WFSL’s event ‘Be bold for change’ to mark International Women’s Day today

In keeping with the universal theme ‘Be Bold for Change’ the Women’s Forum Sri Lanka (WFSL) will hold its second consecutive annual event to mark International Women’s Day, today under the auspices of Speaker Karu Jayasuriya and MEP Leader and Leader of the Joint Opposition in Parliament and former Transport Minister Dinesh Gunewardena.   

The event ‘Be Bold for Change’ will commence at 5 p.m. at The Kingsbury’s Victorian Ballroom and is open for new registrations from 4:30 p.m. 

The WFSL invites and calls on all women and women’s organisations to ‘Be Bold for Change’ and join it in its journey to achieve the targets set out to make women empowered economically and politically to achieve gender parity.   

Women’s Forum Sri Lanka (WFSL) was formed by a group of professional women of diverse disciplines banded together to work towards the cause of women’s empowerment. 

WFSL held its inaugural meeting last year where the unanimously accepted Action Plans of the eminent specialists of various fields on crucial areas of women’s issues were publicly presented for WFSL’s implementation. The Action Plans decided upon as the first to be taken up was the one submitted on the ‘Personal Protection of Women and Girls’ by Dr. Hiranthi Wijemana, a former Chairman of the Child Protection Authority and member of the National Committee on Women. The first phase is underway with the National Transport Commission and SLCTB joining forces on the ‘Prevention of Harassment of Women and Girls in the Public Transport System’.

The inaugural event held to coincide with the International Women’s Day introduced this unique concept adopted by its Founder and Convener Charnika Imbulana upon a methodology conceived and adopted after she was inspired by the first-ever Women’s Forum held alongside Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Malta in 2015 at which she was a representative of Sri Lanka, having been nominated to attend the Forum by the Sri Lanka Commonwealth Society. 

This year ‘Be Bold for Change’ the progress that has been made in the WFSL pledges made at the events held ‘Action for Parity I’ and ‘Action for Parity II’, will be reviewed and further action in keeping with the submitted paper will be outlined. Meanwhile the second Action Plan billed to taken up next is on Women and Health on an Action Plan submitted by Dr. Pramila Senanayaka, Vice President Family Planning Association of Sri Lanka.

A range of areas of women’s issues include the Action Plans such as women in plantations, women and health, access to justice, women and education, migrant women and rural women and women and media. The initial specialists panel for the respective fields comprise of Prof. Savitri Goonesekere, Dr. Hiranthi Wijemanne, Dr. Swarna Jayaweera, Dr. Selvi Thiruchandran, Jessima Ismail, Dr. Ramani Jayasundere, Dr. Pramila Senanayake, Thilaka Perera and Yvette Kahawite. The key Group expands as the need for action in accordance with the issues, plans for new areas of study and action.

Meanwhile as per the WFSL pledge to encompass the entire island’s women folk, a major membership drive to achieve this has met with much success within the last year and WFSL is all set for their first anniversary event, in keeping with their motto ‘ where the rhetoric has stopped and action has begun’.

Today’s event is open to all women with a ticket priced at Rs. 1,000 which is inclusive of WFSL registration and high tea at The Kingsbury’s Victorian Ballroom. Registration opens at The Kingsbury at 4:30 p.m. today. Call 0772303013 – Tharaka for early reservations.