Only Until the Rice is Cooked? The Domestic Violence Act, Familial Ideology, and Cultural Narratives in Sri Lanka
Publication Author:Chulani Kodikara
|ICES Working Paper Series.pdf||1.81 MB|
In August 2005, the Sri Lankan Parliament unanimously passed the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act No 34 (PDVA), marking the culmination of a legal advocacy process initiated by a coalition of women’s NGOs in 1999. The unanimous vote, however masked deep hostility and anxieties expressed by a number of Members of Parliament (MPs), about the need for such an Act, its ‘western’, NGO origins antithetical to Sri Lankan culture and its negative impact on the family. The Act, as eventually passed, fell short of the expectations of women’s organisations, particularly as it failed to recognize gender as a structure of power that distinguishes women’s and girls’ experience of domestic violence, from that of men and boys. It is nevertheless a significant departure from the status quo pertaining to familial violence, which, as this paper demonstrates, has opened up ‘a discursive space of struggle’ over the meaning of such violence as well as new possibilities of resistance against such violence.
To read the full the report please dowload the pdf file attached.
- 'Stop the extreme group of monks called Bodu Bala Sena who ignites the religious hatred, enmity and violent oppressions in Srilanka
- Pakistan: Killing of NGO worker Farida Afridi in Jamrud Tehsil of Khyber Agency
- Pakistan: Ensure safety of Asia Bibi and her family and repeal Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws
- Pakistan: URGENT-Shirkat Gah Appeals for Support in Relief Work
- UPDATE: Pakistan: Investigation into massacres of Christians
- Dossier 28: Secularism in India
- WSF: 'Apostates', Ahmadis and advocates: Use and abuse of offences against religion in Bangladesh
- WSF: The rise of the religious right in Bangladesh: Taslima Nasrin and the media
- WSF: Hindu fundamentalism in India: Ideology, strategies, and the experience of Gujarat
- Moving Forward Together: Emotional Well-being after Disasters - A Manual for Relief Workers