Connecting women across the country through stories of women
“Don’t say Happy Women’s Day. Instead, be an ally,” urge the group of young women at Everystory Sri Lanka, a non-profit organisation that aims to create a safe space for the underrepresented and marginalised women in South Asia.
With the month of March when International Women’s Day is marked with much enthusiasm, now past, the group has organised a series of events to remind us all to keep celebrating women throughout the year, especially the ordinary women we meet on a day-to-day basis.
They urge that we stop and think for a minute: have you given enough credit to your junior colleague at work for her contributions? Have you given your domestic help adequate days off to look after herself? Are you walking the talk when you say you are supporting and empowering women?
“We hope that the knowledge we share through our platforms will make one stop and ponder on how it can be put to use and applied to a person’s daily life and in turn contribute positively to each other’s lives,” said Widya Kumarasinghe, co- founder of Everystory.sl as The Sunday Times sat down with her and Dulandi Gunasekara, programme manager for the young feminist network at their recently concluded Wiki-Edit-a-Thon held at the Lakmahal Community Library.
Widya Kumarasinghe
The event aimed at highlighting Sri Lankan women who have made exceptional contributions to our society by collaborating with participants to improve the resources available on Wikipedia about prominent women from both Sri Lankan history and contemporary times.
“It’s more than just updating on the exceptional work they did, but more a personal reflection on what it took to be that person in the hope of inspiring children and young adults,” Dulandi said.
“It was during COVID in 2020 when everything was shut or shutting down that Sharanya Sekaram and I started this,” Widya recalled. “We saw a huge need for knowledge sharing and a space for learning that could not be accessed by everyone mainly due to the language barrier. And that is why we make a huge effort in putting out all our stories and posts in Sinhala and Tamil, making it accessible for anyone islandwide,” Dulandi emphasised.
Dulandi Gunasekara. Pix by Eshan Fernando
Having found so much information online from the Western perspective but not so much from Sri Lanka about accurate information on legal, financial, and social topics for women, Everystory.sl’s main focus is on using information from this part of the world, and whenever possible from Sri Lanka, and using it in a creative way to get the knowledge across to anyone who needs it.
“We want our community to learn and be well equipped with the right knowledge to make that certain change – like working towards closing the pay gap at the workplace, speaking up against a sexist comment, as well as being an outlet to come and enjoy the aspects of feminism,” the duo said.
This year their goal is to spread awareness through events such as the Wiki-Edit-A-Thon that happened in March. Their next event – the one-day Teach-Out programme will be held on June 15 at the Public Library. The event will have speakers from all three languages. Apart from the teach-out sessions, the event will have a “human library” featuring “human books” – an inspiring collection of women representing diverse fields of work across generations. By choosing a “book”, you will be able to engage in a conversation with these women, who will share their experiences, views and memories. This free event will be from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. A kids’ corner with professional caregivers is also planned.
For more details, visit their digital platforms:
Website info@everystorysl.org Facebook Everystory sri lanka
Instagram everystory.sl Youtube Everystory sri lanka
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