Sri Lanka Railways awaiting Public Service Commission approval to recruit women in all posts

The Department of Railways is awaiting Public Service Commission approval for its amended Scheme of Recruitment (SOR) which allows women to occupy all job positions that were previously confined to men, General Manager Ravindra Pathmapriya said.

Once it is passed, recruitment will take place as and when there are vacancies, he said. The SOR was amended to remove the restriction over women applying for certain posts.

Women were traditionally frozen out of all of the department’s top level skilled and executive positions, with only minor jobs granted, provided applications were received. However, pursuant to a Fundamental Rights petition filed by two women last year challenging a gazette notification for the recruitment of stationmasters permitting only men to apply, the Attorney General informed the Supreme Court that Cabinet had cleared the path to employ women in all positions of Sri Lanka Railways.

Read more in yesterday edition of the Sunday Times here