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Social Justice | 

Feminist Frontlines in Sri Lanka

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Sri Lanka’s political landscape has shifted dramatically with the 2024 election of a leftist government led by the National People’s Power (NPP). Feminist organising played a key role in this transformation—from the grassroots mobilisation of women workers and youth, to the visibility of women leaders on stage and on the streets. Many of these activists were also part of the aragalaya/porattam protests of 2022, and now carry those experiences into parliament or continue their work through civil society networks. This moment marks a renewed convergence between feminist and left politics in Sri Lanka.

The Social Scientists’ Association is launching a project to document and reflect on this convergence. Through conversations with women activists, focus group discussions, and case studies of feminist collectives, the project will map the strategies, challenges, and aspirations of left feminist organising today. It will also track gender-related policies of the NPP government and gather political ephemera and materials produced during the aragalaya/porattam and beyond.

This initiative seeks to support movement-building and historical memory. Alongside a research report and policy brief, the project will lay the groundwork for a feminist archive—preserving the stories, texts, and artefacts of this period of political flux. In doing so, it hopes to create space for deeper feminist engagement with the left in shaping Sri Lanka’s future.

About The Social Scientists’ Association (SSA)

The Social Scientists’ Association (SSA) is an organization working to investigate the way in which social change is contouring the multiple realities faced by communities in Sri Lanka and South Asia. The SSA is deeply committed to promoting a culture of knowledge production that informs and undergirds interventions aimed at achieving social emancipation for marginalized communities.