who don't do paid work are mostly at home because they

have no fields to work. The men mostly work in salt pans. Women are engaged

in food sales, sewing and casual labour. Many women who went to the Middle

East as housemaids came back and stayed at home. Men do help with cooking,

cleaning, washing, taking care of children when the help is needed. The majority

of women go to market and shopping in Hambantota either alone or with the

husband.

In both areas women provide labour for building their own houses. They make

bricks, mix cement, help the builders and cook for them too. In addition to doing

the bulk of the domestic work they continuously look for ways and means to earn

a few extra rupees. One woman said she stopped buying the women's

newspaper she used to buy. One popular method among women to save money

is having a Seettu39 . A group of women get together and decide the amount of

money (usually ranging from five rupees to a few thousand) and draw numbers to

decide the order of the Seettu. Each month women give the agreed amount of

money to the organiser and one woman gets the money. Women use this money

to buy household items, building houses or their children's needs.

39 This was a term used for official documents in early times.

Chapter Five: I Uve for Others
269

In Colombo women get support from husbands only if there is no other family

member or servant to help with work. If women are housewives they seem to get

very little help from husbands. Women go to the market and shopping alone or

they go together. In families without any other help both husband and wife share

the domestic work ..

Ideas about getting help from men for domestic work seems to be changing

slowly. Only Ama (Age 29, Colombo) said that she and the husband share

domestic work on fifty-fifty basis. This is mainly due to her understanding and

politics. Women do not think sharing household work is a responsibility of men

also. Hence apart from Ama women who get help from their husbands showed

their gratitude and said how other women think how lucky they are. Women still

think it is their duty to do domestic work. Priya (Age 25, Colombo) said even if

she has a very bad headache she couldn't go and lie down if there are pots to be

washed. She said she thinks it is her grandmother's influence and she never

keeps dirty pots until husband comes home from work.

Education does not mean learning lessons (at school). Earlier families were
not broken even if it was difficult for women. Now they quickly get divorced.
They (women) kept the family together because they were considerate of
many things. That is how they were. Sometimes even knowing that husband
has a mistress (women) did not break the family because they didn't think
only about themselves. They thought a lot about the unity of family and not
being able to live alone (being a single mother) things !ike t~at. .What I see as
women being independent is not thinking like that. DOing a Job IS only one
side of the life. I don't know whether it is good to be just a career woman.
There are such women, somewhat dominant characters. I feel that there is a
vacuum in those women's lives (Priya, age 25, Colombo/translated)
Chapter Five: , Live for Others 270

She said today women are very open and they set other things such as jobs as

their priority. They have their own ideas about relationships and their own space,

She said she thinks it is not simply being independent; it is rather being not

bothered about the family or children.

The qualities women are looking for in men are also changing. Only one girl said

she needs a man who could protect her because she thinks women are weak

and need protection. The main qualities women look for in men are honesty,

being faithful, being a non-smoker, teetotaller and no gambling. The majority of

the urban women and a few women from other areas said a man who has a good

understanding is important. However, the majority of women felt the husband

should be a person they could respect and look up to at a time of crisis. Girls

who said they are strong, having a bad temper and talk too much said they would

like to marry a man who could control them though they don't want to be

subordinated.

However, the idea that women should be under the husband was covertly but

strongly presented in the interviews.

A: What we saw at home was that father was the head. Mother never
thought to go against his ideas. I think even now that it shoul,d ~e i.n
practice to a little extent. We should give husband [ ... ] my pnonty IS my
husband and not me.

Q: Why?

A: I think it is the influence of my mother. I never think I should ~o over my

husband. I think it is necessary to have his support most of the time. But
at some instances I respect him as my husband. .
.. , As women we have more equality today. I think I ha~e equality at home.
It is good to share everything and be equal but I don't like the way some
 Chapter Five: I Live for Others
271

women think about equality. They think they should not be submissive to
men. Doesn't have to be but when you live with a husband, I think there
should be a respect for the husband, it helps to have good family
relation.(Seena, age 36, Colombo/translated

What Seena said clearly expresses how women's observations of their parents'

relations shape their own familial relations in marriage. Furthermore, she also

painted out another important factor that was implied by the majority of my

interviewees: respecting and obeying the male partner preserves harmony at

home and in marriage. Paradoxically women don't want to be subjugated but

they think should be submissive to their husbands. Seena also said women

would 'only receive love from their husbands if they take care of his every need

lovingly' and 'will be respected if only they respect their husbands.' Her words

powerfully imply the idea that women will be looked upon and respected if only

they behave according to their 'correct place.'

The idea of male superiority was represented across the interviews irrespective

of socio economic backgrounds, age or geographical differences. My interviews

show that the age gap between the husband and wife and man's social and

economic status are crucial for maintaining male superiority within the Sinhala

community. Many young interviewees said women should not marry a man

beneath them in education, age or in economic status. Deesha (Age 16,

Colombo) said 'If I have a job I don't have to do as what as my husband says.

But because he will be a little older than me, there should be a respect for that.'

Later she said she is 'never going to marry some one beneath her.' Meenu,

another young interviewee said:

Chapter Five: I Live for Others 272

I like. to marry a man who could control me. Not strictly controlled but when
married. g~nerally a wom~n should yield a little to the man I think.[ ... ] I am not
undermining women but If not so it would be like two men living together.
When a woman takes a decision she should listen to the man. I don't like
bein~ !rampled (by a ma~) but in general giving first place to the man is good
and It IS good to have a little gap between (husband and the wife). Not the
education or other things but in their relationship there should be a little
difference. It means she should be submissive to him. She shouldn't behave
so he becomes a laughingstock for others. I should be able to show him as
my husband (Meenu, age 24, Colombo/translated).

It is highly likely that women's passive acceptance of the idea that men are

superior to them and that they should be submissive and modest and they are

dependant on men justifies violence against women. The interviews show that

verbal abuse is very common. Another important fact is women's attempt to

soften their versions of suffering at the hands of husbands. This is because of

the saying that a woman shouldn't discuss her husband's fault with outsiders.

After the interview Neetha (Age 57, Colombo) said, 'I don't know whether what I

did was proper. You know talking about my husband like that.' Such women

show their sorrow, anguish and burdensome feelings only when asked how they

feel about being a woman. Some of their answers were: 'I think it is a sin to be a

woman. Women have to suffer every day and there is no comfort.'(Karuna, age

53, Colombo) Neetha (Age, 57, Colombo) said, 'My daughter said if she were me

she wouldn't have tolerated the life I am living. But I don't repent it and if I had

been intolerant my children's lives would have been very different today'. 'Some

women protect their status, their jobs, and their husband's self respect and live

with whatever problems they have.' (Ramani, age 39, 8adulla).

Chapter Five: I Live for Others 273

Some interviewees said their husbands are good because husbands scold them

when angry but do not hit them. The women who are abused said it is because

they talk back to their husbands and it would not happen if they guarded their

mouths. Women talked about their experiences without showing emotions as if

battering is a matter of day-to-day life. Karuna's husband was a heavy drinker

and used to beat her for the slightest reason. He always complained about the

food she prepared, clothes she washed, not having money to drink and battered

her. She said compared to the suffering she had endured now as a widow she is

having a comfortable life and did not want to remarry because she did not want to

get abused.

Hansi's (Age 41, Hambantota) husband started to beat her when she was eight

months pregnant with her first baby. She tried to commit suicide and when she

was in hospital he cried and said he would jump into her grave to be buried with

herself if she died. She said she realised he loved her and went back to him.

The beatings started again and she tried to rekindle an affair with her ex

boyfriend. When her husband found out he forced her clothes off and chased her

nude around the house beating her and inserted a big wooden pole in her vagina.

She still suffers pains from that beating. Her husband told the eldest child to tell

one of their aunts that he was going to kill the mother. The aunt rescued her and

told him he was responsible for his wife going astray. However, she said she

doesn't get sympathy or respect from the neighbours or her own children

because they think she is a loose woman. She said now she is not afraid of him

anymore because she earns her own money and beats him if he beats her and
Chapter Five: I Live for Others 274

stops cooking for him. When he asked for a divorce she said he could divorce

her but could not force her out of the home. They live without fights now but she

is understandably very unhappy about her marriage.

In summary, the discussion on family life shows gender-biased attitudes, which

are imagined and understood as 'long lasting traditions' which work to reinforce

and strengthen women's secondary position within the family. However, this

does not mean that there is lack of resistance among women. Knowing the

impact of loosing virginity on their lives deters women from having sexual

pleasures but they have strategies to avoid 'trouble'. The rising age of marriage

indicates that, though women accept the universality of marriage they side step it

until they are in a more secure position with a good education, possibly

employment, to have a better position in the family. Although the notion that the

head of the house should be a male is strong it is not a universal case for Sinhala

women. As the accounts of the interviewees show, having a better education,

paid employment or carrying out an income generating activity enable them to

manoeuvre their position in the family against the husband and covertly

undermine the notion of head of the family.

Nevertheless, the majority of women's internalisation of the concepts and beliefs

held in the community regarding their role in the family prevent them from looking

upon themselves as individuals, but see themselves as being burdened with a

higher responsibility for the than that of men. Ramani, a school teacher (Age 39,

Badulla), said 'If we try to live 'correctly' women are not a great burden to the
Chapter Five: I Live for Others 275

country. If we 'control' the house, 'control' the husband and take care of children

we are not a burden'. What she said here is that if women live according to the

expected behaviour of the community, take household responsibilities and

prevent their husbands going astray,40 she brings no problems to her family or

the community. Today familial relations are largely influenced by the factors such

as education and working outside the family. In The Domestication of Women,

Barbara Rogers (1981) states that in the western world gender distinctions and

interaction between men and women in the family are based on their respective

economic relations outside the family and the position assigned to them by social

class, education and other external factors. It seems being educated or working

outside the family increase Sinhalese women's power. Yet culture and tradition

still playa large role in determining women's secondary place in the family.

Conclusion

The accounts on the pre-colonial and colonial period show how Sinhala woman's

position in the family and the community shifted according to the structural

changes which happened over time and their accessibility to spaces other than

home. The colonial experience and the resistance over colonial rule led to the

social construction of a 'Sinhala woman' that have had a decisive impact on the

lives of Sinhala women in the post independence period. De Alwis says 'Her

(Ceylonese/Sinhala) woman) cultural re-inscription within colonial modernity and

40 A saying in Sri Lanka is a woman should know how to correct her husband. If a
husband commits aduHery, wastes money or drinks heavily people would usually say
"'t 's the wife's fault she should know how to correct him" When such problems occur
~ ~oman should not get angry and she should plead with her husband and try to
please him in order keep him at home.
Chapter Five: I Live for Others 276

patriarchy must also be understood as not merely contested and unstable but as

still in process '(De Alwis, 1999: 187). The discussion based on interviewees'

accounts on education, paid work and family life clearly indicates that concepts,

norms, values and ideas that emerged during the late nineteenth and early

twentieth century as 'tradition and culture' act as constraints on women's lives

today.

According to Beck and Beck-Gernsheim (2002) women in the western part of the

world underwent 'individualization boosts' because they were increasingly

released from direct ties to the family and therefore have more freedom to make

decisions and more freedom to make choices. However, they point out that this

does not mean that social inequalities have been completely eradicated.

According to them, the process is 'incomplete', though women have made

'progress,' western women are trapped in a peculiar intermediate stage (2000:56.

Original emphasis). Women are no longer defined in terms of family life

41
dependant on a male provider yet women still perform more domestic tasks

than men do and their position in labour market is less protected and least stable.

According to the authors this 'no longer' but 'not yet' situation generates

numerous ambivalences and contradictions in women's lives (pp. 54-55).

If Beck and Beck-Gernsheim's (2000) argument is relevant to the late-modern

western societies, one may ask what relevance does it have for Sinhala women?

It seems the situation of the Sinhala women of today is not very different from

41 Women's 'double burden' of paid work and home. See also: Hochschild (1989).
 Chapter Five: I Live for Others
277

that of western women even though the circumstances that have lead up to it are

different.

Though women may appear to have free access to spheres other than home in

reality they are not free to make choices on their own because they have

internalised that they have a correct place in SOCiety and have to operate

according to that place. On the surface it appears women have accepted the

situation. However, when reading the 'hidden meanings' in the texts, the

interviews strongly indicate that women feel oppressed by the situation

It seems women of today are trapped between tradition and modernity. On the

one hand they appear to have access to modernity, but on the other hand the

idea of the 'traditional role or image' of Sinhala woman continues to be

maintained within the changing time, space and structure. The restrictions and

perceptions the Sinhala community place on women are strongly internalised by

women and therefore they are reluctant to break away from these restrictions and

perceptions even though they are aware of how they are constrained by them in

the name of culture and tradition. Sunetra (Age 23, Hambantota) said she has

learned how to work with men and thinks in spite of the sex difference, women

can do anything men do if they are determined. However, she said she cannot

wear trousers in her village. While in the GAD programme she discovered that

wearing trousers is not a bad dress for women, but in the village a lot of people

think that is so and they will laugh at her. She said she cannot face that and she

feels she cannot change their ideas by she has learned. The internalised shame

and fear are constantly in their mind, and it is difficult for her to behave
Chapter Five: I Live for Others
278

'differently' because of the fear of social and familial exclusion. Teruni (Age 32,

Hambantota) spoke about how ridiculed she felt when she took a group of

insurance agents to her old school to start an insurance scheme for the teachers.

Her boss was dressed in a smart coat and a short skirt and was wearing make

up. Teruni said the staff instead of listening to the discussion watched her boss

getting up and walking away to answer her mobile and were nudging each other.

According to her they couldn't make a deal because of her boss's appearance.

The business sector looks for smart looking, energetic outgoing women. The

family, school and media and the rest of the community tells women to be

modest, delicate and be invisible.

It seems that the concept of individuality assigned to modernity has very little

appeal for Sinhala women. The idea that man is the breadwinner and head of

the family is strong, though women have gained access to the labour market.

Women were breadwinners even during the colonial period. Even though only

women of the privileged classes had access to education and bluestocking jobs,

the women of lower classes also had to come out of their homes to work because

of the need for survival in a money oriented economy. This has doubled their

burden because, as the discussion shows, they have to manage all the domestic

tasks! childcare and the responsibilities of their paid work. In addition to this

women have to take the blame if the marriages fail. priyavi, a women's

newspaper in 1976 reported that the divorce rate had gone up because of

·women are having more job opportunities'. According to the article married

women who travel to towns from rural areas start extra marital affairs and this
Chapter Five: I Live for Others
279

leads to divorce (Regional news, 1976). The media very often points to women's

paid work as a major reason for the deterioration of children's discipline and the

disintegration of the family.

Though education seems to be an avenue which opens access to the kind of

courses that challenge women to stand up for themselves and actively confront

their own situation (Beck and Beck-Gernsheim, 2002: 59) this has not reached

Sinhalese women. The interviewees saw education as an avenue for

understanding society and living according to it. Instead of challenge and

confrontation, women prefer tolerance and obedience, as a strategy to avoid

violence and disharmony. Young interviewees mentioned sexual harassment in

public vehicles but said they are scared to confront it because others would

criticise them. They either try to move away or suffer in silence. Off the record,

one interviewee talked about young girls getting sexually harassed by high

officials at her work place. She pleaded with me not to mention the work place

because she still works there. Rani (Age 34, Hambantota) a schoolteacher said

the male members of the staff make 'double meaning jokes' or sometimes touch

them. She said it is something normal and avoiding it does not give women

special privileges or a good reputation. Men make the joke and forget it but if a

woman saw men touching women or making jokes, it goes further than that.

These accounts show that the majority of women are reluctant to break the

barriers.
Chapter Five: I Live for Others
2~O

Women are eager to do paid work. They believe it is good to have an income of

their own. In that sense it seems paid work gives women some autonomy.

However, they do not see paid work as an individual achievement but as extra

income for helping the family. When the need arises it is women who give up

their careers. All the interviewees who left their jobs said they enjoyed working

outside the family because they had the chance to meet more people and gained

new experiences. However, they gave up their zest for their careers to be at

home with the children because of this belief that this is their prime duty.

Many interviewees said being a woman is not an obstacle to what they want to

achieve. This is because they have access to education and paid work or

because they can choose a partner. However, in all interviews it is clear that they

do not have free choice. Women's sexuality and public and familial relations are

governed by a set of rules and restrictions and they would be ridiculed and

named as shameless and fearless if they made choices that go beyond those

rules and restrictions. The idea of the docile woman still dominates in the minds

of men. They do not see women as strong enough to be leaders. Nelum (Age

24, Colombo) spoke about her experience with some male student leaders in the

counselling office of her university. Once they organised a cultural event and the

boys said to her 'come tomorrow, there is some work to do, should be done by

the girls you know, (have to) serve the visitors, make tea and tidy the stage.' She

said the girl members go to the office mainly to do clerical work and sweeping.

They are not allowed to organise or lead any activities. Upuli, (Age 23, Colombo)
Chapter Five: I rive for Others 281

another university student said her boy friend asked her whether he could

accompany her to the interview in case we talk about 'anything important'.

Women's spatial mobility is also limited by attitudes of the community and women

themselves. It is shown that middle class women could achieve higher mobility in

their careers through education because of their privileged situation. The

majority of women are confined to service oriented jobs which are considered as

women's jobs or give more free time to do domestic work. The idea that women

should not go out or travel alone has a strong impact on choosing a career. Two

interviewees said they found jobs in Colombo but their father or brother opposed

them taking the job. Women are also afraid to travel alone. Women from rural

areas are scared of living in urban areas because of the fear of sexual

harassment. The increased attention paid to rape by the media generates more

fear in women. Television programmes and newspapers discuss how the victims

are helpless and how they are treated as prostitutes by the police or further suffer

attempted molestation by the police officers. When I visited a police station in

one area, upon my questioning, the WPC who is assigned to the women's

section, smiled and said, 'these police officers are young you know. They like to

gather around and hear the story.' The social humiliation and knowing they

would not be helped, or might suffer further sexual harassment by the defenders

of justice, makes women self policing and curbs their movements.

In general it seems women live for others. The common expression of women

was 'I live for my famili. They talked about taking care of parents, children and
Chapter Five: I live for Others 282

serving the country as their prime ambitions. Women in rural areas spend

whatever free time they have on some income generating activities. Only two

interviewees said they use that money for their own needs. This has a strong

impact upon deciding women's lives when they get older. Hence the next

chapter will explore the lives of older Sinhala women to examine how their status

at a younger age influences the later life.

Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 283

Chapter Six

Everything has changed but we adapt

The previous chapters showed how Sinhala women's identity and sexuality is

shaped by ideas, norms and values of the community whilst also discussing how

women's life styles, roles and expectations were controlled and constrained. The

aim of this chapter is to explore the situation of ageing women within this frame

and to examine the ways in which older women situate themselves within the

changing context of the post independence era. Women over fifty years were

chosen as 'older women' for this study, with twelve out of sixty six interviewees

coming under this category.

This study includes a separate chapter on older women for three main reasons.

Firstly, because of the demographic changes that occurred in Sri Lanka during

the last three decades of the twentieth century. The changing patterns of

demography are remarkably similar to the demographic patterns of developed

countries, a typical feature of a modernising society. As a report of the Women's

Bureau in Sri Lanka (1985) pointed out, the standards of life attained by the

people of Sri Lanka, especially the physical quality of life have been impressive.

According to the report, this is due to the set of welfare measures, such as free

health service, food subsidy policies, family planning and immunisation

campaigns, adopted by the successive governments since Independence.

Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt

According to the 2001 census, from 1960s onwards, a steady decline in the

fertility rate of women lowered the increase of the Sri Lankan population. Up to

1960s the life expectancy of males was higher than that of females. However,

there is a reverse to the pattern thereafter. In the early eighties life expectancy of

females increased to 4.4 years more than that of males (67.7 years for males and

72.1 years for females). Though women's life expectancy rate has increased

from 30.7(1920-22) to 55.5 (1952) and over sixty after 1962, (Department of

Census and Statistics, 2001 e) it still remains low compared to the rising level of

life expectancy in the developed world. However, another important

demographic factor that should be taken to consideration is the age gap between

married males and females. Due to cultural conditioning, in Sri Lanka the

practice is for the man to marry a woman younger than himself. The age gap

between husbands and wives in Hambantota and Colombo is insignificant

compared to the wide gap in Badulla. In Badulla the age gap varied from five to

thirteen years. While walking to meet one of the interviewees, when the age gap

between her and the husband was mentioned, her sister in law said 'why should

we get an old woman for our brother?' This indicates the likelihood that a high

proportion of women will be widowed when they are older. A study on ageing in

Sri Lanka also confirmed this fact showing 22.5°k of men over sixty are widowed

compared with 42.1 ok of women (De Silva and Kotalawela: 1997). The age

pyramid diagrams (Figure 3) clearly show that the population of Sri Lanka is

changing from a 'young' or youthful population to an 'older population.

 -=~PTmFOR;~N"-~.-.«fthing has changed but we adapt 285

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Source: Department of Census and Statistics, 1999

Therefore, as in western countries, the older population can no longer be treated

as a minority.
Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 286

Secondly, it seems that it is the state and nongovernmental organisations that

take the prime responsibility for working for the welfare of the older generation.

Following the United Nations interests in ageing the Sri Lankan government

established a National Committee on Ageing in 1982. Its objective is to develop

policy initiatives in order to create a healthy environment for older persons within

cultural mores and religious practices (SAARC, 2001). According to the

summary report on Sri Lanka, the government has taken various steps to ensure

the welfare of the older people. However, the women's affairs ministry conducted

only one forum discussion on ageing in Oct. 1998 and, according to the web site

of the women's affairs ministry, there were no programmes on ageing on the

ministry's policy planning or activity programmes (Ministry of Women's Affairs,

nd.). Various charity organisations and non-governmental organisations funded

by foreign donors collaborate with the state in developing policies regarding the

elderly population. In my view it is highly likely that this will lead to the creation of

universal policies and that could be detrimental for women because it would

neglect the fact that older women have a different social and cultural position

within each ethnic community in Sri Lanka. More over as this chapter shows,

even the position of older women within one community is not universal as they

have different lives.

Finally, It seems that women's writers or feminists have paid very little attention to

ageing women. A survey by the Centre for Women's Research in 1997 found

that only three major studies had been carried out on ageing in Sri Lanka since
Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 287

1980, However, and none of these studies paid specific attention to women or

conducted an in-depth analysis on the consequences of caring for the caregivers

De Silva and Kotalawela, 1997). According to Sara Arber and Jay Ginn (1991),

the lack of sociological research on older women, even in the western part of the

world, is striking compared to the richness of work by feminist sociologists.

However, their recent research on ageing has redressed the neglect. Likewise,

there is a need in Sri Lanka to understand existing perceptions of older women

and their experience

Hence, this chapter will explore the situation of women through the accounts

provided by the interviewees. First it will examine their position in relation to their

early experiences in life. Secondly, it will examine how having or not having

access to resources determines the lives of older women. Thirdly, it will examine

how these women positioned themselves according to the changes that

happened over time.

The past affects the present

When reading the life stories of older women collected for this study, one striking

common feature was how the achievements and hardships of their lives shaped

the situation they are in today. Gaya, a seventy-three year old interviewee from a

privileged background, reminisced on how having access to a typewriter when

she was around ten years old determined her life. She was bom into a traditional

elite family and her privileged background helped her to have access to spheres

the majority of women of her age had no access to at all.

Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 288

... but for holidays I used to go to Bandarawela. And my grandfather [ ... ]

He was a very interesting person. Very learned and I had a rather [ ... ] you
know, I was the third in the family. So I felt the two elder ones were often
favoured. For anything there, "Ioku denna geniyamu" ("let's take the two
elders") So if there was no room in the car, well, the two elder ones had to
go. Then the three little ones (the younger sisters) were always petted.
So I am caught in the middle neither here nor there. And my
understanding father used to tell me "Gaya neither fish less nor fowl are all
alone" So there was certain loneliness in me. And how did I overcome it? I
started reading books. Specially poetry.

[Her grandfather used to order clothes, shoes other lUXUry items for the
family members from England especially during Christmas.]

Once a huge box came. And then opened it. And there was a big black
thing that was pulled out of the box and it had the gleaming word, golden
letters 'Remington'. It was a typewriter that he had ordered. One that had
been kept on a table. And I was very thrilled, grandfather used to keep it
on front veranda, put this paper and roll it and typed. I used to watch these
magic words. I had never seen a thing like that. I was intrigued. He looked
hard at me, I was really involved in, so he had [ ... ] he used to talk in very
archaic way. He said" would you like to be my scribe?" so I said yes! I
would have been about nine or ten, so he gave me paper, told me how to
address an envelope .

. . . So learned to do [hOW to write] then he would dictate letters and I had to

copy them. And I think that created an interest. And then we had English
classes
[at grandfather's house. she, her five sisters and two young uncles and an
aunt were in the class. They read English classics.]

That was also a [ ... ] laying the foundation for what I was going to be. This
love of words .... One of the prizes he gave me was a lovely green
inkstand.[ ... ] Onyx inkstand, pale green colour ... a pen holder and ink well.
Those days there were no ballpoint pens or fountain pens, you have to dip
it into the ink and [ ... ] and a bottle of Quink ink. Well, he gave me that ink.
The bottle of ink and write on good paper notepaper. And you know he
didn't live to see me writing but I have to be very grateful to him .

... As I grow up you see, I told you, I belonged to a Kandyan family. People
got girls got married when they were 17 or 18 but a few went to teach one
or two went to nursing but that was not considered [ ... ] our people didn't
like girls becoming nurses, they prefer them to be teachers or matrons or
so. Now, I was very keen to go to the university. No one in my family had
been to the university. And I was only seventeen, passed my senior exam.
The principal said that I should go to the university. So my father was
debating. He didn't know whether it was too expensive. He was a
Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 289

government servant. He could manage to pay up but we were family of six

so it was not that easy .

... Anyway I sat for the university entrance. I had passed and still I was not
sure whether I was to go to the university. Till I got a letter to say that I
have been awarded an exhibition for geography. I had come first or
second in geography. With that came as people kept. .. starting to tell my
father "congratulations, it was in the newspapers, it is such an important
thing, yes she should go to the university" so that's how I went to the
university (English).

She has become an award-winning journalist cum writer and a teacher. She met

her husband at the university and she made life long friends at the university who

were, in her own words 'very upright, steady sober people who did very good

jobs.' She was employed as a teacher but she gave up teaching six months after

her marriage. She thought about becoming a housewife because it was more

important to look after her first child than be employed. However, her husband

was transferred to Anuradhapura, a remote area in the north central province.

One day the director of education to the area and the principal of the

Anuradhapura Central school visited them and said 'we have no graduates (in

the school to teach) but we have a graduate here in the house doing nothing' and

they asked her husband: 'our boys and girls are wanting a graduate teacher

would you mind your wife coming and teaching?' She did not agree at first and

said that though she had servants she did not want to leave the child. The

director talked of how her father had helped the peasants in the area and how

her husband is helping them now said she also would have a chance to help the

peasants. She agreed to teach a few hours and gradually started to work longer

hours. She taught in several outstation schools for a while and received a

transfer to a school in Colombo. She taught there for nine years and then

received a letter from the education ministry notifying her she was transferred
Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 290

because she had stayed in the school for too long. According to her there were

teachers in the same school, that were well established themselves there by

teaching there for twenty or twenty-five years, but the teachers like her were

considered outsiders.

She served in outstations for long time and wanted to stay in Colombo. She said,

'I thought all this work I did (in outstation schools) it has meant (nothing) whereas

people living in Colombo, educated in Colombo, they had all the plums. Not that

I wanted many plums but I wanted to remain in this school. So while I was so

sad and you won't believe that in one-week I was transferred to six schools.

Letter after letter that means there was no co-ordination in the department. I

thought it is not worth working here.' She saw an advertisement in newspapers

seeking teachers to work in Nigeria. She went to Nigeria but by a mistake she

had been sent to a vocational training school instead of sending her to the

women's teaching school she was supposed to teach at. She was the only

female in the vocational training school for boys and within the miles of the

school. She taught English to the boys there until she was sent to the women's

school. She spent two years in Nigeria and decided to come back because she

was lonely. By that time her two daughters were married and her two sons were

studying in Vienna and USA. She got bored after staying home for three weeks

and with the prompting of a journalist friend she applied to a newspaper agency

and became a journalist. She said, 'So I think when I look back on my life I feel I

have not wasted my life, I have been able to be of service.'

Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 291

Her social position and education helped her to integrate into non-traditional roles

that were evolving during the 1940s. Having been able to perform roles other

than those traditionally assigned for a woman, she finds her life was useful.

A fifty-three years old interviewee, Karuna's (Age 53, Colombo) reminiscence of

the past was a sad story compared to Gaya's. She was born into a poor family in

a rural area. Though she was born twenty years later than Gaya in an era where

women were gaining more access to non-traditional spheres her unprivileged

background was a barrier to bettering her life.

A :Our mother died when I was small. She died and father brought a
stepmother.

[Her father battered their mother to death. While he was in prison her
mother's elder sister took care of the children. He was released soon from
the prison. She vaguely remembered that he hit mother and she fell. The
neighbours came and said her mother was dead. She said now she has
no connection with her father.]

Q Do you have brothers or sisters?

A: Had a brother, he also died. One sister was at an orphanage. She also
married and she is also living away. They don't come to see me and I
don't visit them either. They don't know where I am. Both our brother and
mother died.

Q: Where is your Village?

A: My Village is Ingiriya.

Q: So how old were you when your mother died?

A: I was three years old.

Q: Three? Do you remember your mother?

A: No, slightly, I know that I had a mother but don't remember her shape or
features either.
Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 292

a: Do you remember things about your childhood?

A: When my mother died [ ... ] I didn't go to school. There was no one to
send me to school. My stepmother looked after me a little. Father used to
get drunk and make trouble, scolded and hit us. So I left home. I stayed in
a Bungalow when small as a servant. I stayed there a while and then
came to Dehiwala. I didn't go to school and worked as a servant. Those
madams now helped me.

Q: So your father wasn't interested in sending you to school?

A: No he was not interested in keeping me or my brother and sister. He

didn't want to keep us with him because stepmother had two children. He
used to abuse stepmother too. In the end stepmother went to pick tea
leaves. She came home in the evening. She took us back to home for a
while and taught us to pick tealeaves, replant and I earned about tenl
fifteen rupees a day.

Q: How old were you then?

A: about ten years.

Q: Did you help with domestic work too?

A: Yes, if when my stepmother came home, things were not done she
scolded me [laughed].

a: Do you remember what you did?

A: Washing pots, drawing water, sweep and tidy then looked after my
stepbrother. Those were things I was asked to do. But there was no
abuse, stepmother cared about me. But father abused her too. Because
of that we all became lost.

Q: Your stepmother's children went to school?

A: Yes both of them, daughter and the son.

a: How did brother and sister separate from you?

A: My brother drowned when he went to bathe in the river. Then there
was no one to look after us, my mother's sister gave my sister to the
orphanage. She was so small and didn't understand anything, I was able
to understand things. I don't know which orphanage.

a: How was your life as a servant?

Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 293

A: The first house where I worked, people were bit strict. They hit me,
scolded me, then I was about ten to fifteen and an age one could
understand things. Sometimes, if I lied they burnt me. At that time I was
able to understand things (and) a superintendent who worked near our
place took me and my aunt's daughter to Colombo. They treated me well,
looked after me and they still care about me.

Q: Did you work there for a long time?

A: Yes.

Q: Did they teach you to write?

A: They did but it was difficult to learn properly while working. They taught
me how to sew, cook to keep home tidy and clean and the way to live in
society. Then they gave me in marriage. He worked in a garage as a
painter. He also died. It was after that I came to work for the urban council
(translated).

Her husband earned sixty rupees (about six pennies) a day and they had to

manage rent, day to day needs and maintain two children with that money. Her

husband did not allow her to do paid work because there was no one to take care

of the children. She had to take the responsibility of managing their domestic

affairs with the money he gave her and then had to give him money for drinking.

He was a drunk and severely abused her. She was married for twenty years. She

feels free now and said she lives happily after the death of her husband. After he

died one of the politicians he supported helped her to get a job with the urban

council as a sweeper. She said because of lack of education she couldn't work

as an office assistant or work in the canteen. However, the job is good and it has

benefits such as a pension. She has two men and one woman as co-workers and

men and women receive equal pay. The vendors at the market where she

sweeps are good to her and brought food and drinks to her once when she was

hospitalised. She said, 'I never had a comfortable life.'

Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 294

These two accounts demonstrate the ways in which class position and social and

economic environment of these older women influence their later life. When

examining their lives it is clear that class, poverty and urban/rural differences had

a profound influence on determining women's access to resources, and

generating unequal power relations within the family and society.

Access to resources

Unlike the interviewees from rich, educated middle class families, the majority of

older women from poorer backgrounds did not have a chance to better their lives

through education. Apart from Gaya (Age 73, Colombo) and Neetha (Age 57,

Colombo), who were respectively from a wealthy traditional elite family and urban

middle class family, all the other interviewees either did not have an education or

were not educated beyond first or second grades in primary school. Many older

women talked with sadness about being deprived of a good education. The main

reasons for not sending women to school were: poverty and separation of

parents, that they were needed to care for siblings and to do domestic work,

parents did not want to send girls if they had to walk two or three miles to school;

and. Those who went to grade one or two talked nostalgically about their time in

school. Neetha, a fifty-seven year old woman from an urban middle class family

said her aim was to go to the university. However the younger children faced

hardships, as they were a family of seven children. The sister closest to her age

was at the university and she realised father couldn't afford to send two children

to the university. She passed her HSC prep (High School Certificate preparing for

university entrance) very well and applied to a major financial organisation and
Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 295

was selected. She decided to take the job and gave financial support to the sister

who was at the university. She said she is stiH sad about not being able to have a

university education.

Not having access to education was a major impediment to womenrs paid work.

However, as shown in the fourth chapter, women who were educated had an

opportunity to be employed in service oriented careers. Loku (Hambantota), a

seventy-year-old woman, said her parents stopped her from going to school

when she was in grade six. She had a chance to work as an attendant in a

hospital but she was scared of seeing people die. Later when hardships

occurred she worked in a nearby plantation as a casual labourer. According to

her, many of the girls dropped out of school at that stage. Four or five girls

continued their education and she knew that one woman became a teacher.

Nevertheless, the majority of women were engaged in farming. The older

interviewees of Badulla and Hambantota were among the first settlers in the

area, arriving around the 1950s under settlement schemes, and they faced

numerous hardships. They worked with their men shoulder to shoulder when the

need arose therefore the gendered division of labour was blurred. However,

women did not receive land because husbands were the head of the families. By

that time the custom in Sri Lanka was to distribute land among the male

members of the family. Hence women in farming areas did not have access to

the most important capital, land.

Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 296

Resource distribution:

When examining the situation of older women regarding their access to

resources, it shows that the conditions created during colonial rule had

been decisive. The son preference in distributing family land, not having

access to education, and the idea of motherhood and living for others

control their individual access to resources.

Apart from Neetha (Age 57, Colombo), Gaya (Age 73, Colombo) and Karuna (Age

57, Colombo), none of the other older interviewees were engaged in permanent

paid work. A few did casual labour such as working in salt pans, brick making,

working in plantations or did self employed jobs such as preparing food for sale.

The majority were cultivators. However, the husbands were the owners of the

fields. Women brought with them a few items of household furniture and jewellery

as dowry but only two women said they received land as part of their dowry.

According to the majority of young and older interviewees it was usually the men

in the family who inherited the land or were going to inherit the family land.

Punchi (DoB unknown/older, Badulla)42 said when her mother was alive she

divided the land among all the children but did not follow a legal procedure.

Since her death the youngest son took hold of the property and does not like to

divide it. Some interviewees owned the land after their husbands died and some

of them had already divided the land among their children. Podi (Age 54,

Badulla), however, said she did not want to divide the four acres until she dies.

This may be as a result of fear that she may be ill treated by the children once
Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 297

they get their share. Ransi (DoB unknown/elderly, Badulla) said she had divided

half the property between two of her sons who lives with her, but one of the sons

who lives in another area and who is also wealthy is troubling her because he

has not received any family land. She wants to divide the land in her name

among her sons and two daughters and said that her daughters would get less

than the sons. Usually a son inherits the family house and many women are living

with extended families. Both Gaya (age 73,Colombo) and Neetha (Age

57, Colombo) own houses in their own right. Both of them have worked in foreign

countries and earned substantial amounts of money. Gaya's savings were spent

when one of the sons needed a kidney transplant. The money Neetha (Age 57,

Colombo) earned was spent on her children. As mentioned in the chapter five,

she retired early because two of her children were planning to marry and settle

abroad and needed money. She had to give some money to her husband also

because he was unhappy that she left her job early and she was scared that he

might create trouble for their children. She did not tell him how much money she

gave to her children. Karuna's (Age 53, Colombo) family occupied government

land and little by little built a house. They have not yet received the deeds and

she said the house would be given to her eldest son. Among other women only

one interviewee said that she had saved some money43.

42 It is interesting to note here that the majority of the older interviewees did not know
their birthday probably because registering birth was not practised regularty.
43 As already mentioned I was cautious not to ask direct questions about financial status
and put my questions on earnings at various times in indirect ways such as 'are their any
income generating activities here?, 'what do you do when not doing fieldwork or domestic
work? 'Did you learn an art or craft' etc. This led to a discussion on family income, what
they do with it and financial difficulties.
Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 298

The above account shows that women do not intend to save money for their

future security. This may be due to the fact that parents' anticipate that their

children will look after them when they are old. In addition, Buddhism

emphasises the role of parents and urges children to take care of them when

they are weak. The majority of women still live with one of their children when

they get older and children may visit women who live alone in the family home

from time to time. However, as they have very little access to capital resources, it

seems it is highly likely that they become dependants of their children.

Nevertheless, the life stories of the older interviewees contradict the norm of total

dependency. The older women do continue to support and maintain the families

in many ways and earn money in order to support themselves. Despite their old

age, many are still economically active. After retirement, Gaya (Age 73,

Colombo) started to teach English to some government officials. Loku (Age

70,Hambantota) grows crops to sell and for consumption and in addition she is a

practising shaman. She learned the art from a man in the area and people come

to her for help with petty illnesses or if they think they are affected by evil looks or

sorcery. She said she could earn one hundred rupees (about 80 p) by blessing a

pot of water. Sudu (DoB unknown/older, Badulla) sells firewood because they do

not posses rice fields. She brings firewood from the jungle about three miles

away and chops it up for sale. Her unmarried son does not like chopping

firewood and does not support her at all. They only have a small garden and she

cultivates it for family consumption. She said she has chosen to sell firewood

because there is nothing to do. Bindu's (DoB unknown but said she is 59,
Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 299

Hambantota) husband died when the children were small. Now her two sons are

married and she said that they can not take care of her because they have

families and so she doesn't blame them. She works in the salt pans when the

work is available and apart from that she does casual labour. She said she does

not like being idle but there is no regular work available all the time. If she does

not work at least she gathers firewood for domestic use. Ransi (DoB

unknown/elderly, Badulla) said her children ask her not to work because she had

a hard life but she helps with tending the garden.

It was clear from the interviews that women loathed being wholly dependent on

children. Their earnings are spent on the family of the children they stay with.

Punchi's (DoB unknown/older, Badulla), three children built their houses on the

same compound and she said they always share food with the children's families.

If they buy dry fish it is not less than five hundred grams because they want to

share it with the children. Her husband is not very well and she still does casual

labour to eam money. However, there are some days they do not have enough

money to buy food. The majority of the families receive Samurdhi, a government

benefit for low-income families but it is only about 250 rupees a month (less than

£2.00). It is clear that many of the younger generation are not in a position to

take care of their parents and maintain their own families with the income they

earn. Hence older women have to find ways and means to not only to help

themselves but also to help their children.

Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 300

Familial relations

The majority of older women experienced a more restricted and limited life when

they were young compared to the lives of women born later in the post

independence period. The majority of them had a very short childhood and

married when they were 13-16 years old and started families44. It is women who

were burdened most because they had to undertake the bulk of the domestic

work. Families were large, as there were no effective family planning methods.

Women gave birth at home because there were no hospitals nearby. According

to Podi (Age 54, Badulla) women cooked food for the family, did other domestic

work right through their labour pains and then prepared hot water and the other

necessities and gave birth without assistance45 . According to her pregnancy was

an embarrassing event and women tried to conceal it as long as possible. She

said that when there were visible signs of pregnancy her husband used to smile

and say 'maybe there is a child on the way' and she also smiled and said

nothing.

Compared to Sinhala women of today their space was mainly limited to the home

and the fields. According to Bindu (OoB unknown, Hambantota), her mother and

brothers used to lock her and her sister up at home when they went to work.

44 Even though the child marriages were in practice it was not for religious reasons. It
may be due to the fact that men and women did not live long. For example according
to the census 2001, the life expectancy of male and females were respectively, 32.7
and 30.7 years in 1920-22 and 46.6 and 44.7 years in 1945-47.

45 This was always not the case. There were older women in the village who came to
assist when women gave birth. According to my colleague his father helped his
mother in delivering babies.
Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 301

Ransi (DoB unknown, Badulla) recounted how her husband travelled to see

many parts of Sri Lanka but she couldn't go because she had to take care of the

family.

Women faced various forms of abuse too. The accounts of all the older

interviewees, apart from Gaya's, pOints that they suffered at the hands of their

fathers, brothers and, when given in marriage, by their husbands. Many talked

about the drunkenness of their husbands and their adultery and how they

suffered because of these issues.

All the older interviewees apart from Gaya thought being born as a woman is a

sin and a suffering

It is our sin to be born as a woman. Otherwise why we suffer from

sadness and filth [menstruation]? How much we suffer at childbirth. Now
those women who have caesarean feel only that pain [of the wound]. We
were not like that. We suffered days and felt life is not worthwhile and it
was not one or two children we had and we were fed up with life. So today
it is only two or three per family (Ransi, DoB unknown/elderly,
Badulla/translated).

It is better to be born as a male than a female. It depends on merits and

sins of the previous life. Men do not have troubles like women in anything.
Men just have to do their job. Women have to carry the entire burden after
marriage. Having children and women have to manage everything at
home (Bindu, DoB unknown/older, Hambantota/translaled).

What both of these women expressed were similar to many older women's

accounts. It was interesting to note how they compared their lives as young

women to lives of young women today. They spoke of medical facilities,

transport facilities and women having the opportunity to do paid work today and

said at their time it was not so. Not having choices trapped them into the
Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 302

drudgeries of domesticity. Therefore, in my view, the only discourse available for

them to make sense of their situation was religion, which told them that they were

born as women because of their previous sins. Older women have internalised

this idea and comport themselves by saying what they endured was their fault of

sinning in previous life, which was not expressed by the younger interviewees.

The older women's comparison of life after their husband's death clearly shows

how they felt when free from burden.

Apart from Gaya (Age 73, Colombo), all the women who lost their husbands said

they felt free after their husbands died. For Karuna (Age 53,Colombo) Loku (Age

70,Hambantota), Ransi (OoB unknown, Badulla), Bindu (OoB unknown,

Hambantota) widowhood meant getting rid of a life long burden and abuse.

Karuna said she is free and lives in joy since her husband died because when

compared to the sufferings she had with him life is comfortable now. Podi (Age

54,Badulla) said,

After husband died my life is better than it was before. I am free now.
When he was ill I couldn't visit a neighbour without a troubled mind even.
Because I had to look after him. Now even if I come home very late there
is no one to ask me where I have been. That is a relief and also I could go
and stay for weeks meditating if I want (translated).

Gaya (Age 73, Colombo) talked about how helpless she felt about doing

marketing because her husband used to do the marketing while she waited in the

car. She did not know the quantities or prices. Her children trained her to do her

own marketing. However, none of the other interviewees said they felt helpless

after their husbands died. It is highly likely the reason for this is women were
Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 303

involved in income generating activities and it was they who took the sole

responsibility of taking care of the families. Hence, the absence of the husband

does not make women feel weak and helpless.

Even though they were not explicit, the accounts of older interviewees clearly

show that marriage was a matter of convention and obligations and demands of

the marriage highly constrained them along with other restrictions they

experienced.

A study done on older women in slums of Southern India by Haleh Afshar and

Fatima Alikhan46 indicates that older women had gained status and grown into

positions of relative power and influence and that age has given them dignity and

an important place in the family. However, the situation of older women within

the Sinhala community differs from these southern Indian older women. As it will

be shown later in this chapter, the older Sinhala women have an authoritative

role as advisors to younger women and they earn respect as seniors.

Nevertheless, the interviews for this study show that neither they receive power,

dignity or authority in their families nor were they regarded as heads of the family.

Nevertheless, they have internalised life long prejudices and believe in them.

They think men should be revered and respected because their status is higher

than that of women. Woman's prime duty is the family and she should be tolerant

and put up with anything for the sake of the family and the children. As Neetha

(Age 57, Colombo) said,

Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 304

What I saw was my mother treats father like god. Even today I serve a cup
of tea to my husband and my daughter asks why I do so. It preserves
peace at home. When women are obedient there are no fights. I would
never have been able to bring up my children if I fought about the ways of
my husband (translated).

Older women from rural areas believe being a man is a rare chance and it is

better to be born as a man. According to Krisha (Age 47, Badulla) when he was

ill her husband said she should never suffer in another life again like in this life

and wished that when born again she would be born as a man. She said if a

man made such a wish for a woman he would not be born as a male in his next

life and therefore even a one in hundred would not give such a privilege to a

woman. As Ransi (DoB unknown, Badulla) remembered seven days before

dying her husband said 'because of the care you have given to me, I don't hope

to have you as my wife in other lives but you should be born as a sister to me'

(what her husband meant was by being a sister to him she will end serving him

as wife and he will protect her). He also said he knows how she suffered so he

requested her to be devoted to religion to end the sufferings in afterlives.

Apart from being providers, older women playa Significant role as carers. Punchi

(DoB unknown Badulla) said when her daughters and daughters-in-law go to do

fieldwork they leave their children with her. She feeds them with whatever is

available and looks after them until the younger women come back from the

fields. When one of her daughters went to the Middle East as a housemaid she

looked after her children for a while. After a dispute her son-in-law took back the

children to their home but she still goes there to see them. As soon as she

46 This is an unpublished paper still at the stage of revising

Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 305

retired from the newspaper agency she was working for Gaya Age 73, Colombo)

went to Australia to look after her twelve-year granddaughter. She said she was

'not baby sitting but she (granddaughter) couldn't be at home alone.' Bindu (DoB

unknown, Hambantota) is taking care of her eldest daughter's child because her

husband is dead. As is the usual custom their family home was given to her

youngest son and she lives with his family. Her interview suggests that she is

having problems at home. She cooks for herself and her grandchild. When she

has no work available she does not stay at home but visits a neighbour to talk.

She said 'Sometimes I want to leave home but I can't leave my grandchild

although I can leave my children.' Loku (Age 70, Hambantota) also looks after

her son's children because their mother is dead. Two of her children have built

houses in the same plot of land and she said her daughters in law help her with

washing clothes.

Five interviewees had taken care of their husbands when they were suffering

from long-term illnesses before dying. They said they looked after their husbands

like 'mothers,47. They prepared medicine for husbands, fed them and bathed

them. Doctors guaranteed Podi's (Age 54, Badulla) husband would live only

eight years but he lived fifteen years as a result of her care. He drank poison to

end his suffering and for two years she and the family was upset though it was

not their fault. She said if it was her fault that he died villagers would have

47 This is another example of intemalisationofexistingideasinsociety.ltis highly likely

due to cultural influence of India the Sinhala community also categorised -WifeD in to
several connotations as a) Wadhaka Bhari-nagging wife, b) SwAmi Bhari-wife being
the head of the family, c) Matru bhari-being like a mother, d) Bhagini Bhari-being
respectful to husband like a sister, e) Sankhi bhAri- being like a friend, f) Chora bhAri-
wife who acts like thief and conceal things from the husband, g) DAsi bhAri-being like
Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 306

'played drums' (spread stories). However, one man said her husband committed

suicide because she became devoted to religion and was not interested in having

sex.

Women did not talk about their role as carers in a critical tone, yet the accounts of

women who undertook such care strongly imply that they feel burdened since

taking care of the grandchildren or sick husbands can limit their freedom. Though

they did not voice this explicitly they said 'I cannot go to the temple to observe Sil

(eight precepts) because of the grandchildren.' 'This is not easy work' or 'I want

to leave home when this daughter is given in marriage and live in an arame (a

place established by Buddhist monks or nuns for lay people to stay and meditate

either for a short or long period).' They also perform other domestic tasks in

addition to caring for children and the sick people. However, on the other hand it

seems that doing so helps women not to feel a burden to their children or just a

dependent.

Women from villages did not mention participating in any community or charity

work apart from going to the temple to observe Sil and participation in group

meetings organised by the non-governmental organisations which are working to

improve economic development in their areas. The main aim of forming small

groups is to encourage women to save money and provide small-scale loans for

their needs such as building or repairing houses, to apply for electricity or water

supply or to pay their debts. Only the more privileged women, Gaya (Age 73,

a slave. Such ideas are still prevalent and accepted by both men and women. Out of
these categories, c,d,e and g are considered as the best role of a wife.
Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 307

Colombo) and Neetha (Age 57,Colombo), engaged in voluntary social work after

retirement. Gaya works with a women's non-governmental organisation and

Neetha does charity work for a house for the aged, a village for the blind and the

displaced Sinhalese villagers in the areas ravaged by war and she buys books

for poor children. It is likely that only older women from well to do families have

the financial capacity and spare time for community and volunteer activities

All the same, class and wealth influence the older women's lifestyle and their

position in the family and community in Sri Lanka. When talking about how they

would spend a normal day Neetha (Age 57, Colombo) said,

I get up at around five thirty in the morning and make tea for all. I have a
servant and she cooks food. I clean the bathroom and sweep. During the
day I might go to see the doctor or for marketing. After lunch and dinner I
meditate (translated).

Seetha (8adulla) a fifty-year-old interviewee said,

I get up at four in the morning. Then I prepare food and go to work in the
rice fields. Sometimes I go to the market. Otherwise it is working in the
garden, non-stop, from the morning to noon (translated).

Another role of older women that emerged in the interviews is being advisors

especially to their granddaughters. Priya (Age 25, Colombo), a young

interviewee said, 'It was my grandmother who advised me mostly. Even today I

shape my family life according to the pieces of advice she gave me'. It seems

the seniority of age gives older women an authoritative place among younger

women in the community. Gaya's (Age 73, Colombo) interview shows how her

grandmother influenced the shape of her life as a girl and how she now

influences her granddaughters' lives. According to all the interviewees,

Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 308

grandmothers are one of the advisors in their lives. In this way older women help

to preserve and pass on traditions and culture.

However, further investigation shows that older women have mixed reactions to

the women's situation of today. Gaya (Age 73, Colombo) felt that values today

have changed. She thinks that working mothers are more interested in buying

expensive clothes than providing nutritious meals to children. They buy ready-

made junk food for children and forget that health is important. Young women of

today have succumbed to the beauty culture promoted by the media and through

the influence of friends. A" the interviewees talked about how they were not

allowed to go out alone when they were young and how women can go anywhere

today. Their conversations show how women find it difficult to accept the fact

that they are also individuals. The 'traditional' idea presented to them, that

women should give priority to the family, their husband and children before

themselves led these women to criticise women who like to take care of

themselves as individuals.

Nevertheless, the interviewees were reflective when they compared their earlier

situation with the situation of today's women. Women from rural areas think there

is no fear and shame in younger women and they freely associate with men.

Punchi said unlike in her time women are not afraid to walk around with men

even if they are not married and women do not hesitate to ride on push bicycles

or on motor bicycles with men. According to Podi (Age 54, Badu"a) today

women go out and may engage in sexual activities and do not get pregnant like
Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 309

in her times because there are ways and means to avoid pregnancy. She said

only a foolish woman would get pregnant today.

However, they were concerned about changing morals and values because they

see this as the negative consequences of the progress of women as it generates

male violence towards women. They understand the risks and sexual

vulnerability of younger women in a society, who experience a tension between

tradition and modernity. Society has changed but simultaneously stereotypes of

women have failed to change along with it. They talked about rising incidents of

rape, sexual harassment and the problems girls' face after losing their virginity.

They are aware that the sexual reputation of women is still important though

restrictions may not be as strictly observed as in their days. Otherwise they said

women are progressing and it is good.

According to Bindu (DoB unknown, Hambantota):

There is a change in everything, the way girls dress, travel and the way
girls and boys socialise. Those things did not happen in our times. So I
think it is better than that of our time but sometimes think it is bad also.
The girls and boys of today are too much but I think it is the way of
nowadays and girls get raped because of this.(translated)

My daughters socialise a lot more than I did at that age and they live a
very different life to me. Their habits and ways are different from mine.
There is a change and it has good things and bad things. Girls face a
grave situation because the increase of rape (Seetha, age
50, Badullaltranslated).

Women are also aware of the second-class status they have as a result of their

internalised ideas and experience that make them believe that men are born to

have better status than women. Podi (age 54,Badulla) discussed how religious

stories tell women to be chaste and how the stories paint women as creatures
Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 310

who have no ability to control their feelings. When asked whether there are any

such stories about men she said there are no stories of men. She said the

women talked about the same question when they observed Sil at temple. She

thought the stories were there to scare women and said, 'it is men who do wrong

but their faults were never discussed. If men don't do wrong, will women pull into

the same faults? Why do people only write about women's faults? Didn't men do

wrong at all?' Conversations like this indicates those older women are not

judgmental and feel some solidarity with the progress of women of today.

Culturally prescribed behaviour

Nevertheless, it seems many older women follow the culturally accepted

behaviour of being religious and ageing gracefully and piously. In Gaya's own

words,

So now I am trying to break the ties of personal attachments [ ... ] (as

prescribed in) Buddhist philosophy and get ready to leave (die) at any
time. No, it is not a pessimistic thing, leaving it (life) happy, without any
complications for my children. They understand and I helped them, but not
be afraid of what is around the corner and that (knowing that she helped
her children) and the Buddhist philosophy helps me (English)

Neetha also said she understands that a person develops strong emotions

because of attachments. She was depressed when she was young but she

turned to religion to be strong enough to bring up the children. Now she has no

strong emotions because she had cut her personal attachments to others. Her

husband still abused her but she could wish him peace in his mind. Podi said

she is devoted to religion because she is fed up with her life. When thinking of

her hard life, the sufferings and the deaths of her first two sons, her mother and
Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 311

father in law (when she just got married), it reminds her life is not worth living.

She goes to temple to observe Sil. It seems women find solace in religion to

forget the sad memories and to gather merits so the next life won't be as bad as

present life.

Many writers point out that the ageing is seen in a negative light in western

societies (Arber & Ginn, 1991; Walker & Maltby, 1997; Phillipson, 1998; Ganon,

1999). As a result there is an attempt to look youthful. The consumer culture

produces various manufactures ranging from beauty products to plastic surgery

to 'avoid ageing.' However, in Sri Lanka, both men and women do not face such

a situation within the Sinhala community. Buddhism advocates that birth, ageing

and death are inevitable. Hence the majority does not accept 'try to be young'

and if an older woman or man dresses or behaves in a youthful way, the

community looks down upon them. This is expressed in the saying that the

'monkey tries to climb trees even if it is over sixty years old (' Hata pannath

wandura gas bada ganna hadanawa'). On the other hand, both religion and

culture advocates respect for age and seniority. Hence, unlike in the western

societies older women do not yet feel constrained by having to look youthful.

Cultural Change and negotiations:

The western countries started to experience modernity around the sixteenth

century and as a result the peasant population was transformed into an

urbanised industrialised population by the end of nineteenth century.

Modernisation of Sri Lanka did not go through the same phases and, as shown in
Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 312

the fourth chapter, it was introduced to Sri Lanka through colonisation. Today,

Western societies under going another transformation, which is variously identify

as post modernity, late modernity or reflexive modernity. As a consequence of

rapid advance in technology and globalisation the late modern economic, cultural

and political developments do have an impact on Sri Lanka too. Thus slowly but

inevitably this brings about changes in the values, ideas and life styles of people

in Sri Lanka. Hence it is important to understand how older women feel about

the change because it determines their adaptation into the changing environment

around them.

There is a change. When we were small never wore dresses above the
knee length. We never bathed in public. Never walked alone with boys.
Without parents or a brother never went even as far as two or three miles.
It is not so now. Girls even go to Colombo alone. We can see it. There is
no fear and shame as in our times and everything is open. Men and
women were together only when they went to bed. But now you can see
them together even under trees (meaning: couples do not mind being
together in public). The country has developed too. When I was small I
thought there were people inside the radio. Then I saw the gramophone.
I saw the train only after I had two children.
The home, village, the country, the world, people, even the way of talking,
dressing and other goods and the furniture is also different. Only except
for us. But we adapted to this change. And will adapt to tomorrow's
change. I know the way to talk in the village, how to talk in the town and
how to talk with ladies or gentlemen (urbanised and educated women and
men)(Podi, age 54, Badulla/translated)

There was no school in this interviewee's area at that time and she learned the

alphabet from the monk in the temple. She taught herself to read and said she

can read well now.

The important theme emerging from the last part of this conversation is the

interviewee's desire to identify with modern changes. The interviews in general

Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 313

show that women welcome the changes and older women from rural areas rather

like to identify themselves with the 'modern ways of life'.

In an isolated incident one seventy-three year old interviewee from the same

area tried to paint a picture that women married in their twenties and marriages

were monogamous, registered, and long-lasting. According to her children she

married when she was thirteen, even before attaining puberty, and she was the

third woman their father had taken. The 'denial' clearly shows her desire to

identify with the 'modern' and 'civilised' way of behaviour. This is also confirms

the fact that how the community discarded some practices as 'uncivilised' and

unacceptable as a result of new ideas and ways that were integrated into the

community as a result of colonisation and Christianisation.

Conclusion

According to a report from the Centre for Women's Research -Sri Lanka (De

Silva and Kotalawela, 1997), Sri Lanka has the fastest increase in life expectancy

in the South Asian region. The report also indicates that women's large-scale

participation in the labour force and the migration of female workers to foreign

countries reduces the capacity of families to look after elderly people adequately.

However, women still comprise less than half of the labour force and the

interviews for this study show women give priority to their role as carers. Hence it

is highly likely that taking care of older people by the family and children is not

going to change in the immediate future. The community believes it is a shame if

one's parents have to seek care in institutions. My interviews show that the
Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 314

majority of women live with their children when they get older. The study

published by the Centre for Women's Research shows many male and female

elders who never married tend to seek help in care institutions (De Silva and

Kotalawela, 1997:87). It also confirmed the fact that traditional ways of taking

care of older people i.e. living under the care of children is the most sought after

and preferred way of living when getting old.

In western societies older women have more freedom to make choices because

many of them have their own income and property when they retire. They have

more time and money at their disposal for leisure or they may go into higher

studies. The accounts of older Sinhala women show that many of them still have

to earn a living. Since the majority of the present generation of older women did

not have a proper education their chance of pursuing a higher education is very

small.

Hence, compared to the situation in developed countries the majority of older

people in Sri Lanka depend on their children's economic and moral support. The

women especially face this situation because the majority of them do not have

economic resources and they have to rely on family support when widowed. The

situation for women is not going to change quickly though many women of the

present generation are engaged in paid work. As discussed in the fourth chapter,

even when women earn money, they choose is to spend it on their children and

the family because they believe they should earn money to support the family.

Hence when they get older the majority of them may not have sufficient funds to
Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 315

take care of their own needs. Therefore, older women lose the independence

and ability to control their own lives. This was implicitly presented in their

accounts and as shown earlier women do feel burdened by living with and being

dependent on their children. Yet they do contribute to families as providers and

carers. According to the findings of the report of Centre for Women Studies (De

Silva and Kotalawela, 1997) the main activities of elderly females who live with

families are household work and looking after grandchildren. However, the report

also reveals that elderly people are irritated with, boredom, inactivity, and

dependence on others and being ruled by others has a major impact on their

lives apart from sickness. This indicates that living with children limit the space of

older people and it constrains them.

Though State and nongovernmental organisations provide residential care for the

elderly, it is mainly limited to providing lodging and food. Moreover it seems the

conditions of many of these homes are not very satisfactory. The state support

the maintenance of the elders in many of these homes by paying a monthly sum

of 150 rupees (= £1). There are some homes run by provincial councils too.

There are a few institutions that have a section for paying residents or are only

for residents who pay a fee. The two institutions which admitted paying residents

charge between rupees 2600 to 3600 per month in addition to other payments.

The report by the Centre for Women's Research (De Silva and Kotalawela, 1997)

shows that buildings in many of these institutions are not in a good condition as

many residents requested repairs to the buildings. The most prominent activities

for the elders it seems are the routine work provided by many care institutions,
Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 316

cooking and gardening and religious activities. Needless to say, it is women who

do most of the domestic tasks. Other than the routine work, they engage in

income generating activities such as making wicks for oil lamps, making brooms

and lace work or packing joss sticks. According to the same report elders living

with families or care institutions, not having a sufficient income is a problem for

the majority of older people in Sri Lanka. It also shows that poverty is a major

problem for many families in providing care for older people. According to the

report the older people wished to have an allowance of money and some

expressed their wish to go back to work

Earlier Western perspectives on ageing painted elderly people as dependent and

unproductive members of society. The attitudes and theories of social

gerontology have changed because of the changing roles of the welfare state in

late modern societies. Instead of looking to the state to provide care for the

elderly, positive attitudes have been taken by social research to focus on the

abilities and needs of the older generation as individuals and not as a

homogenous group. As Gilleard and Higgs point out, 'while the elision of the

relationship between physical decline and ageing remains, social gerontologists

stress the 'artificial nature' of modern society's treatment of older people as one

that can be overcome' (Gilleard and Higgs, 2000:14). Though the conditions are

different in Sri Lanka, this chapter clearly pOints out that the older generation is

certainly not a homogeneous group. Class, gender and urbanlrural differences

determine their position within the community. Older women are in a more

vulnerable position because their contribution to the family and economy has not
Chapter six: Everything has changed but we adapt 317

been acknowledged by the community. Therefore there is a need in Sri Lanka for

a more cultural understanding of ageing, which it seems has not yet happened.
Conclusion 318

Chapter Seven

Conclusion
Patriarchal bargains are not timeless or immutable entities, but are
susceptible to historical transformation that open up new areas of struggle
and renegotiation of the relations between women and men (Deniz
Kandiyoti, 1991:104)

My attempt to historicise gender and culture strongly indicate that in keeping with

Kandiyoti's statement, gendered relations in Sri Lanka were fluid and shifted with

changes that happen with overtime. However, within the Sinhala community the

ideas that women are sexually vulnerable and born to be wives and mothers are

strongly rooted in the 'traditions' which work to maintain women's sexuality and

identity. Nevertheless my study indicates that women attempt to find strategies

to cope with and resist their subordination and discrimination, which I would like

to name as bargaining with patriarchy following Kandiyoti. However, it is an uphill

task within a community that believes women have behaved the same way for

two thousand five hundred years of history. In my view, if they had a better

understanding of the situation they are in, women would find better ways to resist

discrimination and subordination and to express their desires, hopes and needs

as individuals. Bearing this in mind I will conclude what my study reveals about

Sinhala women's lives today.

The restrictions on Sinhala women imply that the attitude of the community is that

women are sexually vulnerable. The data gathered for this study show that this

assumption continues through different stages of Sinhala women's lives. For

girls and young women virginity must be safeguarded until marriage and thus
Conclusion 319

they are protected against sexual experience and the risk of rape lest loss of

virginity dishonour the family. However, it does not stop there: fear of sexual

harassment and rape and the associated shame continue to constrain women's

mobility. Along with this, the stereotypical attitude that women's priority should

be the taking care of the family dominates the Sinhala community. Therefore

women are not seen as individuals who strive for their own achievements but are

expected to live for others.

These two ideas are the foundation of the so-called 'correct place' of the Sinhala

women. Hence the women who control their sexuality and give priority to

nurturing and caring are considered as worthy of the respect of the community.

Women are not considered to be equal to men because they are seen as

sexually vulnerable, weak and not capable of being leaders. This has led to an

emergence of set of informal restrictions, which control and constrain Sinhala

women in order to maintain unequal power relations and to reinforce to gender

difference between men and women. These restrictions were legitimised and

justified by the community by attesting them as centuries old 'traditions' of

Sinhala Buddhist culture.

My findings strongly supports the hypothesis that the 'traditions' that constrain

Sinhala women today are not centuries old as imagined by the community, but

the product of late nineteenth and early twentieth century of colonial domination

and emergent of nationalism. The view of the male nationalist leaders regarding

women's sexuality and identity did not differ from the view of male colonial rulers
Conclusion 320

in Sri Lanka at the same time period. Yuval-Davis points out people's 'culture

and tradition' is an essential dimension, which in different national projects

acquires a significance because it helps to identify people as members or non-

members of a specific collectivity. Gender symbols playa particularly significant

role in this, because the gender symbols generate gendered relations of power

and construct manhood and womanhood as well as sexuality (Yuval-Davis,

1998:23). The articles in Hobsbawm and Ranger (1983) show that inventing

'traditions' occurs as a response to novel situations and when old ways are no

longer viable or available because they are deliberately not used or adapted.

Both these arguments can be applied to the Sri Lankan situation at the time of

the emergence of nationalism. The nationalist leaders rejected European

symbols to distinguish Sri Lankans as members of a Sinhala Buddhist nation.

The structural changes brought by the colonial domination rejected the old ways

and imposed new ways. However, the nationalist leaders did not reject European

values and ethics regarding women's sexuality and identity because they were

compatible with their own ideology of the role of women in the post independence

period. Hence the idea that 'correct place' of women was actually produced by

fusing European values and Hindu Brahmin ideologies. The evidence of the pre-

colonial period clearly indicates that fear and shame were not part and parcel of

the culture. Showing body parts of women would not have been regarded as

sexually provocative when women did not cover their breasts but adorned them

with jewellery. Socialising with men was not regarded as a danger.

 Conclusion 321

The idea that women are sexually vulnerable may also have been absent48

because virginity was not tested and sexual relations were more liberal.

Menstruation was not regarded as a shame as today and women did not try to

conceal it. The evidence also indicates women did not have an equal place

against men. However, it is clear that women's sexuality and identity largely

differed from that of women in the post independence period.

The Sinhala girl child learns her 'correct' position in the family and community

through the observation and interactions with the others in family and society.

The two main institutions that have a huge influence on the girl child, family and

school, prepare her for future life by introducing disciplines and restrictions, which

are exclusively constructed to control and constrain Sinhala women's sexuality

and identity. Attaining puberty is a turning point in a Sinhala girl's life because

this gives a meaning to the restrictions she has already learned. The girl who

has attained puberty is considered as potentially sexually active and therefore

ready to begin an adult life. Hence girls police themselves by following cultural

restrictions and the family and the community police the girls by naming and

shaming them as women without 'shame and fear if they are not behaving

'correctly'. On the other hand, girls are oriented towards marriage and

domestication by insisting domestic work should be their priority. This process

varies according to class and urbanlrural differences but the aim is universal.

48 I do not imply here that women in ancient Sri Lanka were not subjected to
harassment. However, I argue virginity per se was not a reason for harassment or
women's self-surveillance of behaviour as in contemporary Sri Lanka.
Conclusion 322

In an article entitled Alternate space - war against lovers; Sasanka Perera

I

discusses the harassment and hostility young lovers face by officials and the

community for showing affection and intimacy in public. Security officers in public

parks chase away young couples; in some holy places notices are put to prohibit

'unmarried couples' entering. He says:

Often when you ask some of the others, fathers and teachers as well as
police officers why are they taking a moral high ground with regard to the
youthful activities of love and intimacy of their children, one tends to get a
series of common predictable answers. One of the most common of these
answers is that public expression of intimacy as well as the very notion of
love is not one of our traditions (Perera, 2002).

Furthermore, he points out that such ideas were introduced to the society during

the British colonial period and in pre-colonial Sandesa poetry and folk verses

notions of sensuousness were freely and creatively expressed, as were ideas

and expectations of love and intimacy. Most importantly, he points out another

reason for preventing love and intimacy among youth: to 'properly protect them to

avoid them getting into trouble'. As he says this is mostly articulated with

reference to young women. The themes of love and intimacy, sex and

reproduction are considered as cultural taboos. The findings of this study

support his view.

Hence it is clear that the ideas, norms and values that emerged during the

colonial period as 'tradition' constructed the gender relations of today and

reinforce and strengthen the unequal power relations between men and women.

This study shows that women are far behind men in participating in economic,

political and other social activities though there are no formal barriers. Even

though women of all ethnic groups comprise 51°,1, of the population in Sri Lanka,
Conclusion 323

underemployment and unemployment of women is higher than that of men.

Research on employment shows that women still tend to seek jobs in service

oriented sectors and leave their career to look after family needs. Women have

internalised the idea of male superiority.

The life stories have shown that women themselves believe that they have to

follow the ways the community expects them to follow. As I have already

mentioned my interviewees assert that they were not 'bad' women to be

controlled by restriction. Although my interviewees, especially young girls,

expressed the desire to be smart and outgoing they felt they should not be

because of the familial and societal views do not approve of such women.

Women have to 'live up to the myth' of being a 'Sinhala woman' and according to

what the Sinhala community believes as their 'correct place'. The fear of social

and familial rejection prevents them breaking barriers. This generates

ambivalence in women because in the post independence period the political,

economic and social changes that took place paved the way for women's access

to modernity. In response to the question how do they feel being a woman all the

young women said they are happy to be a woman but feel constrained by not

having the freedom to move, to do things like men do and fear of sexual

harassment.

Because the role which the Sinhala community approves for women is that of

nurturer and carer, women have not understood the full meaning of the idea of

individuality which is associated with modernity nor that they are individuals who
Conclusion 324

have the right to full fill their own desires. Even though women do want to have

equal access to spaces other than home, they give priority to home and this limit

their freedom of choice. This has a detrimental impact on women when they are

ageing. My study indicates that older women have to earn to support themselves

and very often the money they earn was spent on the family of the children they

are staying with. Though they prefer staying with children being dependants is a

burden for them and it also limits their choices.

Nevertheless, my research also indicates that women were not totally ignorant of

the situations they were or are in, and in some cases women reject and resist

their secondary status. The interviewees accounts point out that resistance is

covertly expressed in their daily lives by having 'love affairs' or premarital sex,

flouting the dress code, refusing sexual pleasure to husbands etc. However, the

rejection and resistance seems not to be widespread. The main reason for this, it

seems, is that women's internalisation of the existing ideas of 'culture and

tradition' make them believe that they have to behave according to the 'correct

place', because this 'correct place' has neither been questioned nor has been

subjected to critical examination.

The study also showed that the voices that questioned women's subjugation and

discrimination against them during the early half of the twentieth century had not

been powerful enough to convey their ideas to the community. This seems to be

due to two reasons. First, the ideas and norms that took root in the late

nineteenth and early twentieth century were well established within the
Conclusion 325

community. Secondly, the media including women's newspapers, constantly

reintroduce and promote the stereotyped images of women.

However, after 1975 two main institutions took the initiative to eradicate gender

imbalance in Sri Lanka, namely the state and the non-governmental

organisations, including women's organisations, which are funded by

international aid. The state, as mentioned in Chapter One, made constitutional

amendments and subsequently established women's bureau and women's affairs

ministry. The various non-governmental organisations provide the economic and

social development of women. Raising awareness among women is an agenda

on the programmes of both the state and the non-governmental organisations.

However, it seems still these programmes have not achieved their aims.

A newspaper article entitled 'Women's affairs and bi-partnership' points out that

the newly elected government in year 2001 has a very little reference to women

in its manifesto and on International Women's Day it has been said women

should be accorded their 'nisithena' - appropriate ('correct place') place. Under

the title basic rights, the government has only said that it shares a 'national plan

of action with all ministries for the purpose of gender mainstreaming' and about

drafting legislation for a national commission for women. It also pointed out that

none of the Women's Affairs Ministers ask questions in parliament regarding

women's issues and women are not included in the Constitutional Councilor in

the Peace Process which works to end the ongoing war in Sri Lanka despite the

appeal of women's organisations (Cat's Eye, 2002).

Conclusion 326

Another state intervention is the introduction of Sex Education to schools, already

launched in several areas as pilot projects. However, it is regarded sceptically by

parents and also by teachers. The principal of one of the schools I visited said

the sex education provokes student to 'experiment' what they leam so she

opposes it. One of the teachers in the same school who was involved in the

project in the Badulla area said once some of the officers from the education

department visited the area and asked the secondary school students to write

down the questions they would like to ask and most of the questions were sex

related. The officers said this was the highest number of sex related questions

they have received in a school.

Gender and reproduction was also introduced to students from year eight

onwards under 'health and physical education'. Though the aim is to increase

awareness among students about the adulthood and myths and truths of it and to

help them to understand and make choices from the information that pump

through media and available cultural concepts, it seems these curricula are also

designed according to the ideas and beliefs of the society. For example in the

teacher's handbook for year nine homosexuality and having multiple sexual

partners are identified as 'improper sex habits' (National Education Institute

1999: 12). The curriculum for year eight shows that children are taught not to

have a sexual relationship until they get married. In the year ten curriculum,

'imitating improper fashions' has identified as one bad consequence of close

friendships with selected friends at school and in neighbourhood. Hence I argue

that the policy makers at national level instead of eradicating inequality reinforce
Conclusion 327

the ideas, norms and values that prevail in society and therefore gender

mainstreaming at state level become meaningless.

It also seems that the women's organisations, which tend to address issues of

women in Sri Lanka also, not have been able to get rid of such ideas. A study

done by Peiris on women in local groups show that there is an 'inability' or

reluctance of people in general to break away from the accepted traditional

norms of a 'women's place is in the home'. Most importantly, she points out that

the aims and attitude of the state and non-governmental agencies also do not

differ from the general attitude of the community. For example, one of the

objectives listed by a Women's non-governmental organisation was 'improving

standards of women in the traditional framework of good mothers and well

behaved disciplined young women' (Peiris, 1993: 13). She also pointed out that

often men were invited as 'knowledgeable' persons to 'lecture' the grass root

level women's groups. Her findings show the difficulty of getting rid of what

women internalised as being a woman. I would like to argue that 'silence' on

'tradition and culture', which generates such stereotypes, prevent many women

at grass root level activities from understanding how and why they are being

oppressed. Hence I reiterate that today it is more important to understand the

major reasons for inequality rather than pointing out gender differences in various

areas.

The feminists and their organisations are also accused of being dominated by

westernised upper middle class women who aim to profit from foreign funds and
Conclusion 328

do not give priority to Sri Lankan women's issues. The general belief is that they

try to impose a western ideology, which has no relevance to Sri Lanka.

Some argue that women's issues struggles should be within the context of
broader political action that seeks to change the social and political
system. This is also argued as a necessary pre-condition to eliminate
sexism. Those who advocate this view often interpret women's issues,
movements outside such broader struggles as fissiparous of the social
bases that can and should be organized in such struggles. In Sri Lanka,
and other South Asian countries, the character of the women's issues
movement is sometimes supportive of such interpretation. The movement
is dominated, if not wholly confined to, by bourgeois and petty bourgeois
women who were attracted by women's issues because it gives them a
break through in their professions; it is often an "in thing" in the
"developing strategy game". It also confers a kind of radical chic status on
these women with social identities not perhaps entirely uncomparable with
learning to play the piano in colonial times. The performance continues to
be in the main, in the drawing rooms, and the allegros are in the sparkling
conversations. To some the perks of travel, participation in international
seminars, research grants, career advancement, etc. remain additional
rewards (Casinder et ai, 1982:90-91).

It is true that women's organisations that were established during the late

seventies reawakened the interest in gender inequality that prevails in Sri Lanka

and have worked to develop an equal and just society. However, accusations

such as noted above seem not without foundation. Swarna Jayaweera, one of

the prominent women activists and researchers in Sri Lanka notes that:

'Women's groups have not been able to transcend class and other socio-

economic, socio-cultural, and political divisions in macro society and the value

systems entrenched interests of these groups, in order to support overriding

national concerns and issues' (Jayaweera, cited in Keating, 1994:6).

Conclusion 329

I would like to argue that it is largely for this reason is that the work of women's

organisations is directed at a level that has little relevance to ordinary women of

Sri Lanka. Many of the research publications are published in English and aimed

at international and academic attention. Most of the research is limited to areas

such as development, education, health, law, house maids in the west Asia,

female workers in the Free Trade Zone, women affected by the civil war, areas

that generate more interest at international and state level. While conducting my

research I have not found any consciousness-raising programme on how and

why gender inequality prevails in Sri Lanka. It seems to me that feminist

organisations are paying less attention to grassroots activities. For example, one

prominent women's organisation which has a grassroots women's society in the

Colombo area near to its own location has confined its work with the society to

occasional training and guidance sessions. Ama (age 29, Colombo) said she

interacted with women activists but they did not add anything to her knowledge.

She joined with some number of prominent feminists to start a movement to raise

consciousness among women in rural villages. According to her she was sent to

such areas but they avoided participation. She did not know what she should

discuss with those women in villages at that time. Later she got to know that the

feminists started the project just to get funding.

Kumari Jayawardena states that: 'the most notable thing being public and
official acceptance of "women's rights" and "women's Public role" and the
decline (but not disappearance) of obscurantist ideologies which relegate
women to the private sphere. Along with this, there have been many
positive developments for women who have achieved distinction in many
fields" due to the activities of women's groups around 1985-95'
(Jayawardena, 1995a:396).
Conclusion 330

However, this study shows such 'achievements' are still limited to a small number

of women in Sri Lanka and ideas, norms and values that have a negative impact

on women strongly prevail in contemporary Sri Lankan society. Two articles

published in the Sunday Times, an English broadsheet in Sri Lanka discussed

the views of men and women in upper class circle on women having equal status

with men and about feminism. The views of the interviewers and the many

interviewees show their negative attitudes towards feminism and women having

equal status. One article starts with 'So what is the image that comes to mind

when you think of feminists - angry protests crying out against the injustice

toward their sex? In the West, the early feminist movements and even the on -

going gender wars have been aggressive and often irrational, sending out to the

forefront the bra-burning, man-hating women and political protesters' (Perera, R.

and Williams, 2002). The other article shows that men believe women use the

idea equality selectively for their advantage. It also shows that men believe

women are biologically inferior to men and their notions that men are the

'superiors' and 'rulers' (Nasry and Perera, 1999). Out of sixty-six interviewees for

this study only a few women acknowledged that they know women's

organisations are operating in Sri Lanka. Nevertheless, when they did refer to

organisations the names they mentioned are of the organisations which provide

counselling or work for children, which are not feminist organisations.

Hence the agencies that work to eradicate gender differences in Sri Lanka have

to consider the progress of their work in consciousness raising among women

and find new strategies and procedures which are effective. Because as long as
Conclusion 331

negative ideas of women prevail, they will be detrimental for women and impede

their progress towards economic, political and social rights and winning

respectability as equal citizens/human beings. This especially is a necessity in

the situation where 48,000 women in the North and 25,000 women in the South

are widows due to ongoing war and the insurrection in the South during 1980s.

As the opening quotation from Kandiyoti (1991) claims, the unequal power

relations and secondary status of women are open to change and resistance.

Despite the beliefs of the community in the continuity of 'traditions' this study

strongly indicates that traditions have changed, have been modified as a

concomitant of economic, political and social changes. The older women

compared their lives to women of younger generations and their reflexivity clearly

points out that the changes do occur. Though the younger interviewees tended

to narrate their lives the way it is they also have been reflexive when responded

to the question 'what do you think of being a woman? Many of them thought that

their lives were better than those of their grandmothers or mothers because they

were not being confined to home as the women in older generations had been.

All my interviewees, including older women, desire to be identified with modern

ways and would like to benefit from modernity and equal social, political and

economic participation. As Teruni (age 32, Hambantota) stated 'A girl should be

allowed to mix with others from her childhood and should be allowed to mix with

everybody. She should be allowed to do any task, what ever she likes to do and

participate in any organisation. No matter what ways she uses if she can do it. It
Conclusion 332

is not good blocking her way to stop her (translated). There is a need to grasp

the reality of women's position: that women perform roles other than being

mothers and wives and that they are engaged in activities other than domestic

work, which require them to be outgoing, smart and energetic. My study strongly

indicates that the Sinhala community needs to understand that it is inappropriate

to evaluate women within the norms associated with their 'correct place' and they

entitled to be respected as equally as men.

The accounts of both young and older women's strongly brought out the tensions

arising from living in modernity and believing in 'tradition'. As the historical part of

this study indicates inventing tradition constructed the identity of the 'Sinhala

woman' today. The influence of invented 'tradition' on deciding contemporary

womens place in the home and spheres outside the home transcend social

economic and geographical boundaries. However, as my study shows women's

experience of unequal power relations and subjugation varies, primarily in

relation to class and urban/rural differences. Hence in such a situation, as is

already debated by feminists, attempts to form universal movements to solve

women's issues will not be fruitful. Earlier studies on Sri Lanka mainly focused

on gender disparities and in recent years focus has become more wider as

women began to research on historical developments in constructing gendered

identities in Sri Lanka. My study has taken a step forward for an understanding

of the lives of contemporary Sinhala women by both investigating the nexus

between history and gender and examining the impact of cultural construction of

the 'Sinhala woman' on Sinhala women's lives in the post independence period.
Conclusion 333

In my contention open discussions on factors which constrain women and how

and why such constraints prevail will be more effective in raising women's

consciousness of their subordination and of discrimination against them. Having

a better understanding that these constraints are culturally constructed will

enhance Sri Lankan women's agency and their opportunities for resistance.
Appendix I: Interviewees from Colombo 334

Appendix I: Interviewees from Colombo

Name Year of birth Marital Status Occupation

1 Meenu 1976 Single Undergraduate
2 Priya 1975 Married Undergraduate/teacher
3 Kaushi 1961 Married Retired
4 Neetha 1943 Married Retired
5 Karuna 1947 Widow Cleaner
6 Saman 1961 Married Business
7 Gaya 1927 Widow Retired
8 Nelum 1976 Single Undergraduate
9 Disni 1982 Single Student
10 Upuli 1977 Single Undergraduate
11 Upsara 1982 Single Student
12 Dilu 1983 Single Student
13 Jeeva 1977 Single Undergraduate
14 Anu 1963 Divorcee Garment factory worker
15 Seena 1964 Married Lecturer
16 Netra 1961 Single Officer in an embassy
17 Ama 1971 Married Editor
18 Nelka 1977 Single Medical student
19 Deesha 1984 Single Student
20 Amara 1963 Married Retired
21 Shoba 1977 Married Undergraduate
22 Amali 1975 Single Undergraduate
Appendix II: Interviewees from Badulla 335

Appendix II: Interviewees from Badulla

Name Year of birth Marital status Occupation
1 kalu Not known Married Farmer
2 Podi 1946 Widow Was a farmer
3 Ransi Not known Widow Was a farmer
4 Chitra 1984 Single Student
5 Namali 1967 Married Farmer
6 Punchi Not known Married Farmer
7 Tamara 1961 Widow house maidl
farmer
8 Bimal Not known Married Was a farmer
9 Seetha 1951 Widow Farmer
10 Ramani 1961 Married Teacher
11 Taru 1958 Married Farmer
12 Sumi 1959 Married Housewife
13 Nimmi 1981 Single Unemployed
14 Oaya 1959 Married Housewife
15 Rosha 1984 Single Student
16 Rasi 1985 Single Student
17 Oeepa 1962 Married Teacher
18 Krisha 1953 Widow Farmer
19 Seela 1959 Married Housewife
20 Badra 1962 Married Unemployed

21 Niru 1975 Married Housewife

22 Sudu Not known (50s) Widow Selling firewood

Appendix Ill: Interviewees from Hambantota 336

Appendix III: Interviewees from Hambantota

Name Year of birth Marital status Occupation

1 Anupama 1973 Single Unemployed
2 Maduri 1983 Single Vocational trainee
3 Hansi 1959 Single Self employed
4 Sriya 1961 Married Housewife
5 Sandun. 1957 Married Was a house maid
6 Jaya 1973 Single Secretary
7 Amila 1972 Married Was a housemaid
8 Kiran 1978 Single Vocational trainee
9 Dilini 1982 Single Vocational trainee
10 Bindu Not known Widow Labourer
11 Chatu 1978 Married Housewife
12 Rani 1966 Married Teacher
13 Teruni 1968 Married Unemployed
14 Sera 1961 Married Officer in a bank
15 Geetha 1985 Single Student
16 Neluka 1980 Single Vocational trainee
17 Ruwini 1974 Single Unemployed
18 Asha 1981 Single Student
19 Loku 1930 Widow Labourer! Shaman
20 Rosi 1961 Single Technical Instructor
21 Suneetha 1977 Single Vocational trainee
22 Samanthi 1984 Single Vocational trainee
Appendix IV: Chronology of key events in Sri Lankan history 337

Appendix IV: Chronology of key events in Sri Lankan history.

1993 Women's Charter (commitment of state of Sri Lanka to

eliminate gender inequality)
1982 Ministry of Women's Affairs was established.
1978 New Constitution guarantees right of gender equality.
1975 The United Nations declared the Year of Women.
1959 Sirimavo Bandaranaike was elected as the world's first
woman Prime Minister.
1948 The Independence.
1944 Free Education Act.
1942 The University of Ceylon was established and opened for
women.
1931 Universal franchise was granted.
1927 Women's Franchise Union was formed.
1880 Religious revivalism.
1892 First female medical student entered the Ceylon Medical
College.
1870 The Ceylon Medical College was established.
1840 Five Girls' Schools started.
1833 Colebrook-Cameron Reforms.
1815 Whole Island comes under the British colonial rule.
1796 Arrival of the British (1796 -1948).
1638 Arrival of the Dutch (1638 -1796).
1505 Arrival of the Portuguese (1517 -1638).
3rd Century BC Buddhism was brought to Sri Lanka.
Glossary 338

Glossary

Aiyya Elder brother

Akka Elder sister
Amma Mother
Anda Dressed
Apala Bad fortune
Ape Our
Apita Us
8adu Goods
8aya Fear
Bo/ata Ankle
Chena Slash and burn field.
Dakwa show
Dasan Teeth
Duwa Daughter
Epa Don't
Gabada Store
Gaha Tree
Gei (Gedara) House
Genu Women
Gindara Fire
Hadanawa Try
Hata Sixty
Hatte Blouse
Hamine Respectful term of address for women.
Honda Good
Iscole School
Jatiya Nation/specie/line
Jara Unclean
Karanna Do
Katandara Stories
Glossary 339

Kiri Milk
Kramaya System
Lajja Shame
Lamai Children
Mahila Women
Mudal Money
Nabiya Navel
Nilame Respectful term of address for upper caste upcountry men.
Pirimi Men
Pitata Outside
Putra Son
Redda Cloth wears by women.
Salu An old Sinhala word for cloth
Sina Smile/laugh
Samajaya Society
Samiti Organisations
Tana Breasts
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