Women Who Dare to Swim Against the Tide

Under Valued, Under Recognized, Under Appreciated Women Labor

Sri Lankan women play a pivotal yet often unrecognized and underappreciated role in the national economy, particularly in key sectors like the tea industry, apparel industry, and remittances from Middle East employment. Despite their significant contributions, systemic gender inequalities and cultural biases often marginalize their efforts.

In the Tea industry, women constitute approximately 75% of the workforce, performing labor-intensive tasks such as plucking tea leaves. However, they face low wages, poor working conditions, and limited access to leadership roles. Their contribution is vital to Sri Lanka’s export earnings, with tea being one of the country’s top foreign exchange earners, yet their economic value remains undervalued. In the Apparel industry, women make up around 85% of the workforce, driving one of Sri Lanka’s largest export sectors. The industry accounts for nearly 40% of total exports and employs over 300,000 workers, predominantly women. Despite their critical role, women often face wage gaps, job insecurity, and limited upward mobility, with few reaching managerial positions. Remittances from Sri Lankan women working in the Middle East, primarily as domestic workers, contribute significantly to the national economy. In 2022, remittances totaled over $5 billion, with women comprising a substantial portion of the migrant workforce. However, these women endure harsh working conditions, exploitation, and social stigma, with little recognition of their sacrifices.

Despite their substantial contributions, women’s labor is often undervalued due to entrenched gender norms and a lack of policy support. Empowering women through fair wages, better working conditions, and leadership opportunities is essential to fully harness their potential and drive sustainable economic growth. Recognizing their contributions is not only a matter of justice but also a strategic imperative for Sri Lanka’s development.

Space for Women Farmers and Smallholder Food Producers

Women farmers and small food producers in Sri Lanka play a crucial role in ensuring food security and sustaining rural economies, yet their contributions remain underrecognized. Women constitute approximately 30% of the agricultural labor force and are heavily involved in small-scale food production, particularly in home gardening and traditional farming. Despite their significant role, they face systemic barriers, including limited access to land (only 16% of landholders are women), credit, and agricultural technologies. Additionally, women often juggle unpaid care work, further limiting their economic opportunities. Empowering women in agriculture through agroecology, access to fair markets, and gender-sensitive policies can drive sustainable development. For instance, women-led agroecological practices have shown to improve household nutrition and income while promoting environmental sustainability. Addressing these challenges by providing land rights, financial inclusion, and training can unlock their potential, contributing to poverty reduction and food security. Recognizing and supporting women farmers is essential for building resilient rural economies in Sri Lanka.

Fostering Hope through Agroecology

Our women-led agroecology and community-level product marketing systems are transformative initiatives that play a critical role in strengthening the community economy. By empowering these women to lead agroecological practices, our programs promote Agroecology farming methods that enhance food security, biodiversity, and climate resilience. Community women, who are often the backbone of rural households, bring unique perspectives and traditional knowledge to agroecology, fostering community-driven solutions that align with their local needs.

Our initiatives establish decentralized marketing systems, such as cooperatives and local fairs, enabling women to market their produce. This eliminates middlemen, ensuring fair prices and higher incomes for farmers. Additionally, women-led agroecology models encourage diversified farming, reducing dependency on single crops and increasing household income stability.

Agroecology-based small-scale alternative peasant market systems serve as powerful catalysts for community development by creating direct farmer-to-consumer relationships and eliminating exploitative middlemen. MONLAR has initiated such initiatives with the following communities;

• Matara (Palatuwa, Aththudawa, and Wellethota Farmer Societies)- Salinity Barrier Affected Community have a Community Agro Produce Market Shop where they sell both value-added and Fresh Produce. The majority of the society members are women, and Value addition and Producer Outlet Coordination is handled by women.

Premalatha Ranaweera (72) is a leading lady of Palatuwa Peasant Food Producers’ Society. She is also the Secretary of the society. “Most of the women in our society are either un married or Widowed, providing no alternative but to fend for ourselves. We have children that can take care of us, but waiting for their help does not provide us a sense of pride or belonging that we feel when we work on our farms or selling what we produce in our small outlet,” she says.

Dulani Rajapakse (46) is the treasurer of the Society. “People think I am silly when I mention that it was my late husband who passed away two years ago that inspired me to transition in to Agroecology. He tried to practice organic farming because he has this sense that toxic agriculture contributed to cancer. He was advising people to take on chemical-free farming,” she remembers with a sadness in her voice. Dulani conducts farmer to farmer Agroecology training in the near villages. “I like training other society members. It helps me to experiment more. As one of the women who coordinate the outlet, I also advocate to our customers about our produce and our way of farming, value addition, and product pricing. Customers always wonder why our produce is cheaper than the normal market price, My answer is Agroecology. There is no added expense for fertilizer or pesticides, and there are no middle men!” During this hard time, people look for affordable produce, we are happy to provide it. We get 15,000- 20,000 LKR in daily sales, which is a solid income. We are planning to increase our fresh produce production and it will help us to expand the business,” she adds hopefully. “I am grateful about the support we receive, I am a widow with three young children to feed, so this helps me more than one can imagine”.                

• Maradankadawala (Midiwatte, Koonwewa, Kirimatiyawa, and Thalaththewa Farmer Societies)- They have a Community Agro Produce Market Shop where they sell both value-added and Fresh Produce and a Community Savings System. The majority are women.

“When we started our small producer outlet last July, Villagers were saying lot of things to discourage us”, says Sandhya Ekanayeka (47). “We think social beliefs around women working together as a community initiative and as a collective has ruffled some feathers in our village. Nobody thought we could take on such a challenge, not even our husbands. It is not easy to manage household activities, do farming and also attend to the outlet. Somehow, we manage it. And we are proud of it. We have a small savings and credit system. This helps us a lot since the majority of our women are in micro credit debt.” She adds.  

• Mannar Mullimotai Women Food Producer Society- Produce a value-added heath mix powder that can be used as a morning snack. All the ingredients for the product are cultivated by the community except one.

Mannar Madukkarai Women Food Producer Society- Produce a value-added Masala Curry Powder that can be use when cooking. All the main ingredients are cultivated by the community. They are also in the process of developing a Community Agroecology Garden.

“We collectively conduct monthly local fairs, small-scale food processing units for traditional food items continuing natural food preservation techniques help women to generate additional income streams while preserving traditional knowledge,” adds Mary Anista (78) the Secretary of the Madukkarai Women Food Producer Society.

These women markets, sell what they produce so they can sell at a price which is lower than the normal market price and yet gain a profit.  This helps both the producer and the consumer by providing them with fair prices and stable market access, while simultaneously offering consumers fresh, locally-produced food at reasonable prices.

The income generated through these activities strengthens women’s economic independence and decision-making power within their communities. As Midiwatte women society’s Community credit/savings system is helping the women to get out of debt and preventing them from the risk of commercial borrowing, Madukkarai women society has women’s self-help group and savings circle, it complements their societies’ economic activities by providing members with access to small credit for expanding their Agroecology activities, sometimes meeting emergency health needs and helping in children’s education.

Apart from leading these Community Agro-Economic Community initiatives, these women leaders also take part in Provincial PPF’s leadership. They advocate for their community rights, Access to finance, and Political Freedom. Krishnamurthi Rajini (45) is a woman farmer from Madukkarai is the newly appointed Secretary of Northern Province People’s Planning Forum. She also contested in last year’s parliamentary election representing her constituency, demanding proper access to transportation for her village. She intends to contest in this year’s local government elections. “Looking back, I am proud of my transition over the short time period, Everyone in my village voted for me in the election. That gave me hope, and glad they understood what I was advocating for,” she adds. “I am grateful about the training I got on UNDROP it helped me to understand the bigger picture. And if we don’t do this, who else will?”   She insists on developing her knowledge in Political Economy so she can help her community better.  

Over the last couple of years, MONLAR has helped develop these women’s lead initiatives to strengthen women’s lead subsistence economies. Continuous training on Agroecology and Product Marketing. Political and pedagogical training on Farmer rights and UNDROP trainings has helped them to see the importance of the initiative they started and strengthens them to keep moving forward. The success of these Agro- economic systems demonstrates how agroecology-based approaches can simultaneously address economic, social, and environmental challenges while promoting gender equity and community empowerment. Furthermore, these initiatives create platforms for intergenerational knowledge transfer, ensuring the sustainability of traditional farming practices while adapting to contemporary challenges.