Dr.Amanda Wickramasinghe spoke about her research on work-life integration at the International Leadership Association conference 2019 in Ottawa, Canada, on Saturday, October 26, 2019. 1018 Leaders and academics from 31 countries have registered attended the conference.
Amanda spoke about Sri Lankan women and work-life balance within the 20th century. This research indicated how much progress Sri Lankan women have made compared to the rest of the South Asian Continent. The findings were as follows: After 30 years of civil war, Sri Lanka is still working to establish its stability; however, women have played a significant role in this progress. The first female prime minister served in Sri Lanka from 1960-1965, which was revolutionary for its time.
They have established free education and health care for everyone in order to empower women. The Buddhist culture has held much influence in Sri Lankan society as the “mother figure is revered as a goddess at home and mothers are highly respected in society as a whole” (Herath, 2015, p. 3). The women of Sri Lanka place a high priority on family. Although women pursue education and careers, they make sure that these never conflict with the priorities of home life. This value of “family-first” is something that all societies should implement. The culture has accepted that women in the workplace will always consider family as more important, and this should be the way it is. Family is more important than any job, regardless of gender.
Link:
https://convention2.allacademic.com/one/ila/ila19/index.php?program_focus=view_paper&selec ted_paper_id=1533391&cmd=online_program_direct_link&sub_action=online_program
