Wednesday, December 17, 2014

How about some relief for female headed households? MR & MS take heed!


I don’t know the numbers involved, but it crosses all racial and religious lines, and in all honesty are a population mass that MUST receive a promise by both camps in this impending presidential election, if one is to have faith in any of their promises being fulfilled.

I know this blog is read by policy makers in both camps so before the Manifestos of both sides are published, I would argue there is a significant vote bank of people who would be part of these immediate families and their relatives who will no doubt see the need for assistance of their kith and kin, heading these one parent households.

It is common knowledge that there are women lead households in the north, who are at the bottom of the economic pile, whilst war widows and their families have at least for the most part received the pensions of their deceased husbands and are not in the most dire of financial circumstances.

Despite that there are many many more women in the Southern areas at the bottom of the economic pile, whose husbands have either left them with their children, and NO support, and in some cases who have gone overseas, but who have not remitted the needed funds to their families, as they have found other concubines in their journeys.

The 12,500 or so Grama Niladari divisions in the Country and possibly even the Census data, will be able to pin point which these families are and what their financial circumstances are to give them the needed assistance to get them out of the proverbial classic rut, where due to small children who need care, mothers are unable to find or go to full time work that is available to fulfil the needs of the families. Every year all voter registrations forms are signed by the head of household.          

One does not have to be a rocket scientist to understand that the children of such households are MORE likely to fall through the cracks and become a burden on the state, be it involved in crime, and need incarceration or otherwise remain unproductive and unemployable as their parents were unable to give them the basics, and some even don’t finish school due to these problems, even though if given a chance they could become extremely productive citizens of the country.

Of course the form of assistance needs to be explained simply in a manifesto, but it must make clear that they will be relief to female headed households over and above their current entitlements if any, depending on family circumstances.    

   

2 comments:

Jack Point said...

You may find the work of this charity of interest.

http://friendsofprisonerschildren.org.lk/

It aims to try and keep prisoners children in school. They often drop out of school due to social stigma and lacking any skills, often turn to crime.

The charity is trying to break this vicious circle, they welcome all help they can get.

Anonymous said...

Sri Lanka is a male dominated society not too far from being confused for a middle eastern one. Women are used and abused and discarded to fend for themselves. Women in Sri Lanka as a result are a duplicitous and rough lot, as they have to survive under such circumstances. What to do?