Beyond Glass Ceilings and Brick Walls - International Labour ...

The overall women’s labour force participation rate as a percentage of the
female working age group in the Colombo District was a surprising 28.7% in
the year 2002. This seems to indicate that a considerable number of women
were not employed. It is possible that this reflects the class and ethnic
configuration of this urbanized sector, where there are large banks of middle/
upper middle and affluent classes and ethnic groups. Related social, cultural
and gender norms may also restrict female employment. Furthermore, it is
possible that the data has not captured the majority of females working in
the informal economy. In cases where ‘women chose not to work’, it could
also be that women in the Colombo district are better educated than their
national counterparts and in such cases, it is possible that women opt not
to work if the job prospects are such that their return for education is low
(not enough jobs at the right level/too much competition for existing good
jobs). Further research is needed to explain the low female labour force
participation rate for Colombo.
The male labour force participation rate was 65.8% of the overall male working
age group. In 2001, the high level of male workers in the Service sector (72%)
reflected the high concentration of male dominant trades in the district such as
wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles and personal
and household goods, hotels and restaurants, transport storage and
communication, financial intermediation and real estate, renting, and business
activities, public administration and defence.
In comparison, women in the Colombo district also scored the highest
percentage (63.8%) of women employed in the Service sector from all districts.
The Service sector has traditionally been the forte of Sri Lankan women,
with large numbers of women going into the public sector (largely centralized
in Colombo), educational service, and lower-levels of employment. In the
industrial sector, women accounted for 34.7% of the female workforce - a
significant number of them concentrated in the factories of Ratmalana. Of
the male workforce in the Colombo District, 34.7% were in industry.
However, there was an overall lack of engagement in the agricultural,
forestry and fisheries sectors in the Colombo District. This was reflected in
the minimal percentages of men and women categorized under these sectors.
An Institutional Picture
Speaking with 100 Companies in the Private Sector
As noted in the introduction, the data in this book is gathered from 100
random companies of varying sectors/categories/sizes, from the private sector
registered with the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon. However, it must be
noted that the selected sample included several representatives from the
plantation sector and export industries where there are large concentrations
of women. Here too, the most visible feature of labour configuration is that
of gender segregation- both vertical and horizontal.
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