ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s female employment lags Asian peers and clearing barriers to their work could be an important economic driver in the context of an ageing population and migration, Deputy Treasury Secretary R M P Rathnayake said.
Sri Lanka’s female labor force participation was estimated at 29.4 percent, according to the latest survey, compared to men’s participation which is at 67.4 percent.
However, many women also go abroad to countries with better monetary regimes and send back remittances.
“If you compare the participation of the labor force with other regional countries, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore, they are very ahead of Sri Lanka,” Rathnayake said.
“In Indonesia it’s 53% and Malaysia 52%, Vietnam 68%. So, it’s very high. And Singapore 62%.”
Making it easier for females to work could also boost economic growth.
Rathnayake was speaking at a forum organized by the Asian Development Bank. The ADB had already started to encourage credit to women under a Women’s Entrepreneurship Finance Initiative (We-Fi) which was initiated by several development lenders and governments.
Also linked to the project is the setting up of a National Credit Guarantee Institution.
The ADB is boosting SMEs through a 100 million dollar SME refinance loans by a number of commercial banks in Sri Lanka which will help women, and a credit guarantee fund.
“But as we all know, ownership of formal small and medium-sized enterprises is not the only.”
Sri Lanka also has other constraints for women to work, including social and familial traditional responsibilities that see women taking on a bigger part of unpaid care work in families. (Colombo/June16/2024)