What we are about to say, YET AGAIN, has been shouted from the rooftops for decades in all parts of the world, including in Sri Lanka. 

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Sexual harassment and sexual violence is a pandemic. The root cause of it is inequality which is perpetuated by social, political, economic and cultural structures we all live within. The violence of these structures have led to the rape of two women - a doctor on duty in Anuradhapura and a patient in the Government hospital in Thellipalai – a mere two days after the festivities of International Working Women’s Day on March 8th. 

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The perpetrators of the violence must be held accountable in the interest of maintaining law and order. However, the root cause and the solution lies elsewhere. What women need, to be dignified workers and members of society, in all spaces that we inhabit in our everyday life, is NOT merely protection but EQUALITY. The doctor, who has some social status through her profession has been reduced to a disrespected body, being the body of a woman. The patient, a poor woman in Tellipalai, lives in precarity and unsafety and her gruesome experience of violence is hardly acknowledged. These acts of violence are perpetuated and thrive with impunity due to the existing unequal structures in our lives. 

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Public services, including health, have been rapidly eroded by successive governments, more so in recent years especially under the austerity policies of the IMF reforms. Incidents of violence such as this further reduces the trust placed by citizens in their public health system. The solution then must be multifaceted and systemic and cannot be reduced to merely ‘capturing’ the rapist. 

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There must be fundamental changes to socio-cultural, economic beliefs and practices that resist the idea that certain bodies are not equal to others and as such can be violated at a whim. While we reject the idea that sexual harassment is the only reason for women’s low participation in the formal workforce, we strongly assert that it plays a role in maintaining a culture that diminishes the dignity of women in the workplace along with the grossly unjust working conditions that affect all workers. 

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This statement addresses incidents of violence occurring within formally acknowledged workplaces. Most women in Sri Lanka work in the informal sector, where even the minimal protections that are supposed to ensure dignity for formal sector workers, are absent. Even within formally organised economies, there are exceptions, such as the plantations where women workers have been facing horrendous violence and the worst forms of indignity. 

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We will not rehearse statistics here, as we choose not to for the millionth time “prove” the prevalence of sexual harassment and violence at the workplace and indeed in all spaces. If you feel unconvinced, the data is easily available. Instead, we

• Stand by the survivors in all that they need to heal

• Remind all that sexual violence is a rampant systemic issue that needs constant work and commitment to address it

• Recognize sexual violence as an economic, political, social and cultural issue and refuse to pigeonhole it to any one aspect of human life

• Insist on the promotion of equality and dignity in all aspects of life as the necessary foundational response rather than solely focussing on securing protection

• Call on the state to take action to address sexual violence as an urgent issue, by ensuring all public officials are accountable for upholding the laws and standards in all places where women face violence, in ensuring support to survivors.

 

The Feminist Collective for Economic Justice stands by the survivors, and we say to them – “You are not alone. You deserve respect and you deserve justice.”

 

The Collective reaffirms its commitment to fight this incessant violence propagated upon marginalized bodies, of women and others, to ensure that we all live in a society where all persons live with dignity, equality and freedom.