"Negotiating Household Politics: Women's Strategies In Urban Sri Lanka"

written by Sepali Kottegoda

Presented by:
The Women and Media Collective
and
The Social Scientists Association

Do women compared to men have different perceptions of their rights and obligations? How do women combine economic strategies with those arising out of their ascribed positions as caregiver and nurturer in the family? And, what role does state economic and social development programmes play in relation to these women?

Drawing on early research for her doctoral thesis, Sepali Kottegoda incisively develops arguments for identifying the key role played by women in society through their creativity and skills in ensuring the very physical and social survival of their households and families. In an important contribution to the economic anthropology of a South Asian society from a feminist perspective, Dr Kottegoda points to the leadership shown by women in the sphere of the ‘domestic’ - a leadership as important as the conventionally ‘political.’

ICES Auditorium, 2, Kynsey Terrace, Colombo 8
Thursday, August 12, 2004 at 5.30pm