- Home
- About us
- Visas and migration
- Travelling to Australia
- Services for Australians
- Doing business with Australia
- Study in Australia
- Development cooperation
- Media
- About Australia
- Australia- Sri Lanka relationship
- Events
Australia celebrates International Women’s Day
The occasion of International Women’s Day is a day on which women around the world reflect on the struggle for equality, justice, peace and development, as well as recognising the important contribution that women make to daily life.
In Sri Lanka we have been working to ensure that Australia’s aid programs assist women around the country. We have worked with CARE, OXFAM (GB) and Power Foundation to implement projects in the plantation sector. CARE, through Community Development Forums (CDF) is working to uplift socio-economic conditions of plantation workers with the objective of addressing the root causes of poverty, marginalization and social injustice in the plantation community. CARE has constructed a number of rest rooms especially for women to have their meals, make a cup of tea and pregnant ladies and mothers to rest or feed their babies, before this facility was provided plantation women had to have their meals under trees even in rainy weather.
A project with OXFAM (GB) and Power Foundation also in the plantations provides financial, education and social support to uplift the living standards of communities. Mostly women were supported through microfinance programs to commence additional income avenues. Project also launched a program to promote education facilities among young girls in the plantations.
In Anuradhapura, Kurunegala, Matale and Puttalam districts we funded the Sri Lanka Australia Natural Resource Management Project. The project supported implementation of home gardens with local resources like lime, cashew, and bee’s honey, microfinance schemes, micro enterprise development programs and promotes water resources for household requirements; previously women had to walk miles to obtain water. Project provides opportunity income generation, rural development, family nutrition and health and sanitation.
In Mannar, Vavuniya and the Eastern province we have implemented peace building initiatives with UNDP that specifically involve women in the peace process.
International Women’s Day will be recognised around Australia with awards presented to women who have made particular contributions. Despite making many steps towards equality over the last century, there is recognition that there is some way to go in achieving equality for women in Australia and around the world.
Media contact: Nazreen Marikkar on 2463243.