Why SL Minister of Women's Affairs should cast his eye on Sandberg

The Sri Lankan Minister of Child Development and Women's Affairs, Tissa Karaliyadda has proved just how fit he is for the job, with a statement on women that is so outdated and backward that he may as well move into a cave.

“Even though we have paid special attention to the protection of women’s rights, when a woman is given authority in a department or a ministry they tend to suppress other women under their administration out of jealousy. This situation will lead to inefficiency in that particular organization. Hence always the main chair should be given to a male and the assistant should be a female" the Minister said at a meeting, according to Sri Lankan newspaper The Daily Mirror.

Reuters

The Minister's comments are all the more tragic given that Sri Lanka was ranked 39th in the World Economic Forum's Global gender gap report which measures national gender gaps of 135 countries on economic, political, education- and health-based criteria.

Sri Lanka also has a high female literacy rate (UNICEF statistics show females between 5-24 years have a literacy rate of 99 percent) which is actually higher than the male literacy percentage (measured at 97 percent).

Given the country's steadily declining record with relation to human rights and minority rights though, it is perhaps not surprising that its gender rights records are also taking a blow.