page_title: Gender inequality in Sri Lanka
section_title: Patriarchal society
hierarchical_section_title: Gender inequality in Sri Lanka / Causes / Patriarchal society
caption_attribution_description: English: This photograph records the visit of the Nehru family to Sri Lanka when they met up with the Sri Lanka Tamil Women's Union in 1932. Picture shows Jawaharlal Nehru, Kamala Devi Chatopaudia (next to Nehru, partly covered), Kamala Nehru (head covered), Indira Nehru (seated seventh from the right) and Sarojini Naidu (fifth from the right).
context_page_description: Gender inequality in Sri Lanka is centered on the inequalities that arise between men and women in Sri Lanka. Specifically, these inequalities affect many aspect of women's lives, starting with sex-selective abortions and male preferences, education and schooling, which goes on to effect job opportunities, property rights, access to health and political participation. While Sri Lanka is ranked well on several gender equality indices in comparison to other countries in the region, there are also some sources that question the verity of these indices. However, globally, Sri Lanka ranks relatively lower on gender equality indices. Overall, this pattern of social history that disempowers females produces a cycle of undervaluing females, providing only secondary access to health care and schooling and thus less opportunities to take on high level jobs or training, which then exacerbates the issue of low political participation and lowered social rights, a cycle studied and noted on by Dr. Elaine Enarson, a disaster sociologist studying the connection between disaster and role of women.
context_section_description: A patriarchy is defined as "a social system in which power is held by men, through cultural norms and customs that favor men and withhold opportunity from women".
  Some of the main causes of this gender inequality is due to the patriarchal nature of Sri Lankan culture and the historical effects of the unbalanced weight put on the value of males.  As time has passed, a shift in roles and expectations has started, moving towards more independence and empowerment for women.  However, according to Matt Withers and Janaka Biyanwila, experts in labor migration and economies,  "Sri Lanka’s labour market remains heavily segmented and offers limited sustainable economic opportunity for a majority of women". Specifically, in markets where men are also deprived of labor rights, like that of crop plantations, women are found to be treated even worse by their male counterparts.
  The patriarchal society in Sri Lanka that has been so entrenched in its history is intensely also perpetuated by the use of marriage as a social institution. Even while women may work at the same time as doing the majority of the housework and childcare, they are still marginalized as it is deemed socially incorrect to venture outside of the domestic sphere.
caption: The Nehru family in Sri Lanka
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