A cross section of staff from the High Commission lighting the traditional oil lamp during New Year celebrations.
The inaugural International ‘Parity at Work Day’ was celebrated on Wednesday in London. This new International Day champions workplace diversity, and recognises the importance that everyone – regardless of age, gender or sexual orientation – is given equal opportunity in the work place.
Welcoming diversity and insisting on equality are themes very close to the High Commission’s heart.
The UK’s Women of the Future Programme celebrates the successes of young women,
and the London Women of the Future Summit is a global forum bringing together current and future female leaders and giving them a platform to learn and share experiences. In the last couple of years, Eva Abdulla from the Maldives and Selyna Peiris from Sri Lanka and two of our female Sri Lankan Chevening Scholars have attended the Summit.
Reflecting on her experience in the UK, Eva Abdulla said; ‘It was good for all of us come together, and be reminded of how women pull through. We spent time with women with no educational background, with their entire social and economic situation stacked against them, pulling through to now make a dent in the patriarchal structure. And then we met with women with privileged backgrounds still fighting social and political injustices. My big take-home is that it is more critical now, than ever, for women’s movements, across borders and issues to reach out and fight the rising conservatism.’
We are also pushing the international debate, including through Wilton Park Conferences. In November last year, a number of international experts and policy implementers gathered from across the world held discussions around the topic of ‘balanced economies, balanced societies: promoting gender parity in politics and business’. Part of the purpose of UK Minister Baroness Anelay’s visit to Sri Lanka last year was also to understand how women are playing an important role in the peace building process in Sri Lanka.
In the Maldives, we are supporting Women on Boards (WoB), an initiative designed create awareness of gender equality and diversity policies within the workplace, understand the reasons why women are hesitant to apply for Board and leadership positions and put gender equality front and centre in the minds of employers and the government and other implementing agencies.
Here in Sri Lanka, I spoke last year at an event organised by Equal Ground to enable and promote diversity in the workplace, describing thegreat changes that have taken place within the UK civil service, in acknowledging that accepting differences is a global good. The event was part of a wider programme of activities to raise public awareness and encourage activism to fight discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in Sri Lanka. You can read more about our support for the LGBT community in my blog ‘Taking pride in PRIDE’.
And at home in the High Commission we are absolutely committed to fostering a work environment which is not only gender inclusive but which does not discriminate in any way. A great pledge with which to start the new year!