Browsing by Author "Panampitiya, W.M.G.N."

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A Comparative Study of Structural and Functional Changes of Female-Headed Households in Rural Areas in Sri Lanka
(19th Conference on Postgraduate Research, International Postgraduate Research Conference 2018, Faculty of Graduate Studies,University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2018) Panampitiya, W.M.G.N.
Household is a basic unit of the social organization in order to well-function of the society. Although household has been considered as a universal of all social institutions, it can be identified that modern household has undergone significant transformations in its structure in the modern society. Female-Headed Households (FHHs) is a new structural form of household and this type of household has become a significant phenomenon in both developed and developing countries. According to the most recent Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2016, out of 5.4 million households in Sri Lanka, 1.4 million households or 25.8 percent of the households were female-headed. Many changes can happen after women assuming headship of the household both in structure and functions. Household structure refers to size and shape of household and it is assumed that household has certain functional prerequisites to fulfill for survival and further operation effectively. These functions can be elaborated into various factors such as economic functions, decision making and authority, responsibilities of children, social and cultural functions. Thus, the main objective of this study was to study the present and past situation before and after woman assuming the headship of the household - transformations occurred in their household structure and in functions comparatively. The empirical study was conducted in five Grama Niladari Divisions of Galgamuwa divisional secretariat division which conveyed a marked increase of FHHs in Sri Lanka. Data were collected from a hundred FHHs through purposive sampling method based on the list of FHHs in Galgamuwa divisional secretariat division. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used as primary data collection techniques based on the survey and case study methods. Majority of women (74%) have mentioned that changes have occurred in their household structure after assuming headship. Widowhood, separation and divorce have mainly caused to change their household structures. Adding them to parents’ household, adding parents to their households, changing guardianship of children, getting their children married and separated from reproductive family, children have died, and children have become ordained were major structural changes in FHHs. Changes in livelihood activities, decision making, and authority, social and cultural functions could be identified through the study in particularly in economic function and authority of the household to make decisions. Power and authority are attributed in most patriarchal societies to women mainly due to disappearing of male person of the household. Thus, it could identify that this is not a result of mobilization or empowerment and women have no choice other than making decisions on her own household after assuming headship. Most importantly, majority of female heads (98%) have reported that their present living condition is negative after assuming the head of the household when comparing with the past. Many external reasons such as economic burden, struggle to survive, instability and unsustainability of livelihood, responsibilities of children and household, inadequate social security have influenced mainly to the negative responses of FHHs regarding changes after assuming headship of the household
Non-Governmental Organizations in the Process of Empowerment of Livelihood Activities in Rural Areas in Sri Lanka
(4th National Research Conference on Applied Social Statistics, Social Statistics Students’ Association, Department of Social Statistics, Faculty of Social Science, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2018) Panampitiya, W.M.G.N.
Livelihood activities of individuals directly affect to the level of income and economic stability of a household. Therefore, it is significant to have supportive mechanisms in the community to empower the capacities and abilities of people in particularly in rural areas. Non – Governmental Organizations (NGOs) is one of significant alternative body in the modern scenario of development path. One of significant working area of NGOs is to empower livelihood of households. Accordingly, main intentions of this study were to identify the programmes of NGOs in the process of livelihood empowerment and to analyze the effects of programmes which have been implemented by NGOs for the uplifting sustainability of standards of living of the people. The empirical study was conducted in two Grama Niladari Divisions of Nawagaththegama Divisional Secretariat Division in Sri Lanka. This study has based on survey method and functional method. Data were collected from 50 households based on purposive sampling method. Questionnaires was used as primary data collection technique. Both open ended and closed ended questions were included in the questionnaire. Programmes related to paddy and crop cultivations, animal husbandry, employment, management of household expenditure and savings and also community effects of them were analyzed critically through this study. NGO programmes in the studied rural area to enhance the capacity and skills related to income generating opportunities had positively influenced to uplift economic stability of their household. Based on the findings, it has suggested that programmes related to empower human potentials and skills to sustain livelihood of people are significant to introduce rather than focusing social welfare and effective integrated approach between state and NGO sector is important in order to absorb full potentials of community members into development discourse. Finally, this study signifies the importance of introducing integrated intervention between government and NGOs with an approach to participatory development which offers concrete answers to the challenges related to livelihood of people
Socio-Economic Conditions of Female Headed Households in Rural Areas in Sri Lanka
(Staff Development Unit, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka., 2020) Panampitiya, W.M.G.N.
In every human society, household performs numerous significant functions in the socialization process and integrates generations into the norms and the value system of the society. As a result of various social and economic causes, the modern household has undergone significant transformation in its structure. The Female Headed Household (FHH) is a new form of household and FHHs have increased worldwide in both developed and developing countries. Although FHHs have occupied a prominent place in development discourse globally, very limited research had been conducted regarding social and economic conditions related to FHHs in Sri Lanka. Accordingly, the main objective of this study was to identify the social and economic conditions of FHHs in rural areas. The empirical research study was conducted in five Grama Niladari Divisions of Galgamuwa divisional secretariat division which indicated a marked increase of FHHs in Sri Lanka. Data were collected from hundred FHHs through purposive sampling method. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used as primary data collection techniques based on the survey method. The study revealed that the majority of responded FHHs (42%) had attended school from grade 6 to Ordinary Level (O/L). A lowest rate (6%) had only completed Advanced Level (A/L) while 8% of women reporting no schooling. Remarkably, a higher number of employed FHHs (51%) had engaged in agriculture. The monthly income distribution of the sampled households ranged from a low of Rs. 1,500 to a high of Rs, 38,950. More than half of the responded women headed households (53%) that are in the lowest income category (Less than Rs. 5,000). A considerable proportion of FHHs (33%) had obtained loans or borrowings for various purposes intending to eradicate poverty from their household. Low conditions of houses and related facilities, some legal issues related to residence, inadequate social supportive mechanisms in the community were prominent among social and economic conditions and related issues.
A Study of Issues related to Empowerment of Female-Headed Households in Rural Areas in Sri Lanka
(International Conference on Applied Social Statistics (ICASS) - 2019, Department of Social Statistics, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2019) Panampitiya, W.M.G.N.
Women empowerment enables women to identify their latent potentials and skills in decision making, active participation and implementation of policies and programmes. According to that, main feature of empowerment process is having power to control materials, wealth, intellectual initiatives and ideologies and this process has related to welfare, uplifement, community participation and poverty alleviation (Batiwala, 1995). Female-Headed Households (FHHs) is a new structural form of household and this type of households have become significant phenomenon in the last half of 20th and 21st century (Baros, Fox & Mendonca, 1994). “Female Headed Households are households where either no adult males are present, owing to divorce, separation, migration, non-marriage or widowhood, or where men, although present, do not contribute to the household income, because of illness or disability, old age, alcoholism or similar incapacity” (ABC of women workers’ rights and gender equality, 2007:81). Recently, it can be identified a marked increase of Female-Headed Households (FHHs) in Sri Lanka. According to the most recent Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2016, out of 5.4 million households in Sri Lanka, 1.4 million households or 25.8 percent of the households were female headed (Household Income and Expenditure Survey Final Report, 2016). Although FHHs have occupied a prominent place in development discourse globally, very limited researches have been conducted regarding women empowerment related to FHHs in Sri Lanka. As a result, there are some knowledge gaps in policymaking and development discourse regarding FHHs.
A Study of Issues related to Empowerment of Female-Headed Households in Rural Areas in Sri Lanka
(International Journal of Academic Research, 2020) Panampitiya, W.M.G.N.
Empowerment refers to the process of stimulation of potential powers, capabilities, abilities, and skills of individuals and communities. It plays a significant role to support active life through promoting the independent voice of disadvantaged and vulnerable communities. Hence, women empowerment enables women to identify their latent potentials and skills in decision making, active participation and implementation of policies and programmes. Women-Headed Households (WHHs) is a new form of the household and this new form of the household has become a significant phenomenon in both the global and national level. Although WHHs have occupied a prominent place in development discourse globally, very limited researches have been conducted regarding women empowerment related to WHHs in Sri Lanka. Accordingly, the main objective of this study was to identify the social issues related to empowerment of women heads in rural areas. This empirical research was conducted in five Grama Niladari divisions of Galgamuwa divisional secretariat division which conveyed a marked increase of WHHs in Sri Lanka. Data were collected from a hundred WHHs through purposive sampling method. Questionnaires and semistructured interviews were used as primary data collection techniques. The research was conducted based on the survey method and case study method. Data were analysed based on thematic analysis and descriptive method. Power and authority are attributed in most patriarchal societies to women mainly due to the disappearing of the male person of the household. Thus, it could be identified that power and authority to make decisions in most cases of WHHs are not result of mobilization or empowerment but, women have no choice other than deciding on her household after assuming headship. Membership of community organizations illustrates a significant crosscutting of the social profile of individuals. A majority (99%) of WHHs had obtained membership of death donation organization and Samurdhi organization (79%). But importantly, it could be identified that majority of WHHs (80%, 66%, and 55%) had not obtained memberships respectively of the women development organization, water organization, and farmers’ organization. Only a few proportions of women heads (10%) had participated for self-employment training. Lack of motivation towards new trends of income-generating sources and unwillingness to change their familiar safe-zone had highly influenced the limited tendency to involve in activities related diversification of income-generating sources and livelihood of WHHs. Most of the current government programmes have related to the financial and physical allowances and has influenced to create a dependent mentality and to decrease the motivational factors among WHHs. As a result of that, a larger percentage of WHHs (75%) had requested more programmes on financial aids. Based on these findings it has been suggested to introduce integrated projects based on participatory development approach and methods of social inclusion to enhance opportunities to build self-esteem and self-confidence and to identify adaptation and mitigation actions to reduce hardships and issues through empowering latent potentials and skills of WHHs.
A Study of Social and Health Conditions related to Women-Headed Households in Rural Areas in Sri Lanka
(Department of Social Statisctics, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2019) Panampitiya, W.M.G.N.
In every human society, the household is one of the most significant social institution. Although household has been considered as a universal social institution, it can be identified that modern household has undergone significant transformations in its structure. Women-Headed Households (WHHs) is a new structural form of household and this new structural form of household has become a significant phenomenon in both global and national level. Although WHHs have occupied a prominent place in development discourse globally, very limited researches had been conducted regarding social and health conditions related to WHHs in Sri Lanka. Accordingly, the main objective of this study was to identify the background and issues related to social and health conditions, root causes, and interrelationships among those issues of WHHs in rural areas. The empirical research was conducted in five Grama Niladari Divisions of Galgamuwa divisional secretariat division which conveyed a marked increase of WHHs in Sri Lanka. Data were collected from hundred WHHs through purposive sampling method. Questionnaires and semistructured interviews were used as primary data collection techniques based on the survey method. The study revealed that the inadequate education and vocational qualifications, low level of tendency to enter to formal employment sector, unsustainability of livelihood activities, low conditions of houses and related facilities, some legal issues related to residence, inadequate social supportive mechanisms in the community, lack of leadership and empowerment were prominent among social conditions and related issues. Unavailability of toilet facilities (19%), unavailability of drinking water in the own household (45%), prevalence of long-term affected health issue (49%) were the key issues of health and sanitary facilities related to WHHs in the sample. Based on these findings it has provided suggestions to improve social well-being and to improve health sanitary and infrastructure facilities, to reduce prevalence of non-communicable and communicable diseases as well as health risk and to improve quality of life and mental well-being among WHHs.