Long climb for a woman to be the country’s IGP
In Sri Lanka’s Police Department, women face discrimination with Ajith Rohana, Deputy Inspector General of Police, indicating this week that it would take at least another 15 to 20 years for a woman to be appointed the Inspector General of Police.
He made this comment while speaking at the media briefing of the launch of ‘Women 50 – Conference with a difference from Women in Management held last week at the Galle Face Hotel.
While it would take that many years for a woman to head the Sri Lanka Police, he indicated that there are women heading the police force in other countries.
He pointed out while the Police Department in this country was established by the British in 1855 it was only on November 16, 1957 that the first woman – Podi Menike was recruited to the Police Force. In 1980 the women cadre was only 500.
The number of women recruited was forced to be increased, due to the escalation of the war as more checkpoints were set up and the women were recruited to search for suspected suicide bombers.
He indicated that though the Police Force was slow in recruiting women, the historical text, ‘Mahawamsa’ mentions that around 1,500 years ago queens were ruling the country while Sri Lanka has the honour of having the first woman prime minister. Thus he asserted that Sri Lanka needs courageous women to fight for their rights.
Quoting the book “Elimination of Racial Discrimination in the United States”, he said that it spoke of an inspiring and courageous woman – Rosa Parks and during 1955 racial discrimination was promiment with buses and restaurants having two sections for coloured people and non-coloured people.
According to the book, Mr. Rohana said that she defied this segregation rule and was arrested, charged and sentenced to 7 years rigorous imprisonment.
She appealed against the order to the Supreme Court and court temporarily released her. She initiated the infamous bus boycott in the Alabama State and thus people were checking into their workplace late making an impact on the economy.
From this emerged the Civil Rights Movement in the US and the civil rights protest march in Montgomery and he said that Sri Lanka too required such courageous women to defend their rights.
Dr. (Ms) Sulochana Segera, Chairperson, Women in Management (WIM) said that the Women Top 50 Professional and Career Women Annual Conference 2018 organized by WIM under the theme ‘Price we pay for success’ will be held on December 4 in Colombo.
She said that the conference will be chaired, addressed and attended by women who have made their mark in the corporate world and will take the stage to share their personal journeys and the challenges to bring to the fore the real world experiences of a working woman.
She said that the conference recognizes and rewards women and their achievements, not only from well-known and listed corporates of Sri Lanka, but also women from the grassroots level who have shown exceptional qualities of leadership.
Described as a conference with a difference, the Women Top 50, the first of its kind to be held in Sri Lanka, will have former Minister Ms. Thalatha Athukorale, Ms Shiromal Cooray, Managing Director – Jetwing Travels and Dr (Ms) Maryam Shakeela, Chief Executive Officer, SIMDI Group of Companies, Maldives as keynote speakers.