President of United Nations Association of Sri Lanka, Mohamed Zawahir said that the longstanding fight against gender equality and women empowerment has brought a ray of light among the working class to embrace their rights and contribution.
“Women all over the world face work life balance a serious challenge, as male dominance is in the forefront in every society. Women of today have dismantled the Stereotypes and progressed towards just and equal workplace setup”, Zawahir said. He was of the view that the constant search for solutions for the seemingly difficult issues confronting families is now becoming a reality, though there is a long way to go. “However, the good news is that organisations in the recent past are taking the lead to come up with favorable solutions and safe environment for all women at work are now well-established.” He added that the next step to give equal opportunity in empowering women to motivate and overcome some of the barriers at workplace.
Zawahir was speaking at the International Women’s Day celebrations organised by the United Nations Association and the MJF Foundation on Saturday (9) at the MJF Foundation, Katubedda, Moratuwa, on the topic of ‘Breaking Workplace Barriers – on Women’s Day 2024’. Secretary General of the Association, Errol Smith was also present. “On the other hand, the challenge of work life balance remains a daunting task for working class women with family responsibilities. This too has now been understood by many organisations and are working towards a balanced equation”, he said.
He added that many organisations are taking bold steps to encourage flexi hour work by giving targets to achieve, rather than the place they work from.”Work from home arrangements are seen in many organisations. It also sees the advantage of cost effectiveness of performing many tasks, while new digital technologies play a vital role in this process. Some of the challengers still seem to be far from being a fair playing field at the Workplace”, he added.
