Unlocking women’s economic potential: From intent to infrastructure

Over the past decade, Sri Lanka has made meaningful progress in recognising women’s participation in the workforce as an economic necessity rather than a social concession. Dialogue around female labour force participation has expanded significantly, driven by an increasing understanding of its link to productivity, competitiveness, and longterm growth. Yet awareness alone does not deliver outcomes. Structural reform is required to ensure women are able not only to enter the workforce, but to remain, advance, and lead.

Targeted leadership initiatives have demonstrated what is possible when intent is matched with institutional action. Work undertaken through nationallevel strategic platforms has resulted in tangible outcomes, including companylevel initiatives where women now account for a majority of board representation. These outcomes challenge the persistent narrative that leadership pipelines lack qualified women. The issue is not supply, but system design — how organisations identify, develop, and retain talent at senior levels.

The most entrenched barriers to women’s advancement emerge not at entry points, but at moments of transition. As women move into senior leadership, biases surface around compensation, authority, and perceived availability. Assumptions regarding commitment often intensify when women reach marriageable age or take on caregiving responsibilities. These perceptions, frequently unconscious, continue to influence promotion and remuneration decisions, even in environments that otherwise espouse meritocracy.

Earlier institutional contexts were not always framed through a gender lens. Women held professional and managerial roles across regulated sectors, including banking and public institutions, with relatively neutral hiring practices and strong female representation among management trainees. Where bias existed, it tended to be situational rather than systemic — for example, preferences for men in roles requiring extensive travel. Today, while bias is more openly acknowledged, acknowledgement alone is insufficient without corresponding structural change.

Dialogue around female labour force participation has expanded significantly, driven by an increasing understanding of its link to productivity, competitiveness, and llong-term growth. Yet awareness alone does not deliver outcomes. Structural reform is required to ensure women are able not only to enter the workforce, but to remain, advance, and lead

One of the most effective interventions has been comprehensive organisational training that includes senior leadership. Such programs challenge longheld assumptions about women’s mobility, ambition, and leadership styles, while actively encouraging women to take on regional and highvisibility roles. Without leadershiplevel engagement, gender initiatives risk remaining symbolic rather than transformational.

Progress also depends on engaging men as partners in reform. Policies encouraging paternity leave and shared caregiving responsibilities represent an important cultural signal, yet uptake remains limited. Concerns about career repercussions continue to deter utilisation, highlighting the gap between policy availability and policy usability. Organisations must address this disconnect if behavioural change is to be sustained.

A critical structural constraint remains the absence of affordable, highquality childcare and elder care. Despite periodic discussions around workplace childcare facilities, momentum has been inconsistent. Care responsibilities continue to fall disproportionately on women, directly affecting workforce continuity and leadership progression. Care infrastructure must therefore be recognised as economic infrastructure — essential to labour market stability, productivity, and inclusive growth.

There are signs of gradual cultural change. Younger generations, particularly those with exposure to global norms, demonstrate more equitable approaches to parenting and household responsibilities. While these shifts are encouraging, they cannot substitute for policy and institutional frameworks that support participation across life stages.

Labour law reform presents a significant opportunity to align regulation with contemporary labour realities. Efforts to regularise parttime work and extend benefits such as gratuity and compensation reflect a more inclusive understanding of workforce participation, particularly for women. The inclusion of younger, technically skilled advisors in policy making spaces has contributed to a more pragmatic approach to longstanding structural challenges.

Any comprehensive strategy to support women’s economic participation must also prioritise safe and dignified work. Training women for viable employment opportunities within Sri Lanka is essential to reducing unsafe migration and protecting livelihoods. Achieving this requires sustained collaboration between Government, industry, and civil society, supported by continuous advocacy to ensure that policy intent translates into measurable outcomes.

If Sri Lanka is serious about inclusive growth, intent must be matched with infrastructure. Enabling women to participate fully and lead confidently is not only a social imperative — it is an economic one.

(The author is a senior policy practitioner and financial sector professional with extensive experience in leadership development, labour market reform and gender responsive economic policy)