Sri Lanka: Working realities and gendered fictions

Sri Lankan women have traditionally been marginalised from waged work in non-agricultural sectors, but many have experienced a pronounced reconfiguration of their working lives in the period since the dramatic economic liberalisation of 1977. While key economic activity is concentrated in urban areas particularly Colombo and its surrounding regions Sri Lanka remains a distinctly rural country, with just 18.3 per cent of the population residing within urban dwellings. The assumption of mutual exclusivity between work and care roles renders much of the work performed by Sri Lankan women paid or unpaid, productive or reproductive largely invisible. The Sri Lankan government has long implemented a comprehensive welfare system, including free universal education and healthcare, which has contributed to Sri Lanka's regionally high human development indicators. In Sri Lanka, the politics of women's work and care are deeply embedded in the concept of nationhood.